Noting his change in direction, Devina glanced up curiously. The luminous blue of her eyes touched and held his, and a deeper, more powerful emotion surged to life inside him. Her heavily lashed eyelids flickered only briefly as he returned her stare, and he took a firm hold on his feelings, struggling to suppress his instinctive response to her gaze.
Be careful, fool
, his mind cautioned.
It isn't Ross Morrison she sees when she looks at you. If the haughty Miss Dale knew she was dancing in the arms of a penniless ex-convict with a bleak future, she would scream her protest. It's Charles Carter she sees, a respected young physician and heir to the railroad fortune of Oliver Carter, a man she obviously considers her social equal
.
Suppressing a frown in response to his thoughts, Ross pulled Devina Dale's delicate frame a trifle closer. His pulse jumped as her lips parted in a spontaneous gasp. Oh, yes, tonight was the night he had been waiting for. With a quickened step, Ross danced Devina out onto the patio and into the surrounding shadows.
Breathless under Charles's searing gaze, Devina found herself all but swept from her feet as Charles whirled her out onto the patio and into the cool evening breeze. Her short protest went totally ignored as he danced her to a halt in the shadows cast by the flickering lanterns.
For long moments he held her gaze in silence before raising his eyes in a quick assessing glance around them. His frown reflected his annoyance at the interested stares of other guests, and Devina's heart thundered anew.
What was it about Charles that stirred this unexpected heightening of her senses? She had enjoyed his company immensely these past few weeks. She had occasionally been annoyed by his persistent good nature, but she had found that he could stir a deeply buried sense of humor within her, which had previously gone undiscovered. But in all the time she had spent in Charles's company, she had never experienced this breathless reaction to his masculine appeal, this stirring deep in the inner core of herself that marked their meeting this night. She was confused, and a bit shaken by her confusion.
But Charles was turning her to his side, tucking her arm under his, urging her into a quick step toward a less brightly lit corner of the garden. She could imagine the reaction of her curious guests, but in truth, she cared little. It was her own reaction she was concerned about, and it alarmed her. Her heart pounding, her breathing almost ragged, she knew this breathlessness was not due to the strain of the dance. This was all going too fast. This new, intense Charles was not the man she had become accustomed to during their acquaintance. He was not the same man who had inspired the easy camaraderie that had been the mark of their association. This new Charles had an entirely different effect on her… an effect that was almost frightening in its intensity.
In her confusion, Devina took a backward step. Charles halted, turning toward her with a small frown as she struggled to regain her composure. She gave a short, breathless laugh in an attempt to lighten the moment.
''Charles, we'll stir no end of gossip tonight. What will people think if we go walking off into the shadows?"
Charles's dark eyes were barely discernible in the half-light. "They'll think I want to be alone with you, and they'll be right."
Devina fought to control her reaction to Charles's throbbing tone. "Perhaps I don't want to be alone with you, Charles."
His gaze narrowed, capturing hers with its burning heat. "Don't you want to be alone with me, Devina, for just a little while?" He took a step closer. She could feel the masculine heat of his body drawing her even as his voice sent little shivers of anticipation up her spine. "Don't you?"
Charles raised a hand to her cheek. He caressed her skin, trailing his fingertips to her mouth to trace the line of her lips with a gentle touch. "I want to hold you in my arms, Devina. I want to taste these lips that have been tantalizing me since the moment I saw you. I want to feel your mouth come alive under mine. I want to know what it's like to taste an angel's kiss."
"You know me better than that, Charles. I'm no angel. I've never pretended to be one."
Charles's fingertips followed the line of Devina's chin, the curve of her throat. His hand cradled the nape of her neck, and he drew her face closer to his.
"You're an angel tonight. No flaws are visible in moonlight, and the moon is very bright right now. Walk with me, Devina. Tonight we're two people we've never been before. Let's find out who we really are."
Devina wanted to be alone with Charles, but a strange, incomprehensible reluctance held her back.
"I… I can't leave my own party, Charles."
"Yes, you can. And you will."
The hand cupping the back of her neck drew her closer. Charles's mouth grazed hers, tantalizing her. She could feel his sweet breath against her lips. She could feel the trembling that shook his strong frame as his grating whisper caressed her skin.
"Devina… Devina, I've waited so long to hold you close to my heart. Just for a few minutes, darling."
Charles's lips brushed hers with light, fleeting kisses, and Devina gasped at their butterfly touch, at the sweet, promised ecstasy denied by their dancing flight. She was drawn inexorably toward him by the heat of their mutual desire, and she swayed uncertainly.
But Charles drew back. Her heavy eyelids opened wide at his withdrawal, and a spontaneous protest escaped her lips. Her protest was clearly reflected in the obsidian darkness of his eyes as he glanced around them with obvious discomfort.
"Devina,
dammit
, there's no privacy here. I want to hold you, darling."
They were drawing the attention of the guests at a small table adjacent to them. They would cause a scandal if they remained standing where they were, and they would cause a scandal if they disappeared into the surrounding shadows. Truly, there was no choice to make.
Charles's arm slipped around her waist as he urged her along with him. He pulled her close against his side, and she could feel the smooth movement of his tightly muscled body. She wanted to be held in those strong arms. She wanted to feel Charles's strength envelop her. She wanted to know Charles's mouth completely…
They had moved beyond the ring of light cast by the lanterns. Only a shadow of Charles's face remained visible as he suddenly pulled her to a stop and turned her full into his arms. His arms slipped around her, and she heard a soft expletive as his mouth descended in a hard, crushing kiss that echoed with the passion of his tight embrace. His kiss deepened, forcing aside the temporary barrier of her teeth. He was drawing, drinking from her lips. He was tasting, savoring, consuming her. He was clutching her closer, tighter, as Devina's arms slipped around his neck. She was melting into him, becoming a part of his strength, a part of his weakness, a part of the emotion that fused them into one.
The heady assault of Charles's lovemaking continued as his lips searched her face, touching and tasting the curve of her brow, her fluttering eyelids, the graceful hollows of her cheeks, before moving to cover her parted lips once more. He drew her deeper into the shadows, all but lifting her from her feet with the passion of his breathtaking embrace.
Charles was breathing raggedly when he abruptly separated himself from her. He stared into her face for a long second, his expression unreadable in the semidarkness. Unexpectedly, he released her, raising his hands to disengage her arms from around his neck. Devina's short gasp of protest was halted by a movement behind her. She turned in time to catch a glimpse of a slight, fair-haired man as Charles twisted her arms roughly behind her back and the other man slipped a gag over her mouth.
Devina began to struggle against Charles's restrictive grip on her wrists, the gag around her mouth. A paralyzing fear overwhelmed her as another pair of hands aided in the struggle to subdue her, attempting to slip a bond around her wrists as she squirmed and twisted in an attempt to break free. Not quite understanding what was happening, she knew only that she was in danger, grave danger, from the man she had trusted most!
Rage renewed her struggles. Just when her frantic bid for freedom appeared to be succeeding, Charles's arms suddenly enveloped her, crushing her helplessly against him. But now there was no passion in Charles's embrace. Instead, his arms were cruelly rough, demanding obedience as he rasped harshly, "Damn you, hold still or I'll have to"
A muffled gasp escaped Devina's lips. Their struggle had shifted their position so that a shaft of moonlight lit the harsh planes of Charles's face. He was looking down at her, all traces of his ardor erased by the fury in his gaze.
Those eyes! Oh, God, she remembered them. She recognized the hatred, the menace in them. It was he! The man from the stagecoach! He had Charles's face, but not his eyes.
Horror and a deep, soul-chilling fear endowing her with a new strength, Devina burst into a frenzy of movement. She was twisting, squirming, and pulling at Charles's restrictive embrace in a wild effort to break free, kicking and thrashing at the hands that were attempting to bind her ankles.
She heard Charles issue a soft command a warning, which registered somewhere in the back her mind but she dismissed it as she fought his imprisoning grip with an almost maniacal fervor. She felt a fleeting moment's triumph as Charles momentarily let go of her wrists, but it was gone all too soon as his hand descended rapidly toward her face.
A blinding explosion of pain blacked out the rasp of her own labored breathing, the echo of music floating on the night air, the sharp, metallic taste of her fear, and the regretful sound of Charles's low, pained exclamation.
"Damn, you, Devina Dale. Damn you!"
Harvey was beginning to get annoyed. Damn, where had Devina gone?
Making certain not to allow any trace of concern to become apparent in his expression, Harvey slipped his fingers into the pocket of his waistcoat and removed his watch. With a casual flick of his finger, he opened the lid and slanted a brief glance downward.
An hour! She had been gone an hour! An inquiry from Lai Hua earlier had sent him in search of Devina, only to be informed by Albert Wallace, of all people, that his daughter had disappeared into the shadows of the yard with Charles Carter. He had, of course, laughed off Albert's sly smile and its irritating innuendo. He knew Devina better than that. His daughter would not humiliate either herself or him by behaving in such a manner. He had been certain he would find her busily entertaining in another part of the house. But he had been wrong.
Well, he had waited long enough for her to return to the party. If his daughter had been foolish enough to put herself in an embarrassing position, she would get what she deserved.
Aware that Lai Hua's eyes had been following him intently for the past hour, Harvey beckoned her toward him. "Lai Hua, send the servants onto the grounds to find Miss Devina. Tell them I want the search conducted quietly, so it will not draw the attention of our guests. But I want them to find her at once. Have them tell her I wish to see her immediately."
His annoyance flaring anew at the disapproval obvious in Lai Hua's expression, Harvey asked tightly, "Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand, Mr. Dale."
Turning quickly, Lai Hua disappeared among the guests, and Harvey returned to the living room. The party was beginning to wane. It needed Devina's direction, her enthusiasm to pick it up. Devina would get more than a talking-to when he saw her again.
Harvey stood in the well-lit foyer of his home, an army of servants around him. Music wafted in from the living room behind him, but his guests were no longer dancing. Instead, they stood in small, whispering groups, slanting nervous glances toward him, which he totally ignored.
No longer attempting to hide his anxiety, Harvey turned to Lai Hua. "You're sure, Lai Hua?" Ignoring the stress obvious on the young Oriental's face, he pressed sharply, "You've questioned every one of the servants? They've searched the grounds in all directions?"
"Yes, Mr. Dale. Miss Devina cannot be found."
Where could she be? Panic touched Harvey's senses. A thorough search of the house and grounds had turned up no sign of either Devina or Charles, but Harvey refused to accept the implications of that fact. He had appraised the tenor of the relationship between Charles and Devina. As surprising as it had seemed to him, it had been obvious to his discerning eye that although a deep friendship seemed to have developed, there was no feeling of a stronger nature between them. This situation was not as it would seem. Something was very wrong.
Not yet ready to face the questions and the speculative glances of his guests, Harvey walked into an isolated portion of the foyer. He needed to think.
He had been ill at ease most of the night, what with Lily showing up unexpectedly and the stress of arriving guests. He had managed the guests and sent Lily away, but there was something else, something his preoccupation had caused him to miss, but that continued to nag at the back of his mind…
He had begun to feel uncomfortable again just after Charles entered the house, although he was still uncertain as to the reason why…
With a suddenness that stole his breath, realization struck his mind. Charles's hand! Harvey had extended his hand in greeting, and Charles had accepted it warmly, as he had many times before. But tonight Charles's handshake had been different…