“Is that the first moment you have defied him like that?” he asked, marveling at her.
“Yes,” she said, her voice a soft breath under the music.
“And yet, you do not seem afraid,” he said, savoring the feel of their bodies moving as one.
Her brows rose ever so slightly. “Should I, with you in the room?”
“No. Never. Not ever again,” he said softly.
“You’ve done something to me,” she rushed. “You’ve changed me.”
“Have I?” he asked, shocked, tightening his grip about her ever so slightly.
She gave a nod, her curls bouncing about her cheeks as she stared up at him with fiery eyes. “You’ve given me courage. Courage to bolt against my barriers. I came to you last night in your club, determined to be free. I am still determined to be free. You have offered me that, and I will take nothing less. I do not think I can behave as my father wishes now. I know that I should be careful and wise, but I do not wish to be so anymore. I wish to be bold and true to myself.”
“Then I shall assist you in it,” he breathed. And with that, he paused to the music, dipped her ever so slightly, reverted back, and whirled the other way.
She let out a small laugh. “You’ve caused a stir now.”
“I am aware of it,” he said. “No doubt half the ton will be tittering away at our escapade. And your father is no doubt having an apoplexy on the edge of the ballroom floor somewhere.”
Another laugh rippled from her throat. Its rich bell tone surrounding them. And half the ton, no, not half,all, she surmised, were gaping at her for she was certain that none of them had ever seen her laugh before.
The joy of it mixed with her slight fear. Tom was not wrong. There was an element of terror to defying her father. What if Tom let her down? What if she was caught somehow without him by one of those men?
No, she would not think it. Tom was eminently capable, and she felt more powerful than she had her entire life in his arms.
“Tom, how did you manage such a feat, achieving an earldom? You must have friends in very high places. Or did something extremely useful to the crown”
“I do and I did,” Tom confessed. “The Dukes of Blackwood and Clyde are good friends. And as to the rest, I shall be silent.”
“Blackwood and Clyde?” she breathed. “They are both legends in the ton. My God, I did not know when I came to you that not only was I seeking out a lord of the underworld, but one of the most powerful men in England.”
He shook his head. “I am not one of the most powerful men in England.”
“If you’re Blackwood’s friend,” she replied firmly, awed. “You are.”
He made no reply, and she wondered if she’d hit some sort of nerve.
Then suddenly he rushed, “I won’t argue with you, Elizabeth. I have paid a great price for the power that I have, and I will wield it. I’ve been happy to live on the edges of true power for a long time with my club, simply making people happy and using my funds to help those in the East End… but if I am honest? Now I want more.”
“Do you?” she asked, studying him carefully, trying to understand the complex man before her.
“Yes. You changed me too last night.”
“Whatever do you mean, Tom?” she asked.
“There is more to this life than just pleasure,” he rumbled.
“I’ve known little of it,” she confessed.
He gazed down at her with his eyes that seemed akin to temptation. “I shall happily take you down the pleasure road, but I promise you it is not enough. You must have a purpose too in this life, otherwise, you will simply end up in a hedonistic hell where you seek more and more, and find that there is nothing at the end of that road.”
She breathed out, her eyes widening as tears stung them. She had never met anyone with so much passion. “Tom, are you telling me that you wish to make your life in pursuit of good works?”
“What makes you think that it is not already in pursuit of good works?” he asked gently.
“I don’t know you well,” she replied honestly. “So I suppose I can’t say.”