Page 55 of A Princess for Christmas

It was a conservative dress.

Itshouldhave been a conservative dress.

It was making him crazy.

“Leo,” Marie said, oblivious to the fact that she was driving him batty, “this is Jean-Paul Lavoie. Monsieur Lavoie, this is my friend Leonardo Ricci I was telling you about.” She smiled at Leo. “Monsieur Lavoie has been my dance teacher since I was six. And I am afraid it’s a thankless job. I have him come out every year before the Cocoa Ball to give me a refresher, and I don’t know why he hasn’t quit in a fit of pique. I’m hopeless.”

Dance teacher.

Suddenly Leo’s fists were completely chilled out.

“Nonsense, Your Royal Highness. You’re very...”

Marie laughed, even as she raised her eyebrows at the older man.

“...diligent,” he finished, his eyes twinkling.

“Monsieur Lavoie cannot tell a lie,” she said. “He’s very honorable.” She patted him on the back. “But at least I keep you in business.”

“You are too kind.”

There seemed to be a friendly familiarity between the two of them—an almost family-like vibe. Clearly, Leo had misinterpreted the scene at first.

Marie shook her head fondly at Monsieur Lavoie before turning to Leo. “So. Mr.Leonardo Ricci of the Bronx. Do you want to learn to dance?”

Marie didn’t expect Leo to agree. Leo was, understandably, sensitive about his background. She didn’t want him to feel like hehadto learn the waltz or any of the other traditional Eldovian dances they did at the Cocoa Ball. But if hewantedto learn them, she wanted to help. It was a fine line. She tried to express this sentiment as he walked toward her, bemused.

“There’s absolutely no pressure. Most of the ball will be regular dancing. Like you would see at a wedding.” Well, maybe that wasn’t quite true—did American weddings feature the kind of slow dancing they had done in the woods last night? “But we also do some traditional dances, and some waltzes. Which you can just sit out. If you want. I’m not saying youhaveto sit them out. But if you want to learn, Monsieur Lavoie can help. But I didn’t bring him here because I thought you needed him. I really do bring him in every year for a refresher.” Oh dear. She was making a hash of this.

“I’m not going to the ball, though.”

“Really?” Marie narrowed her eyes. “I thought you were kidding.”

“Not kidding. Not going.”

“Oh.” Why was that so disappointing? She of all people should understand. She would skip the ball, too, if she could.

“So you don’t have to be worried about your brutish American guest embarrassing you,” Leo said flippantly.

“I wasn’t worried about that!” But she could see how he would interpret her offer of dancing lessons that way. She geared up to apologize, but he was grinning.

“I know you weren’t. I was just teasing.”

Oh. She hadn’t realized, which was too bad, because she enjoyed it when Leo teased her. He was in hitting range, so she swatted his chest. It was... disconcertingly hard. A memory arose suddenly, of resting her cheek against that chest last night. The cheek—just the one; her right—grew hot. “See? I didn’t grasp that you were teasing. This is partly what I mean by saying I’m not a natural princess. I’m awkward on the dance floorandin social situations.”

“Do not say such things!” Monsieur Lavoie seemed genuinely hurt by her observation. Poor Monsieur Lavoie. He was such a decent man.

“Listen to Monsieur Lavoie,” Leo said as he jokingly wagged a finger at her and took a step back.

He was going to leave. Something was happening to her—to her whole body now, not just the one cheek. It was restless. Jumpy. Suddenly, remarkably, the idea of dancing didn’t seem so horrible. Of being grounded by strong, sure arms.

When she was dancing, she always felt like she was under a spotlight. Alone under the glare of everyone’s scrutiny, even though of course at balls she always had a partner.

With Leo, her jumpy body somehow knew, in a way that went deeper than her intellect, that she wouldn’t be alone. That he would bolster her.

She wanted that. She wanted those forearms of his wrapped around her.

“Mr.Ricci,” Monsieur Lavoie said to the retreating Leo, “even if you’re not attending the ball, perhaps you would be so kind as to partner with Her Royal Highness? She would benefit from having a practice partner who isn’t me.”

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