“He glares as if he cannot decide if he will throttle or kiss you.”
Ester was delighted. “Truly?”
Genevieve blinked. “That was not the reaction I anticipated. Who are you?”
Ester fisted a hand on her hips and arched a decided brow. “I am wearing a mask because of my need for discretion. Surely you do not expect me to own to my identity, Genevieve.”
Her eyes widened. “You wretched creature, you know me!”
Ester winked. “Of course I do.”
Genevieve laughed, wagged a finger at Ester, then sauntered toward the stage. It was then Ester noticed the two gentlemen who trailed behind Genevieve, their prowls graceful and their gazes vigilant. How fascinating that Edmond’s sister had bodyguards.
Her shoulders prickled, and she slowly turned about, wondering from where he observed her. Ester did not see him, but she surely felt it as his regard examined her body. Her belly dipped and flipped several times.
Where was he?
She glanced up and spied him on the upper balcony staring at her. Ester hesitated only for a moment before she made her way toward him. The dratted man held her stare as she moved through the throng and up the curving staircase. A tight feeling pinched her chest when she espied a lady clad in a gorgeous green gown with a plunging decolletage leaning against his arm and whispering in his ear. Ester sensed the lady sought to make some sort of clandestine arrangement with Edmond.
His lashes lowered, and he turned his head slightly to the lady, their cheeks almost brushing against each other. The scene was remarkably intimate, and she swallowed a gasp when the lady brushed a kiss over his cheek before sauntering off toward his office. Ester faltered a few paces from him, trying to present an unaffected calm.
“Edmond,” she murmured.
His stare was sharply assessing. “I told you to stay away, Miss Fairbanks. Why are you here?”
He managed to look bored by her presence. Ester narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. Was it that their kiss was so very ordinary for him? Was it common to feel such pleasure from the touch of another’s mouth?Surely it could not be so. “I was never quite good at obeying orders.” At his piercing regard, she lifted her shoulder in an inelegant shrug. “I was bored.”
“And you chose here to relieve your boredom?”
“Yes.”Because I was hoping to see you. Unexpectedly, shyness stole over her, and she could not bring herself to utter those words.
“Can I convince you to leave?”
“You may ask me to dance.” Ester’s heart pounded so hard she feared he would hear it.
Edmond stiffened. “I have no time for frivolity, Miss Fairbanks. I shall bid you a good evening.”
Her heart lurched when he strolled past her and made his way toward the direction the lady went. “Is she your lover?” The bold words ripped from her before she could convince herself to observe some sort of decorum.
Edmond glanced over his shoulder and met her regard. “Not yet.”
Ester jerked back as if she had been slapped.
“Wipe that wounded look from your eyes,” he hissed, spinning around to haul her against his chest, uncaring that a few people paused to look at them. “I owe you nothing, and if I choose to take that woman up on her invitation to her bed this evening, that is my own damn business.”
Ester wrenched away from him, her chest lifting on a harsh breath. It was illogical that she should feel this crushing sensation atop her heart. Edmond was correct. He owed her nothing, for they did not have any sort of understanding between them. That rationale did not assuage the tight, awful feeling bubbling inside her chest or the raw emotions scorching the back of her throat. “You would kiss me and then take another to your bed only a few days later?”
“That you would even ask me this shows your naivety. You do not belong here. Go home, Ester.”
How cold and dismissive he sounded. Ester lifted her chin, hating that tears burned the back of her throat. “Have a good time with your lover,” she drawled. “I shall endeavor to do the same with the man I choose to kiss tonight. I wonder…will it be just as evocative as when our mouths met?” Ester tapped a gloved finger to her chin as if in deep contemplation. “I do enjoy the exploration of new experiences. Perhaps I shall enjoy even more than kisses tonight.”
“You dare?” he snapped, finally some emotion leaping in his eyes.
“Who are you to ask me if I dare to have fun?Tsk,” she said with a smile that slightly wobbled. She sallied past him without awaiting a reply.
Tears pricked behind her eyes as she hurried down the stairs, the laughter and clinking of glasses no longer exciting, more of a reminder that she was truly out of her element. Embraces like the one they shared were clearly everyday experiences for Edmond Glendevon, and she had been deceived by her own longing for him. When he had kissed her, Ester’s world had fractured, and she had yearned for impossible things, while to him, it had been a casual encounter…a mere tryst that was not memorable.
Ester pushed through the throng, heading for a back door she knew led out into a palatial back garden. She needed the bracing night air to cool these silly, wretched feelings coursing through her. She needed—