Page 35 of The Secret Love of a Gentleman
They walked about the dancers in a line, Rob leading, then Caro, with Drew and Mary following. People would think them silly. Shewassilly.
Rob accepted a glass of the rum punch from one of the inn’s staff and held it out for her to take. Then accepted another and passed it to Mary.
‘To first steps,’ Mary toasted, when they all had glasses, chiming the rim of her glass against Caro’s.
‘To putting on a brave face,’ Drew answered, knocking the rim of his glass against Caro’s.
‘To dancing,’ Rob concluded, touching his glass to Caro’s. He drank his punch like water, swallowing it down with thirst, before putting down the glass and holding out his hand. ‘Will you partner me in the next dance, Caro?’
She shook her head.
He leaned to her ear. ‘I dare you,’ he teased.
A smile caught at her lips before she took another sip of punch. A moment later, the rum flowed into her blood, warm and strong, feeding her courage.
‘Well, Mary and I shall dance the next,’ Drew stated. ‘As I have come, I may as well indulge her.’ He looked at Mary. ‘If you will indulge me, of course, sweetheart?’
‘Of course I will. I shall not pass on such an opportunity.’
They smiled at each other. Then Drew looked at Caro. ‘That is, if you will be happy here with Robbie?’
She smiled to reassure him. ‘Go and make Mary happy. You deserve some fun.’
As the song came to a close, and another began. Drew took Mary’s hand.
‘Is dancing fun, then?’ Rob asked.
Caro’s gaze spun to him. ‘It used to be,’ she answered before taking another sip of her drink.
‘If you used to enjoy it, you will enjoy it now.’
She shook her head and lifted her glass to her lips once more. Rob’s fingers touched the base of the glass and tipped it higher. ‘A little more courage, I think. I shall have to get my brother Harry to make a drinker of you.’
Having taken an enforced gulp, she choked a little.
‘Sorry.’ He took the glass from her hand and offered his handkerchief. ‘I watched you at John’s, at the party, before I came to stay at Drew’s. You were watching people dance, as though you wanted to dance.’
‘Rob…’ She could not explain.
‘Tell me what is stopping you?’
‘I do not want to become a spectacle, and my nerves rebel and it nauseates me when men are close. It is a war as to whether I scream, vomit or run. As I said, I do not even know why.’
A sound of amusement escaped from Rob’s throat. ‘I am glad you choose to run.’
‘The other options may follow, you just do not see or hear them,’ she joked. Talking to him was calming her nerves, as his company always did.
His lips parted in a grin for a moment, then his expression became serious. ‘If you are a spectacle here, if people stare or talk,it will only be because you are beautiful. Yet, that is not the heart of your issue, is it?’
Warmth glowed in her skin, fired by the knowledge thathethought her beautiful.
‘I have wondered whether what you feel is wounded pride, Caro. Whether your embarrassment has become a fear of embarrassment.’
‘That makes me sound pompous.’
He shook his head, his lips twitching up into a more fleeting smile. ‘No, I think you are injured. Like a bird with a broken wing who can no longer fly. Would you like more punch? It is too late to join this dance.’
‘No, thank you. My mother used to drink excessively. I have never been comfortable with liquor. I think it was an excess of alcohol that brought Drew and me into the world. I believe she knows who Drew’s father is but cannot even remember mine.’
