Free Seducing the Spy by Celeste Bradley

horrified gaze to his that he realized she was truly about to fall.
    The crowd below gasped in delicious horror and several ladies screamed even as Stanton leaped for her. He caught one flailing hand and wrapped his other arm about her waist even as her feet completely left the floor and she began to flip backward.
    Stanton almost lost her when the railing began to crack beneath their combined weight. From the corner of his eye, he saw something fall to the crowd below. Wrapping both arms about Alicia, he swung her high and around, pulling them both back from danger as the railing failed completely and fell.
    They rolled together across the carpeted box, ending with her beneath him. The sound of the crowd rose about them as the people who had gathered to help catch the falling lady fled the falling bits of balcony railing.
    Stanton heard only his own racing heart and the gasping breathing of Alicia against his face. He wrapped her tightly in his arms and tucked his face into her silken neck.
    She hadn't fallen. She wasn't broken and bleeding on the floor below. She was safe and warm in his arms, clinging fiercely to him and shaking from reaction.
    Or perhaps it was he who shook. That moment when his grip had slipped—he'd never felt fear like that before.
    That fact alone was enough to bring him to his senses. He released her smoothly and stood, holding out one hand for her to take.
    Alicia gazed up at Lord Wyndham in confusion. He gazed calmly down at her, as if he were merely a stranger helping a lady up a step. She blinked. Less than a second ago he had been holding her so fiercely—
    Obviously, her imagination had failed her again, for she now saw no hint of that desperate emotion on his face. Bemused, she took his hand and allowed him to raise her to her feet.
    The crowd beneath erupted into cheers, the opera performance forgotten in the drama being enacted above them. Alicia blinked at the sea of faces now revealed by the lack of railing. They were smiling… cheering… her!
    "So turns the fickle tide of Society," said a deep warm voice in her ear. "It seems our passionate affair has quite caught their fancy."
    Alicia snorted. "And why not, when we deliver such entertaining fare?"
    It didn't bode well for her mission, however. How in the world was she to enact her vengeance if Society loved her instead of loathed her?
    "I'm simply relieved your bodice remained in place, such as it is."
    Alicia raised a brow at him. "That should teach you not to disrespect the feminine arts. It takes work to look this scandalous. I've seen ancient battle armor less formidably constructed than this bodice."
    He bowed mockingly. "I concede to the mighty bodice—although I insist that this gown go back to the dressmaker. It seems she forgot to finish the neckline."
    "Very well." Alicia shrugged. "Its work is done. I could hardly wear it again, lest I diminish its impact."
    "Heaven forefend," Stanton replied wearily. "Now, I shall have one of my men escort you home. I have another matter to attend to. That railing was deliberately weakened."
    She nodded. "Indeed. I would very much like to know who rigged this box with a trip wire." She bent to hike one side of her skirt to reveal her ankle. "I felt it cut me."
    Indeed, there was a fine bloody slice through one stocking.
    Stanton clenched his jaw. He'd not suspected a trip mechanism, although now it seemed obvious. Why else tamper with the railing unless one could guarantee someone would fall against it?
    What he wasn't prepared for was the fierce jolt of primeval protectiveness which shot through him at the sight of her bloodied skin. The wound was nothing—a mere scratch—so why did his vision begin to redden at the thought of getting his hands on the perpetrator?
    Lady Alicia was eyeing him with some consternation. "Are you ill? Did you strain something when you caught me?" She leaned close to peer into his face. "You must be more careful."
    "Someone wanted you dead," he said slowly.