After some hours of attempting to catch her alone again Valmont was close to giving up. He guessed that this was how she felt when he had danced with everyone else at the party.

They were getting good at this type of revenge already.

When the sun started to set the party grew to a stop and the Marquise assumed Valmont had left when she tried to find him. That was up to the point where she was stood saying farewell to the host and he suddenly appeared at her side.

"You should know I am not that simple to walk away from then."

"I thought you had already departed Vicomte, is this you going now?"

The other people in the forecourt were also speaking amongst themselves so he had no hesitation in answering, "Yes. I was wondering whether it would be to our advantage to use only one carriage between us because I do not live so far from you, if not we will be awfully lonely... and I may have told my footman that I would not need to go home until the morning."

She kept her emotions in-check as she asked, "Were you thinking you might have a woman to spend the night with so you would not go home?" He smiled in response. "In addition you live a long way from my home so you would be more than welcome to stay in one of my many empty rooms, to save you excess travelling in one day."

He looked at her in surprise, he honestly was not expecting her to agree, never mind offer a bed. "I would love that. Thank you."

It hit her then that she had just requested he stay in her house for an entire evening, and she wanted to take back what she said. Their flirting had been harmless before but now she was terrified at the prospect of him entering her private sanctuary and seeing her with her guard slightly lowered. There was also the issue of the journey with him because when talking one did not have the opportunity to carefully construct a perfect reply as was possible in writing.

Still, she did want him in every single way that she could, and tonight opened up numerous doors into their futures and their ever-progressing relationship.

As they moved towards her awaiting mode of transport she sensed his presence close to her each time she put one foot in front of the other, she then felt a peculiar warmth touch her back and realised it was the palm of his hand on the ties of her light dress. They caught eyes and were transfixed by what they saw. Both were consumed with desire and neither wanted to break any of the current connections they had, physical or otherwise.

While they say in the confined space, facing the same direction she was aware of all her self-concious fears resurfacing. She knew what this day was leading to and worried about what he would think of her not-so-impeccable body shape outside of the literally breathtaking corsets she squeezed into.

Unbeknown to her Valmont was having the same doubts about his own self image but wanted nothing more than to explore her and see what she looked like without all the social prerequisites such as tiny waists and face powder that made them look less than naturally beautiful.

If only one of them had mentioned that they would be at this afternoon party, they could have prepared more for this.