On a Wild Night by Stephanie Laurens

Author:Stephanie Laurens [Laurens, Stephanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2002-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

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At precisely midnight, Amanda slipped out onto the narrow balcony at the end of the Kendricks' ballroom. Reached through glass doors, the balcony extended around the corner of the building to overlook the side garden.

Shivering, she wrapped her arms about her. The weather had turned unaccommodating; a blustery wind scudded rain clouds across the moon. A downpour threatened. Hugging herself, she hurried to the corner.

The door behind her opened. "Amanda?"

She whirled, blinked at the fair-haired figure silhouetted against the ballroom's brightness.

"What are you doing out here?" Simon's tone, one that could only be managed by a younger brother, suggested he thought she was insane.

"Ah… I'm taking the air. It's stuffy in there." She hadn't even known he was watching her. Worse, his narrowing eyes, the very fact he'd followed her… her little brother was growing up. And he was a Cynster to his toes.

So was she. She waved dismissively. "I'll come in in a few minutes."

Simon frowned, and stepped onto the balcony. "What are you up to?"

Amanda drew herself up; she would have loved to look down her nose at him, but at nineteen, he towered over her.

"I'm not 'up to' anything." Yet. And if he didn't leave, she wouldn't be. She skewered him with a censorious look. "Just what are you imagining? I step out on a balcony so narrow it should be called a ledge, and you're concerned about what?" She spread her arms wide. "I'm out of reach of the ground, and there's no one here!"

The clouds chose that moment to empty; the wind gusted, flinging fat raindrops against the house. Amanda gasped and shrank against the wall.

Simon grabbed her arm. "It's freezing! You'll catch cold, and Mama will have a fit. Come on!"

He yanked her back toward the door. Amanda hesitated; the rain began to pelt down in earnest. If she didn't go inside, she'd be drenched. Grumbling under her breath, she allowed Simon to bundle her back into the ballroom.

She just hoped Martin knew she'd kept their appointment.

From his position below the balcony, Martin heard their footsteps, heard the door click shut, then he was left listening to the rain pour down all around him. A Romeo in the rain without his Juliet.

That's what happened when plans were made in the heat of desire.

The essential uselessness of this evening's meeting hadn't occurred to him until he'd reached home after leaving Osterley. It had taken that long for his focus to shift from all that hadn't happened in the dell. And all that had. Once he'd been able to think constructively, it had waxed plainfully clear that given the current state of their discussions, there was nothing to be gained from snatching a few illicit moments with Amanda, let alone on a ledge. For the arguments he wished to put to her, allowing for the way in which he wished to put them, he'd need an hour, preferably two. On a bed.

He'd come here tonight purely to arrange such a meeting.

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