They were barely moving now in the middle of the floor as he rocked them from side to side.
“What is wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing. It’s just, the mention of family.” He looked down between them, dwelling on the lace of her dress instead of her face. “Let’s just say that not everyone is as lucky as you to have some family members which make you so happy. It is a good thing, to have your sisters?”
“Do you not have anyone?” she asked.
She’s not going to let this go.
“My mother is still alive. Let us leave it at that and speak of it no more,” Theodore pleaded.
Margaret nodded, though she smiled rather sadly now.
“Is it so wrong to want to know you better, Theo?” she phrased her question just as the music came to an end.
They stopped dancing, but neither one of them released the other, even though all around them, couples were bowing, curtseying and departing from the floor. Theodore saw them out of the corner of his eye. His usual sense of propriety and neatness demanded that they should do the same. They should follow the crowd and do so at once, but it was rather hard to even consider letting go of his wife.
She was warm in his grasp and her wish to know him made his heart beat harder. He couldn’t remember anyone ever saying this to him. It went directly against what his mother had warned him about, that he should not take a wife, that he should not be intimately acquainted with her.
“Yes,” he answered tightly, prompting her eyebrows to raise. “I do not think it a good thing you know me much better, Maggie.”
“Do you remember what you said outside just now?” she asked. “That you can tell when I am lying? Maybe I can sense when you are lying sometimes, too.”
They now parted. He hastily bowed and she curtsied, though they didn’t look away from each other as they did. He took her hand began to lead her from the floor.
“I do not believe you think it a good thing to keep walls between us at all.”
For some reason, Theodore held onto her hand tighter, though he had no idea why he did it.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The door to the dining room opened and Margaret jerked her chin up. It was dinner time. It was the part of the day where she usually ate alone as Theodore once again retreated to his study to hide from her.
Yet tonight was different for some reason.
He had opened the door wide and walked in, sitting down at the head of the table beside her.
Margaret’s hand hesitated over the glass of wine beside her in surprise. Even Mrs. Lancaster was so shocked, she did not move at once. It was a full minute before she managed to rally two footmen to come and set the place in front of Theodore.
Once more candles had been lit to offer some comfort and the staff had retreated from the room, Margaret dared to speak.
“Are you well, Theo?” she murmured. A slow smile pulled at his lips.
“Do you presume that is the only reason I would come and share my dinner with you?”
“Feeling out of sorts is the only explanation I can give to myself at this moment in time for your presence here,” she said thoughtfully.
Something twitched in her stomach with excitement. Was it possible that Theowantedto come and sit with her? Perhaps he missed her company as she missed his when he was away? Perhaps just like her, he rather longed for moments spent together?
“There is something I wished to speak to you about,” he said somberly as he began to eat.
Perhaps not.
She clamped down on the excitement in her gut and set her focus on her plate instead.
“What is that?”
“The ball last night has got me thinking.” He twiddled his wine glass between his fingers, deep in thought. “Gabriel is very right in one particular regard. To hold such balls, you go up in the eyes of the ton.”
