The Countess by Lynsay Sands

some air when someone suddenly appeared beside them.
    “I believe I was promised the next dance.”
    Richard stared blankly at the man who had approached them. He recognized him at once. Robert Maitland, Lord Langley. They had attended school together and been friends then, though they’d drifted apart afterward. The way Langley was looking at him now, however, was not friendly at all.
    “Oh, yes, I’d almost forgotten,” Christiana said in a voice that was high and strained and slipped from his arms to move to the man’s side. He almost caught her arm to stop her, but then refrained. If the man was on her card for the next dance, she would have to dance it with him. It was considered the height of rudeness to do otherwise.
    Nodding stiffly, Richard stepped out of the way and merely watched as the couple moved a little further away on the dance floor. His eyes narrowed slightly as he noted how comfortable the woman appeared to be with Langley as she went into his arms for the dance. She was also smiling at the man with a combination of relief and what could only be described as affection. It made Richard wonder about their relationship. It also caused a small, surprising, pang of jealousy to slip through him. Ridiculous, he told himself as he turned to move off the dance floor. She was nothing to him. While he found himself wanting to protect her, that was all. Other than that, he didn’t even know her.
    “You looked like you needed rescuing.”
    Christiana smiled weakly and lifted her eyes to Robert as he moved her around the dance floor. He wasn’t wrong there. She had been falling under her husband’s spell, her body being assaulted by completely alien desires and wants. In fact, she’d been half a breath away from suggesting she did want to seek out the fresh air on the balcony after all when Robert had appeared. The problem was it hadn’t been fresh air she’d been hoping to find. Christiana had hoped Richard might take her in his arms and kiss her there. That drink she’d had was obviously having some strange effects on her. She’d never felt this way toward Dicky before, even on their wedding night.
    “Yes, I rather did need rescuing. Thank you,” she murmured vaguely and glanced to where Richard now stood on the edge of the dance floor, following them with burning eyes. She thought she could actually feel a trail of warmth slide along her body as his eyes skated over her and quickly turned her head back to Robert as he spoke.
    “I was surprised but happy to see that he finally let you attend a ball.”
    Christiana didn’t comment. Dicky hadn’t exactly let her attend. However, she simply couldn’t explain the events of that day to him. She couldn’t even explain the events of the last few moments to herself. How had her general dislike and loathing of her husband turned to desire on the dance floor?
    The combination of whiskey on an empty stomach and exhaustion from the day’s events must have conspired to confuse and befuddle her, she reasoned . . . and she was exhausted. It had been a very stressful day all told, and had simply grown more stressful when Dicky appeared here at the ball. Christiana had just begun to adjust to the fact that she was free of him and had enjoyed those precious hours of not worrying about what Dicky would say and do. Yet now here he was alive and well and she was suddenly attracted to him in a way she had never been before. Christiana hadn’t even felt this way toward him during their courting. She’d never once wanted him to kiss her or pull her close then as she’d wanted during the waltz. In fact, she had come to realize that her feelings for the man during their courting had been more of a child’s daydream than a woman’s wishes. The courting had been all hearts and flowers, leading to a child’s light fluffy dream of happy-ever-afters. However, the attraction she’d felt just now on the dance floor was much more raw and physical and left her bewildered