But this man was clearly not Neville. Neville wouldnever… Well, he certainly would never make love to a woman in public. Or, likely anywhere else. Only…
The man disappeared behind a curtain.
Behind her, the door to the box clicked closed, giving her a start. She’d expected Willard and his mother to call her over if his mother wished to take a turn in one of the lounges.
She turned and saw the box had emptied of everyone but herself and Lord Willard.
She placed her hand against the box’s green side panel and then quickly made her way toward the door.
“Where has Lady Eltenham gone?” she whispered, not wanting to call anyone’s attention to the fact she and Willard were now alone.
Willard shrugged. His eyes fixed on her, and he ignored the stares and whispers coming from the pit below. His singular attention might be flattering, under other circumstances. But something felt very wrong.
“No need to worry,” he said.
The second time tonight he’d said so in reference to her chaperone, no?
“My mother just stepped out into the corridor for some air.”
“Oh!” Millie responded lightly, dropping her gaze to the floor as she picked her way up. “I must not have heard her call for me to accompany her.”
As Millie reached the door, Willard moved to block her way.
She glanced over her shoulder. This far back in the box, they were out of sight of most of the people who remained in their seats instead of using the break to explore the theater’s various halls and lounges.
Out of sight by most,but not all.
“If you’ll excuse me…” She cleared her throat, hating having to say aloud what should have been obvious. “I am uncomfortable without your mother’s presence, my lord.”
“Ah, Miss Millicent. Aren’t you justdarling?”
His low chuckle left her chilled. She read no mirth in his eyes.
“Gone prim and proper all at once, have you?” he asked.
“No, but—”
“A shame,” he interrupted again, “but I daresay I understand. Not quite the thing to be without a chaperone. Let me see to your comfort.” Without stepping away, he undid a curtain she hadn’t noticed in the corner. He then pulled the velvet across the backof the box so that they were now standing between the fabric and the door. “Do you approve of my shelter?”
Hisshelter?
The curtain was present more to dull the sound of the door than to be a barrier. There was hardly any space for the two of them. Still, without permission, he grasped her elbow, and as he did so, he deftly switched their locations so that she had her back to the wall, and he had his back to the curtain, and he had done so as easily and as naturally as he had when they’d been dos-à-dos in last night’s country dance.
“You see?” he soothed. “When I stand just so you are safely concealed. No one in the pit or the other boxes can see a thing.”
“How…gallant.” Though his point suggested he’d been aware shecouldbe seen in a compromising position just a few moments before. “Am I truly safe from scandal, now?”
“Perhaps.” He reached over her head, further adjusted the curtain, and the shadows around them deepened. “Then again, perhaps not.”
Had she heard menace in his tone? She wasn’t sure, as Willard was as smiling as ever. She gazed up into his eyes, startled she could still see them from the light spilling around the curtains’ edge.
Or maybe, along with menace and peril, she was only imagining their deep green glitter, too.
What was the word Emily had used for Willard’s eyes?
Mesmerizing.
Wasshe mesmerized right now? Her limbs certainly felt heavy. She willed them to move, but her body remained stationary.