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. Mary nodded her thanks and fled up- he stated.
"Adelina, please. And milord, you did
staIrs.
not ask," she said with a bashful smile. Not
Adelina turned to a passing servant and that 1 wanted to tell you in thefirst place.
ordered him to have the unconscious man at- Henry chuckled. "All the more pleasure
for me." He took one large step to cover the
tended to and locked in the shed. Smoothing distance between them and grabbed the back
of her neck, loosening the curls that Mary had
~er dress, Adelina followed the sound of the spent so much time in arranging, and heavily
at~st waltz into the ballroom, where couples kissed her.
She closed her eyes, giving in to the way
tWIrled along the dance floor. She wore a
his tongue danced on hers. Adelina felt the
re~ dress accented with lace along the cuffs stubble on his chin brush lightly against her
cheek, sending waves of goose bumps along
bnnging stares that came from several of the her skin on this warm night. It made her al-
most feel something deep inside of her, below
~en when she entered the ballroom. Imme- her stomach. She could tell that there was
more to this feeling-and she wanted it.
lately, she spotted Brandon across the room
dancm. g with a young woman. ' This is wrong! Adelina's mind screamed.
Her eyes flew open and she tore her head
S A distant cousin, Adelina remembered. away as she made severe contact to his cheek
with her right hand. "Milord!" Adelina
he met so many people that she had forgot- hissed. She had all intention to leave and find
Brandon, to toss herself into his arms and beg
ten most of the names and relationships. him to escort Henry from the estate. But as
she turned, Adelina felt a strong grip on her
. Brandon looked up and smiled at Ade- waist, preventing her escape. Adelina opened
her mouth to let out a scream that would dis-
lina, He led his partner to the sidelines and rupt the festivities, but swallowed a gulp of
air instead when Henry covered her mouth
escorted Adelina onto the floor. "Three more
with his large hand.
days, my dear," Brandon whispered. "No, no. I've worked too hard and too
"Yes, I know," Adelina smiled. He spun long for this. You don't want to ruin my plans,
do you?" Henry mocked in a light tone.
her around and she laughed. At this mo-
Adelina looked at him squarely in the
ment, Adelina decided, she was truly happy
eye and nodded.
and meant it when she had told Brandon she "I'm going to move my hand now. If you
loved him scream, my dear, there will be an unwelcome
surprise for your precious Brandon," Henry
When the waltz ended, the musicians im- warned. Adelina made a move to run, but
Henry strengthened his grip and lifted her
~ediately started playing a new tune. Ade- onto his shoulder. He ran down the steps and
followed the shadows through the back of the
lina looked up at Brandon with a smile. "I property to a waiting horse. Tears carne to
Adelina's eyes as she watched the soft glow of
think I am going to go sit this one out." the ballroom fade, but quickly blinked them
away before they stained her cheeks.
d ':;Alright. We'll continue this later, my
-~
ear, Brandon said as he kissed her fore-
head.
While Brandon chose to dance with an-
o~er cousin, Adelina went to get some fresh
air out on the porch that overlooked the gar-
den. She propped her elbows on the railing
and arched her neck so that she could gaze at
the stars.
" A familiar voice sounded near her ear.
Another time, another bakony."
"Henry?" Adelina called out in amaze-
~ent. She turned around as he stepped from
lIe shadows. Once again, he was dressed in
a black with his sleeves pushed up to his el-
bows,
"Miss Ellingsworth, you failed to tell me
you were to marry William Wexford's son,"
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