Always. Krystle Triplett
you will excuse me, I see some friends that I would like to talk to.” As she started to turn away, he stopped her by putting a light touch on her arm. She turned her head slightly, a question in her eyes.
“I will see you again soon,” he said. “For our dance. I believe I chose the first waltz. I would have chosen all of them, but like your brother said, I wouldn’t want to start the tongues a wagging.” With this, he gave her a slight bow and let her walk away from him. Watching her walk across the ballroom was almost as erotic as watching another woman dance naked for him. The sway of her hips was hypnotic. He didn’t realize he was still staring after her until Douglas clapped him on the shoulder, making him practically jump out of his skin. This, of course, made the other man laugh. Unbelievably, Tristan could feel his skin flushing a touch.
“I thought the two of you were going to come to blows there for a second,” said David, as he too joined Tristan.
“I was more interested in watching how Tristan and the chit were acting,” said Harold with a laugh. “I could practically feel the heat from across the room.
“All right, that’s enough,” Tristan said as he shook off Douglas’s arm. “I don’t know what heat you thought you saw Harold, but you were mistaken. I was merely telling her that I would see her at our dance. Nothing more.” The words sounded false, even to him. Clearly the three men didn’t believe him either, judging by the expressions on their faces.
“Come on, Tristan,” said Douglas. He was probably his closest friend after William. He knew Tristan pretty well; he just didn’t know that his friend was an immortal. “I’ve never seen you so fixated on a woman before. It was like the two of you were lost in your own little world. She couldn’t take her eyes off of you either. Though at the beginning I thought she looked as if she wanted to rip your head off.” At this they all laughed.
“Well, apparently,” said Tristan once they all quieted down, “William had warned her about me.” This got them all to laugh again. “I think she realized quite quickly that I didn’t intend to ravish her on the ballroom floor.”
“I don’t know,” joked David. “It looked like you were about to jump at each other.”
The group of men was on the side of the ballroom still. Tristan made sure that he could still see Lily. He tried to focus on the conversation that the other men were having, but the only thing he could think of was how much he wanted to talk to her again. He could hardly wait to have her in his arms. As he watched her, he noticed several men coming up to her, signing their names on her dance card. He could feel his jaw clench. He didn’t like the thought of other men touching her.
Her dance card filled up fast, because soon he could see that she was having to deny others the chance of dancing with her. It was a good thing Tristan had got to her early, if not he would have had to mark someone’s name out. No one would stop him from holding her in his arms tonight. He wanted to feel more of those sparks. He knew they would never be quite as jarring as that first touch of their gloved hands, but he was looking forward to it. Tristan couldn’t wait to touch her skin, wondering if that would cause more heat to flare between them. He would probably have to settle for a small kiss if he could get her alone. Her brother would make that more difficult than it need be. If Tristan told the other man what he had just discovered, then William might not be quite as opposed to the two of them. After only seventy years he had found his promised.
*****
Lily
She knew what those sparks meant. Lily had asked every promised couple she’d ever came across to describe what it was like when they first met. They all described heat, sparks, and an overwhelming desire to be close to the other person. This had always made her blush. Now she was blushing for a different reason. Lily could hardly wait for their dance, to be in his arms. It was all she could think about. Several gentlemen came up and tried talking to her and her friends, but she had a hard time keeping up with what they were all saying.
Once her dance card was full, she allowed the first man on it to lead her out onto the dance floor. As she swirled around the ballroom, she lost herself in the music, daydreaming about what it would mean to have found her promised one. She would never be alone again. That was the foremost thought running through her head. All her life, she dreamt of having someone who would never leave her, and now she had found him.
Her mother and father were never married, and they weren’t promised ones either. They were both very old immortals who had decided that they wanted children. However, because they were not meant to be together, they each lived separate lives. Her father, Maximus Contas, lived in Spain. He had only visited Lily three times. She could barely remember what he looked like.
Lucia St. James was a very standoffish mother. Lily knew that her mother loved her, she just didn’t express it very well. She raised Lily to be very independent, trying to prepare her daughter for the life of being a powerful immortal. Both of her parents had great powers, even by normal immortal standards.
Her most recent partner was looking at her expectantly. Lily realized he had asked her a question as he led her off the dance floor. Apparently, their dance was over. “I’m so sorry, can you repeat that?” As he repeated the question, she could barely focus enough to give him some vague answer. Her dance with Tristan was next. “Thank you for the dance, sir,” she said as he left her with her friends on the side of the room. He was an attractive man, if the giggles of her friends were to be believed. She couldn’t tell. All she could focus on was the man making his way across the ballroom, his eyes glued to hers.
Lily drank in the sight of him. He had hair so black that at certain times, when the candlelight would reflect off of it, it would appear blue. His tall, muscular frame was packed tightly into an equally dark suit. The shirt underneath was blindingly white. When he suddenly gave her a dazzling smile, she noticed how white and even his teeth were. She had been too busy focusing on his eyes before to notice each of his individual features, only that they added up to an extremely attractive man. Now she took the time to study his face. A square defined jaw and a straight nose made him the picture of the perfect male.
Finally, he reached her side, giving her a low bow. “I believe this is my dance,” he said once he rose up. He glanced behind her at her group of friends. “If you will excuse us, ladies.” They all just stared, surprised that a man like him had come up to them, or just in shock by his handsomeness, she wasn’t sure. Either way, she didn’t stick around to find out. Lily put her hand in his and let him lead her onto the dance floor. He put one hand on her waist, while she placed her trembling hand on his shoulder, then he grasped her other hand with his.
Once the music started, she got lost in the feeling of his arms. Staring into his eyes, having his scent surround her, she felt like she was home. Lily didn’t know how long they danced in silence, but eventually she realized that someone had to talk. They couldn’t just stare at each other all night. The gossips would go crazy.
“I’m sorry for the way I treated you earlier,” she finally said. Judging by the look in his eyes, she had surprised him with her words.
“You have absolutely nothing to apologize for, my dear. Your brother had every right to try to scare you away from me, and I think for a second it was working, until—” he trailed off. Lily wondered what he was going to say but didn’t find out because he changed the subject. “So how long are you staying in London?”
Lily felt like he was holding back from saying what he really wanted to say, but she answered his question anyway. She was nothing if not an excellent conversationalist. “I’m going to be staying with William for the rest of the season, and maybe through to next. It just depends on what is happening back home.” Thinking of the turmoil back in Paris upset her, so she asked a question of her own to take her mind off of it. “What about you? William said you had been here a few years now. When do you have to leave?”
“Not for quite a few more years. I came here when I was…um, twenty-five supposedly,” he said quietly. They were close enough to other couples that talking about his actual age was dangerous. “I know I didn’t really pass as a twenty-five-year-old, but I can definitely pull off being