It was only later, when she could react to the incident with her mind and not her heart, that she realized… His kiss had not lied. He had felt something for her. She hadn’t imagined the fire in his kiss, the longing in his arms. Something was holding him back. That was the only answer. Yet what could it be? What? Another woman? She didn’t believe it. She couldn’t. Her husband was a quiet, private man, a man who would not reveal his every side for all to see; she had concluded that Miles was not one to trust lightly. Yet neither would she have deemed him a man of secrets. So why was it only now that he had spoken of his home in Lancashire? It was odd…or was it? Perhaps it was only that the days had swept aside the boundaries between them. Only now the barriers were back, as staunchly formidable as ever. Still, she was determined not to sit home and wilt away. When an invitation to a ball given by Lord and Lady Devon arrived one morning, she decided she would attend the event, to be held the next week.
