The lights were brighter than Olivia recalled they had been three years ago when she ran out of the same ballroom, her heart breaking into tiny pieces, her body on the verge of failing her.

Now, she was dancing before the entire ton in the arms of the only man she had ever loved, her strength and vitality renewed almost as much as her heart had been healed.

After all this time, they had finally come full circle to the same dance competition that once brought them together.

“I wonder if we might have had a chance of winning tonight,” she mused as he whirled her around, his movements precise, masculine, and yet undeniably elegant.

“We would have won every single year, my love,” he replied. “They were fortunate we absconded from the competition the last time. And that we could not participate this time.”

Olivia giggled, her heart the lightest and the most carefree it had been in all her existence. She was now with Isaac, married to him for the last two years. She did not need to win a dance competition to attract a match.

“They say that one finds one’s true love in these dance competitions,” she told him with a mischievous smile.

“Really? Is that why you were so adamant on joining and winning?”

“You know why I wanted to win so badly.”

His eyes softened and she could still see the pain lingering in them. The thought of losing her was still a fear that kept him awake on many nights over the last three years, her presence the only cure that soothed his soul.

“I know that you wanted to join so you could get my attention,” he said softly. “So bold and audacious you were, my love. How could I ever refuse such an offer?”

Olivia burst out laughing. Oh, how he never ceased to make her laugh! Isaac made her truly, incandescently happy.

“It was not my initial intention, you know,” she told him.

“But you pivoted rather quickly,” he teased her. “A good strategist would find a way. An even better one would capitalize on a better opportunity.”

She shook her head. “I would say it was as much of a gamble as it was a strategy.” She looked up at him. “I gambled with my heart, you see.”

“And then you won mine,” he told her in a low, husky whisper. “All of it, all of me—it is yours. Always and forever.”

She smiled up at him. “Always and forever.”

When the music ended, there was a burst of applause and Olivia smiled up at her husband. A few young ladies went up to Olivia to praise their performance, which she accepted graciously.

“You truly do the Dukedom of Langley an honor with your grace, elegance, and poise, my love,” Isaac whispered in her ear, his warm breath fanning against the sensitive skin of her neck and sending shivers tingling down her spine.

“If we had joined the last dance competition, I think we stood a fair chance of winning,” she laughingly replied.

Her husband grinned back at her. “Perhaps, but I prefer to think we got better with time precisely because I now have a greater and more intimate knowledge of how you move.”

Olivia felt her face heat up considerably at that remark. Truly, he never really cared a whit whether they were in a ballroom or in the privacy of their shared bedchamber—Isaac would never fail to fan that insatiable flame that burned between them.

“But we are not here to win this competition now,” she reminded him. “We are here to support Fiona and Miles, remember?”

“True. But I still like dancing with you, anyway.”

She laughed. “We do not need a dance competition to dance with each other.”

His voice dropped to a husky whisper, “Perhaps a more private performance later, then?”

She shook her head as he steered her away from the dance floor. In the past three years, she began to see more of his mischievous side, and she loved him all the more for it.

Actually, there was nothing about him she did not love. She loved Isaac Anderleigh—wholly and without reservation. It was her greatest fortune that he felt the same way for her.

The participants for that year’s competition began taking up their places. One of them was none other than her own cousin, Fiona, who looked absolutely radiant in a dusty rose-colored gown shot through with gold thread, her hair coiled artfully on top of her head. She was on the arm of Lord Westmore, and cast a nervous glance at Olivia, who smiled widely at her in encouragement.

Lady Willow’s dance competitions were well-attended for one particular reason—its participants somehow always managed to find their perfect match, even amongst those who did not win. It was the same thing for Olivia’s parents, the late Earl and Countess of Lancashire.

Three years ago, she sought to win that same competition, if only to achieve something before she finally succumbed to her illness.

Her resolve to win had led her to Isaac and even if they were not able to participate in the dance competition as they had initially intended, they found each other and a love that set the entire London abuzz.

Mother, you were right, she whispered in her heart. I found my match through the dance competition, although not in the way I expected.

She felt his large hand squeeze her own and she looked up to find Isaac smiling at her. For Olivia it did not matter if she won the dance competition anymore—she had Isaac and that was all that mattered.

“What are you thinking of, my love?” he asked her softly.

She smiled up at him. “I was thinking of how I won the competition two years ago without really joining.”

His eyes softened. “We won that competition, my love.”

She nodded. “We did.”

The path to happiness was neither straight nor smooth. It was convoluted, fraught with twists and turns, and rocky at times. It was not for the faint of heart to traverse.

But for those who were brave enough and audacious enough to risk it all, it was well worth it.