To Crow’s gratification, it looked like Penelope was just as taken with the way he looked tonight as he was with her. Catching her eye, he could see the redness on her face as she stared at him. He hadn’t done nearly as much to his appearance as she had to hers, but the additional effort he had put in felt worth it now that he could see the way she reacted. Strangely, he almost felt like he didn’t deserve her admiration though. Perhaps it was because of how beautiful she was in her elaborate ensemble or perhaps it was because they had been forced to put so much distance between each other that he didn’t feel as close to her as he had before, but her lingering eyes made him want to blush like the lovesick puppy he’d been accused of being in the past.

He managed to cling to his composure by a thread as he crossed the ballroom to join the knight and his sister. Almost as soon as he reached them, the latter wasted no time trying to take advantage of the slip up she had caught. Crow forced a roll of his eyes at Naida’s question to Penelope, though inwardly, he craved to hear what his secret lover had to say. Her eyes had already given away the fact that she had been captivated by him the instant their gazes had met, but he was a glutton for her compliments. So, when she said he looked good, he had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself from grinning.

“Thanks,” a deferential smile took the place of the affectionate one, and he nodded his head to her in the same manner he would have treated any other woman at the party. During the brief motion, he couldn’t stop his eyes from flickering to the skin that had been revealed by her low-cut dress. It was going to be difficult to pretend he was uninterested in her when she was wearing such a seductive outfit.

Naturally, Naida was dissatisfied with the formal exchange. She swiped a glass from the tray of a passing servant and stepped over to her brother’s side as she passed it off to him. “Don’t be rude,” she chided, poking him in the chest with one finger and then turning toward her friend with a foxlike smirk. “When a lady compliments you, you’re supposed to return the favor. Don’t you think Penelope looks [i]gorgeous[/i] tonight?”

Crow hesitated for a split second before he nodded. There was no point in lying to his sister when she had already caught him staring at the knight. It would be easier to play off his actions as mere physical attraction rather than trying to convince her that he hadn’t been gawking at Penelope just moments before.

“She does look beautiful,” he confessed in a low voice.

Naida was delighted. Her mischievous eyes danced between the two before she announced: “You know, I think I saw Braden with some of the men by the entrance. I’m going to say hello to him for a minute. Don’t go anywhere until I come back!” Without waiting for a reply, she bounded away, leaving the others alone.

Crow watched her go before he turned back to Penelope. For once, his sister’s match making had been a good thing. There was no telling when they would have time to themselves again tonight, so he was going to take advantage of the gift, even if they only had a minute. “You really do look amazing,” he breathed, keeping his voice down so they wouldn’t be overheard by anyone else. His eyes swept over her one more time, and he shook his head incredulously. “Gods, I’ll never understand how I got so lucky. I think I understand why Toreus picked you to do this though… Wearing that, you could convince a bee to buy honey.”