“To dance.” He led her away towards the other dancers.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Theodore led Margaret sharply towards the dance floor. His heart was thudding hard in his chest, as though it would crack a rib from the sheer number of beats.
As he passed the Viscount, he couldn’t help glaring at the man’s back, though Lord Edlerglen didn’t seem to notice. He was now too busy talking to Evelina and Gabriel with animation, no doubt complaining to them of his new son-in-law’s rudeness.
Like I care. He deserved worse.
Theodore knew what cruelty from a parent was like. He had experienced it often enough as a child to recognize it, but to see Margaret suffer such a personal insult in a place so public was crushing.
How could he treat her in such a way?
Maggie seemed to be trying to get his attention, though Theodore barely took notice as he led her toward the other dancers. The music ended and some left the floor, allowing Theodore and others to walk into the middle of the floor.
It was another waltz, which made him sigh in relief. He was not familiar with many of the quadrille or cotillion’s complicated choreography. He bowed to Maggie as the music began. Her eyes never left his face as she curtsied, then he moved toward her, taking her in his arms.
It felt right, having her there in his grasp. Her soft hand took his own as her other rested delicately on his shoulder. His hand was rather possessive on her back, drawing her near. To his relief, she didn’t pull away, nor did she seem to mind how he grasped onto her.
“The money I gave you,” Theodore muttered, choosing to look somewhere over her head as he asked this question. “Please tell me that you didn’t give itallto him.”
She hung her head between them.
“Maggie!”
“He’s my father,” she said simply, raising her head to look him in the eye.
He barely moved them around the room, for he was not so consumed by this conversation. He rocked them from side to side, well aware that other couples circled them madly.
“What else am I supposed to do when he is so desperate for money?”
“His desperation is for his own doing.”
“I know that, but I can’t fix him. If I could flick my fingers and make his problem go away, I would, but I cannot. I can only try to give him money to stop the situation from getting any worse.”
“Maggie, itwilljust get worse. Especially if we fund his addition.”
She chewed her lip, staring somewhere into the middle of his chest.
“I am doing it for my sisters,” she whispered. “I want to help them.”
“Then don’t give the money next time to him. Buy them things, take them places.”
“I could.” She nodded hastily. “I made a list with them recently of all the places they wanted to go. I could take them there with the money.”
“Yes, do that. Give them the life experiences they crave.” Theodore began to turn her slowly around the room. “We’re not funding his habit anymore.”
“But…”
“What do you mean, but?” Theodore must have said it sharply, for she flinched in his arms.
She never flinches with me. Ever.
Protectively, his hand slid further across her back, pulling her softly into him. She didn’t tug away. If anything, she seemed to sink into his arms a little, her body brushing against his own.
This is too much…
A heat rose up his neck, a need to have her close overwhelming.
