His hands had fallen to her bottom, closing, kneading, holding her hips hard against him so the rampant ridge of his erection rode against her stomach. His tongue was deep in her mouth, ravishing, probing, hot and insistent, when the first sound reached her ears.
He slowed the tenor of their kiss; she could sense the harsh saw of his breathing, could feel his chest rise and fall again
st her aching breasts, could sense the thunder of his heart, and her own, as he listened.
Nothing more reached them; he angled his head and dragged her once more into the whirlpool of their kiss. Into the path of onrushing desire.
"Which way is it? Over there?"
The high-pitched girlish voice pierced their absorption-hauled them to earth with a gut-wrenching jolt.
"What…?" Amanda looked over her shoulder.
Martin looked, too, and cursed.
"I don't believe it!" Amanda hissed. "It's Miss Ellis again! With a different man!"
Hand in hand, the pair were heading for the dell, crashing along by the lake. They hadn't yet seen the present occupants.
Martin cursed again. "I'll have to go."
Amanda looked back at him, swallowed her "No!" Muttered a curse of her own as his hands slid from her.
His gaze flicked between her and the approaching couple as he backed toward the trees. "Where will you be tonight?"
She put a hand to her whirling head. "The Kendricks'. Damn! It's not possible. There's no terrace or gardens, just one big ballroom. They're friends of the family-I can't not be there."
He paused in the shadows of the circling trees. "The house in Albemarle Street?"
She nodded.
"There's a balcony that overhangs the side garden."
"It's on the first floor."
"Be on it at twelve."
She blinked, then nodded. "I'll be there."
His gaze said she'd better be, then he stepped back; before her eyes, he melted into the shadows, fading away.
Totally disgruntled, her senses in disarray, her nerves tight, tense and flickering, and certain to remain so for hours, she turned to greet the reason. Plastering a smile on her lips, she went to meet Miss Ellis and her cavalier.
If her expectations of the afternoon were to remain unfulfilled, she'd be damned if she allowed Miss Ellis to fare better.
Chapter 12
At precisely midnight, Amanda slipped out onto the narrow balcony at the end of the Kendricks' ballroom. Reached through glass doors, the balcony extended around the corner of the building to overlook the side garden.
Shivering, she wrapped her arms about her. The weather had turned unaccommodating; a blustery wind scudded rain clouds across the moon. A downpour threatened. Hugging herself, she hurried to the corner.
The door behind her opened. "Amanda?"
She whirled, blinked at the fair-haired figure silhouetted against the ballroom's brightness.
"What are you doing out here?" Simon's tone, one that could only be managed by a younger brother, suggested he thought she was insane.
"Ah… I'm taking the air. It's stuffy in there." She hadn't even known he was watching her. Worse, his narrowing eyes, the very fact he'd followed her… her little brother was growing up. And he was a Cynster to his toes.