White Dresses - I

                                    

                                          
Hello! I was overwhelmingly surprised at the reception of the original one shot. I would like to thank everyone that commented and voted on 'Like Fire'. Due to such popular demand, I have decided to continue and create a series of one shots following the adventures of our favourite Mr. Ambrose and Lilly Linton. 
                          
Please comment and vote because I definitely enjoy hearing what you think!
                          
Disclaimer: Once again, these lovely characters belong to the one and only RobTheir!
                          
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She was wearing white again.

                          
The last time he had seen her at a ball, in what felt like ages ago, she had also been wearing a fairly simple white dress. The thing that astounded him the most was that he never noticed how well the colour suited her until now. It made her glow in the candlelight and brought out that mischievous glint in her eyes. One would expect that a plain colour like white would be lost in the sea of colour, but she only seemed to stand out even more, distancing herself from the ton.
                          
With a loud jeer from the crowd, he was drawn from his thoughts. Shaking his head a little, Rikkard tried focusing himself on the task at hand: the apprehension of their target. According to some insightful intel from Karim, a man in possession of some precarious information was supposed to be in attendance tonight.  Rikkard was meant to be the lookout, to watch the crowd for any suspicious behaviour and notify his men in the room when to act. He should have been doing his job, but knowing that she was out in the midst of all of those people kept drawing his attention away.
                          
Following the creamy white skirt of her dress with his eyes, he watched her glide across the ballroom with that fool of an officer in one of those ridiculous red coats. With jutting movements and abrupt turns, he haphazardly guided her down the line. 
                          
His hands clenched into fists at his side and his knuckles turned white from the pressure. Something about seeing her in the arms of another man irked him beyond his control, but he knew he had to keep a cool and calm demeanour to maintain whatever wisps of focus he was already able to procure at the moment. There was so much built up anger inside him, and for once he really did not understand why.
                          
The man's hands were on her waist while her's were draped over his shoulders, Rikkard scoffed, this is her idea of being on high alert? He still couldn't believe that he let her join this venture, but her insistent bombardment of questions and lengthy pestering had driven him up the wall in frustration. He wasn't even sure how she caught wind of the plot in the first place! 
                          
She promised him that she would keep an eye out for the target, but he wasn't quite sure how she was managing that while dancing with some stranger.  However, it did give him some solace at seeing the grimace on her face and the strain on her brow.  He was acquainted with that expression because he had been on the receiving end of it before. 
                          
She wanted to slap her dance partner. 
                          
A part of him wanted to see her snap and land a walloping smack on the man's face, but she seemed to have a solid control over her emotions. He should expect nothing less from her because she had never given him a reason to underestimate her, no matter how hard he tried to put a dent in her armour in his efforts to get her to quit.
                          
Reluctantly, he tore his eyes away from her, and began combing through the crowd meticulously to try and identify the man that they desperately needed to find. His exasperation with society had peaked early on the in the evening, leaving him to suffer in menial silence. They wouldn't even have needed to have come to this forsaken event if Karim had only acquired the guest list! Resignation passed over him, there was no helping that now, as the only thing that mattered to him at the moment was the task at hand.