The Seventh Night (20 page)

With increasing trepidation, I surveyed the glittering array of dancers as they swirled and swayed to the music. The ballroom had also been transformed. Huge arrangements of orchids, jasmine and bird-of-paradise banked the corners, and at one end of the huge hall, a waterfall trickled into a small pool of clear blue water where red hibiscus blossoms floated on the surface. Swaying chandeliers caught and reflected light in a thousand tiny rainbows, the brilliance rivaled only by the flashing gowns adorning the women.

It was everything Cinderella could have asked for and more.

Then, right on cue, the music stopped.

The crowd parted.

And I saw Reid.

In his black tuxedo, he looked nothing short of spectacular. Freshly shaven, his dark hair carefully groomed, he was every inch polished perfection as he smiled down at the shapely redhead he’d been dancing with.

I turned back into the hallway and steadied myself against the wall.

Had I really been in his arms only a few short hours ago? Had he kissed me,
really
kissed me as if he meant it? Or had it merely been an illusion, a product of my wishful thinking?

Oh, why couldn’t I just enjoy his attention without worrying myself silly over his motives, without tearing to pieces every little nuance and whisper? Why couldn’t I be like other women and seize the moment? He wanted me, for whatever reason. Maybe I should be grateful.

But a little part of me knew that I would never be satisfied with crumbs. I wanted the full meal, a veritable feast. I wanted the fairy tale…

Taking a deep breath and bracing my shoulders, I slipped as unobtrusively as possible into the ballroom, blending myself into a small group of people who stood talking by the waterfall.

The music started up again, and from my corner, I watched the dancers whirling past. With a little stab of surprise, I recognized Lawrence Crawford. He was dancing with Angelique, and I wondered what Reid would say if he saw them together.

Angelique was wearing a dramatic black dress that revealed a good deal of thigh and cleavage. She looked like a sleek panther on the prowl as she gazed up at Lawrence. He smiled when she said something, but I had the distinct impression he was looking for someone else.

His gaze swept the dance floor and sidelines as he and Angelique glided by. Our eyes touched ever so briefly,
and he nodded, his expression tense. Then on a rising crescendo of music, I lost them in the glittering crowd.

Across the room, Mrs. DuPrae stood alone near the buffet tables. Her dress was the color of sea foam, and though her hair was pulled back in its usual severity, she looked younger somehow. Even from this distance, I could see the quiet excitement in her face, the almost infinitesimal movement of her body in time to the music.

It was all very exciting and glamorous. I soon found myself caught up in the festivities, but the gaiety was short lived. Reid danced by, this time with a beautiful blonde. I could feel myself wilting, like a flower too long out of the sun.

“I was hoping to see you tonight.”

The low, furtive-sounding voice spoke at my shoulder.

“You startled me,” I admonished, turning my attention back to the dancers.

“Sorry,” Lawrence Crawford said, extracting a cigarette from a gold case. He offered me one, which I declined, then lit up. When he moved to slip the gold lighter back into his pocket, it fell to the floor. We both stooped to retrieve it, but I reached it first. I straightened, and held out the lighter in my palm.

“That’s a very handsome lighter,” I said. There was an inscription on it, but Lawrence plucked it out of my hand so quickly I had no time to read it.

“Thank you,” he said, carefully stowing it in his pocket. “It was a special gift. I’d hate to lose it.”

We watched the dancers in silence for a moment, then he said, “I was a little surprised to see you here.” His eyes gleamed with open speculation. “Dare I hope your presence here means you’ve heard from Christopher?”

“No, I’m afraid it doesn’t,” I said, sighing. “I almost didn’t come. I didn’t think it would be appropriate, but Reid asked me to attend for…well, for…appearances.”

“I see. Reid usually does manage to get what he
wants,” he said, his voice dusky with intrigue. “One way or another.”

“You don’t like each other. Why?”

Lawrence grinned. “Is it that noticeable? Actually, I’ve nothing against Reid. For some reason, he feels threatened by me.”

“Because you represent the party who wants to buy my father’s partnership. He thinks you coerced my father into the agreement.”

“Does he, by God? Christopher came to
me.
I’m an American, an ex-patriot, an outsider like him. He trusted me. He was feeling desperate, frightened. I told you that. He felt someone was out to get him.”

“So you said. But did he say who?”

Lawrence paused, his gray eyes flickering away from me. “It doesn’t take much to figure out who would lose the most if your father was to sell. Or who would gain the most if he didn’t…for some reason.”

I turned to face him then, weary of the innuendos, the secrecy. “Just say it. If you suspect something…anything…concerning my father, just say so. I’m tired of the subterfuge.”

“Yes, I can imagine you are,” he agreed, frowning. His gaze fixed itself on the dance floor, and I followed his eyes. The music had begun again, and Reid was dancing with Rachel. I felt Lawrence’s hand on my arm and looked back at him in surprise.

“I don’t like accusing someone, not even…not
anyone
when I don’t have any concrete proof. I may be going away for a while after tonight, but I’ve made arrangements to have something delivered to you tomorrow. I think you’ll find it most enlightening. Read it carefully. Read it—then make up your own mind.”

“What is it?”

“Just read it,” he said, his tone intense. “Then we’ll talk.”

We stared at each other for a long moment of uneasy
comprehension until another voice spoke from behind me.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

I turned and gazed up into those smoldering blue eyes. My heart was beating all over the place, and I couldn’t seem to speak. Reid had no such trouble. He said coolly to Lawrence, “I’ve come to claim…my dance.”

Lawrence gave me a sympathetic look. “Remember what I said.”

“
What
did he say?” Reid asked as he led me toward the dance floor. His arm encircled my waist and drew me toward his body. I had difficulty thinking about anything then, except the fact that I was finally where I wanted to be.

“I…don’t remember,” I said breathlessly.

Reid grinned down at me. “Good, because I want your undivided attention tonight. By the way, did I happen to mention you look beautiful tonight? Breathtaking…”

My thoughts exactly. I couldn’t quit staring at him. In his formal evening clothes, he looked so tall and strong and magnificent.

The orchestra was playing a dreamy sort of tune, the melody hauntingly familiar. We stepped onto the floor, and Reid’s arm tightened around me.

“I’m not a very good dancer,” I apologized.

“Neither am I,” he said. “But we’ll manage, I think.”

He’d lied, of course. He danced as he did everything—very, very well.

“I’ve missed you.” He breathed the words into my ear. “I’ve thought about you all day.”

“Have you?”

I knew people were staring at us, wondering about us. I tried to ignore them, but I saw Lawrence dancing with Rachel and my gaze touched his briefly. I couldn’t help remembering what he’d told me.

“Reid usually does manage to get what he wants—one way or another.”

Don’t, I warned myself. Don’t ruin this time. It seemed as though I’d waited for this night all my life, and I didn’t want my doubts and suspicions to dim my pleasure.

I was entitled to one night, wasn’t I?

And besides, what had Reid really done to encourage my suspicions and my doubts? He’d been himself, nothing more. He’d been attentive to me. He’d shown me his ambition, his single-mindedness, his mysteriousness.

But weren’t those the very qualities about him that fascinated me?

My own insecurities had promoted those doubts. But I didn’t feel particularly insecure tonight. I felt almost…confident, and very, very lucky to be dancing with Reid after so many empty years. If I would let it be, tonight was the kind of night where dreams could come true.

“Relax,” Reid echoed softly. His hand moved ever so lightly against my back. “This should be fun. Pretend we’re the only two people in the room.”

Weren’t we?

When he pulled me tighter, everything else faded away. I was conscious only of his mouth, mere inches from mine; of his fingers, sliding along the sensitive column of my spine; of his eyes, looking so deeply into my own.

The music played on and on, and we danced—forever, it seemed. I never wanted the night to end. I wanted to remain in his arms forever.

“Do you know how much I want to kiss you?”

His voice made me feel shivery all over. “Yes,” I said slowly. “I believe I do.”

He smiled then, a knowing, triumphant curving of his lips. “In that case—”

We were dancing near the wall of French doors that
stood open to the fragrant night air. With a breath-stealing series of whirls and steps that left me lightheaded, we were outside, on the terrace.

The evening was cool and scented, the fragrance of jasmine and frangipani heavy as a drug. A light breeze whispered through the palms, carrying the slow drift of the ocean wind. The moon hung low in a navy sky, and there were stars, so many stars—and I knew if I looked behind them tonight, I would surely see heaven.

Reid pulled me from the terrace into the shadows of the garden. My heartbeat thundered in my ears; warmth surged through my veins. Oh, how I wanted him to touch me! How I was dying to have him kiss me, but for an eternity we merely stared into each other’s eyes.

At last he bent and brushed his lips against mine, with a lightness at first that barely tantalized, then with a heated insistence that grew and deepened until my reluctance was replaced by a response so primitive and powerful, I could scarcely believe it was me.

His tongue parted my lips and drove inside my mouth. He flattened his hands against my back and pressed me more firmly against his body, molded me tightly to his exact shape. His hips moved slowly against mine as the sliding warmth of his tongue set its own rhythm. In and out. Deeper. Faster. Harder. Any second now my heart would surely pound its way out of my chest.

He tore his lips from mine as he tangled his hands in my hair. “Do you know how badly I want you?” His voice was low and hoarse, sexy beyond belief.

“Do you know how badly I want to believe that you do?”

He drew back in surprise. “Why wouldn’t you believe it?”

“Because we’re so different. We hardly know each other.”

I saw his quick smile in the dark. “I’d say we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well over the last few
days, not to mention the last few minutes. And don’t forget we have a past.”

“One week hardly constitutes a past,” I argued with half a heart. His hands had slipped to my waist, and he held me lightly, smiling down at me.

“It may have been only a few days, but I never forgot you. The image of the sadness in your eyes the day Christopher and I left haunted me at the oddest moments over the years. I’d think about you and wonder what you were doing, what you looked like, how your life had turned out. I’d wonder if you were finally happy.”

“I never forgot you, either,” I said simply, not quite able to meet his eyes.

“Even when you married someone else?”

It was a casual question, a reasonable question, but I sensed a strange urgency behind it. I looked up at him, and the blue eyes swept me with a look so penetrating, I felt my knees grow weak.

“My marriage was a mistake,” I said, admitting to Reid what I’d hardly dared admit to myself.

“You rushed into it.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Because I wanted to forget you.
I couldn’t say it, though. I already felt too fragile and vulnerable. Already Reid knew too many of my weaknesses. “I was young,” I said with a shrug.

His eyes flickered in the pale light. “Were you in love with him?”

“Reid…it’s not something I like to talk about.”

His mouth tightened. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry. It must still be painful for you.” He gave all the proper responses, but I had a feeling there was so much more he wanted to say.

“It’s not that. It’s just…”

“We don’t know each other very well, and it’s none of my business.”

The mood was quickly slipping away, and I wasn’t sure why. I only knew that I was desperate to get it back, to banish the unpleasant memories from this fairy-tale evening.

“I’ll tell you about Danny some other time,” I said. “But not tonight. Please, not tonight.”

He hesitated only slightly. “All right. Tonight will be ours, then. We’ll drink champagne and dance till midnight and then…”

I shivered. “And then?”

His blue eyes gleamed in the moonlight. “Perhaps I should leave that up to you.”

And so we went back inside and danced, and I broke my vow and drank champagne, and then we danced some more. Reid never left my side. Even when we weren’t dancing, his arm remained around me. He seemed oblivious to all the curious stares, the furtive whispers behind gloved hands.

And me? Well, at the moment I was pretty much past caring myself. That kiss in the moonlight had all but sealed my fate.

I wanted Reid to make love to me tonight. I wanted it more than anything, and what’s more, I knew
he
knew I wanted him to. He’d have to be a fool not to. And Reid St. Pierre was nobody’s fool.

But did I dare believe he wanted
me?
His kisses told me he did. The way he held me now, looked at me, whispered in my ear, left me little room to wonder, and yet, something held me back. Something that I kept shoving away, but never quite far enough.

Reid watched me as we danced. We were hardly moving now, but somehow the faint rhythm was powerfully seductive. I felt tingly all over, in part from the champagne, but mostly from Reid. His eyes were intense, seductive…smoldering.