Avast!
Chapter 5
Breath, Lily, breath.
This wasn't precisely the easiest thing to do while a full grown man was half lying upon you. She didn't dare to protest in case the men on the balcony would hear her. Her eyes widened in outrage when Potter wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer until she was almost molded to his frame. The libertine!
He flinched slightly when her foot connected with his calf but still didn't release his hold. He put a finger on her lips and whispered, "Be quiet".
His hot breath tickled her ear and made a delicate shiver run down her spine. She bit back her tongue and compromised in giving him her best glare, even though she wasn't sure if he could see it in the dark. The voices speaking in low tones above her finally drew her attention back to the danger. Closing her eyes, she strained to make out the words.
"Well? The cargo is all ready. There's no going back now on our deal" the cold, business-like tones she guessed belonged to Riddle.
"Hush!" the other man, Lord Madison, said nervously. "Do you want half the ton finding out? 'Tis risky enough to have you come here"
"I don't care if the Prince himself found out," Riddle sneered. "As long as you'll pay me my due"
"You think it's easy to gather fifty-thousand pounds in less than a fortnight for me? I'm bankrupted, swimming to the neck in debts…" Lord Madison complained in desperation.
"I don't care if you'll have to sell you own old mother to gain it, for pay me you will. Finding another buyer won't be any trouble for me, otherwise."
Something in Riddle's tones made Lily quite uneasy. But still- fifty-thousand pounds! Sounded like a king's ransom, comparing to her sad state of income. The rest of their quiet discussion was lost to her concentration when she suddenly realized that Potter's head was resting too close to her neck.
"What are you doing?" she breathed, forgetting that she was supposed to keep quiet.
"What do you think?" his thumb was drawing small circles on her waist and his nose was trailing up and down the side of her throat.
"Have you lost your wits?" she made the appearance of struggle, too curious to guess what he'll do next, to put much effort behind it.
"Don't worry, they just left." he pressed his lips to the skin behind her earlobe.
Oh, my. This was wrong. Very wrong. She couldn't lie under the balcony on the dump ground with a man who was intent on seducing her slowly, taking liberties with her she should've never agreed to in other circumstances.
She needed to think about her reputation. Well, maybe that wasn't the correct way to think about it. Her reputation was bad enough not to shock any matrons and gents if they happened to see her.
She needed to think about Longbottom's disapproval of rolling on the ground with one of his employers. She arched off the ground instinctively when Potter turned to kiss between her breasts, his hand moving from her waist to her buttocks. Oh, who cared what Alice's poker-spine husband thought of her? She was not formally in his employment.
The hand moved from her buttocks to her back, the fingers skillfully starting to release the strings of her dress. Her dress! Her foggy mind finally returned to focus. Did the rascal have the slightest notion what the wet was doing to her dress? It might get smudged or worse, wrinkled. It cost her too much to even consider endangering it to such a fate. She did intend to wear it again, after all.
This time when she hit him, she did use all her strength. "Off of me, you pig!" he did as she asked, apparently taken by surprise of her sudden turn of reaction to actually comply. She quickly wriggled out of the narrow hideaway and back up on the balcony.
Straightening her dress, she squared her shoulders, raised her head high and pulled the double doors open.
"This is not over yet" a soft promise came from the darkness.
Lily shut the doors behind her with a snap, not daring to take a last glance back.
Avast!
"You're jesting!" Alice took Lily by the arm and pulled her behind the nearest column, making sure they were out of earshot. "Right now?"
"Yes, nearly got caught in the act as well." Lily shot a quick glance around and lowered her tone. "This is getting complicated."
"I agree," Alice sighed. "But the worse is yet to come; I just passed your sister on the dance floor."
"What?"
"You don't have to rush out at midnight, do you?" Alice said half-teasingly, though her worried gaze swept the hall one more time.
"I wished. She'd want me to spend the rest of the night by her side, flaunting in front of me who knows whom, and subtly interrogating me why I'm neglecting your husband."
"I beg her pardon?" Alice snapped angrily. "The bitch"
"Quite, but I still won't want her finding me out. I planned breaking in Madison's study to find more proof."
"You'll want his bedchamber, not his study. From my acquaintance with his daughter, I know he keeps anything valuable there."
"what about his wife?" Lily asked puzzlingly.
"Separate chambers"
"Oh"
"You'll need to go when the performance begins, that way no one will be around…"
"Good evening, my ladies"
Lily refrained from rolling her eyes. "Crawled back from the dirt, so soon?" she muttered too low for Alice to hear.
"Touché" Potter chuckled next to her ear, before stepping between them and sweeping a low bow in Alice's direction, ignoring Lily altogether. Alice raised her eyebrows in question at her, noticing the insult as well.
"Good evening" Alice inclined her head in greeting.
"Would one of you lovely misses care to join me for the last waltz of the evening?" he asked, his eyes resting on Lily.
She opened her mouth in annoyance. "I-"
"Petunia" Alice warned urgently.
"Would love to" Lily quickly finished, putting her fingers on his sleeve and letting herself to be lead to the dance floor. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw her sister stop several feet from Alice, who wasn't fortunate enough to escape in time, and having to tolerate Petunia's introduction of her tonight's companion to her. Poor Alice.
"I noticed you are quite friendly with lady Longbottom," Potter pulled her to dance as the music started. "very unusual"
"If you mean scandalous, then I must point out that you are the last person to talk about improper behavior. Especially after asking me to dance without even a formal introduction"
"And you know about the manners of the ton well, I guess" he answered amusingly.
"I'm aware of them more than you, it appears." she pushed him a little farther. "Firstly, you don't dance the waltz so closely to your partner, and you don't hold him so intimately, either"
"Like this?" his smile deepened and he drew her even closer.
To her relief the music stopped at the moment, and she stepped quickly from his arms. For some reason her breathing was a little unsteady, and she felt herself flushed from head to toe. Potter bowed to her, a knowing smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, and then he turned his back to her and disappeared in the crowd that was now gathering to enter the next room.
Lily turned the other direction, ignoring the stares, the whispers and the fingers which were pointed behind her back. The faster she'll get to Lord Madison's bedchamber, the fastest she'll be gone out of this place. And out of his reach.
Avast!
Lily bent on her knees and looked under the double bed. Nothing except dust. Shaking her head, she went to open the drawers. She rammed through the second one when she heard coming footsteps near the door.
Shooting a frantic look around, she darted towards the closet. She left the doors an inch apart, as the chamber's door opened and closed quietly.
A male's shadow moved inside. Lily watched in surprise as the stranger acted the way she did not only a minute before. He even went to check behind the paintings which hung on the wall. He stepped towards the fireplace and disappeared from her sight.
She beckoned until she was pressed to the side of the closet, hiding behind hung up jackets and shirts. She snapped to attention when the click of heels was heard a second time outside the room.
The man cursed softly and reappeared again. She just started to wonder why he looked so familiar, when one of the closet doors opened and his tall shadow snuck in.
Lily rolled her eyes skyward as if in prayer for salvation, and shrunk even further at her corner.
On, not him again.
A/N: lol :) soooo, after not updating for -cough- quite a time, I decided to get back and at least post this one. I'll try to get the next chapter faster, though no pinky-promise, guys.
Hope you liked it!
BuDoTr
(Disclaimer: I own emm… all the Author Notes, and probably the closet where certain Miss L is locked with a certain Mr. J. I have the receipt to prove it)