this dress?’ Ruby glanced down at her enhanced cleavage. ‘Not a chance.’
Molly scowled. ‘You’re no fun.’
‘I know. I work really hard at it.’
Laughing, Molly blew out a nervous breath and headed into the fray. Ruby sometimes envied her little sister her ability to put herself ‘out there’ like that. Ruby could do it for her clients but when it came to pursuing something for herself...well, she wasn’t that brave, and knowing that was one of her greatest strengths.
Sipping her drink while she held Molly’s, she savoured the crisp lightness of the wine, almost forgetting about the man in the bronzed mask until she glanced up and found him prowling towards her, a sexy grin on his face.
Instantly her breath backed up in her lungs and her pulse took off like a rocket. As if he sensed her response, a heated gleam entered his eyes, darkening them from chocolate to mink. ‘When you ordered those drinks I didn’t realise you intended to drink them all by yourself,’ he said, his intimate tone and soft laugh inviting her to play along with his charming joke.
A shiver snaked down Ruby’s spine at the sound of that deep, velvety chuckle. Oh, this guy was smooth. Dangerously smooth. He was also most definitely Sam Ventura. What was the point in trying to deny it any longer?
‘Another lame pick-up line,’ she said with cool derision. ‘How very original of you.’
Instead of taking her comment as the put-down it was meant to be, Sam seemed highly amused by it. ‘I didn’t realise I’d delivered a first one.’ His eyes glowed from behind his mask as he grinned down at her. ‘Now, if I told you that you had the kind of smile that could stop a man at fifty paces...that would be a lame pick-up line.’ His smile widened. ‘It would also be true.’
Ruby blinked up at him, feeling a distinct height disadvantage without her usual four-inch heels on her feet, her gown not long enough to accommodate them. His tone implied that he thought she was a stranger, but how was that possible? She had recognised him straight away—would recognise him blindfolded in a dark room just by the prickling awareness he set off inside her.
She didn’t know whether to be insulted or glad that he hadn’t recognised her in turn. Maybe both. It only seemed to confirm that the mutual connection she had believed was special between them the night they met hadn’t been special or mutual at all.
Something inside her chest plummeted just a little more. Her pride, no doubt, because what woman’s pride wouldn’t be dented when a man who had kissed her as if he couldn’t get enough of her now had no clue as to who she was just because of a silly costume?
Dismayed to have her worst fears confirmed, Ruby deliberately disguised her voice with a smoky edge. Let him try and pick her up, she thought with rising irritation. Let him try and use all his sophisticated charm on her and have her turn him down this time. She’d like nothing better than to see him dig a hole for himself and then reveal her identity at the last minute. It was no less than he deserved for not calling her when he’d promised that he would. And, yes, she knew she needed to get over that but she really hated when a man said one thing and did another. She’d experienced the disappointment of being let down by her father too often as a young girl to put up with it in her adult life.
‘Great outfit by the way. I’m thinking you’re—’
‘Don’t say Little Bo Peep,’ she warned menacingly.
Sam laughed softly. ‘If you were Little Bo Peep you’d have a staff. And sheep. Which might not work with those ducks earlier.’
‘Swans.’
‘Ducks, swans...feathered fowl who belong in a pond, not at a masquerade party.’ His dark eyes glittered with lazy male appreciation as he gazed at her. ‘Not without a mask at least.’
Ruby’s lips twitched and she quickly sipped the last of her wine. She was not going to find him charming this time around. She was not going to feel breathless with awareness, or tingly with anticipation. She was not going to remember the gentle way he had tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear before he’d said goodnight to her two years ago. Or the way he had looked at her as if she amazed him. It had made him impossible to forget. Impossible to get over. And thinking like that was just asking for trouble.
‘So no nursery-rhyme jokes and no lame pick-up lines,’ he agreed. ‘Want to dance instead?’
‘I don’t dance with strangers,’ she mumbled, glancing furtively towards the dance floor in the hope that Molly was ready to go home. Of course, Molly was nowhere to be seen.
‘Stranger?’ He cocked his head. ‘That’s easy enough to remedy—’
‘No!’ Her eyes widened on his. She wasn’t ready to reveal who she was to him. She didn’t want to have an awkward conversation about the past. It wasn’t as if they were friends. They weren’t, and they never would be. Better if he just left her alone and was none the wiser as to who he was trying to hit on. ‘No names.’
‘No names?’ He gave her a curious look.
‘Half the fun of wearing a mask is being anonymous. Don’t you agree?’
‘This is my first masked ball. I’m new to the etiquette.’
‘Then allow me to educate you.’ Her voice dropped further to a husky purr. ‘Names aren’t necessary.’
‘Is that right?’ The lights dimmed around them as the music turned soft and sensual. Ruby’s heart thumped against her ribcage. She really needed to get away from him and the way he made her feel.
‘So if you don’t want to dance and you don’t want to trade names—’ his gaze drifted to her lips like a feather-light caress ‘—what do you want to do?’
Kiss you, she thought, her body already responding to his lingering look. I want to kiss you and never stop.
‘One dance.’ He gave her a slow smile as if he knew the appalling direction in which her mind had just taken her. ‘I’m harmless, I promise.’
‘I’ll call you tomorrow, I promise.’
The last thing Ruby wanted was to find herself in Sam’s arms again but he was so smooth he’d divested her of the two glasses she’d been clutching like a lifeline and had her there before she had time to blink.
Which only made her angry. What was it about this man that eroded her natural born caution? She didn’t want this and she certainly didn’t want him. Only, she knew she was lying to herself. There was something about Sam Ventura that got to her every single time and try as she might she couldn’t seem to do anything about it.
She risked a glance up into his eyes to find him watching her closely. Did she feel familiar in his arms? She was shorter without her heels on but...
Oh, get over yourself, Ruby Jane. He doesn’t know who you are so forget it. Have a laugh.
But she couldn’t have a laugh, not with his heat surrounding her and setting her pulse racing, not with his face so close to hers she could see the beginnings of his beard coming in, and not with his scent, spicy and masculine with a hint of sandalwood, short-circuiting her brain.
