Page 57 of His Runaway Duchess

She leaned forward, plastering on a smile. “I was upset, but only because nobody was dancing.Iwould like to dance, but I don’t have a partner, you see.”

Alex nodded as if this were a very acceptable reason for sadness. “I understand.Iwill dance with you if you like, Daffie.”

Daphne smiled. “I’d love that, Alex. Are you sure? Have you finished your breakfast?”

He nodded seriously. “Just a moment.Nobodywould want to dance with this nonsense playing.”

It took a moment for Daphne to realize what was happening.

Turning on his heel, Alex scurried across the empty floor, waving his arms to get the attention of the musicians. There was a ripple of silence in his wake, everybody leaning forward to see what the little boy was doing.

“Excuse me,” he said, his high, clear voice carrying easily across the ballroom, “but could you play something with a little bit of life in it?”

There was a wave of laughter at this. Mrs. Trench covered her smile with a hand, and even Edward seemed to smile. Just a little.

The chief musician chuckled, smiling and nodding indulgently. They started playing a light-hearted jig, something that had theother guests tapping their spoons on their plates and nodding in time.

Alex turned, clearly pleased with himself, and held out his hand. The guests gave out a ragged cheer, seeing that he was asking his new stepmother to dance. Smiling, Daphne got to her feet and crossed the floor towards him.

“I don’t know how to dance,” Alex whispered when she was close enough. “But I thought you could teach me.”

“Dancing, for the most part, is about having fun,” Daphne assured him. “Besides, it’s my wedding day, so we can dance how we want. So long as you don’t tread on my toestoomuch.”

Alex beamed. “I can do that.”

He was much smaller than Daphne, of course, so there was no question of doing any of the conventional dances. She took his hands in hers and winked encouragingly.

“We step this way… then this way… and then around in a circle. We step back, clap our hands once, and clasp hands again. Step again… and again… Very good! Now, you let go of my hand, and we turn away and spin in a circle again.”

Alex spun so fast that he nearly overbalanced, and Daphne laughed loudly.

“No, no, slowly! Andgracefully. We turn around the shoulder likethis. We make a performance of it.”

Alex pouted, making a good impression of the vain dandies Daphne had danced with before.

She laughed again, clapping. “Yes, yes, good! You’re getting the hang of this. You’re anatural, Alex.”

“I always liked the idea of dancing,” Alex confessed. “I told Mrs. Trench, and she asked Papa to hire a dancing master for me, but he said I was too young and dancing wasn’t enjoyable anyway. I think he just thinks that men oughtn’t to dance.”

Daphne’s smile faded a little. “Well, there are some people who think that.”

She shot a glance across the room, where Edward sat alone, his gaze fixed on them. Their eyes met, and a shiver ran down her spine, even though she did not wantit to.

All those novels talk a great deal about heroines calming their minds to tranquility and other such nonsense.Well, it isn’t true. I can’t for the life of me be tranquil. And it’s all his fault.

“It seems to me,” she said, after a pause, “that your Papa does not like dancing and assumes that you will feel the same.”

“Why would he not like dancing?”

She shrugged. “Many people like different things. We’re all different, after all.”

As the jig progressed, a few other couples tentatively took to the dance floor. Anna and Theo were one of them. Beatrice, heavy with child, did not but seemed to be trying to convince her poor husband, Stephen, to ask Emily to dance. Emily seemed mightily horrified by the idea.

A few of the couples were dancing properly. Others still were copying Daphne and Alex’s silly, made-up, little dance, laughing and stepping on each other’s toes.

For the first time in a while, itfeltlike a wedding. Daphne took Alex’s hand and spun him in a circle underneath her hand.

“You’re meant to do the spinning! You’re the lady!” Alex complained. “I knowthatmuch.”

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