Candlelit Christmas Kisses. Anne Herries

suddenly dry, her heart beating like a drum in her breast. He was coming. He would ask her to dance, but her card was full. What should she do? Her breath caught in her throat as she gazed up into his eyes and felt as though she were drowning.

      ‘Captain Moorcroft at your service, Princess,’ he said, his dark eyes bold and filled with confidence as he swept her a bow and seized her card, striking out Lord March’s name, which appeared next on her list. ‘March will not deny me, or I’ll challenge him to a duel.’

      ‘I am not a princess—and you ought not to have done that,’ Selina reproved, but she was laughing because her heart had leaped at the sight of him, and the touch of his hand made her breathless with a strange excitement she had never known. All at once she felt reckless and wildly happy. ‘My name is Selina Searles.’

      ‘Robert Moorcroft, sweet Miss Selina,’ he said, and the seductive note in his voice wiped all caution from her mind. ‘You are mine, and if any here dispute it, they may call me out for it. My angel …’

      With that he took her hand and swept her out on to the dance floor, whirling her round and round until she was breathless and laughing, her mama’s warnings all but forgotten. For the whole of the dance, her feet scarcely seemed to touch the floor, and she wished it could go on for ever, but then the music was ending, and as he led her to the side of the floor, her next partner was there to claim her.

      Selina felt a sharp stab of disappointment. Robert Moorcroft stood watching her for a moment and then turned away. She wished with all her heart that she had an empty card and might dance with him all night, but convention would have allowed him no more than three dances at most.

      As her dance ended and her partner thanked her, Selina realised that she’d hardly noticed him, lost in a dream. Her eyes had been searching the room for the young captain. Turning away, with the intent of seeking her mama while she waited for her next partner, she felt a touch on her arm and found herself gazing up at Robert Moorcroft once more.

      ‘I have settled it with Hendricks that this dance is mine,’ he said, and drew her into his arms as the next waltz began.

      Selina was too shaken by her storm of feelings to deny him. Waltzing in his arms was a dream, like floating in a blue sky on a summer’s day. She felt herself drifting away on a cloud of pleasure as he whirled her round and round, and she wanted the dance to last for the rest of her life. To feel like this was something that even in her most romantic dreams she had not imagined. She longed for the moment to go on and on endlessly.

      When their dance ended, he kept hold of her hand and strode towards the open doors that led onto the terraces, taking her with him.

      ‘I have made you hot,’ he told her, with a smile that sent her heart fluttering. ‘We shall take a little stroll in the garden until you feel able to dance again.’

      Selina knew that she ought to refuse, but she could not find the words. Besides, it was what she wanted above anything. She had never felt like this in her life, and something told her that she must seize the moment or it might not come again.

      Outside, he led her away from the lights of the ballroom to a secluded spot by some rose bushes, the deep, intoxicating smell of which she knew would remain with her for the rest of her life.

      ‘You are so beautiful that you make me want to weep,’ he whispered softly against her ear. ‘I have never seen a woman as lovely as you, my angel—my Selina. I adore you. You have captured my heart.’

      ‘Oh …’ Selina was lost. This was flirting, and her mama had told her she must not flirt with gentlemen—but he was the one flirting. She had done nothing but give herself up to the delight of dancing with him. ‘You … you should not …’

      Before she could say more, he lowered his head, one hand about her waist as he pulled her in close. She could feel the pressure of his hand in the small of her back and the hardness of his strong body. His mouth was cool and soft on hers, the pressure light at first but increasing as her own lips opened in response. His tongue entered, touching hers lightly in a way that sent little spirals of pleasure skittering down her spine.

      ‘What should I not?’ he whispered as his kiss ended, and he pressed his lips against her throat.

      Selina trembled. Such sensation coursed through her entire being. The response of her body to his was sweeping away all thought, all sense of what was right or wrong. How could this feeling be wrong when it was so glorious?

      It was the best thing that had ever happened to her—and the worst. For she sensed that if she were not careful. her reputation might be lost, and yet she was caught by the moonlight and the moment, incapable of repulsing him.

      ‘Should I not kiss you, or …?’ His hand was at her breast, fondling her through the thin silk, and then he had pushed down the neck of her gown. His lips closed over her breast, sucking delicately at her nipple.

      It was so shocking that she was stunned, and yet a ripple of desire shot through her and she moaned. For a moment she was delirious with pleasure, but then she remembered her mother’s warning and broke away, tugging her gown into place. What had she done? To allow such a liberty was to forget that she was a lady—but in his arms she could happily forget the world.

      ‘You forget yourself, sir. I am but sixteen and … and we should not be here.’ As she turned away, he caught her wrist, turning her back to face him. ‘Please, let me go,’ she begged. ‘You will ruin me, sir.’ All of a sudden she was shivering and afraid of what she’d done.

      ‘I shall return for you,’ he vowed, and for a moment his eyes burned with a silver light in the darkness. ‘Never forget me, Selina Searles. I have put my brand on you. I adore you and one day I shall claim you. You will be mine. Wait for me …’

      ‘You must not say such things, for you do not mean them!’ she cried and, tearing herself from his grasp, fled back to the lights of the ballroom, not stopping until she was in the ladies’ restroom, where she splashed her cheeks with cold water and tidied her gown.

      He had not meant the things he’d said to her. Of course he had not—because she’d tasted the brandy on his tongue. He was undoubtedly drunk, and in the morning he would have forgotten the things he’d said and done—but she would not forget.

      Selina knew that in one respect he had spoken the truth. Captain Robert Moorcroft had put his mark on her, and she would never, ever be the same again.

      CHAPTER ONE

       Late autumn 1817, Bedfordshire

      ‘WHAT are we going to do, Selina?’ Amy Searles looked at her elder sister fearfully. ‘How shall we manage now that Mama …’ She choked back her tears as her sister shook her head. ‘It was hard enough when we had Mama’s jointure, but now …’

      ‘Please do not remind me,’ Selina begged. Her face was tight with grief. Their mama’s rapid decline and sudden death had happened no more than six months after their father had shot himself, having gambled away his fortune at the tables. ‘Something needed to be done even if Mama …’ She swallowed hard because the tears were so very close.

      Only two days had passed since they’d buried their beloved mother, and the girls had been left to care for their younger sister, Millicent, who was just twelve years of age. ‘We have her jewels. We could sell those, I suppose, or some of the silver—but that will not solve the problem of where we shall live. Cousin Joshua owns the house now. It only remained Mama’s home while she lived.’

      ‘We both have a little money that Grandmama Robinson left us,’ Amy said. ‘Is it enough to purchase a house, do you think?’

      ‘One hundred pounds might buy us a small cottage, but if we spent that we should have nothing left to live on.’ Selina bit her lower lip. ‘We might be able to rent a cottage somewhere.’

      ‘What about your season? You were to find a rich husband so that we did not need to worry about money.’

      ‘Had Mama