Free Countess of Scandal by Laurel McKee Page A

perfect luminescent pearl.
    "I can see why you would think of home," she said. "Surely there can be no other moon like that in all the world."
    "Indeed, there cannot," he said, standing close behind her as they watched the night
    "When I was a child, one of my nursemaids told me tales of such a moon," she said. "Such a moon is a sidhe, or faerie moon, and all the woodland faeries come out to dance under its lights."
    "It sounds a grand party."
    "Yes. After that, I read every Irish tale I could find, stories of the faerie folk, gods, heroes. I was sure that a land that birthed such glorious beings must be the finest on Earth. The one most worth defending and fighting for."
    "And nothing has ever changed your mind."
    "No." She turned to face him, studying his features, etched in the chalky moonlight. How beautiful he was, just like those heroes of her tales. At times, she felt closer to him than to anyone else in the world. From the time they were young, it seemed they were two halves of the same ancient coin.
    "I love Ireland," she went on. "It is a part of me, and I belong to it You say you love it, too."
    "Of course I do. I have dedicated my life to protecting it."
    Eliza shook her head sadly. Did he truly not see? He gave himself to the forces that would erase Ireland, her true self, forever. Forces that would always subject it to the iron weight of a foreign will and keep her people crushed beneath it
    "I fear we shall be forever at odds," she said.
    He caught her hand in his, bringing it to his lips for a kiss. His mouth was warm through the thin kid. Eliza swayed toward him, mesmerized by that heat, by the sensual curve of his lips. She caught herself just in time, trying to disentangle her fingers from his.
    "We shouldn't do this here," she whispered. "Someone will see."
    His hand tightened. "And tell your United Irish friends you were in an intimate tet e-a-tete with an officer?"
    She pulled away. "And tell Lord Lieutenant Camden you were seen with me."
    "Point taken, Lady Mount Clare. Shall I test the ivy outside your window again tonight?"
    "I knew I should have told the servants to cut those vines away."
    "But you did not. Because you know how useful it is."
    "You are just as impossible as ever, William Denton."
    "Yes, I know. But don't you like it?" He grinned at her, unrepentant
    She did like it—far too much. "I am taking Anna to the theater tomorrow night Mrs. Crosby is performing in Romeo and Juliet Perhaps we shall see you there?"
    "Yes, you will see me there. General Hardwick and his wife have invited me to sit in their box, as a matter of fact Now, should we go back to the ballroom? Perhaps we could even attempt a dance."
    "But I fear I have given up on dancing. We should go back, though, before Anna has time to lose her allowance again."
    "She seems a high-spirited girl."
    Eliza laughed as they walked back down the length of the deserted gallery. 'To say the least! My mother thought she was bored in the country and that a time in town would do her some good. I am not sure that has been the case."
    "She takes after her sister, then, I think. Full of energy and life."
    Eliza glanced at him, surprised. Full of life? Nay, of late she had felt weighed down by seriousness. Until she saw him again.
    But there was no time to say anything else. They had returned to the ballroom doors, to all the overly bright sparkle of crystal chandeliers and frantic laughter. Will bowed to her and disappeared back into the crowd.
    Eliza rubbed at her bare upper arms, shivering despite the overly warm room.
    "Eliza, dear? Are you unwell?" she heard Anna say, and turned to find that she didn't have to seek out her sister after all. Anna's trail of admirers hovered in the background, but she paid them no mind.
    Their mother had sent Anna to Dublin not just because she was bored at Killinan, of course, but also in hopes she would find a suitable husband. Perhaps not the duke or prince Anna teased about, but someone who could control