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“What about Elliot Baxter? You spent quite a bit of time with him at the Marchants’ ball, and you danced with him twice, as I recall.”

“I did. But the man has a very strange relationship with his mother. He refused to introduce me to her due to her nerves, and then when I came upon her at the refreshments table, he almost pushed me into the punch bowl in his haste to separate us.”

Katie chuckled. “Ah, perhaps not, then.”

“I do not know why Papa is very insistent on this. And where is he? Should he not be throwing men at me from every corner until one of them drops to his knees on the spot?”

“Alicia,” Katie said, chuckling, “you are quite impossible.”

But her expression turned grave as their eyes met.

“Perhaps he will not carry through on his threat,” she said with forced optimism.

Alicia watched the crowd, praying Katie might be right, but she knew it was hopeless. She had seen the look on her father’s face many times in the past—uncompromising, determined, and cold.

Her gaze moved to the dance floor, where Lord Pinsent was swaying in the center with a woman in a deep blue gown. Alicia’s eyes followed them enviously, noting the sparkling jewels in the lady’s hair.

I am more interested in the lady’s appearance than the man she is dancing with. Is that not telling?

Lord Pinsent’s blond hair was glinting in the candlelight, a look of deep concentration on his face as he went through the steps. He was an inelegant man, all gangly limbs and pale skin.

“Is it too much to ask for a proper gentleman to show me some attention?” she muttered, a sense of dread creeping into her bones. “I am beginning to think thatpropergentlemen are as rare as unicorns.”

Just as the words left her mouth, she felt Katie stiffen beside her, her arm going rigid. Alicia glanced at her friend as a small gasp left her lips.

Following her gaze, Alicia spotted a man on the other side of the room. As her eyes fell on him, the crowd parted, as if by design.

She swallowed convulsively, the hubbub dying down as he was revealed to her.

He commanded the room. It was as if he were the captain of a sea of people all around him, undulating like waves in his wake.

He was incredibly tall and imposing, his chest wide and broad, long legs allowing him to tower above almost everybody else in his vicinity.

The main thing that struck her was the color of his eyes. They were dark, almost black in the flickering light. His long hair fell in waves down to his shoulders, his sharp nose and jaw accentuating the shape of his face.

He reminded her of a hawk, that dark, piercing gaze focused on his prey. And he was looking ather.

Slowly, he began walking toward her.

It was not simply his height that was imposing; Alicia found it difficult to explain the feeling that came over her, as though his very presence consumed her body and soul.

She found it impossible to look away as she watched him approach. Katie was utterly silent beside her as he drew to a stop before them.

The light played across his high cheekbones, and Alicia noticed the golden flecks in his dark irises.

“You will join me for the next set,” he said.

The words were not a question, but a command.

Alicia’s defiance flared, ready to tell him that he was rude and presumptuous to order her in such a way. But instead, she watched her hand move against her will, taking the one he extended to her as if she had no control over her limbs.

As soon as her fingers touched his palm, his hand curled around hers, and she was half-dragged, half-led to the dance floor.

She was too mesmerized by his presence to do anything about it, entirely undone by the pure authority that radiated from him in waves.

I can imagine that with one word from him, this whole room would be brought to silence.

Alicia stumbled slightly as they reached the dance floor. Her companion was uninterested in the other dancers, moving into their space without any qualms, forcing several of them to dance around him.