The First Proposal - Chasity Bowlin Page 0,33
quite alarmingly just how much she enjoyed that aspect of him.
“Then let’s get it over with.”
“After the first waltz,” Aurora said. “There’s plenty of time.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The first strains of the waltz started and Persephone felt her pulse begin to race. Beside her, she felt Algernon tense. Then he simply turned, and offered her his arm.
“I believe this is my dance, Miss Blake,” he said.
“I believe you are right,” she said and allowed him to lead her onto the floor.
As they took their places, one of her hands in his, raised high, his other hand at the small of her back, and her arm draped about his shoulders, the intimacy of the waltz became very apparent to her. So much so that she felt her cheeks heat with a telling blush.
“You’ve a wicked mind, Miss Persephone Blake, when your own thoughts put you to blush,” he flirted.
Deciding that two could play that game. “It was less of a thought, Mr. Dunne, than a memory… of a certain garden and a dark haired gentleman.”
He twirled her expertly about the floor. “Now that you mention it, I seem to recall such an event myself… with a certain lovely woman with hair like golden silk and skin softer than the most delicate of rose petals.”
“You are a flatterer,” she accused.
He began to glance around the dance floor in confusion. “What? Is she here? Please tell me, Miss Blake, if you happen on this goddess—.”
“Stop it!” she demanded, but even as she said it a giggle escaped her. It was the strangest thing that in his company her doubts fled. It was only when she was near her sister that she had cause to wonder if his intentions were as transparent and honorable as he’d stated.
“Very well… You are the only goddess here tonight and certainly the only one for me. I know that I claimed your second waltz, but truth be told, I don’t want to wait until after that dance to ask you the question that I told you would be presented to you tonight.”
“Then by all means,” Persephone replied somewhat breathlessly, a sensation which had little to do with their dancing, “You should ask it.”
“I have three betrothal rings in my pocket,” he admitted. “Because I couldn’t for the life of me think which one you’d like best—emeralds, sapphires or the simplicity of a diamond. In truth, you could have them all if you would just agree to be my wife.”
She couldn’t answer. The words were there, hovering on the tip of her tongue. Yes. Always. Tomorrow if we could. But she found that she simply lacked the air to utter them. In fact, the entire room seemed to be spinning far faster than they were actually dancing. Shimmering lights seemed to be exploding at the center of her vision while the edges grew darker. And then, just as she thought surely it would happen, that for the first time in her life she would faint and it would occur at the worse possible moment, he whirled her around so sharply that the world simply righted itself.
“Do not faint,” he warned, “Before giving me an answer. A man can only take so much.”
Percy nodded, more clearheaded than before. “Right. It’s terribly reckless, isn’t it?”
“Terribly,” he agreed.
“I mean, we hardly know one another.”
He inclined his head, his expression growing more grim by the second. “This is true also, but long engagements do occur for just that reason. Not that we should have one, but they do.”
“We’re from very different worlds… I am a country girl and you simply detest it.”
He frowned. “Detest is a strong word. And there are any number of country estates that are convenient to London where we might live very comfortably.”
Percy nodded again. “There’s a great deal to consider.”
“I’m aware but the only thing I want you to consider is the fact that I’m damn well in love with you and I want to be your husband. I want you to be my wife,” he said.
Percy smiled. “Then that is what I shall be. Your wife. And I don’t want a long engagement. An estate that is convenient to London should certainly remain in our negotiations, however.”
“You can have whatever you want,” he stated.
And then the music died away, the dancers cleared the floor, and they were forced to do the same. Walking back toward Lord and Lady Holland, they were stopped short by a very large man.
“Westerhaven,” Algernon said.
“Dunne,” the other man acknowledged. “Lady Sheffield would like to