“Is the whole point of dancing not to dance to music?”
“I can hum.” She demonstrated a merry tune to prove her point. “I know! We can dance a Strathspey Reel.” She frowned. “But perhaps you are not up for such a lively affair yet.”
“I do not particularly want to, either.”
“Not even to indulge me?”
He shook his head.
She fluttered her eyelashes and tilted her head to one side. “Today or never?”
He looked away. But not before Honoria glimpsed the slight flush that crept up his cheeks. A sudden thought occurred to her. Had he never learned to dance? Mortified at her indelicacy, she rushed to say, “Forgive me, I hadn’t considered that you might not have learned the skill.”
“I can dance.” He flashed his teeth. “But mostly naked around a campfire.”
Her eyes jumped to his. “You . . . That . . .”
“I am jesting, Honoria.” His eyes glittered.
The damage on her imagination, however, had been done. Honoria now imagined him dancing around a campfire. Naked. Flames flickering over all that gloriously rippled skin.
“I haven’t learned the Strathspey Reel,” he confessed. “It sounds jolly.”
“Well, there is not much to it. It’s all about moving to the rhythm.”
“Does that not sound like any dance I’ve ever heard?”
“Sarcasm? You must be feeling better today.” She motioned for his hand. “It is easy enough to learn. Come.”
His eyes flicked to her in surprise. “You want to teach me?Now?”
She nodded.
He released his breath in a long-suffering sigh. “You are not going to stop until I agree, are you?”
Honoria bit back a smile. “I am known to be stubborn, aye.”
“You do recall me crumbling to the ground only yesterday?”
“And today you are as strong as an ox.”
“A baby ox, it saddens me to say.”
Honoria laughed. “Come on, I shall not drain your strength. All you have to do is step forward on your right foot, toe pointed. Then draw your left foot to meet up with the right, like so,” she demonstrated with a jump. “Then step forward on the right foot again, and hop on the right foot while drawing the left foot through, ready to step on the left foot to start again.”
“You are serious.”
“Of course, everybody ought to learn the Strathspey Reel.”
He harrumphed, but, to her delight, reached to take her hand. “If I faint, I’m requesting a change of healer.”
Honoria answered with a grin. “Take my hand in yours”—she raised one hand to his shoulder—“and slide your other arm around my waist.”
“I cannot believe I am doing this.”
Honoria laughed. “Do you remember the steps?”
“A child can recall the steps,” he muttered, but he allowed her to guide him through the paces again.
