To Dance until Dawn - Emma V. Leech Page 0,50

them go and let out a nervous breath of laughter.

“Alone at last,” she said faintly.

“Phoebe,” he said, not wanting her to be afraid of him. “You’re safe with me, love. I’d never… never….”

Phoebe smiled at him, an affectionate look of amusement in her eyes. “I know that, Max.”

Max frowned, a little indignant at her confident tone. “What do you mean by that?”

Phoebe sat down on the bed and removed the outrageous hat, casting it aside before she eased off her shoes with a sigh of pleasure.

“I mean that you are a gentleman to your bones. You’d never dream of—”

“Of running away to France with a young woman I wasn’t married to?” he suggested dryly.

Phoebe looked up, a frown pleating the space between her eyebrows. “Oh, but, Max, that was entirely my fault. You’d never do something so… so reckless if not for me. I know how much trouble I’ve brought you and I am sorry for it.”

“I’m not.”

She blinked, looking rather surprised. “You’re not?”

Max sat down, having grown tired of standing with his head crooked to one side.

“No,” he said, deciding he’d had just about enough of being thought entirely sensible and safe to be alone with. “Come here, please.”

Phoebe tensed a little, giving him a doubtful glance, as aware as he of the tension in his voice, of the intensity of the demand.

“Why?”

“Because I wish to continue our conversation.”

“Oh.” Phoebe gave him a considering look and licked her lips, and his entire body grew taut. “C-Can’t you do it from over there?”

“No. You’re too far away.”

“Oh.”

“Unless you prefer to stay all the way over there, but then I can’t kiss you.”

Colour rose on her skin like a sunrise, and Max ached with longing. He’d meant what he’d said. She was safe with him, but he didn’t want her to feel too safe. She was safe because he was a gentleman, because he would not take that which was not freely given, not because he didn’t want her. Yet he wanted her to feel she was alone in a room with a man who wished to be her lover, whom she wanted to be her lover, so no, not safe at all.

She slipped to the floor with a soft rustle of skirts and crossed the room, hesitating close to where he sat. Max held out his hand and she took it, curling her fingers around his.

“You said it was a nice shock,” he said, pulling her closer.

Phoebe nodded, her breath coming fast.

“Then I give you fair warning, love.”

He reached for her, pulling her down onto his lap with a squeal and a flurry of skirts. They billowed around him as she sat down, her lovely behind nestled neatly in his lap.

“Max!” she exclaimed, looking at him with wide eyes.

“What, love?”

“Well, I… I just didn’t expect….”

“Do you want to get up again?”

She stared at him and shook her head and Max grinned.

“You needn’t look so smug,” she retorted, though laughter glimmered in her eyes.

“Oh, need I not? After I spent the entire afternoon listening to you and Kline babble merrily about everything under the sun, when all I wanted was to have you to myself.”

A smile curved over her lush mouth as she regarded him. “Were you jealous, Max?”

“Of course I was jealous,” he grumbled. “I’ve been jealous of every man whose had your attention for bloody months, if you must know. I… I was beginning to despair.”

He could not read her expression, but it seemed thoughtful, as though she was only now seeing him for the first time. Perhaps she was, he realised.

“I’ve been very foolish,” she said softly. “And I truly don’t understand why… why I didn’t…. Oh, Max, please do kiss me.”

Max certainly did not need asking a second time and pressed his lips to hers. Oh God, he had waited so long and wanted this so badly, and he was not disappointed. Her lips were soft and sweet and so… so… perfect. He drew back, not wanting to overwhelm her or frighten her and forcefully aware that he was trembling. Her eyes fluttered open, dark with desire, soft and hazy, and Max wanted to whoop with triumph, with joy, with such dizzying relief that he could hardly breathe. She touched her fingers to her lips, staring at him in wonder.

“Oh, Max,” she said, his name a breathy sound that made his whole body tingle with anticipation. “Do that again.”

And then she threw her arms about his neck and kissed him, hard, wriggling in his lap to get