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And once Arabella discovered who Maddux truly was, and what he’d done to tear her faaze would quickly and undoubtedly turn to hatred

Chapter 4

Arabella felt as though she was being swept off her feet by the handsomatic man who’d asked her to dance, and it was a unique sensation that h a dozen butterflies were fluttering around in her stomach

After she’d gushed about attending the ball for the first time, an easy silence fell between the her ballad, and Arabella realized that while this man knew her name, she didn’t know his And since she’d like to believe thatbeyond this one dance, she ventured to find out

She glanced up at his face—God, he was so big and tall she had to tip her head back to see that far up—and found hi down at her with a heat and intensity in his ah her veins She should have felt intiht tension in his jaw and the fact that his body was nearly twice as big as hers His strong, muscled arms could effortlessly crush her if he so wished, but despite his coely safe and secure with him

There was a certain edge about hih he wore a fitted tuxedo that had to have been tailor- like y brown hair was long enough to fall rebelliously past the collar of his suit jacket and was finger coles of his face and jaw She caught sight of what appeared to be a puckered scar along the side of h

is neck that disappeared into the collar of his shirt just where her hand rested on his shoulder, and she had to fight the urge to skiured flesh and ask him what had happened

“What is your nae properly without ogling him

He hesitated a few noticeable seconds before answering “Maddux Wilder”

Her lips parted in surprise “The Maddux Wilder?”

The corner of his mouth quirked hat appeared to be ah to soften the harsher lines of his face “As far as I know”

Falling head over instant infatuation with the host of tonight’s ball was the last thing Arabella ever expected to happen when she’d arrived this evening But she couldn’t deny her attraction to this man whose hand was pressed so intiainst the small of her back

He tipped his head to the side curiously, though his gaze was direct and back to being intense “How do you know of me?”

She flashed hirin as he swept her in a slow circle in tihtly between hers, yet firh toit felt "Well, your name is directly connected to the charity ball, so there is that"

He chuckled, the sound low and deepand somehow oddly relieved “Ahhh, that’s very true”