Page 66 of How the Earl Entices

Not letting his eyes stray from hers, Ross bowed and held out his hand. “Then this waltz is mine.”

“After ten years.” Disbelief colored her voice. She was just as struck as he that fate had brought them back to this moment.

He smiled. “Better late than never.”

Her eyes shining, she slipped her hand into his and allowed him to lead her toward the ball.

As they neared the salon, a movement on the stairs caught his attention. The two guards with Patton stepped away. One man made his way down to the ground floor and the other up the next flight of stairs, which were recessed back from the formal staircase with its wrought iron railing and marble steps that curved up to the first floor’s reception rooms like something from a palace. The second set of steps went straight up an enclosed stairwell that marked the boundary between public and private. The same route that Ross had to use to access the study.

He stopped her and with a glance drew her attention to Patton, who now stood alone. “Looks like we still won’t have that waltz.” He grimaced. “It’s time. Are you ready?”

With a nod, Grace’s presence changed as she slipped easily into the role of contessa. She flashed him a bewitching smile, then dribbled the rest of her champagne over her bodice. “Just watch me.”

Trailing her fingertips down his arm, she slipped away.

With the heatof Ross’s gaze warming her back, Grace weaved her way through the crowd toward the stairs.

She didn’t dare glance over her shoulder to look at him, but she could feel him, once again sensing that inexplicable connection to him. He trailed slowly after her, always several feet behind, as if he were just another man in the crush who happened to be moving in the same direction. But all pretense of being Ellsworth had now vanished, leaving only his true self—resolute and focused.Dangerous.Those same qualities she’d glimpsed in him from the beginning, once again heightened, just as they’d been the night of the storm when he’d come crashing back into her life. But the desperation of that night had been replaced by determination.

She wouldn’t let him down.

Her smile not fading, despite the frantic pounding of her pulse, she reached the stairs. She paused with feigned uncertainty as she took a glance around her, then another up the stairs at the floor above, as if she didn’t know where she was going. Then she glided up the stairs, her head held high. Every inch of her now proclaimed her as the regal Incomparable she’d once been so many years ago, but she now knew that so much more lurked unseen beneath her surface. She had the wits for deception, and the courage to carry it off.

When she reached the top of the stairs, she gave Patton a smile and slowly passed by on the landing, as if she was just another one of the guests who had moved upstairs to the circuit of reception rooms there. Then she stopped. With a touch of embarrassment, she turned and walked back toward the second set of stairs, her hips sashaying as she began to climb them.

“My lady.” A deep voice and a hand to her elbow stopped her mid-step.

With a painful rush of fear and triumph, she glanced over her shoulder—

Patton.

Remaining right where she was on the second step, she slowly turned to face him, giving him a cool and assessing look. He could have been considered handsome, she supposed, with black hair and brown eyes, patrician angles to the planes of his face, and full lips now curved up into arrogant smile at having caught her. She also supposed that his broad shoulders on an otherwise lean and muscular frame would have been appealing to some women.

But compared to Ross, he was greatly lacking.

“Can I help you?” The same conceit that colored his smile laced through his voice.

More than you realize.“Unless the retiring rooms in England are much different from the ones in Italia,” she commented in a thick Italian accent, standing her ground on the stairs, “I do not suppose that you could be of much help.”

His mouth twitched at that, as if he didn’t know for certain whether she was flirting with him or making fun. “The ladies retiring rooms are downstairs.”

A tingling at the backs of her knees alerted her to Ross’s presence as he walked up the marble stairs and onto the first floor landing, treating her as any other woman in the crowd. Which meant that he ignored her, except for a slight glance of bored interest as he approached, presumably on his way to the men’s smoking and game rooms.

She descended to the landing to give him clear access to the next flight of stairs and brushed her hand at the drops of champagne on her bodice, drawing Patton’s gaze to her bosom. “I have had an accident and need to attend to my dress.” She reached out to brush her other hand against Patton’s jacket sleeve to keep his attention. But she needn’t have worried, because her hand at her neckline kept the man’s eyes glued to her. “Do you see what I’ve done? Such a mess all over my front, no?”

Ross’s step hitched. His back straightened for a beat before he sauntered on past her.

But Grace noticed his fleeting jealousy, and her heart soared.

“Would you be a gentleman and show me to the retiring room?” She linked her arm through Patton’s in invitation to be escorted away, and away from Ross to give him an opportunity to sneak up the stairs.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Ross stiffen when she touched Patton. His jaw tightened, and beneath the mask, she was certain his expression was murderous.

Patton let her lead him a few feet away toward the stairs, then stopped. He turned her toward the balustrade overlooking the stair hall below and pointed. “Down there, my lady.”

“Where?” She turned him sideways as she leaned over the balustrade, feigning ignorance.

He gestured toward the main doors leading into the grand salon. “The small door there.”