They slipped through the doors and out onto the terrace. Beyond it were the gardens, reachable by a few steps down. She walked toward them.
Joshua followed, taking in the gardens with a careful eye. “Greycourt certainly knows how to spend his money well. I’ve never seen a property as large as this in London.”
“It’s Grey’s forte—buying properties and turning them into something greater, with judicious management and good investing.” She lifted her skirts as she descended the steps. “Your sister married well.”
“Trust me, I’m aware of that.” He went down the steps after her, though at a slower pace. “And he must really love her. It’s the only way I can see him choosing to marry a woman with no prospects.”
“He doesn’t care about her prospects. He only cares abouther.”
As if realizing they were veering into subjects he never wanted to discuss, he asked, “Why are you trying to avoid this coxcomb anyway?”
“Because he fancies himself a wit and keeps going on and on about my rosy cheeks and my golden locks.”
Joshua blinked. “Your hair is red.”
“I know! To be fair, it’s a bit hard to tell colors by candlelight—”
“Notthathard. Good God, what’s wrong with the fellow?”
“Apparently, the same thing that has been wrong withallmy dance partners this evening.” She paused to gaze back at the French doors, but she didn’t see the coxcomb, thank God. “Judging from the balderdash they were spouting, they have brains made of cheese.”
Joshua laughed.
“Shh! I don’t want him to hear us.” Though she hated to stifle Joshua. She’d had two laughs in one night out of him. “He’ll come down here and ask me to dance, and you know the rules—I’m not allowed to say no unless I mean to sit out the rest of the evening. Then again, that might not be such a bad idea. My family keeps tossing dance partners at me in hopes that one of them will stick, but they all have terrible taste in men.”
“I’ll tell you what—if the coxcomb finds us out here, I’ll say that you’ve already promisedmethe next set.”
She paused in scanning the terrace to stare at Joshua. “You would dance with me?”
“Don’t be absurd. I’d make a fool of myself. But if he’s as unobservant as Lady Hypatia and Miss Clarke—and he sounds as if he is—he might not realize I can’t dance with a bad leg and a cane.”
The idea of his dancing with her took hold. She didn’t want to examine too closely why. “You could manage the minuet, I daresay. It’s slow and requires a man to put his hands out anyway, so you could use your cane without it lookingtooodd.”
“Thank you, but I’d rather not hobble around the floor for all the world to see. Besides, they’ve already danced the minuet, and if I remember right, it’s only danced once at a ball.”
She cocked her head. “Did you used to dance, before you were wounded?”
“I did, though I had few opportunities. There aren’t many women aboard a man-of-war. I could only dance while we were in port.”
“Did you enjoy it?”
“For the most part. After being cooped up on a ship for weeks with a lot of foul-smelling sailors and marines, it was wonderful to kick up one’s heels with a sweet-scented woman.” His gaze on her turned suspicious. “Why do you ask?”
“Because now that you’ve mentioned the possibility of your dancing, I consider it a challenge to see you do so. After all, we’re alone out here, so no one will care if you aren’t perfect at it.”
“Gwyn—” he began in a warning tone.
“I’m thinking the waltz might work,” she said, tapping her finger against her chin.
“What the hell is a waltz?”
“It’s a dance in three-quarter time that’s quite popular in Berlin and Vienna. And unlike so many English dances, it allows you to hold on to your partner with both hands for the entire time. That would be the best of the dance choices, I think, though not out here on uneven ground.”
Taking his hand in hers, she began to walk along a path through the gardens that lay parallel to the house. “Come with me, if you dare. I’m going to teach you to waltz.”
Chapter Thirteen
What the devil was she up to? As she wound through the gardens, Joshua prayed she wasn’t trying to leave the grounds. Given the note she’d sent Malet earlier in the day, Joshua would have to put his foot down about her heading anywhere beyond Greycourt’s property. And right now he didn’t want to get into an argument with her.
