Page 43 of A Torn Allegiance
“I fear I have sent your thoughts far away from the dance floor.” Prince Marc was once again standing at her side.
“How can you tell?”
“Lord Harcour asked after your family, and you told him they were not as worried about the sheep as they should be but are otherwise lovely.”
“I did not!”
“You did.” Prince Marc laughed. “He didn’t seem offended, just confused.”
“I have that effect, unfortunately.”
The music ended, and she rested a hand on Prince Marc’s arm. “Shall I forgive your brother for neglecting my first set?”
He flicked a glance down into her face before a slow smile spread. “That is entirely up to you. But here he is, coming like a lapdog to his master.” Prince Marc shook his head.
The Prince Hayes Elsie saw approaching looked nothing at all like the lapdog his brother suggested he was. He stood tall, a princess of England on his arm, his head high, every eye in the room watching, every step a command of their attention. By the time he arrived in front of her, her mouth felt as parched as it ever had been. But she smiled.
Prince Kristoff bowed to Princess Mary. “And now I hope I might claim the set I so urgently sought?”
Her gaze lingered on Prince Hayes, but she smiled and readily moved to accept Prince Marc’s arm.
The music for a waltz began.
Prince Hayes’s smile grew.
“Did you plan that?” Elsie laughed.
He stepped closer and placed a hand at her back. “If I had, would you be pleased?”
She tried to act as though his closeness had no effect, but she grinned. “I might be.”
“Am I forgiven, then?”
They moved to the music, slowly at first, with small steps.
“You should be,” Elsie said, “but I might not be good enough a woman to do so just yet.”
“I feel as though I gave up the best woman in the room for that first set.”
“And gained a royal?” She tried to keep the bitterness out of her tone.
“Fair.” He nodded.
“But I know you need to maintain relations with them.”
“Also true.” He spun them in a circle. “Oh, you are an excellent dancer. I would that we could continue thus through the night.”
“We are well-matched in this regard, I think.” Her heart leapt with the light movement of her feet, skipping along the floor.
“In many regards, if I were to guess.”
“Perhaps.”
“But I didn’t keep my commitment to you, and no matter how important it might be not to insult a Princess of England, it might be more important to honor my commitments to the woman I’m most interested in knowing better.”
They moved across the floor as though dancing on ice. Elsie’s feet hardly touched the lovely parquet as she considered his words. “I admit to resenting all the moments we are parted. Perhaps ices this week? Or a visit to the outdated Vauxhall?”
His eyebrow rose. “I was hoping for something much more our style.”
