Page 9 of A Chance to Dance with the Duke
She turned to her friend, lips parted in surprise. “Pardon?”
“I’m sorry, too,” Jane added.
Ann nodded quickly, her expression filled with regret. Meg stared at each one in turn. “Sorry…for what?”
Felicity rolled her eyes, which oddly helped to put Meg at ease. Her oldest friend had never been one to apologize for…well, for anything. So to hear her sound so regretful now made her wildly uneasy.
“For issuing that dare, of course,” Felicity said.
Meg shifted on the seat so she could wrap an arm around her friend’s shoulders and squeeze. “Do not apologize.” She turned to the others. “Any of you.”
“You’re not angry with us for getting you into this mess?” Jane asked, her voice so soft it was nearly a whisper.
“Of course not!” Meg straightened. In the week since the ball, she’d given the matter much thought, and saying yes to the dare was really the only part of that evening she didnotregret.
But all three of them were staring at her in disbelief, and…
Oh blast it all. She drew in a deep breath. “There are many things I wish I’d done differently….” She frowned. Like get her hopes up, for one. She should never have let herself lose sight of reality like that.
She turned her gaze to Jane. “Those romances that you enjoy. Why do you like them?”
Jane’s cheeks turned the shade of an apple at the sudden attention. But she shrugged. “I do not know. I suppose…I suppose it’s diverting to dream about romance and adventure…since I know I’ll never have it myself.”
Meg smiled. “Precisely!”
Felicity turned to face her, removing herself from Meg’s half-embrace. “Preciselywhat?”
Meg sighed. “I knew better than to hope for myself.” She glanced down at her leg, the one that had been weakened during a sickness she suffered as a child and never developed the way the other leg had. “I know what people call me. I know that I’ll never be some…some diamond of the first water…” She smiled brighter, refusing to grow maudlin over the mere fact of the matter. “The only regret I have about my own actions that night is losing sight of reality. Letting myself get carried away…”
She trailed off as Jane and Anne’s gazes filled with a sympathy that made her throat tighten.
It was humiliating to admit it aloud.
“So you truly wanted to dance with him then?” Felicity asked.
Leave it to Felicity to ask the difficult questions.
Meg swallowed hard. “I did.” Her smile felt watery as she gave a rueful shrug. “After all, he isThe Duke of Carver.”
The others giggled a bit at the way she stressed his title.
She shrugged again, a gesture her mother would have chided her for if she were here. “Who hasn’t had at least one daydream in which the beloved Duke takes notice and…”
She trailed off because for a moment her heart gave a wild flutter as if she were right back there in that moment, with the Duke smiling down at her, his eyes glittering with laughter that…
That truly hadn’tseemedto be at her expense.
She shook her head, forcing herself back to the moment. He’d fooled her.
No. She’d fooled herself.
Either way…
“It’s done now.” She folded her hands in her lap. “But I refuse to feel sorry for saying yes.” She turned to Felicity. “No matter what his intentions might have been, it felt good to finally…” She wet her lips, looking from friend to friend as she tried to put it into words. “Even if it only lasted for a moment, it was nice to feel…”
Wanted. Seen. Normal.
She settled on, “Brave.”
