The Spy Who Loved Her: Once Upon an Accident, Book 3 (14 page)

Chapter Eleven

Daniel glanced around the library and sighed with relief. No matchmaking mamas were hiding in the shadows. It had been horrible since he had arrived at the party earlier in the day. Women had been thrown at him left and right. It seemed that his attendance had made everyone think he was here to find a wife.

He closed the door behind him and walked to the couch. He could not even disappear to his room. The last time he tried that, he had been accosted by Lady Fontemain who offered her daughter up on a silver platter. Along with the fringe benefits her mother could offer. It had left him feeling slightly sick and in need of a bath. He knew he was jaded, but he had never seen something so disgusting as a woman pimping herself to get her daughter married.

He moved to sit down and encountered legs and a squeak.

“What on earth are you doing?”

He looked down and found the woman he had been ordered—by his mother and Jack—to protect for the weekend. Anna was in delightful dishabille, her hair slightly mussed, her dressed wrinkled.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

She pulled herself up to a sitting position and swung her legs to the ground. “I am taking a rest.”

He crossed his arms and lifted one eyebrow.

“All right. I was hiding. I cannot seem to avoid anyone, even in my room.”

“I know the feeling,” he murmured.

She eyed him. “Someone accosted you in your room?”

His blood ran cold as he thought of what might have happened to her. “There was a man in your room?”

She rolled her eyes. “No. Lady Reynolds called on me. Just why do people behave differently at house parties?”

Despite the situation, he smiled. He could not help it. She sounded so indignant. “I have no idea.”

She humphed. “So I picked the one place that I thought the woman would not come into.”

“Really, the library?”

“There are books here. She avoids anything where she might learn.”

He couldn’t stop the laugh that burst out of him. “You definitely know the woman.”

She narrowed her gaze on him. “What are you doing here?”

He thought of his encounter and frowned. “I had the same problem, only with another mother.”

“Hmm. That would be interesting to find out who that was, but knowing you, you will not tell me. What I meant is what are you doing at this party?”

For a second, he couldn’t think of anything to say. He knew that his mother had given him a story, one about looking for a wife or some such idiocy, but he couldn’t remember really how to speak.

“Daniel.”

He shook himself. “I think that would be obvious.”

She cocked her head to one side. “No, it truly isn’t.”

He cleared his throat and settled onto the couch on the opposite end. “I am here to find a wife.”

If anything, her face lost all expression. “Oh.”

“Mother thinks it is time to find one, and I daresay I think she is right. I am getting up there in years.”

She frowned. “Your mother asked you to do this and you decided to come to find a wife?”

He nodded.

“You’re lying.”

He kept his expression blank as he said nothing.

“Really, Daniel, if you are going to lie, you need to be better at it.”

That took him back. He was well known to be the best bluffer of the group, able to lie to just about anyone. The fact that she saw through it was disturbing and arousing.

“That is the reason I am here. Much for the same reason your mother has dragged you here.”

She sighed. “Very well.” She rose and started toward the door. “But, Daniel, you might want to be a little more active in finding a wife. Hiding in the library isn’t the best place to find one.”

And with that, she slipped out the door and left him alone to his thoughts. Really, the woman was a menace to his sanity. Even just being in her presence for several minutes he wanted her. He ached to touch her, to strip off the pink confection she was wearing and explore every bit of flesh it exposed. He closed his eyes and asked for guidance, but the only thing he could hear was the way his name had sounded on her lips.

Anna watched Daniel from the shadows as he walked around the room. She had never really noticed it before, but now that she studied him, she knew that he was looking for something or someone. Her heart sank as she thought about their conversation before. Even knowing he was lying to her, it had hurt to hear him say the words. He paused to talk to his mother and she noticed that he continued his survey. This went beyond just watching others. There was something almost…military in his behavior.

“You won’t find a man back here, Lady Anna.”

She jumped at the sound of the low, female voice. Lady Joanna stepped up beside her. “That is why you are here.”

Anna turned back around. “That is why my mother wants me to be here.”

Lady Joanna laughed. “Yes, I can see that. Your mother is ready to have you settled.”

The knowing tone in the other woman’s voice irritated Anna. She could not help gnashing her teeth together.

“I thought you did not like such amusements, Lady Joanna.”

“I do not, probably not any more than you do. But duty calls.”

Anna cut her a look and noticed that she too was watching Daniel. Jealousy surged through her as Lady Joanna turned to look at her with a knowing look on her face.

“So you have come for assignations.” Just saying it hurt.

Joanna shook her head. “Don’t believe everything you see or hear, Lady Anna.”

Anna opened her mouth to ask her a question but she said, “And do not believe Daniel either. He is…too smart for his own good.” She looked at Anna, her expression serious for the first time. “He is entirely too stupid when it comes to you.”

“I need to get back to my room. It is just too stifling in here.”

Joanna moved out the French doors to the left of them. Before she could discern just what the older woman had meant, Daniel was standing in front of her.

“What the devil are you doing here?” Daniel asked.

“Hiding.”

That took him back. “I have been looking for you.”

So it had been her he had been looking around the room for. Interesting. “And here I am. You can go away now.”

“Your mother is not going to be happy with you if you do not even dance.”

“I am not in the mood.” She was irritated beyond belief at her mother. What on earth had possessed her seemingly intelligent mother to tell people Anna was looking for a husband? And rumors were swirling about her fortune. Every fortune hunter in attendance had been bothering her. This had been the one place she could hide.

“Come now, the waltz is next I believe.”

She gave him a suspicious glare. She truly loved to waltz and it had been one of the things she had missed the most the past few years. But she would not expose herself to the hordes of suitors.

“No, thank you.”

He sighed. “Anna, you cannot hide here all night.”

“I can at least for a while.” She hated the idea that her voice rose like a little girl’s. “It is the only course of action that makes sense.”

He eyed her suspiciously. “What is the matter?”

She hesitated. “My mother has told people I am looking for a husband.”

“That is what most people are presuming.”

“And that I have a bigger fortune than people previously thought.”

His eyes widened. “Good God, what was she thinking?”

She nodded. “Every fortune hunter in attendance has been bothering me. Including that creepy Lord Seaton.”

“Lord Seaton? He is older than your mother!”

“Shhh. You will draw attention to us.” She looked around but was happy to realize that Daniel had not been heard.

“Your mother must have lost her mind. Does Sebastian know about this?”

She shook her head. “I just found out myself. I really do not know what my mother is thinking.”

He crossed his arms over his massive chest and glared. “To lie like this is just not her usual thing.”

“She knows I do not want to marry.” Anna sighed. “So here I hide. And it is a shame because I do like to waltz.”

He smiled and grabbed her hand. “Come.”

Before she could say anything, he pulled her through the doors and away from the heat of the dance.

When they were free of the others, he released her hand. She smiled.

“This is getting to be a habit with us.”

“What?” he said as he looked around as if looking for something.

“Being alone, out on the terrace.”

He frowned at her. “I did it so that we could dance.”

He took her hand again and drew her into the shadows. Then he drew her into his arms. Without the ballroom full of people watching them, he drew her closer, so close she could feel the heat of his body. When she took a deep breath, her breasts brushed against his chest.

He moved her around the terrace, just as he had before on the dance floor, all power and grace, but this was more intimate. It was only the two of them, dancing in the shadows.

She looked up at him and found his serious gaze. She could not look away. Something shifted in his eyes, something so dark it should have frightened her, but it did not. Instead, she felt a jolt of awareness swiftly followed by a rush of excitement.

He continued the dance, his gaze never wavering from hers. She thought it impossible but he pulled her closer. The scent of him filled her senses. Bayberry, musky, so much Daniel as she knew him.

Before she was ready, the dance was over, but he did not release her. He stopped dancing and she felt his hand move over her back.

“Daniel?”

She could barely hear her own voice over the country reel that had started inside. She knew that soon they would be missed, that someone, probably her mother, would come looking for her at some point. But she could not seem to get herself to tell him they needed to return.

“You called me something else the other night.” His voice was deep, resonate. It sent a shiver of heat lancing through her veins.

“What?”

“In the carriage. You called me Danny.”

She closed her eyes as the images from that night came rushing back to the forefront of her mind. In her weakest moment, she had called him that. It was the name that she had always called him in her mind. Danny, her friend, her playmate. She opened her eyes and realized that this was not her playmate, the man she’d grown to love. This was someone else, darker, more dangerous.

She swallowed. “I know, but that was a mistake.”

His golden brown gaze searched hers. “Do you really believe that?”

She wanted to say yes. It was the smart thing to say, to believe. The other path would lead her to ruin. But she knew in her heart that it was not what she wanted, needed.

“No.”

Something passed over his expression, something dark and forbidden. He tugged her out of the shadows, but instead of going back to the ballroom, he pulled her down the steps and into the garden. The air was extremely cool, but she wasn’t cold at all. Instead, her entire body shivered with excitement.

He led her to the far end of the garden to a folly. He opened the door, stuck his head inside and then pulled her behind him as he strode into it.

Before she could ask him what was going on, he pulled her into his arms and started kissing her. He did not give her time to think, to even form an opinion of what was happening. He just took her mouth and plunged her into the heated pleasure of his kiss.

Daniel knew what he was doing, knew it was wrong, but he could not help it. All he had wanted was to keep her safe and happy. He had known that she loved to dance, especially the waltz. Knowing that she was hiding out and missing one of her true pleasures, he could not stand by and allow her to miss out.

He took her face into his hands and deepened the kiss, slipped his tongue into her mouth. God, the taste of her was beyond anything he had ever known. That there would never be another woman who tasted like this enticed him without even knowing it.

She moaned against his tongue, the vibrations shivering through his entire body. He walked her backwards to a couch against the back wall. Breaking the kiss, he sat and then pulled Anna down onto it next to him.

“Danny—”

He did not give her time to respond. Instead, he took her again, leaning over her, using his extra weight to press his point. She hesitated for a moment. But in the next second, she dove into the kiss with him, thrusting her tongue against his. Excitement flowered, expanded. He knew what he was doing was wrong, was against everything he knew he should be doing. But at the moment, he could not get his mind to work. All he could think of was Anna.

He made quick work of her dress. One tug and her breasts were exposed to his view. Anna gasped. The breathless sound was one of the most erotic things he had heard in his life. But he could not pause to tell her or even contemplate that.

The moonlight in the folly gave him a better view than he had the night in the carriage. Alabaster ivory, tipped with rosebuds. He skimmed the back of his fingers over each breast, delighted when she shivered.

He looked up at her and smiled at the blush now darkening her cheeks. She was a pleasure to behold. Without breaking eye contact, he bent his head over her breast and drew one sweet nipple into his mouth. Another gasp, but he ignored it and closed his eyes. Soon, the tender bud had tightened and her hands were now clenched in his hair.

Everything in him ached to take her, to make her his, but he knew that it would not be possible. But he could give her relief. He eased her on her back, then slid his hand down her body. As he continued to taste, tease and drive them both out of their minds, he eased her skirts up and stole beneath. He skimmed her hands up her thighs to the soft curls that lay at the top shielding her sweet honey pot. He eased his way up, placing a hand on each of her thighs, and touched his mouth to her very core.

“Danny!”

She tried to sit up and shove her skirts down. He ignored her. He slipped his tongue inside, sighing with pleasure as the taste of her exploded through his senses. Her protests turned to moans as he delved into her honey pot again and again. Her legs shifted restlessly beside his head, her hands molding to the back of his head.