for her to excuse herself to her cousin and leave.
“Too bad,” he said, and signaled the band leader to go on. “It would be a shame to waste such beautiful music.”
As she automatically followed Dan’s footsteps across the dance floor, thoughts ran through her mind as swiftly as a cold wind blows on a March day. No matter how sweetly her cousin May had begged her to come here tonight when she’d called to decline the invitation, she should have listened to her heart.
Tonight, from the moment he’d started to speak, she’d recognized Dan as her phantom lover. She’d tried but she’d never forgotten the sound of his deep, melodious voice with a hint of teasing laughter in it. No other man’s eyes had warmed her so—a lifetime ago—and now again. And now that she was in his arms again, to her dismay she remembered his gentle strength and the taste of his lips.
It would never do. As the widow of a diplomat and Baronovia’s new ambassador to the United States, she had to keep up appearances. Any hint of scandal could bring shame on her family.
Maybe it had been different for Dan. Maybe she’d been one of the many woman in every port that seamen were known to boast about. Had she only been a diversion, a pleasant way to spend a sleepless night?
Held in Dan’s arms, Victoria remembered his earlier embrace, the taste of his lips, the sound of his voice murmuring words of assurance as he made love to her. And the way she had never been able to put him out of her mind.
She fervently prayed he wouldn’t start to ask questions for which she couldn’t give answers. At the same time, she had to bite her lip to keep from asking questions of her own.
If their encounter had meant something to him, why hadn’t he tried to find her after their magical encounter, she wondered as she averted her face and forced a smile at a passing couple.
The music changed to a two-step, to the same romantic melody she’d hummed to herself when she’d danced alone in the palace garden that long-ago night. The night she had known true love for the first and only time in her life.
She closed her eyes and instinctively leaned into the arms that had once held her so possessively, so lovingly. Leaned into the arms that reminded her of stolen tender moments under a crescent moon, embraces that had awakened her pent-up desires long dreamed about and never experienced again.
Arms that reminded her of a night of rapture that had ended too soon.
To her growing dismay, Dan began to gently caress the small of her back. She shivered as electricity followed the path where his warm hand had passed. When he swept her across the dance floor, his hand on her bare skin sent mental images of tangled limbs, heated kisses. Bursts of unwanted raw sensation ran through her.
In spite of her misgivings, Victoria found herself softly humming the song’s haunting lyrics under her breath, reliving the moments when she’d danced on a grass carpet under a moonlit sky. For a moment she was happy again, until he spoke.
“You may think I’m a little crazy, but you remind me of someone who…” Dan began softly. He needed time. Time, with Victoria in his arms. He’d been puzzled when they were first introduced, but he was pretty sure now she was his mystery woman.
His voice trailed off before he started again. “The truth is that when I saw you I happened to remember a night when I saw a woman dancing alone in the moonlight.”
Wordlessly, Victoria gazed up at Dan. To her dismay, she remembered that same night too well. She couldn’t admit being that woman even if she had wanted to. The time for the two of them to reveal themselves had passed long ago.
“Are you usually so quiet?” he finally asked with a smile and a quirked eyebrow. “Or am I boring you?”
Boring her? Not when the friction of his hand brushing across her bare back and the warmth of his hard body against hers were sending jolts of desire running through her.
Her mind in turmoil, Victoria couldn’t speak. The woman he spoke of was gone. Victoria was a widow and a mother now. Besides, if she were free to admit who she had been on that night, what would he think of her?
“Victoria?”
No matter what she remembered, or how she felt about Dan, she knew the past had to be forgotten. She knew she had to get away from Dan, now, tonight and forever.
“Victoria?” he repeated, obviously puzzled at her silence. “Are you all right?”
“I’m sorry,” she finally answered. “I’m afraid my mind was a million miles away.”
“Ahh.” To her dismay, he smiled down at her. “To a palace garden in Baronovia? Maybe even to a crescent moon and a vine-trimmed white gazebo?”
Victoria drew back. But not before Dan saw the vein at the side of her throat began to throb visibly.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” she answered. To his chagrin, she looked as if she was about to pull out of his arms and leave him alone on the crowded dance floor.
“I was hoping you might remember,” he went on before she could make up her mind to leave. “After holding you in my arms here tonight, I was silly enough to think you were the woman I met in Baronovia over a year ago.”
Dan gazed at Victoria when she remained silent. Could he have been mistaken about her, after all?
When she shook her head again, he finally gave up and set his mind to the music. What made tonight so puzzling was that he kept thinking that no other woman could have been made to fit so perfectly into his arms like this woman. No other woman could have made such tender, yet such passionate, love with him that night so long ago. Nor had he ever forgotten her beautiful and expressive eyes that revealed her deepest thoughts, just as they were doing now.
If she wasn’t his mystery woman, why was she so reluctant to look at him? “Did I say something to offend you? If I did, I’m sorry.”
“No!” she said firmly. “It’s just that I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve already told you, you have the wrong woman.”
Dan wasn’t prepared to give up, not yet. And certainly not when every one of his clamoring senses told him Victoria could be the very woman she’d denied being. Why else had he felt her heart beat wildly against his chest a moment ago? And why had she stiffened when she’d realized she’d actually allowed herself to melt into his arms?
He was about to apologize again when Victoria pulled out of his arms and rushed through the French doors onto an outdoor patio. Tables and chairs had been set out to accommodate guests. A crescent moon hung overhead, just as it had almost two years ago. An omen, he thought as he caught up with Victoria.
“Hold up! Was it something I said?” Dan asked when he caught up with her. “All I really meant to say was that you remind me of someone who meant a lot to me.”
“I’m sorry I’ve disappointed you, but I’ve already told you I’m not the woman you are looking for.” She took a step away from him. “It is true my home was in Baronovia, but I haven’t lived there for some time.”
Dan looked into her expressive eyes and at lips that were surely meant to be kissed. Desire ran through him. Victoria might not be his mystery woman, but he was as attracted to her
