Linna : Historical Romance (The Brocade Collection, Book 5) Read Online Free PDF

 
    He reached her and stopped before executing a perfect bow. She returned with a curtsey. She was half-afraid her legs wouldn’t hold her when she tried to rise, but they did.
    “Allow me to introduce myself, Mademoiselle . Raoul Larroquette. At your service.”  He’d taken little bits of breath between each section of words, adding a foreign sound to the low timbre of voice. He was still in his bow and was holding out his hand now. “May I enquire, has this dance been spoken for?” 
    Linna’s heart was clenching now . She knew that’s what was happening from the pounding pressure that seemed to be radiating through her. She wondered how such a thing was possible and how to stop it. Linna Daniels didn’t react to a man like this - any man. No matter what man.
    His hand lowered and he pulled out of his bow. There was a slight pout to his lips when she glanced at them, as if he sucked in on his cheeks in order to make such an expression.
    “Well ? Has this dance been spoken for? Or am I too late?” 
    He was actually asking it . Linna was afraid she was going to embarrass herself completely by giggling, but caught it. She lifted her chin, met the indecipherable shade of his eyes, and replied. “There isn’t any music.”
    “ Ah. Allow me to correct that. Immediately.”
    He held out one arm toward her, while signaling to the orchestra with the other . If it started any music, she couldn’t hear it over what sounded like running water in her ears. Linna reached out and touched her fingers to a velvet-covered arm. It felt just as hard as it looked, just as strong. Amazing.
    He was very graceful for a large man . She noticed it as he walked lithely and surely at her side, fitting his strides to two of her own. Linna was impressed. She’d grown to a respectable height and yet she barely grazed his shoulder. She’d never seen anyone to compare. The man was enormous and fit. Everywhere. Her eyes flitted toward the legs walking beside hers.
    He stopped, turned his forearm enough that it released her grip and had her fingers within his the next moment . Then he was lifting those same fingers to his lips. All about them, couples were dancing. She raised her eyes to his as he lightly touched his lips to her fingertips.
    Green eyes, tinged slightly with a touch of gray, met hers . Linna held the gasp inside where it belonged. She couldn’t stop the infusion of color that tinted her entire body. There wasn’t a thing she could do about the rub of material at her breasts either, except experience it. She had to look back down. Everything about her reaction was horrible. Linna was always in control. The running water noise was still there as well, making it difficult to hear.    
    “You do know how, don’t you?”
    He’d released her hand and she just stood there. “What?” she finally asked.
    “The dance . You. Me.”  He placed her left hand on his right shoulder, before holding out his hand for her other one.
    Her palm met solid, steel-like mass beneath the velvet . The mountain of chest beneath his jacket rose and fell with each breath, taking her hand with it. What a man... she told herself.
    He reached for her right hand since she hadn’t proffered it and held her fingers lightly . “It’s a waltz. It’s new and acceptable, although considered risqué. Three steps, then pause. You can follow, non ?”
    Raoul started off and Linna moved with him, catching glimpses of the kaleidoscope of others swirling about her peripheral vision. She raised her eyes to his chin, evaluating...calculating. He was very handsome. A slight cleft dented the end of his jaw.  
    She felt his breath on her nose, her cheek, and then to the exposed flesh below her throat . The resultant blizzard of shivers made her breasts react, while what could only be a groan came from the man at her fingertips. Linna’s eyes widened but he couldn’t have seen it. The hand at her back moved, pulling her closer to him. She didn’t resist.