“Not particularly.” Dear lord, had her voice ever sounded that breathy before?
“Then forget them, and dance with me.”
He stood so close, too close. Awareness of his proximity threatened to overwhelm her. Instead of retreating, as her instinct bade her to, she stepped in.
“And just who are you, that you’re so impertinent?” she demanded. “Surely you’re aware it is against protocol to dance with a man to whom I’ve never been formally introduced. You do us both a dishonor.”
The dark and wicked shadows in his eyes jangled her nerves, but an impish charm almost concealed those shadows enough to convince her they hadn’t really existed at all. “Since when have ye cared about protocol, Lady Francesca?”
He had her there. Since never, that was when. She did what she liked when she liked, and the devil may care about the consequences.
She was at a disadvantage here. He knew such things about her when she didn’t even know his name. In fact, she couldn’t decide what unsettled her most, that she had been waylaid from her private mission. That he was asking her to dance in this impolite way …
Or that she was tempted to say yes.
More than almost anything she’d been tempted to do in years.
She looked up at him, not too far, but just enough, and found an adventure she hadn’t yet enjoyed. A flirtation she’d never allowed herself to have. When one chased a singular goal, all other idle pursuits sort of just disappeared. Her every interaction had been calculated, save for Alexander and Cecil. Her every desire stashed on a shelf deep within herself, deep enough to have gathered dust and been forgotten.
“My lady?” The man held out his hand, and Francesca was suddenly aware of everyone looking.
Cripes. These Scots. They certainly did breed a specific sort of man. Sensual and arrogant. Bold. And this one wielded a smile that would disarm the most protected of hearts.
She’d doubled the guard on hers, throwing in a few ramparts and spikes … maybe a moat for good measure.
Tossing the last dash of her champagne, she took his hand and led him to the dance floor.