through the meal. She commented on the food and several of the jousters she’d heard who had been successful that day. Everything she said steered away from any personal details of herself or her brother. Such omissions were indeed noticed.
Still, he enjoyed the manner in which she spoke, how she noted things others might not and injected a bit of humor into details. And through it all, she’d slipped bites of meat down to Pip, who eagerly caught them in his sharp little teeth before they could land in the rushes.
At last, the plates were cleared, and the tables at the other end of the Great Hall were set aside to make room for dancing.
Lady Isolde’s gaze was fixed fully on him, wide blue eyes lashed with sable, her lips lifting slightly at the corners in a ghost of a smile that made him want to press his mouth to hers.
“Will ye dance with me?” he asked.
She looked to the cleared floor where several couples were already moving in tandem to the lilting music. A thoughtful expression crossed her face as if she were considering refusing his request.
“Please?” he added, recalling Alan’s suggestion from the night before.
Lady Isolde returned her attention to him and nodded. “Aye.”
Cormac suppressed the jolt of elation at her acceptance and got to his feet, helping her stand as well. Pip leapt up to join them.
“Go on and find Alan,” Cormac commanded.
The dog’s ears lifted at Alan’s name and he immediately trotted off, licking his chops, his full belly round beneath golden fur.
Cormac led Lady Isolde to the dance floor as the tune he knew drew to a close, and another song began. One whose steps he was unfamiliar with.
Anxiety knotted in his stomach. He could not withdraw his request to dance with her, not after finally having her accept. There would be nothing for it but to manage through the steps and hope he didn’t make himself appear a total fool.
6
Isolde stood across from Cormac in preparation for the dance. She could have declined his offer, and he would no doubt have left her to pursue her own endeavors. She could have been free to return to her room where she didn’t have to fear being disturbed by Brodie or any other potential suitor.
But there had been something in the softening of his green eyes when he asked her to dance, and how his dimple had appeared when he added “please.” The wine she’d consumed had left a delightful heat thrumming in her veins, and she’d been so drawn to him at that moment, she hadn't been able to decline.
She curtseyed as the dance began, and he belatedly offered a bow a second behind the other men. She stepped toward him as the dance dictated, and he rushed to meet her in the middle, his hand thrusting in a rushed motion toward hers. His palm was nearly twice the size of hers and hot against the light touch of her fingertips.
“You don’t know the steps, do you?” She asked in a teasing tone.
He gave her a sheepish smile, an endearing expression on such an imposing and confident man. “No’ to this dance.”
She spoke in a low whisper meant only for him. “We’re going to do a turn and then go back to the places where we started. Then we will do it all over again.”
He shot her a grateful smile and followed her instructions.
“Why is it you wished to speak to my brother?” She kept her fingers locked in his strong grasp while they moved around one another in a slow circle.
“I want to know why he would let a man like Brodie be promised to ye in the first place.” Sutherland stepped back to the original position.
Isolde mouthed the word “bow” as she curtsied to him. He complied. They straightened and came together once more. There was a pleasantly masculine scent about him, the light spice of sandalwood and the underlying smell of leather. “Do you have a sister, Sutherland?”
“Nay. I have only a twin brother.”
“Then I think you don’t understand how a sister can be such a powerful bargaining tool.” She tried to keep the bitterness from her tone.
Sutherland was quiet for a moment as they circled one another again.
“Pause a moment after this so the couple beside us may turn on the next round,” she whispered.
He nodded, and they returned to their original places once more. After the couple beside them had completed their slow circle, Isolde and Sutherland came together once