the colonel said.
He rose and offered his hand to Emma.
‘But your heart...’ Mrs Fitzgerald said.
‘Nothing wrong with my heart.’
Emma stood and allowed the elderly colonel to lead her onto the dance floor.
‘Thank you,’ she said quietly as they joined the four other couples moving slowly across the floor.
The colonel nodded gruffly. ‘They’ll have moved on by the time we sit back down.’
He was right. When the dance was over Emma returned to her place at the table and was pleased to find conversation had turned to a dig a few miles outside Cairo.
‘There’s rumour it could be the big one itself. Rameses.’
There was a moment of silence around the table as everyone considered what a celebration there would be if Rameses’ tomb was uncovered.
The conversation continued and Emma turned towards Colonel Fitzgerald and listened to him discussing the fake artefacts flooding the market and deceiving well-intentioned amateur collectors back in England. As he spoke Emma glanced towards the door and felt her heart jump in her chest. Striding through the wide doorway, looking as though he’d just been blown in from the desert, was Sebastian Oakfield.
He caught her staring at him and winked, making the blood rush to Emma’s cheeks. She forced herself not to look away or bury her head as she wanted to, but instead gave a nod of acknowledgement before slowly turning back to the colonel.
She didn’t know why he affected her in such a way. They’d met only briefly. She couldn’t deny he was charming, but the fact that he was a practised charmer should have had her running for the hills even if nothing else did.
Emma risked another glance over her shoulder and almost fell off her chair as she realised he was making a beeline for their table.
‘Miss Knight,’ he said, his voice low and seductive. ‘What a pleasure to see you again.’
He turned his smile on the rest of the company and Emma felt momentarily bereft. She shook her head, trying to find the sense that had abandoned her just seconds before.
‘Ladies, what a pleasure. So many beautiful women my eyes don’t know where to look.’
The ladies around the table tittered and giggled, and Emma would have sworn Mrs Fitzgerald even batted her eyelashes at the much younger man.
‘Colonel Fitzgerald, Sir Henry.’ The two men rose and they all shook hands.
‘Why don’t you come and join our little party?’ Mrs Fitzgerald suggested.
Emma stared resolutely at her hands. She wished he wouldn’t join them; she found it hard to keep hold of her normally robust common sense when he was around.
‘I wouldn’t like to intrude...’
‘Nonsense, we’d love for you to join us.’
Not needing any more encouragement, Sebastian grabbed a chair from an empty table and placed it next to Emma’s, forcing Sir Henry farther away.
‘You never mentioned you’d already met Mr Oakfield,’ Mrs Fitzgerald said to Emma.
Sebastian turned to her with a look of shock on his face.
‘You didn’t mention our recent adventure together?’
‘Adventure?’ Mrs Fitzgerald queried, her voice rising an octave.
Emma shot Sebastian a warning look.
‘A most exhilarating adventure,’ Sebastian confirmed.
Emma groaned. There was no way Mrs Fitzgerald was going to let her out of her sight after this.
‘There I was, minding my own business on the banks of the Nile up near the Temple of Horus.’
Emma rolled her eyes involuntarily.
‘Actually, would you like to tell the story, Miss Knight?’ Sebastian asked, motioning for her to continue where he’d left off.
‘I’m not sure I know how it goes,’ Emma said.
Sebastian grinned at her and continued, ‘Well, there I was, minding my own business when I hear a shout and before I know it I’m being chased by forty heavily armed Egyptian bandits.’
Emma felt her breath rush through her lips in disbelief. She fought to keep the smile from her face. It would only encourage him.
‘Are you sure it was only forty, Mr Oakfield?’ Emma asked.
Sebastian cocked his head to one side and pretended to consider. ‘Perhaps you’re right and it was closer to fifty.’ He shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter. Forty, fifty, four hundred, however many. The end result was a lot of bandits and only one of me.’
Emma glanced around the table. He had them all enthralled.
‘I looked to my left and I looked to my right but there was nowhere to escape. I thought my time had finally come to meet the angels in heaven.’
Emma knew she wasn’t the only one who raised her eyebrows at the idea of Sebastian Oakfield going to heaven.
‘Then, across fifty feet of fast-flowing Nile water, my eyes met those of a heavenly creature and I knew I was saved. I dived into the water and swam until my lungs were about to burst. When I surfaced, Miss Knight encouraged me aboard her felucca.’
Emma remembered it rather differently, but she had to admit Sebastian had a certain way with words.
‘But I wasn’t out of danger yet. The dastardly felucca captain threatened to disembowel me before I could catch my breath. Certain I was about to die, I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable, but instead I was surprised to find Miss Knight throwing herself in front of the captain’s sword for me.’
Mrs Fitzgerald gasped and Emma groaned quietly. She doubted she’d be allowed to leave her room, let alone Cairo, for the duration of her stay.
‘Miss Knight persuaded the piratical captain to spare my life and deliver me safely to Cairo. I shall be in her debt for ever.’
He turned his attention back to Emma and took her hand, planting a kiss just below her knuckles. His lips were soft against her skin and for a moment Emma felt as if they were the only two in the room. She forgot all the trouble he’d caused her and the curious stares of the Fitzgeralds and their friends. In that moment she was only aware of her heart thumping in her chest, his lips against her skin, and the primal urge that surged up through her, willing him to pull her against him and claim her as his own.
He released her hand and Emma came tumbling back to reality. She smiled at him shakily, wondering whether he had felt the same thrum of desire as she had. She shook her head; of course he hadn’t. He was a man of the world, a charmer—he probably took a different woman to his bed every night. A man like Sebastian Oakfield wouldn’t be affected by a mere kiss on the hand, especially not with an inexperienced woman like herself.
‘Interesting,’ he murmured.
‘Would you give me the pleasure of this dance, Miss Knight?’ Sebastian asked as the music swelled in the background.
Emma looked at him for a couple of long seconds before replying and for an instant he thought she might refuse.
‘Of course,’ she said and delicately got to her feet.
He led her to the dance floor, using the few seconds it took for them to weave around the tables of the other guests to analyse what had just happened. He’d been joking around, as he always did. He’d seen first a flicker of disapproval in Emma’s eyes, but soon that had transformed to amusement.