ladies’ room, and she was so happy about her engagement that it made me want to cry? Could she say, I saw a man I’ve never seen before, a man whose name I don’t know, and he made me feel something Alan never made me feel, and it frightened me so much that I ran away?
The room seemed to quiver around her. ‘Dear God,’ she whispered aloud, and suddenly an arm slid around her waist. She smelled a faint tang of leathery cologne, felt the brush of fabric against her cheek, felt the hard length of a male body against hers.
‘You’ll be all right,’ a deep voice said. ‘Just lean on me.’
‘I… I’m fine,’ she said. ‘Really…’
But she allowed herself to lean into the man’s embrace. His arm tightened around her, his hand pressing against the curve of her hip.
‘You’re going to pass out if you don’t get some fresh air,’ he said. ‘Take a deep breath. That’s it.’
Paige did as she was told. She’d never fainted in her life, but she thought he was probably right. The room was a spinning vortex of bright colours, the music a drumming shriek. She fitted her body to his, almost burrowing against him as he led her through the crowd. The doors that led to the gardens loomed ahead, and she knew that was where he was taking her.
He reached for the door and pushed it open. A gust of cold air blew into her face, clearing the cobwebs from her mind. It was time for her to stop him. She could thank him for his help and asked him to locate her fiancé for her.
But she would do none of that. Paige knew it, even before he led her into the chill October garden, just as she knew that the man beside her was the stranger who’d been watching her all evening, and the race of her heart only confirmed what she could no longer deny.
She had wanted this moment to come. She had been hoping it would. And now that it was here, she knew her life would never be the same again.
PAIGE shivered as the glass doors swung shut behind her. The last time she’d been here was with Alan. Roses and honeysuckle had perfumed the air then. Now it smelled of the sea that beat relentlessly at the sand below the bluff. Music spilled faintly from the closed ballroom, a soft accompaniment to the distant pound of the surf. A full moon lit the terrace, but as Paige lifted her eyes to the stranger’s face a bank of clouds scudded across the sky, plunging everything into darkness.
Every instinct told her to pull free of the arm encircling her waist and hurry back into the lighted warmth of the clubhouse, but her feet seemed rooted to the ground. This is insanity, she thought, and she turned to say she was leaving. But the man beside her spoke first.
‘Take a deep breath.’
Paige shook her head. ‘I’m all right now. I…’
She felt the pressure of his hand. ‘Do it,’ he said curtly. ‘Go on. Inhale.’
It was a command, not a suggestion. She nodded and did as he’d said, drawing the cool air deep into her lungs.
‘Better?’
She nodded again. ‘Yes. Much better. Thank you for your…’
‘Don’t talk,’ he said. ‘Just take another breath.’
She inhaled again and told herself there was nothing to be concerned about. She was sure she’d turned as pale as a sheet in that stuffy ballroom. He’d noticed, and he’d come to her assistance. He was just being a Good Samaritan. Anything else was the result of an over-active imagination.
‘I… I’m fine now,’ she said. ‘And I’m terribly sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you.’
‘It was no trouble at all.’ The pressure of his hand urged her to turn towards him. ‘In fact, you might say you did me a favour.’
‘I did?’ Was there a smile in his voice? If only she could see his face…
He laughed softly. ‘I’ve always wanted to rescue a damsel in distress, Juliet.’ His hand touched her cheek. ‘That is your name tonight, isn’t it?’
‘I… yes, yes, that’s right,’ Paige said quickly. ‘And I really have to go inside now. My fiancé…’
His fingers closed on her hand. ‘I thought I saw something sparkling on your finger. Tell me, Juliet—where is he? Your fiancé, I mean.’
‘He… he’s in the ballroom, waiting for me. He… What are you doing?’ she asked, even though the answer was obvious. He had shrugged free of his dinner jacket and was draping it over her shoulders.
‘You’re cold,’ he said, lifting the curtain of pale hair from her shoulders and settling it over the jacket. ‘Your hand’s like ice.’
‘I’m not,’ she said quickly. ‘I’m fine. I…’
‘Don’t argue with me,’ he said as he drew the lapels together.
No one argued with this man, Paige thought suddenly. No one would dare. His fingers brushed against her skin, his thumbs skimming her throat, lingering against the hollows above her collarbone. She wondered if he could feel the quick leap of blood that pulsed beneath his touch, and a tremor went through her.
‘Maybe I am a little chilly,’ she said, and she gave a forced laugh. ‘It’s cold out here, isn’t it? It’s the ocean, I guess. Although, of course, it’s autumn…’
Damn! She was babbling like a fool. She sounded, she thought, like a nervous schoolgirl. And that was exactly how she felt—like a teenager at her first dance, alone with a boy she had a crush on. But it was a man beside her in the darkness, not a boy, a man whose name she didn’t know. What are you doing here, Paige?
‘Walk with me,’ he said, clasping her hand in his.
‘I can’t,’ she said, but he was already leading her along the path that bordered the garden. ‘Please…’
‘Just for a few minutes.’
She felt as if she were caught in a dream, her only link to reality the faint music drifting from the lighted ballroom. The man beside her was tall, taller than she’d thought. Even in high-heeled sandals, Paige reached only to his shoulder. His jacket hung about her like a cloak, the shoulders and sleeves trailing as if she were a child playing at dressing up. He’d raised the collar when he slipped it around her, and the soft wool brushed against her cheek. It felt warm to the touch, as if it still carried the heat of his body. And she could smell his scent on the fabric, that same cologne she’d noticed earlier, mixed with something much more basic and sensual. It was a clean, masculine odour that was his alone.
For one swift beat of her heart, Paige closed her eyes and breathed it in, letting the smell and the heat of him surround her. Then, with a rush, her lashes flew open. What was she doing? Here she was, traipsing along in the dark beside a man she didn’t know, heart racing, throat dry, never once thinking of Alan or the engagement ring on her finger or the wedding vows she’d take in three days’ time…
His hand clasped hers more tightly. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said softly.
