Page 18 of Victorian Bride

“When did I say that?”

“When you stated that you find no joy in dancing and consider it only doing a good deed. Offering social aid to the plain and dull, or whatever it is you believe that you do.”

Kayden stared at her. “I did not mean you,” he said finally. “What on earth would make you think that?”

“The fact that you said it behind the back of the next woman you invited to dance with you, directly to my face. And then you act like this, as though the fact that it is apparently only Agnes you are prepared to talk about that way makes it somehow better, or not worthy of judgment.”

“I simply—” Kayden cut himself off with a low growl of frustration. “What I mean, Miss… Miss… Mya—”

“It’s Boyle. Miss Mya Boyle,” she hissed.

“What I meant, Miss Boyle, is that, like it or not, most men are not going to dance with Agnes Duncan. That is not my fault. But I will do something about it if I can, as will the other gentlemen here. The point of such a party is that everyone is welcome, and we wish to make them feel that way. I did not intend for you to take some kind of message from it that we are heartless heathens who see every girl we are not interested in throwing ourselves in bed with as social capital. Do a good deed, get a cake, or whatever it is that you believe. And most of what I meant, in fact, is that I did not feel the need to accept praise for simply doing the right thing. Thus your comment about her remembering my noble deed was unnecessary.”

“Oh. Well then,” she huffed, “I can see now that I was wrong. So generous you are, and humble as well. Truly a catch.”

“Once again, you are looking for things to be angry about.”

“It is hardly a difficult search.”

That, at last, seemed to shut him up. They danced the rest of the piece in silence punctuated by the occasional hiss from Kayden when Mya stepped on one of his feet. It took some effort not to laugh at that.

When the dance was done, Kayden delivered her back to the edge of the room and picked up Agnes, taking her by the hand and giving Mya a very pointed look as they disappeared into the crowd. Mya crossed her arms over her chest and watched them move together, Agnes practically glowing with a smile. Whatever Kayden's motivations, she did have to admit that he had given Agnes something to be happy about. At least someone had a positive experience.

When she realized she was sitting and sulking, Mya levered herself up out of the chair and turned her back on the dancers, slipping unnoticed out of the ballroom and down the hall toward the ladies' dressing chambers and the refreshment room, both of which seemed like better places to be rather than watching Kayden and Agnes laugh together.

There was some rule, she rather vaguely recalled, about chaperones, but the whole thing was frankly ridiculous. She was capable of walking down a hall on her own. It was hardly as though some barbarian murderer was going to leap out from behind one of the draperies and stab her in the middle of the Auteberrys’ fashionable home.

As she passed one of the halls that led down another direction, she heard the sound of whispering, and took a quick step back, peaking around the turn of it. She was surprised to see Eleanora and Lottie standing halfway down, leaning in toward each other and conversing in voices too low for her to make out words. Ella looked upset about something, and Lottie was obviously trying to comfort her, catching one of her hands and holding it as she leaned in nearer to say something a little less urgent and a little gentler.

“—was deliberate,” Eleanora said, loud enough that it startled Mya into darting back out of view. Her volume dropped again, though not quite as low as it had been before. “She knew what she was doing, Lottie, and I would sooner—”

“Hush,” Lottie said. “Yes. She knew, but there is hardly anything to be done about it now. Do not let it ruin the night for you when it has otherwise been such fun.”

Her voice grew more distant as she went on, and when Mya worked up the courage to poke her head around the corner again, she found the hall empty, both of them gone back to the dance floor, or the dressing room. She decided to let them be, and perhaps obtain something to settle the edge of hunger that dancing had provoked.

The refreshment room was empty when she arrived there, and Mya helped herself to a few cookies, nibbling at one with nuts and berries in it. It was better than she had expected. She finished it quickly, and the second cookie followed right after. She was reaching for a third when she heard footsteps coming down the hall. Guilt hit her. Lottie and Eleanora were taking care of her and Eleanora had been upset about something. Now here she was, chaperone-less. She realized that she could get Lottie and Eleanora in trouble if she was found ignoring the rules. She ducked back against the wall beside the open door and hoped that the sounds were just one of the servants going about his business, and that his business didn't include the refreshment room.

No such luck.

The footsteps turned, and entered, and belonged to Kayden. Blessedly, he had not yet seen her, his back still to the door and her little corner. Mya tried to edge silently out of the room before he turned. But of course, she had only managed half the distance when Kayden spun to face her, his eyebrows lifting.

“Are you hiding from me now?” he asked, laughter at the edges of the words.

“Not in the slightest,” Mya snapped back, brushing imaginary wrinkles from her skirt with both gloved hands. “I simply thought I would remove myself from the room before I was required to engage in further conversation with you.”

“Am I truly that terrible? That you will not even speak to me?”

Mya was surprised to hear the genuine concern in his voice. She took a breath, opening her mouth to speak, and closed it again. “No,” she said finally. “It’s not that. I was concerned about breaking rules by being in the hall alone. I would not want to get Lottie and Eleanor in trouble with the hosts.”

“I’m not sure being in the hall alone with me is any better,” Kayden said, sounding almost devilish. He smiled, his dark eyes warm in a way that made Mya’s knees feel like one of the partially melted ices sitting on the table. “In truth, I think it may be worse, as far as the hosts are concerned.”

He took a step forward, toward her, and Mya took a breath she forgot to let out again. She didn’t like him, she reminded the part of herself that was melting into want at his approach. He was arrogant. And condescending. And the fact that he was handsomely gorgeous did not change any of that. It didn’t.

But when he closed the last distance between them and brushed the backs of his knuckles tenderly over the curve of her cheek, Mya didn’t pull away. She leaned into the touch, breath escaping in a sigh.

The touch felt so strangely familiar. So perfectly right.

He leaned down and kissed her, and Mya forgot her objections about his character entirely.