Chapter 8
As Thea lay in bed, two men’s words swirled in her mind.
“Let me know you, Thea. Get to know me. Perhaps it may lead somewhere beyond your wildest dreams.”
“I assure you, it is not all of a sudden.”
“I wish to know you.”
“You fit me. Your bearing … it is unmistakably royal.”
First a prince. Then a duke.
What is happening? Thea had no idea, but she knew attention from any man, especially them, was playing with fire.
The prince was truly hazardous to her. There was something about him that had made her wish to throw caution to the wind and let her heart lead the way. She had danced with him. Recklessly. Foolishly.
She could still imagine where he had held her as they waltzed across the floor. She hadn’t wanted the song to end.
“You feel the same pull I do.”
His words echoed in her mind, and she could admit to herself that he was right. She did feel it. She’d only felt it once before in her life.
That was how she knew Prince Alexander Karalovy was dangerous. The kind of pull she felt toward him was the sort that took one over the edge of reason and into a completely new dimension, where love made all things possible.
Am I willing to take such a risk again?
She had the girls. Her duty to them. Her love for them. Her uncle would never approve of her stepping outside the role he had insisted she play. She would never act in a way that would harm the girls’ chances. She was not selfish.
But was she willing to let this truly unique, exciting, unexpected encounter fade away and pretend it wasn’t causing a stirring in her soul?
And was Thea mad, or had the duke’s gaze carried an unspoken interest in her?
She had no experience with the season beyond acting as the girls’ chaperone.
She had never once expected or anticipated the masculine attention she was receiving.
It wasn’t exactly unwelcome, but the intentions behind it seemed murky.
Are the prince’s intentions honorable?
One didn’t dance at a respectable ball with a woman one wanted to take as a mistress, did one?
Suddenly, she wished for an older, more experienced confidant who knew the ways of men in this society. But what Thea had learned so far was to keep her thoughts to herself, as few could be trusted and gossip ran rampant.
Already, she knew her actions at the ball were making their rounds. It was Louisa and Sophia she was here for—not her own romance, if such a thing were even possible.
As Thea fell asleep, she pictured the prince’s sparkling blue eyes and pale blond hair as he whirled her about the ballroom like she had been born to waltz in his arms.
What is it about that man? Am I simply attracted to the exotic?
When the answer didn’t come, Thea fell into a fitful sleep, haunted by bittersweet dreams of the past.