Melanie’s eyes widened momentarily at his bold words. He’d seen enough of marriages, good and bad, to make that suggestion. When two parties in a marriage refused to yield their opinion and make allowances for an opposing point of view, the union always suffered for it.
He spun them to a gentle stop. “Valentine, your turn.”
Julia’s shoulders sprang back up.
Melanie moved back into position behind Julia, set her hands on her shoulders until Valentine had taken his place. Walter did not play an instrument so he clapped out a beat he hoped they could move easily to. With Melanie’s help, the newly wed couple’s next steps seemed a great deal smoother. Melanie joined him near the windows soon after and watched the pair in comfortable silence.
He leaned close. “What do you think?”
“They need to practice more often together, but I think they’ve made progress. Thank you for reassuring her.”
“My pleasure.” He paused a moment as the Merton’s spun by. “Shall we join them?”
“Here? There’ll be no accompaniment.”
He ceased clapping but the newlyweds continued despite the silence, at last in harmony on the dance floor. He hoped it held. “Why not? If we join them, surely they will keep dancing too. Besides, we’ve danced together since you were six. I imagine we could do it with our eyes closed.”
He brought Melanie into his arms, perfectly ready to dance in their usual fashion. Melanie was a very good dancer, she let him lead, and he found her rather a soothing partner.
Her eyes fluttered shut as they moved and he was astonished. “What are you doing?”
“Testing your theory.”
A few turns later, he was surprised to feel himself grow self-conscious. He was used to her trust on the dance floor, but not her complete surrender to his control. As they moved around the room silently, an urge to tug her closer into his arms grew. Her eyelashes were very long and dark across her cheeks. He widened his fingers on her back and with a subtle pressure, drew her closer than he would normally do in public. A small huff was all the rebuke he received and he made no further changes.
She glanced up at him at last and licked her lips.
A shock of pure desire filled him and he tightened his grip on her hand as every futile, improper thought he’d ever harbored swamped him at once. He should not, could not, think that way about her. Not ever. He tore his gaze away to stare over her head until the feelings passed.
When the rattle of the tea tray forced them apart, Melanie rushed away to serve everyone and he was very glad for the distance. She didn’t look him over with a frown when she delivered his cup, but he thought her strangely agitated.
He couldn’t understand what had changed to make him feel desire for her, of all women. It made him feel uneasy and strange and self-conscious. He wasn’t the sort of man she would look at twice, and neither should he consider her in that manner. There was much about her he didn’t like, particularly her prickly, cutting demeanor.
When she sat, she chose a chair far away from him but kept peeking at him. Had she guessed the direction his thoughts had taken?
He worked hard to suppress his confusion as he sipped his tea, made exactly as he liked it without the bother of being asked to decide what went in. He stared at the cup a moment, realizing Melanie drank hers exactly the same.
That discovery left him with an awkward awareness of Melanie that made his whole body tingle.
Six
Since the dance lessons were clearly over for the day, Melanie’s attention drifted to Walter George again as he assisted with righting the room’s furniture back to its normal placement. He had stayed, danced with her again after tea, and seemed in no hurry to go about his own business.
Melanie didn’t mind that Walter was here, but the quality of her thoughts relating to him confused her. He was a fine dancer, an entertaining conversationalist. His sense of humor had smoothed over the tension building between her brother and his wife. She liked him.
She liked Walter George very much, and that was altogether baffling to realize after being acquainted with him for so long and thinking nothing more of it until he’d pulled her closer in their dance.
When their eyes had met and held, she’d almost swooned at the heat in them. Only her training had saved her from reacting; only her understanding of Walter’s character had prevented her from jerking back. The moment had quickly passed and since then he’d been nothing but a perfect gentleman. The same Walter she’d always known and trusted.
Although yesterday when he’d held her, her heart had beaten a little faster than she was accustomed to in his presence. She hadn’t even minded him prying about her governess’s death. He had seemed to possess a genuine interest in understanding her reactions, her need to avoid being held. He would tell no one of her emotional outburst too. He’d promised and she believed him completely in that regard.
Walter had always been a man of his word.
He was possessed of an exemplary character. Very loyal to his friends and family.
She fussed with straightening the sheet music, surreptitiously noticing his ease and affability with her family. Walter was everyone’s friend. People just seemed to like him, fathers, mothers, sons, though she’d never heard of him having a sweetheart of his own.
Perhaps it was his ready smile, offered so often in the recent weeks that made her notice his qualities now. Despite all she’d done wrong in the past, all the toes she’d trod on unwittingly, he still seemed willing to be friendly toward her. The first to overlook her many mistakes.