The Heartbeat Thief Read Online Free PDF Page B

to the mistletoe-clad archway, searching the crowd.
    A hand reached out and pulled her back into the hallway.
    “Senza.” Felicity held her arm fast and hissed her name. “What are you doing?”
    Senza faltered, disoriented. She felt as if she emerged from a fog. What had she been doing?
    “Are you well?” Felicity whispered, nodding and smiling to those around them. “What were you doing?”
    “I…I don’t know.” Senza struggled to regain her composure. “There was a…a stranger. He was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen in my life.”
    “If a stranger was visiting someone here, surely, we would have heard something. Someone that handsome wouldn’t remain unannounced for very long. Not with Miss Senza Fyne available for the marrying.”
    “Oh, Felicity.” Senza stifled a groan, the desperate chase all but forgotten. “If you only knew how I dread these parties. I feel like I’m up for sale.”
    Felicity grinned and snapped her fan with a coy giggle. “It only happens once, Senza, so you’d better learn to shop around yourself. You’ll have the pick of the lot and we less fair folk will have to settle for what is left. Be kind, and set aside a good one for me.”
    An announcement from the far side of the room caught their attention. Senza scanned the crowd, the faces, hoping for another glimpse of the mysterious gentleman.
    But he was nowhere to be seen.
    Felicity linked arms with Senza and tugged her back into to the ballroom. Obediently, she followed, half her mind still focused on that handsome face. Half her mind, and half her heart.
    By then, hopeful young men all but lined up for a chance to claim her hand, even if for a single dance. Senza was very obliging. After all, her husband would likely come from this clutch of eager bachelors and, despite her dislike for being treated like an object, she tried to keep an open mind.
    After all, she had a job to do. She grimaced as she recalled her mother’s frequent words.
    Being open-minded didn’t prevent her mind from wandering, however. Throughout the evening, she danced and smiled and laughed, all the while snatching peeks of the crowd, hoping to see that stranger.
    The orchestra finished with a flourish as another dance ended, and she curtseyed to her partner. Mister…Bradley, was it? Charming man, strong hands. A bit quiet. Senza liked that. A quiet man wouldn’t be busy making ardent proclamations. She preferred a suitor to woo with action, not words, especially when a marriage was contract first and love match second.
    If she were fortunate.
    She reached to take Bradley’s arm, preparing to be handed off to yet another partner, when a gentleman spoke up from behind them. “May I?”
    Shivers cascaded like a river of sparks down her back. That voice. Deep, hypnotic, the question curling itself through her. Bradley looked like he swallowed a feather and choked out a pleasantry, handing Senza off to the man who had appeared at their side.
    Him. The stranger.
    He took her captive hand and raised it to his lips, his dark eyes glittering.
    A flush warmed her throat, spilling up into her cheeks. Who was he? They hadn’t been properly introduced. He shouldn’t be speaking to her, let alone pressing a kiss to her hand. It simply wasn’t done—
    “Will I have the honor this evening?” He released her hand, but held her still with his gaze. That smile again, like he had a secret. Like he knew something about her and would love to tease her with it.
    She couldn’t look away. For a moment, she was connected to him in a way she’d never felt before or would ever understand.
    “Um—” She stammered, her cheeks on fire. “I’m sorry, I’ve promised the next several numbers.”
    “Serves me right for waiting so long, bien-aimé . I will be content to wait for you.” He bowed low, sweeping out a slender hand in an eloquent gesture. “I would wait for you forever.”
    A flash of that smile, deeper this time, deep enough to send flutters