it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy yourself.’
‘I am enjoying myself.’ And it was true: Madison loved being in the thick of things. She’d been hard put to choose between specialising in emergency medicine and her final choice, obstetrics, because she enjoyed the buzz of being too busy almost as much as she loved those magical first minutes of a new life.
And then, as the music changed and the pianist seemed to flow seamlessly into ‘It Had to be You’, a hand touched her arm. ‘May I?’ a deep, unfamiliar and slightly accented voice asked.
Even before she looked up, she knew who it was going to be, and a shiver ran down her spine.
The man in the gold mask.
He was looking at her with the most sensual, smouldering gaze she’d ever seen: dark eyes with a hint of green and gold and grey. Stunning.
Not to mention a slow, sweet smile that actually made her knees go weak.
‘I…’ Her throat dried, and Eve gave her a shove.
‘She means yes,’ Eve said sweetly. ‘Have fun.’
Before Madison could protest, she was dancing with the stranger.
Theo had been aware of her all evening: the girl in the floaty dress with the pink and gold cat mask covering her upper face and the most incredible smile. He’d seen her talking and laughing with plenty of people, though he hadn’t actually seen her on the dance floor.
And now he was dancing cheek to cheek with her. Whoever had chosen this music was an utter genius: it had neither the formality of ballroom dancing nor the slight distance of pop. This was old-fashioned dance music, the kind of stuff his grandparents loved—and, so he’d discovered recently, his mother had loved too.
Despite his dance partner’s high-heeled shoes, she wasn’t that tall and he had to dip his head slightly to dance with her, but she felt perfect in his arms. And those blue, blue eyes behind the mask were just stunning. Like a Mediterranean sky on a late summer evening, shading to dark navy at the very edges of her irises. Her dark hair was loose around her shoulders—not perfectly straight, but not a riot of curls either. Soft, enticing waves that made him want to tangle his hands in them, feel the silkiness against his fingertips.
Even more than that, he wanted to see her hair spread over his pillow. And he really, really wanted to explore that beautiful mouth. Tease it with kisses until it opened beneath his mouth, letting him deepen the kiss.
Kyrios. He couldn’t remember when he’d last felt a pull of attraction this strong.
But right now she was in his arms, holding him close. And it felt good.
The stranger’s touch was perfectly decorous, Madison thought. And yet somehow it felt personal—intimate, even. They were dancing close enough for her to feel his breathing, hear his heartbeat. And he had a perfect sense of rhythm, guiding her round the floor so effortlessly that it actually felt like floating. She’d never been so in tune with a dance partner before.
They didn’t speak as they danced—they didn’t need to—and suddenly everyone around them just melted away. They could have been dancing on a little terrace overlooking a garden in Tuscany, just the two of them, in the moonlight…
She shook herself. Of course not. This was London. And if it wasn’t for the fact that she’d deliberately stuck to sparkling water because she was responsible for the way things ran tonight, she would’ve been sure this heady feeling was from drinking too much champagne—almost like tiny bubbles fizzing through her veins.
The fact it was all from dancing with him scared her and excited her at the same time. She’d never reacted this strongly to anyone before. Even Harry.
Part of her wanted to ask the stranger what his name was, but she knew that talking would break the spell. And right now she didn’t want it to end. Just the two of them and the music, the singer crooning and the soft jazzy piano counterpointed by the double bass and guitar.
Two and a half minutes had never passed so slowly.
Or so very, very fast.
When the song ended and his hands dropped from her body and he took a step backwards, it felt so wrong.
And then he bowed to her, lifted her right hand and kissed the pulse on the inside of her wrist.
She could barely breathe.
His eyes—dark and as sexy as hell—held hers. ‘Thank you.’
Again, that slight accent. She couldn’t quite place it, but it was incredibly attractive.
Just as her mouth started to frame a response, an introduction, a question, a different pair of arms caught her round the waist. ‘Maddie! Here’s my girl.’ She found herself spun into a hug. Into arms she recognised—Ed, the registrar in the emergency department she’d dated a couple of times, a month or so back.
Oh, help.
Ed was beaming. A champagne-induced sort of beaming, and he’d clearly forgotten that they’d agreed to be just good friends—that they weren’t dating any more.
By the time Madison had extricated herself and jollied Ed into remembering that they were just friends and she was busy tonight anyway with her chairwoman hat on, and had informed him that he’d just been incredibly rude to the man who’d danced with her by cutting in like that, Mr Gold Mask was nowhere to be seen.
The disappointment felt as if someone had just driven past her through a deep puddle, dousing her in cold water.
Which was utterly ridiculous. The man was a complete stranger. No way should she be reacting this strongly to him—a man who’d danced with her once and whom she was unlikely to see again, because she certainly didn’t recognise him as one of the hospital staff she’d chivvied into getting a table together.
Madison Gregory, you need to get a grip, she told herself silently, then went to check that everything was proceeding smoothly with the tombola.
Here’s my girl.
Well, of course a woman that attractive wouldn’t be single. Even though Theo had instinctively checked her left hand before asking her to dance and there had been no sign of a ring, he should’ve realised that she would have a boyfriend.
And a dance was just a dance. It wasn’t going to lead to anything else.
He pushed away the regret. It wasn’t as if he was looking for a relationship anyway. Wasn’t that half the reason why he’d left Greece, because his family was constantly trying to fix him up with an eligible woman and it was driving him crazy? And he was only here tonight because he was at a loose end the weekend before he started his new job. Buying a ticket for the hospital fundraiser had seemed like a good idea—a chance to meet some of his new colleagues socially, get to know people. He’d enjoyed chatting to people tonight.
But all the same he needed some fresh air. A cool breeze to bring his common sense back and give him some immunity to the sweet, seductive tones of the singer. As she segued into ‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered’, he allowed himself the briefest of smiles. Theo Petrakis most definitely didn’t let himself get bewitched, bothered and bewildered by anyone.
