Sabrina Jeffries - Dance of Seduction (Swanlea Spinsters, Book 4)

With Carefulness watch

Each moment that flies,

To keep Peace at Home,

And ward off Surprize.

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html A Little pretty pocket-book,John Newbery

Morgan couldn't believe itClara and Ravenswood coming in together from the balcony so chummy, looking as if they'd been friends all their lives.

Which they probably had. The thought provoked an unfamiliar tightness in his gut. "You two seem to be enjoying yourselves. I thought you'd gone off to dance."

"We never made it there," Ravenswood said calmly.

"That became readily apparent when I went looking for you." Stepping up to Clara, Morgan laid his hand possessively in the small of her back. "I hope you won't mind if I carry her off for a dance myself." Ravenswood looked suddenly amused. "I rather think that's up to Lady Clara, don't you?"

"Dance with me, Clara," Morgan said curtly.

To his vast annoyance, she laughed. "Is that a request or a command, Captain?"

"Whichever you prefer,ma belle ange ."

Curiosity flickered in Ravenswood's eyes at the endearment, but he merely tipped his head toward Clara. "I can see when I'm not wanted. Thank you for the discussion, my lady. It was most

enlightening."

"Yes, it was, wasn't it?" She held her hand out to Ravenswood. He took it, but instead of pressing it as was usual, he lifted it to his lips to kiss it. Then with a smile at Morgan, he left. A fierce urge to throttle his friend seized Morgan, and he didn't know how to handle it.Bon Dieu , what had come over him this evening? "So are you dancing with me or not, Clara?" he asked, hating how peevish he sounded, like a besotted idiot.

She faced him, eyes twinkling. "I do believe I shall, since Lord Ravenswood deprived me of the dance I apparently promised to him."

With a scowl, he led her to the floor for the waltz. "You seemed to be having a grand time with Ravenswood."

"I was. He's quite an interesting gentleman."

He gritted his teeth. He could easily see how a woman like Clara would find the viscount "interesting"

and titled and rich and very eligible. Everything that Morgan was not. Taking her in his arms, he held her closer than was proper, feeling some primitive male urge to stake his claim on her, to remind her that she washis . Even though she wasn't, not in any real sense of the word. Even though she never could be.

Yet she didn't seem to mind his possessive hold. She danced easily with him, as light-footed and blithe as any winged angel. Her grace and self-assurance were that of a woman who knew her own mind, yet she yielded in his arms with all the sweetness she'd shown in the library. It was enough to make a man Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html trip over his own feet.

And her scent oh, God, the scent of jasmine in her hair made him want to howl at the moon, to carry her out into Merrington's gardens and ravish her like the devil he was. He settled for stroking her satin-covered back, holding her close, running his thumb along her ribs where he held her at the waist. Still, he couldn't get Ravenswood out of his mind. "How is it that when you're badgeringme for answers, you rage and accuse and torment, but with Lord Ravenswood you're the soul of amiability?" Her startled gaze shot to him. "What makes you think I am?"

"The two of you were all smiles just now, as comfortable as two old friends."

"We've known each other for some time, you know. It's not as if we're strangers." An impish light crossed her face. "Not the way you and I are, in any case."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"When were you planning to tell me that you're the Honorable Captain Morgan Blakelybrother to one baron, son to another, a notorious spy, and Lord knows what else?" He didn't know why, but it bothered him that she was so interested in his family connections. "Does it make a difference to you who I really am?"

"It makes a difference that I didn't know. That you lied to me about your name and Geneva and the rest of it. That you won't even tell mewhy you lied to me."

The hint of hurt in her voice tore at him more effectively than the actual words. "I didn't lie. Not really. I truly did go by the name of Morgan Pryce when I served in the navy. Most naval officers still know me by that name." "But why would you take a different name" "It's a long story, Clara, too much to go into now." "Give me the short version," she said tersely. "Or is that something else you and Ravenswood feel that I cannot know?"

He sighed but could think of no reason not to tell her. "My brother and I were raised apart. Shortly after Sebastian and I were born, my mother left my father and took me with her to Geneva. She gave me her maiden name for a surname. She summoned my uncle Llewelyn when she was dying, and Uncle Lew came and fetched me. I was thirteen. Sebastian didn't know about me, and my uncle and the baron urged me to keep the secret to make matters less complicated."

"Less complicated for whom?" she asked, so softly that he almost didn't hear her above the orchestra. The sympathy in her face caught him by surprise. He squeezed her hand. "I didn't mind,cherie . I understood. The baron and my uncle were concerned about claims to the title. Although Mother did assure them that Sebastian was the eldest, they thought it best to keep us apart until he inherited. They put me in school, and when I was of age they used their influence to start me as a midshipman in the navy, where I was presented as the baron's ward. They took good care of me. I have nothing to reproach them for."

"Except denying you the company of your brother." He glanced away. She read him so well it frightened him. "I have him now, and that's all that matters. After the baron died, I saw no reason to keep the secret, and I sought Sebastian out. When he knew the truth, he insisted that I take my place with the Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html family and use my birth name. That's how I started out as Morgan Pryce and ended up Morgan Blakely." His gaze swung back to her. "So you see, I really didn't lie. I just left some things out." She lifted an eyebrow. "Indeed you did. Like the fact that you used to be a spy. That you spent time with pirates. That"

"Ravenswood told you about the pirates?"

"Only because I asked. But he wouldn't tell me much of anything else." He tightened his hand on her waist. "Yet you were out there with him a long time." A teasing grin played over her lips. "I suppose I was."

He didn't like this new coyness of hers. He hated it almost as much as the tightness in his gut that he was just beginning to recognize as jealousy.

Jealousy, for God's sake! He'd never felt such a thing in his life. "What did you talk about, the two of you, while you were out on the balcony?"

She tossed back her head. "That's between me and Lord Ravenswood, isn't it?"

"Then I'll just ask him myself," he bit out.

"What makes you think he'll tell you?"

"Because he has nothing to hide from me." When she averted her gaze, he pulled her closer. "Or does he? He didn't try to kiss you or anything, did he?"

Her gaze shot back to him, full of amusement. "Why would you think that?"

"That's generally why men bring women out onto balconies at these affairs." When she remained stubbornly silent, he snapped, "Well? Did he?"

"Did he what?"

"Try to kiss you, confound it!"

All the mischief drained from her face, and she eyed him with deep solemnity. "Would you mind if he did?"

He thought about lying, but there seemed no point to that.

"The truth is, I would mind very much. Though I'm damned if I know why." That seemed to please her. "If it makes you feel any better, Lord Ravenswood didn't attempt anything. Just because you try to kiss me whenever we're alone doesn't meaneveryone does, you know."