beyond anything.”
“Well, it is not Almack’s, Miss Perry, but I’m pleased that you are enjoying yourself.”
Amelia made a face, giggling. “Almack’s gets so very hot and crowded. This is far more to my taste.” She glanced between Edith and Graham, and her smile deepened. “If you’ll excuse me, I believe I have promised this dance to Mr. Demaris.” She curtseyed quickly and left with almost silent steps.
He was rather fond of Amelia Perry and made a mental note to thank her later.
Edith stared at him with wide eyes, a slight smile on her lips that distracted him from concise thought.
She bit down on her lip softly, and Graham felt his left knee give a little.
“Dance with me?” he asked with the bluntness of an eleven-year-old schoolboy.
Her smile deepened, sending his right knee quivering. “I would love to.”
The musicians began to play again, and the bright, almost brisk melody made Graham frown, shaking him out of his haze. “This… wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for.”
Edith covered her mouth on a laugh, her barely exposed shoulders shaking. “Nor I.”
Still, he had to smile, the corners of his mouth steadily spreading the more he stared at Edith. “This is unnecessarily complicated…”
Her hand dropped, her full lips straining to avoid laughter as she tried for somberness. “We’ll just have to muddle through.”
“Well, I do have some practice…” He held his hand out to her, his breath pausing in his lungs.
The moment her hand laid in his, heat surged into his center, and the desire to dance rose with an intensity he had never felt before. Jaunty country dance or not, dancing with Edith would never be anything less than a delight.
They took their places and began the first movement, matching each other’s patterns perfectly. Edith moved forward to go around Graham, smiling almost shyly up at him as she did so.
“You’re smiling,” he murmured, his eyes tracing her as she circled him.
“Aye, I am,” she quipped with a faint brush of her shoulder against his as she moved back to her place.
He tilted his head at her while the man to his left circled his partner. “Why?”
Edith giggled to herself. “Should I not?”
“I’m not accustomed to anyone smiling like that in my presence.”
The admission caught him by surprise, and he gnawed the inside of his lip to keep himself from wishing it back.
Edith’s brows quirked just before they moved towards each other, hands extended. “I dinna mean to upset what ye are used to, my lord,” she purred as her fingers hooked into his.
“It’s not upsetting,” he managed as they turned in a circle, life itself at the tips of his fingers.
“But,” she continued without a break, “I think ye mus’ grow accustomed to smiles in your presence.”
Graham swallowed as they parted, backing into his place. “Must I, Lady Edith?”
She nodded as the woman to her right circled around her partner. “Aye. From me, at least.” Color began to tinge her cheeks a lovely shade of pink. “And it’s just Edith. Ye’ve gone wi’out the title before, and I’d prefer if ye did again.”
It was all Graham could do to keep his forward motion to the pattern of the dance rather than going directly to Edith herself. His eyes, however, would go nowhere else. “Then smile as you please, Edith. I look forward to the prospect.”
Chapter Sixteen
Once in a very great while, speaking one’s mind can have quite convenient advantages.
-The Spinster Chronicles, 30 August 1816
“Amelia, are you ready?” Edith asked as she adjusted her lace fichu in the looking glass.
There was no response.
Peering around the doorway into the sitting room, she saw Amelia standing at the window, somehow looking fragile in her white and blue sprigged muslin. Her face was hidden from view, but one hand raised to brush against her cheek.
Edith sighed sadly and moved into the room. “Amelia?”
It said a great deal about their friendship that Amelia turned to face Edith without hesitation, another tear slowly coursing down the same cheek.
“Oh, lass,” Edith murmured, going to her friend and taking her in her arms. “What is it?”
“I can’t go down there today,” Amelia whispered in a choked voice. “I can’t…”
Edith rubbed her back. “What happened?”
Amelia shuddered in her arms. “Adaline Chesney criticized me for only dancing with married men and Hensh. She told me I was wasting my opportunities, and if I had any understanding with a gentleman, I should forget it if he were not present.”
Edith ground her teeth together, irritation rising. “Did she?”
“I don’t want to forget Edmund,” Amelia