They both laughed softly.
“Maybe a little,” he acknowledged with a small nod. “I want ye to teach me to dance.”
“You know how to dance.” She blanched, shaking her head. “You and I have waltzed a number of times now. Even when we should not have done.”
“Nae to waltz. I mean… teach me some of the other dances one does at the assemblies. Nae one of those dances done by the dandies.” He shuddered, not a fan of the dances where he had to jig and hop about like a jester. “There was a dramatic quadrille the other night. It looked mostly like walkin’. I could handle somethin’ like that.”
“Why?”
“What?”
“Why do you wish to learn such a thing if you will be leaving?”
“So…” He paused, catching her eye again. There was no trace of a smile in her face now. She looked more worried. “It is somethin’ that may be useful someday. I would be grateful for yer help.”
She nodded.
“Very well. Then we’ll need to move some of this furniture out of the way.”
“I can do that.” He reached at once to slide the two great settees back out of the way. He also shifted the chairs back and a long table too. The whole time she stared at him, slack jawed. “Let me guess,” he said, returning to face her with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. “A duke shouldnae move his own furniture about like a common laborer.”
“Actually, I was…” She trailed off. “Never mind what I was thinking.”
His curiosity was piqued. He parted his lips to ask exactly what she had been thinking, but he never got the chance.
“To begin, you start there, and I will move over here.” She took up her place standing opposite him. “We bow and curtsy.”
He did as she asked, being careful to avoid maintaining the connection of their gazes, for he knew she didn’t like that.
“Then we begin.” She talked him through the movements. The first few steps were easy enough to learn and remember, for they walked around one another, not touching, then they walked around an imaginary couple standing beside them before coming back together.
The challenge for Gerard came when she urged him to turn her under his arm, then take hold of her other hand, so they could walk together up and down the room.
“Your other left, Your Grace,” she said with a giggle. He swapped his right hand for his left hand as he took hold of hers, then spun her under his arm. He grew distracted, being this close to her, thinking of those stormy blue eyes and the way she flicked her head around to face him again. “This way, Your Grace, not that way.” She pulled him back across the other side of the room as they walked together, hand in hand. “Otherwise, you will walk straight into the other couples.”
“Kennin’ me luck, that is exactly what I will do.” He laughed and she smiled at his jest.
They continued in much the same way, occasionally jesting and joking between them. Each touch was something that Gerard had not expected. It made his stomach lurch, his hand taking hold of hers a bit more firmly than he perhaps should have done, but soon enough, he had learned the routine.
“Good. That is very good,” she said as she turned under his arm one last time. They disconnected and she walked around him. He watched her movements, flicking his head back the other way to keep his gaze on her for as long as possible. “Then take my hand.”
He did so, just as she faced him again.
“Try not to take my hand as if it is the thing keeping you alive.”
He laughed at her jest, turning her one last time, before they came to a stop, facing each other.
“Very good,” she whispered. He smiled at her just as they both fell into silence. There was a sort of tension in the air, and he supposed it had something to do with just how closely they were standing together.
“Perhaps…” he began. Her lips parted a little, and she stared at him, expectantly. “Perhaps we should try from the beginnin’?”
“Yes. Yes, that’s a good idea.” She looked momentarily disappointed that he had not said something else, but she brushed it off fast.
What did ye hope I would say, Charlotte?
He stepped back and bowed as she curtsied, then he moved forward and performed the routine all the way through. They began by walking around one another, then he turned her under his arm. This time as they ran through the movements, Charlotte didn’t offer instruction. She seemed to trust him to get it right of his own accord. He even traveled the right way around the room and knew his left from his right when it was needed.
As they came to the end of the dance, he turned her under his arm, and they came to a halt, both freezing and staring at one another. They had stopped with her hand still in his, even though they should have released one another by now.
