Before she could stop herself, the anger left her expression, unwelcome suspicion taking its place. “Your threats are grating upon my nerves, Mr. Harrow.”
“Ahhh, but they certainly tame you.” Their form changed, his hands lingering over her abdomen or running down the length of her arm as he expertly drew her into a complicated entanglement of limbs.
Unwilling to be as foolish as Lilly, Arabella ignored the obvious seduction and long caresses, glaring so he might know she was immune.
Grumbling when he didn’t get his way, he spoke words only for her. “Where is the Imp who called out my name in passion, who begged me for more?”
“Perhaps, she came to her senses over the last seven days.”
“Little liar...” He smirked and leaned nearer. “I can see your wounded feelings hidden under so much pretense. Was it unpleasant watching me enrapture the trite Miss Jenkins? I can continue... shall that be the punishment you’ve earned?”
“You have such a talent for reminding me why I dislike your company.”
“Shall I do penance for my ways?” He spun her until her back was to his chest and their lips only a hairsbreadth apart. “Would that please you, Imp?”
Those sculpted lips, that had felt so good all over her body, pressed into a line of annoyance when she refused to answer. “Well?”
With a desperate look in her eye, she answered. “Yes, if I thought you were capable of it.”
He spun her into another figure, which placed her thigh against his leg. Smiling like a snake, soft words poured from a troublesome man. “I am mildly pacified when you are near. I do try.”
She shook her head and began to frown, eyes searching his to see if he was sincere in his threat toward Lilly. “Then take it back. Promise me you would never do something so evil to Miss Jenkins.”
“It would be a lie. But I would lie to you to hold your attention.”
She stood on her toes to reach as close to his great height as she could. “I—”
“Are you going to tell me you loathe me now, Imp?” The way his smile grew it was as if he wanted those words from her—wanted her to remember the first time she’d spoken them to him.
Every sensation in her body warned her to walk away, go out the door and never see him again.
The music ended and Gregory looked almost tender. “Is it not kinder that I tell you now? Your weakness is your goodness, and I would twist it to have my way.”
Arabella grew desolate. “What is it that you want?”
“Hush, my love,” he brushed the back of his fingers down her arm. “I only wanted our dance.”
Mr. Harrow, following protocol, thought to lead her through the crowd, but Arabella’s hand shot out and she gripped his wrist fiercely in the press. With an expression dripping with the darker parts of her spirit, she beckoned him closer.
Leaning down with that handsome leer twisted up, he offered an ear so she could be heard over the murmuring horde seeking the dining room. “Gregory, you have greatly misjudged whatever strange liaison you believe existed between us. More importantly, you overestimate my tie to the heath. If you threaten me again, or threaten her, I will see to it that should I choose to uproot my life again, I will ruin yours first.”
He straightened, the previous arrogant expression erased. Standing solemn, he scowled greatly. “Do not say such things.”
> Roused and honest in her threat, she pulled her lips from her teeth. “Do not make me say such things.”
A long, unpleasant examination of her expression did not appease him. Pulling her arm through his elbow, Gregory tugged Arabella forward, cutting the line of couples waiting to enter the dining hall.
The baroness took precedence, was first to be called forward by rule that her last dance partner would accompany her at the meal. Of course, Gregory had accounted for it. She would be forced to sit with him, to be seen at his side.
Glowing sconces reflected off the white paneling of the walls, an illusion of openness in the long room. Arabella saw none of it as he took her to a distant table. Silence continued between them even when seated, Arabella frowning while stripping white leather gloves from her fingers.
Where she was formal, and clearly agitated, he lounged in his chair, resentful as he watched her every move. As one of the wealthier families of the neighborhood, the Jenkinses were close on their heels, foolish enough to join the agitated couple’s table.
Lizzy was grinning ear to ear. “Well, the neighborhood has been properly scandalized. Half the room stood up for what I am sure will be remembered as an infamous waltz.”
Trying to meet her friend’s enthusiasm, Arabella asked, “Did you stand up with a gentleman?”
“Don’t be silly. Mama would have fallen over had anyone asked, especially as Lilly was unpartnered. Besides it was far more entertaining watching you... well the little we could see of you through the crush.”