“You’re ridiculous,” Wyatt shook his head with a chuckle before bending down to kiss Mia softly. “Go change, I’m hungry.”
“Fine.” Mia sighed. “In the meantime, think about your prize.”
“I’m not sure you’re up for the prize I have in mind.” Wyatt’s words were spoken with sexual innuendo, but his thoughts were anywhere but on sex. Mia wiggled her eyebrows as she backed up into the dressing rooms. She wouldn’t have been so amused or accommodating had she known that the only prize Wyatt was vying for was her heart.
Bell of the Ball
Mia
Mia wasn’tnew to the world of lavish banquets.
While never a member of the upper milieu in terms of title, her family’s economic status, combined with her mother’s social ambitions, had ensured her initiation into the circle of the Parisian one-percentile at an early age.
It was always her mother’s hope that Mia would marry a French man of title, thus checking the last box that would ensure the family’s status within the country’s elite. Of course, Mia’s father had savagely ripped those plans to shreds,as well as Mia’s heart and soul in the process, but her mother was persistent, if not anything else.
Her experience notwithstanding, she still felt a flutter of excitement at the thought of entering Oxford’s grand banquet hall on Wyatt’s arm. He’d insisted they meet at the venue, which struck her as odd until she’d stepped out to the candlelit path and found him waiting for her there, a handkerchief of the same golden silk of her dress folded to perfection in his dress jacket and a large jewel box in the hand not folded behind his back.
“Is that a necklace?” Mia asked, touching the simple pendant on her neck.
“No.” Wyatt smiled, opening the box to reveal a delicate golden tiara. “May I?”
Mia willed the sarcastic reply to come but Wyatt’s soft gaze, his hope-filled voice, the thoughtful and beautiful gift with a wink to her affinity for historical romances all dulled her jaded sense of self-preservation away, and she simply nodded.
With a relieved smile, Wyatt plucked the tiara out of the box and placed it on her head, taking great care not to ruin her hairdo.
“Perfect?” Mia asked with a little twirl, and Wyatt caught her around the waist, pulling her close.
“Third in rank of perfection,” he answered, grazing her cheek with his thumb. “Preceded only by you in a lab coat, though there’s no competition to first place.”
“Which is?”
“Birthday suit,” Wyatt said with his devilish half-grin, and Mia couldn’t stop the bubbling laughter.
“You aretoopredictable.” She straightened his immaculate collar before sliding out of his arms and to his side. “Shall we?”
Wyatt offered his arm and Mia took it, the flutters in her stomach signifying what she deemed an entirely unnecessary yet absolutely undeniable excitement.
Yes, Mia had been to her fair share of banquets and balls in her twenty-eight years, yet walking into the grand hall tonight, she was just as exhilarated at the prospect of a magical evening like she only ever was as a child.
There was only one reason, one variable that had changed since she’d become disillusioned some ten years ago.
“My, my, aren’t you two a sight,” Herbert said with a beaming smile as he approached them with open arms, giving Mia’s arm a brief fatherly squeeze. “Gorgeous.”
“Thank you, Herbert.” Mia bowed her head slightly. It wasn’t customary to hug at these events, no matter how close you were to the person in front of you.
“Professor Flinch.” Wyatt took Herbert’s hand with a firm shake.
“Doctor Jenkins, I have been hearing wonderful things about your work at the hub over the past few months.”
“That’s good to know,” Wyatt said with a polite smile, though warmer than what he usually mustered for other faculty members.
Herbert seemed to want to say something else, a glint of mischief in his eyes, but someone called his name.
“I must go and charm the higher ranks.” Herbert sighed. “If you’ll excuse me.”
Both Mia and Wyatt nodded. Once Herbert was out of earshot, Wyatt bent down to Mia’s ear. “From the praises I gather he still hasn’t askedyouropinion of me.”
“Your deduction skills are second to none, Doctor Jenkins,” Mia answered with a sly smile. “Come, let’s fulfill ourduties.”