Music from the Heart

"I think I... ought to... go away," Ilouka managed to say.

The Earl of Lavenham smiled again. "Do you really think I would let you do that?" he asked.

Ilouka stared at him as if she could not believe what he was saying. Then as she was trying to find words he put his fingers under her chin and turned her face up to his. Then, incredibly, so that she could hardly believe what was happening, his lips came down on hers.

Ilouka had never been kissed and she had no idea that a man's lips could make her feel as if she was his captive, and it was impossible to try to escape. When she told herself that she must struggle, she felt as if a streak of lightning swept through her body.

It was the strange ecstasy she had felt when she was dancing that seemed to come from some music within her heart and which she felt must be in the Earl's heart too, and that they listened to it together....