How to Turn a Frog into a Prince - Bree Wolf Page 0,35
they never had before. “I’ll be your friend,” he whispered solemnly. “I’ll stand by your side. I promise.”
The warmth of his hand wrapped around hers, and Charlaine marveled at what it had been that had finally convinced him to place his trust in her. To risk his heart anew and accept her offer of friendship. Perhaps one day he would tell her.
Smiling up at him, Charlaine wiped her tears away. “You’d better be a good one after all you put me through.”
Again, Nathanial laughed and, this time, Charlaine joined in. Her hand squeezed his as she looked up at him, tears still snaking down her cheeks. “Here,” Nathanial said, fishing a handkerchief from his pocket and offering it to her.
Charlaine dabbed it at her eyes, then wiped the wetness off her cheeks. “Thank you.”
“Do you,” Nathanial began hesitantly, the unfamiliarity of speaking to her still an obstacle to be overcome, “truly feel alone, Miss Palmer? I thought…”
“Pierce is a dear friend and I love him with all my heart,” she sighed, “but he belongs with Caroline. Miss Hawkins. Is that not how you feel about your brother and his wife?”
Understanding dawned in Nathanial’s eyes and he nodded. “Do they intend to marry?”
Charlaine smiled. “I do believe so. After all, they’re in love.”
“Then why—?”
“Because life is not always simple, is it, Nathanial? And will you please call me Charlaine? Or Charlie if you prefer? After all, we’re friends now, are we not?”
Nathanial nodded. “I suppose we are.”
“It still feels strange.”
“It does.”
Charlaine cocked her head. “Will you teach me how to dance?”
Nathanial’s jaw dropped. “Pardon me?”
“Will you teach me how to dance?” Charlaine repeated, well aware that he had not asked because he had not heard her.
“You know not how to dance?” Nathanial asked, looking rather shocked. “Why, then, would you attend balls? What if someone were to—?” He broke off.
“No one ever has,” Charlaine pointed out, having decided long ago not to take the ton’s rejection as a personal affront, but rather see it as lack of compassion on their part. “And no one ever will. Still, it looks like fun. I’d love to know the steps.”
“Why did you not ask Lord Markham?”
Charlaine sighed. “He has other things on his mind right now, even aside from Caroline.” She looked around the small area shrouded in shadows. “So, will you teach me?”
His eyes widened. “Now? Here?”
“Why not?”
Inhaling a slow breath, Nathanial looked about himself as though searching for a reason to refuse her. Charlaine, however, suspected that he merely needed a moment to adjust to her request and all it entailed. “I’ve never taught anyone,” he admitted, a bit of a sheepish look coming to his face. “I’m not certain I’ll be of much help to you.”
“I don’t mind,” Charlaine assured him. “I’m hoping to enjoy myself, and what better guarantee is there than to have a friend at one’s side.” She turned her head as a faint melody drifted to her ears. “Do you hear it? The music from the orchestra? How does one dance to this?”
Nathanial frowned, raking a hand through his hair. “We’d need more than two people for this. There is no way we can—”
“Simply teach me the steps,” Charlaine interrupted, coming to know the way he kept thinking everything through to the smallest detail. Everything needed to be perfect in his eyes or it was not worth doing. Charlaine wondered why he had ever accepted her as his friend.
Considering all the flaws she possessed.
Nathanial came to stand beside her. “Very well. Watch my steps.”
Thus began a dance lesson under the moon with chuckles and laughter, with wrong turns and misplaced steps, ending in squished toes, a bruised ankle and the promise to meet again the following day.
Indeed, a friend had been exactly what Charlaine had needed.
And, no doubt, Nathanial would be the best friend she would ever have.
Only he did not know it yet.
Chapter Seventeen
A Walk in the Park
“How are your toes?” Miss Palmer asked, a bit of an apologetic grin upon her face as she looked up at him from under her bonnet. “Purple? Blue? Flattened beyond repair?”
Nathanial could barely suppress a smile as he led her down the path that snaked along the Serpentine. “I assure you there’s no need to worry. I’m perfectly fine.”
Breathing in the warm, summer-scented air, Miss Palmer briefly gazed at the glistening waters before returning her attention to him. “Are you certain? I must say I never thought to consider dancing such a dangerous undertaking.” Her eyes shifted to the