Captured by Love (Michigan Brides #3)(56)

There were still plenty of soldiers lounging around the soldiers’ barracks, the unlucky men who hadn’t been invited to the dance. Several groups were playing cards and stopped to stare as Lieutenant Steele escorted Lavinia past the center green toward the South Sally Port.

Angelique followed behind the couple with Pierre, who tucked her closer so that her arm brushed against his. He leaned in to her. “You’re so beautiful you take my breath away.”

His voice was husky near her ear. It unleashed a flutter in her stomach like waves lapping against a beach. “Lavinia’s right. I’m sure you say that to all the women.”

He pulled her to a stop, heedless of Lavinia and Lieutenant Steele strolling ahead.

The warmth left over from the summer day chased away the chill on her bare skin. Overhead, only the wisps of a few clouds tinged the clear blue sky. It was a perfect summer evening, and whether she was at the dance or not, she knew she needed to savor the all-too-fleeting beauty.

“I don’t say that to all the women, ma cherie,” he said softly, earnestness tightening the strong lines in his face.

“Well, maybe not all,” she said.

“The way I feel with you . . .” he started, leaning even closer. “I’ve tried to deny my feelings over the past few weeks, tried to just be friends with you, but I can’t. I’ve never felt this way about anyone else.”

Her breath caught in her throat. His confession was everything she’d secretly wanted to hear but never thought possible. “I think you just like seeing me half unclothed.”

His gaze dropped to the exposed skin above the neckline of her bodice, then to her neck and down to one of her arms. “I admit. I like seeing you in something other than the bag-like apparel Ebenezer forces on you. But it doesn’t matter to me what you wear. You’re always beautiful.”

She couldn’t keep from thinking back to that day he’d proposed to her, how sincere he’d been. Like now . . .

And once again she wanted to cry out at herself for turning him down. If he really cared about her, if his feelings for her were growing like hers, then why couldn’t they make a marriage work?

Intense longing wrestled with reality, just as it had over the past weeks whenever she’d thought about him. Standing with him now, dressed in their finest, with his dark eyes glimmering with something she didn’t understand but that sent shivers to her belly, she wanted to throw caution away. She wanted to turn back the time and pretend they were in Miriam’s kitchen again, with him down on one knee in front of her.

“Pierre . . . I . . .” She couldn’t just blurt out that she’d changed her mind about marrying him. What if he hadn’t really meant it? Or what if he’d decided it was a stupid idea after all?

He waited, watching her face.

What if it was still a bad idea like it had been before?

“Miss Mackenzie and Mr. Durant,” Lavinia called from near the arched entrance of the fort. “You mustn’t lag. Everyone will be waiting for our arrival.”

“Are you sure you want to go to the dance?” Pierre asked without moving forward.

From the fort’s position on the bluffs, the lake stretched out as far as the eye could see. She drew in a breath of air that hinted at the cooler days that would soon be upon them. “Where would we go instead?”

“Fishing?” The beginning of a grin played at his lips. “We still haven’t had that contest to see who is really the master fisher.”

“Fishing? Dressed like this?”

“True. You’d probably have an unfair advantage. When the fish see how pretty you look, they’ll jump into your net just to be with you.”

She laughed. “You can’t admit I’d beat you fair and square, can you?”

His grin broke free.

“Miss MacKenzie,” Lavinia said again more sharply, next to the sentinel on duty. “I really must insist that you stop dawdling.”

Angelique wavered. Part of her longed to run off with Pierre. The very thought of being alone with him sent tingles all over her skin. But another part of her warned her against such rashness. Lavinia had gone to a great deal of trouble to prepare her for the event. She didn’t want to think about the problems she might bring upon herself and Pierre if she defied the young woman.

Pierre cocked an eyebrow.

“I have to go to the dance,” she said. “Besides, after spending the past two weeks learning how to waltz, I’d like to dance with you since you look so dashing.”

“I do look dashing tonight, don’t I?”

“Don’t let it go to your head.”

“Too late for that,” he said, starting forward down the dirt path with more spring to his step.

She wouldn’t tell him she thought he was handsome all the time, or that the real reason she wanted to dance with him wasn’t because of how he looked. The real reason was because she wanted him to pull her close. She wanted to be in his arms, to feel his tender touch, and to hear the soft rasp of his breath near her ear. Such thoughts shamed her, yet she couldn’t deny them.

They exited the fort through the front gate and made their way down the steep path cut into the side of the bluff until they reached the bottom, where the government building was located. The big brick house sat on the edge of town, surrounded by the vegetable gardens the British Army had planted with hopes of providing fresh food to the troops.