"You're a wonderful dancer. Can you waltz The Shannon and talk at the same time, your brotherness?"
"No' awed by the elfdom then?" he deadpanned without looking directly at her.
"Is that what you're accustomed to? Awe?"
Aelsblood had danced them toward a far corner, where he stopped and dropped his hands. "Unlike your mate, Ms. Laiken, no' all of us can go about selfishly actin' out our fantasies like carefree children. Some of us have interminable responsibilities."
And there it is.
"Were you ever a carefree child?" She saw something flicker behind Aelsblood's eyes, something that said she had pinched a sore place. "Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not making light of your job. Only a loon would want your burden. But maybe you could gain some mastery over that burden before it swallows you whole?"
He smirked, which was okay with Elora. She was thinking any emotion at all was an improvement. "And what would you be knowin' about it?"
With complete solemnity she looked into his face. It was time to find out if he could read her or if she was imagining things. "More than you might expect."
He pulled back, stared at her for a couple of heartbeats, then turned and strode away like a man late for an appointment. Fortunately Tepring was busy elsewhere and didn't notice.
Left alone, Elora's attention riveted to Storm, who was across the vast ballroom space, clearly out of place with waltzing, and having no fun. At all. His discomfort was a sharp contrast to Kay and his sisters who had taken ballroom dancing classes as juveniles so that they would be prepared for the demands of social registry functions.
When the music stopped, Tepring drifted toward the entrance thanking the extra young men for coming. Saying goodnight to their employer, the musicians left everything in place because they would be back in two days and because they did not fear theft. Elora caught Storm's eye and motioned for him to stay behind. He looked like he'd rather take a beating.
When Kay reached the door with his brace of female flurry, he turned back. Elora said to go ahead, that she and Storm would be just a minute.
Storm stood with his hands in his back pockets and sighed deeply.
"How are you?"
"Okay. I heard you're expecting."
"Yes. Expecting." She smiled. "It was quite unexpected."
Storm looked at something behind her off to the side and blinked, but made no reply, didn't even change his expression.
Okay. So no jokes. "I hate this, Storm. This... being uneasy around each other. Everything about it is so wrong. It feels... so wrong." She thought she saw a shadow of emotion flicker over his features, but again, he didn't respond. It seemed he didn't have any intention of making this easier. Finally, she shook her head and continued. "You owe me an invoice."
He squinted and shook his head like he had no idea what she meant. "What?"
"You told me you would keep a running tab of my expenditures so I could pay you back when I started earning money."
Storm looked around the ballroom. "Yeah. I guess money's not going to be a challenge from here on out."
"You're trying to goad me. I don't mean Ram's family money and you know it. Farnsworth assures me that I have enough to cover my debt to you. Just let me know what it is."
"Okay." He looked around as if to say, "We done here?"
"I noticed you could use some help with the waltz. Everyone's gone. It's just us here. Let me show you."
He looked her full in the face for the first time. "What are you doing, Elora?"
"Letting you know in no uncertain terms that you're still part of my life. You're my best friend and I'm not letting you get away without a fight."
She moved toward him and insisted he assume classic dance pose. He was reluctant, but complied. She started at the beginning, going over the steps. By the time they had practiced to the point where he could do it without thinking, he had relaxed and was looking a little more like himself.
She stepped back. "You're a quick study, as good at this as at everything else you try."
He smiled a little at the compliment.
"Every woman is going to want to dance with you tomorrow night, Storm."