Married By Mistake

cheek. “Thank you,” he said again. “Thank you, Eloise.”
    She hugged him, then pushed him away, brushing impatiently at her eyes. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand men,” she said. Half indignant, half amused, she added, “Sam came to my party without an invitation. Look at him!”
    Adam choked on a laugh. The preposterous elegance of Sam’s Prince Charming costume couldn’t hide his distinctive shuffling step, even as he danced with a woman in a low-cut red dress. “Has Sam danced with you?” he asked.
    “He hasn’t even spoken to me,” Eloise huffed. “What does the man think he’s playing at?”
    The dance ended, and as if he’d guessed the subject of their conversation, Sam made his way over to Adam and Eloise.
    The two men nodded to each other. Adam swallowed his comment about Sam’s outfit.
    “Good evening, Eloise,” Sam said. He stood close to her, and Adam saw that she didn’t move away, but swayed toward him slightly.
    “Sam.” Her voice was cool.
    “It seems my invitation to your party went astray,” he said.
    “I didn’t send you one.”
    “Then I apologize if my presence here embarrasses you.”
    Eloise inclined her head. “Not at all.”
    “I had to come,” Sam said.
    “To check how I’m spending my money?” Eloise asked. “To see if I’ve briefed the catering staff correctly? To nag me about keeping my insurance paid up?”
    “To dance with you,” Sam said.
    “Oh.” Eloise was clearly flustered.
    Adam enjoyed the spectacle.
    But she had no trouble seizing the upper hand again. “Then why haven’t you asked me to dance?” she demanded acerbically.
    “I’ve been waiting for the band to play the tune I requested.” Sam paused, alert. “It should be about now.”
    Sam had done it again, Adam realized. Knocked Eloise off balance. For the first time, it occurred to him the lawyer might be good for his stepmother.
    The band struck up “All the Things You Are.”
    Eloise caught her breath, glanced uncertainly at Adam. He nodded encouragement. She turned to Sam. He gave her his hand. “Dance with me.”
    * * *
    C ASEY HAD LOST COUNT OF the men she had chatted with over dinner in the marquee, and danced with in Eloise’s ballroom. But despite the masks that concealed their faces, she knew none of them was Adam. Had he heard she was coming and decided to stay away? Eloise was at a loss to explain his absence, and Casey sensed the older woman’s disappointment. Damn the man.
    Then, as if her anger had conjured him up, he appeared over the shoulder of her current dance partner, masked but instantly recognizable.
    Adam tapped the other man on the shoulder. “May I?”
    Her partner, who had been in the middle of asking her out to dinner, hesitated. To Casey’s shock, the infallibly polite Adam Carmichael elbowed him out of the way. The other man started to say something along the lines of “See you later,” but the glitter in Adam’s eyes, behind his blue domino mask, deterred him from finishing.
    Casey fitted her hand into Adam’s, trying to calm the sudden racing of her pulse. How had he recognized her in a dress he’d never seen, with a mask obscuring most of her face and hair?
    But she said nothing, just relished the sensation of his hand at her waist. For a few moments they danced in silence.
    “I knew you by your shoulders,” he said at last, sounding almost angry.
    “I...what?”
    He lifted his hand and ran a finger along her shoulder, from her neck to the top of her arm. Casey shivered.
    “Isn’t that curious?” he said, his tone conversational now. “I walked into the room and I knew you.”
    “Curious,” she agreed, hardly daring to breathe.
    He pulled her closer, both hands on her waist as they danced. Casey was faint with desire.
    “I’ve been reading about you in the newspaper,” she said.
    “That photo. That woman?” he asked, and she nodded.
    “There’s a psychological term for it,” he said. “Sublimation, or substitution—something like that.”
    “Substitution for what?”
    “You’re the psychologist, you figure it out. But know this—I haven’t so much as touched another woman since you left. Not beyond a kiss on the cheek.”
    “Thank you....” But it wasn’t enough. “It’s been two months.”
    “Some people are slow learners.” He rested his chin lightly on the top of her head. “I have some bad news for you.”
    “What’s that?”
    “I had your car towed away.”
    “You what?” Casey pulled