Page 14 of A Virgin for the Cruel Duke

Inside the room, which was mostly bare, Diana was whirling around the floor in a waltz singing to herself in a low, melodious voice. She was flushed from the activity, her dark eyes sparkling and some of her hair loose and around her face.

Elizabeth must have made some sort of noise for Diana stopped short and they stared at each other for a long moment beforethey both curtseyed and said, “I’m so sorry!” at the same time and then laughed.

“I am so sorry to have interrupted, Lady Diana,” Elizabeth said quickly. “I didn’t mean to intrude!”

“Oh not at all - Lady - Mrs. - Your Grace?” Diana stammered a little and her flush deepened. “What would you like me to call you?”

“Would Elizabeth be too great an imposition?”

Diana hesitated a little and Elizabeth felt her heart sink. But then she smiled and nodded. “Of course not. And you must call me Diana in return. We shall be very cordial friends.”

“We shall,” Elizabeth said, falling over herself a little in her hurry to agree. “Might I ask what you are doing in here dancing on your own? I have noticed you come to do it most mornings and I was ablaze with curiosity to find the cause.”

“Oh,” Diana fanned herself with her hand. “Oh I expect it will sound rather silly to you, but I’m ever so worried about my first season. I haven’t been out yet and I know I’m a little old now and that everyone will be paying me all sorts of attention because of who my brother is and how much power he has and everything and I couldn’t bear it if I were to mess up the dances but Herbert won’t practice with me and Selina finds it such a bore!”

“Oh - oh no,” Elizabeth said, feeling her own stomach twist a little in sympathy. She could not imagine the pressure that Diana must feel being the last Wilkins to come out and so late for her first season. “Why don’t we dance together then, I could certainly use the cheerful exercise of it!”

Diana beamed and Elizabeth knew that for once she had said the right thing. “Oh shall we? That would be wonderful. I’m sure you know all the best steps and you can tell me where I am going wrong.”

Perhaps she had said the right thingandthe wrong thing.

Elizabeth gestured a beat with one hand and they took off, awkwardly humming different tunes and almost careening into each other. It was hard to keep up without any music or any other dancers, and the only times before that she had ever even been allowed to dance had been at a few fun country events that she had snuck out to with Sally.

It had been very different kind of dancing and Elizabeth waited with bated breath for Diana to point out how all her steps were wrong and she was off the beat or the most ungraceful clod in existence as Dudley had termed her.

“Let’s try a quadrille,” Diana said, breathlessly. “Come on! Follow my lead!”

The steps to this one were brisk but simple and they were soon prancing around the room, dancing towards and apart from each other, their hands joined and held high. Elizabeth foundherself laughing, caught up in the moment. It was impossible to be gloomy around Diana, she thought. The girl was sunshine through and through.

“Again,” she gasped as they came to a stop. “Again!”

“A moment’s pause, I beg you, Elizabeth,” Diana said, nearly double with laughing. “I must catch my breath before I go on.”

Elizabeth nodded her assent and waited for a few minutes while Diana caught her breath and then they started again, both of them paying more attention to the steps this time as they made their way around the room.

“Oh how different this would be with a gentleman,” Diana called.

“I think so, though we’d need two to do it properly,” Elizabeth said back. “Still I think we’re getting on marvelously enough without them!”

“We are, we definitely are!” Diana bounced in towards her and then away again. “Herbert never dances with me this long, it’s lovely of you to spend so much time on it.”

“It’s a pleasure, I assure you,” Elizabeth said, and was nearly startled out of her skin when a deep man’s voice said from behind them, “What is a pleasure?”

They both stopped still and turned to the door. Elizabeth felt her face flame red in embarrassment to see Stephen standing there,his arms folded and an expression of faint bemusement on his face. “Whatever are the two of you doing? I heard a strange commotion coming from in here but I did not expect to see this.”

“My goodness, Stephen!” Diana rushed to him, no fear in her for her intimidating brother. “I have been practicing for my season, of course, I want to be ever so ready. And Elizabeth came to find me and she’s been dancing with me this morning, isn’t that kind of her? It’s so dull doing it on my own!”

“Very kind indeed,” Stephen said, his gaze unreadable as Elizabeth forced herself to meet it. “I am glad the two of you have been productively engaged.”

“It’s really been lovely,” Diana said. “Really Elizabeth you must dance with Stephen next! He’s a wonderful dancer, easily the best I’ve ever seen. Come Stephen, you must do it. She’s been so nice to me!”

“Would you like that, Elizabeth?” Stephen asked, his gaze penetrating.

She knew her face must be bright red, but she saw the eagerness in Diana’s eyes and knew that she could not let the girl down. Not after they were finally making progress. “Of course,” she said a little stiffly. “I would be delighted.”

She curtseyed, remembering from somewhere that this was the right thing to do and Stephen bowed in response, hand to his chest. He then reached out a hand to her and drew her into the center of the room.

There was no music in the air, no orchestra to play, no other dancers. Elizabeth had heard stories of the glittering events that her sisters and brother were invited to, the way the bodies moved around the floor like one, the wonderful food and wine, the beauty of it all. She had longed to go to just one.

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