Her pulse sped up, but she wasn’t going to fall for his tricks. No matter how delightful they were. “Do you think my head laces up the back?”
He paused. “Pardon?”
“Don’t take me for a fool. You’re trying to keep me from Adam, and I want to know why.”
He caught her gaze with his. “I want only for us to be together tonight. Besides, would you not have noticed your brother by now were he here?”
He had a point. And when he pressed his lips to hers, she was afraid he made that point compellingly.
The footman opened and closed the front door, admitting a new guest, but Caithren barely noticed the footsteps or the low murmur of the servants’ awed acknowledgments. Jason was nibbling her lower lip, a new and thrilling sensation. She wound her arms around his neck and twined her fingers in his thick hair.
“Cainewood, is that you?” The voice was deep, the words drawled and amused. “I cannot wait to see the lady who’s taken your fancy.”
Caithren pulled away and stared up at a tall, dark stranger. Heat flooded her cheeks, and embarrassment made her feel weak as a newborn bairn.
Jason turned her to face the man square on.
“Od’s fish, what happened to you?” The man peered at him critically. “You look like Colin.”
“A long story, best told another time. Sire, this is Caithren Leslie.” The fact that he hadn’t called her by the invented Lady title was not lost on Cait, even in her confused state. “Caithren, King Charles.”
King Charles? She felt the blood drain from her face. Jason supported her with one steady arm. “It-it’s pleased I am to make your acquaintance,” she said by rote. She caught herself before reciting the “have you seen my brother” part. “Your Majesty,” she added instead with a tremulous smile.
The king took her hand and raised it to his lips for a kiss. His eyes burned into hers, a compelling black. “A pleasure to meet you, my dear. The lady who captures Cainewood’s heart is a special one, indeed.”
He was still holding her hand. Her heart was beating like it wished to escape her chest. She wanted to drop into the intricate parquet floor. Which was ridiculous. He was but a man.
“Love’s wan e’e and ower deef,” she blethered.
The king dropped her hand. “Pardon?”
“Caithren is full of her mother’s Scottish wisdom,” Jason explained.
“I’m of Scottish descent, but sorely lacking in wisdom.” In a gesture that reminded her of Jason, Charles stroked his thin mustache. “And this saying means…?”
“Love is almost blind and a bit deaf,” Cait interpreted.
With that, the king threw back his head and laughed, a great roar that all but rattled the enormous chandelier overhead.
“She’s a gem,” he told Jason. Peering over their shoulders, he frowned. “Blast it, Barbara and Frances are at it again. I’d best be off.” And he made his way toward the ballroom, a commanding figure in dark red velvet trimmed with some sort of fur instead of ribbons.
Cait all but collapsed against Jason’s chest. “Barbara and Frances?” she asked weakly.
“His two mistresses of the moment.” When she looked up at him in shock, he just laughed. “Come along, I think you could do with some wine.” He guided her down the hall toward the refreshment room.
“I didn’t mean to imply there was love—I mean, that you—that line just popped into my head, and—”
“Think nothing of it.”
She halted in her tracks and turned to confront him. “And why didn’t you tell me the king might be here? He must’ve thought I was sodie-heid”—at the look on his face, she translated—“feather-brained, aye?”
“Kendra did say Charles would be in attendance.” He led her to a table and picked up a cup. “If you’ll remember.”
Caithren wracked her brain while he handed her the cup and lifted a gigantic, solid silver ladle that must have weighed ten pounds if it were an ounce. “Aye, that is exactly what she said. Charles would be in attendance. As though he were a personal friend of the family or some such—”
“He is.”
She dropped the cup, jumping back as it splashed and rolled under the table.
“We spent years together with him in exile, after the Civil War. In abject poverty, I might add. The Restoration restored more than Charles’s throne—he saw our property restored as well. And he settled titles on my two younger brothers, who otherwise would have—”
“And was I supposed to guess all that, you daftie? The longer I’m around you, the more confused I get.” She looked down. “And now I’ve gone and ruined Lady Kendra’s fancy gold shoes.”
Jason only smiled. “I’ll buy her another pair.” He filled a second cup and curled her fingers around it. “Here. Drink.”
Served from an enormous silver punch bowl shaped like a swan, the wine was spiced and delicious. She drank two cups of it, danced with Jason, then drank another. Her gaze never strayed too far from King Charles. But he didn’t stay long. When he left, she watched him all the way to the grand front doors, feeling relief tempered with a healthy dose of awe.
She had actually attended the same ball as King Charles. Cameron wasn’t going to believe it.
Jason introduced her to Lady Castlemaine and Lord Arlington and the Duke of Buckingham. Everyone she’d ever heard of seemed to be here.
Everyone but Adam.
She couldn’t bring herself to be too sorry, though. Much as she wanted to see Adam and settle Leslie’s future, this night was too enchanting to really wish such mundane matters would intrude.
Jason followed her when she teetered off the dance floor and leaned herself against the mantel of one of the immense fireplaces that flanked either end of the ballroom. They weren’t lit tonight, which was a good thing, because the chamber was overly warm as it was.
A giddy little giggle bubbled out as she
