Free Tempting a Proper Lady by Debra Mullins

kiss to it.
    â€œYou rascal.” Blushing like a schoolgirl, Lady Canthrope giggled. “Go on, now. Dance with Miss Bailey before I set my cap for you myself.”
    â€œâ€™Tis my loss that Lord Canthrope won you first.” Turning to Annabelle, Samuel held out a hand. “Annabelle, may I have this dance?”
    Annabelle took his hand, her face smug with triumph.
    As the two of them moved to the dance floor, Lady Canthrope clasped her hands at her bosom. “Such a man. If I were only twenty years younger.” With a dreamy sigh, she moved off.
    Cilla watched Samuel and Annabelle take their places. The orchestra struck up a waltz, and they whirled into motion. They made a striking couple, he so dark and she so fair. They waltzed together as if they had done so many times in the past—which, given their history together, was entirely possible. If not for a tragic twist of fate, they might have been married long ago.
    If Samuel was to be believed, he had braved the challenges of Ulysses to return to Annabelle. But if Raventhorpe was to be believed, Samuel was a desperate liar trying to win back the woman he had abandoned. Both stories were fantastic. Which man was telling the truth?
    And was she a fool for wanting to believe it was Samuel?
    Certainly he was handsome. Tall, good-looking, strong, and able-bodied. He fit every woman’s fantasy about the dashing hero coming to rescue the fair maiden. And his genuine pain about losing Annabelle was enough to soften any female’s romantic heart, especially hers. Was this why she wanted to believe him? Had the attraction she felt for him colored her opinion of him?
    She had been wrong about Edward. What if she was wrong this time, too? It was more than her future on the line.
    The crux of the matter came down to whetherAnnabelle was truly in danger if she married Raventhorpe. And how had a poor sea captain come into enough funds that he could pay for his rented town house in gold? There were too many unanswered questions. The captain had eluded her at the engagement party and then again later, when she had quietly inquired about him at the local inn, only to discover he had indeed been staying there but had already departed. However, she would not allow him to escape her again.
    Tonight she would get her answers.
    Â 
    â€œI’ve missed you, Annabelle.” Samuel relished the victory of luring Annabelle to the dance floor. He had counted on her curiosity when he’d issued the invitation, and now she would have to listen to him.
    â€œYou always were an excellent dancer.” She moved in perfect harmony with him, a nostalgic smile playing about her lips.
    â€œA man achieves a strong sense of balance walking the deck of a moving vessel.”
    â€œI imagine so.” She looked up at him, caution in her eyes. “Why did you do it, Samuel? If you changed your mind about getting married, you should have told me.”
    â€œIt wasn’t my choice to stay away.”
    â€œSo you said.” Her expression darkened. “Richard told me how the two of you argued and you resigned your post in the middle of the voyage. Your temper betrayed you, not him.”
    Samuel swirled her around as they swept the room.“Did Richard also tell you that he pushed me off a cliff and left me for dead?”
    Her mouth formed an O of horror. “What a terrible thing to say!”
    â€œIt was a terrible thing to do.”
    â€œJealousy does not become you, Samuel.”
    He nearly stopped in the middle of the dance floor, but kept going before he caused a collision. “Jealousy! Is that what you think?”
    She gave a little shrug. “What am I supposed to think?”
    â€œYou’re supposed to trust me, damn it. I’m no liar.”
    She ignored his profanity. “But he is? Richard is an earl, Samuel. A member of the House of Lords. Surely a man as important as he is wouldn’t bother to try and kill a mere sea