“Would you dance with me?”
“Yes,” she said, and he nodded before stepping forward, taking her in his arms.
Where David had felt stiff and wrong, stepping into Jonny’s arms was like sliding the right puzzle pieces together. Despite the breadth of his shoulders, he was the perfect height for her to feel comfortable. And somehow, despite how long she had known David, Jonny felt familiar. Like coming home.
She heard his sharp intake of breath, but she didn’t question him on it, knowing it was not likely something he would be interested in discussing. She had learned that Jonny would only provide information when he was ready to provide it, and certainly not when pushed.
She wondered if he had any idea what he was doing on the dance floor, but her question was answered within the first few bars of music, as he led her nearly effortlessly across the polished wood.
“Where did you learn how to dance like this?” she asked, her eyes flying to his, losing her breath at how close his eyes were, how that gold ring around his pupil gazed at her so forcefully. Jonny did everything with such intent, and it seemed that dancing was no different.
“My mother taught me,” he said. “She loved to dance, even though she was not from any upbringing that required it.”
“How did she learn?”
“Her mother worked as a lady’s maid for a countess,” he said, surprising Ada by sharing information so readily. It wasn’t like him. “When she was a girl, she was friends with the countess’s daughter and learned to dance by watching her lessons and practicing with her afterward. She never forgot it, spent most of her life dancing around the kitchen, in the house. The lessons she gave us were unstructured. Just years of dancing with her as she sang our favorite songs.”
Ada was surprised when she felt tears prick her eyes. The memory was just so pure, the look in his eyes so far away, and— was that a smile on his lips?
“Jonny, that’s lovely,” she said, nearly breathlessly, and he blinked, his gaze hardening once more.
“It was,” he said grimly. “Then my father got in with Blackwood, and, well, life wasn’t quite as carefree as it had been before.”
They went silent after that, moving to the music. Ada shifted closer to him, while Jonny’s arms wrapped more tightly around her.
She had a strange longing to close her eyes and press her cheek against his chest, losing herself in him and the music.
But that, of course, was ridiculous.
His breath brushed against her hair, and while Ada knew they were closer than was proper, especially for a dance in the middle of a viscount’s ballroom with her mother and her intended’s mother looking on, she found that she didn’t overly care.
If everyone wanted to talk about her, why not give them something to say? Something that was true rather than rumors built upon lies and her father’s connections.
The song finally slowed, and Jonny stepped away slightly, but he didn’t let go of her hands as he held onto them, staring deeply into her eyes.
“Thank you,” he said, though he didn’t bow.
Ada didn’t care. “Thank you,” she said, not wanting to walk away. “Do you want to?—”
“Ada!”
She closed her eyes and sighed, knowing her mother would be standing on the side of the dance floor, summoning her.
“Do I want to…” Jonny prodded, uncaring about what her mother might want, and for some reason, that caused her to smile.
“Meet me in the parlor in an hour or so?”
Her eyes met his, challenging him.
He smiled wickedly in response. “I would love to.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Tommy, I need you to get that stupid grin off of your face before I take it off for you.”
Tommy only laughed harder at Jonny’s threat, knowing that he would never actually follow through. Not with him.
“Didn’t know you were such a dancing dandy,” Colin noted, his lip turned up in a quirk as he threw the next card. The four of them were playing cards in what had been converted to a card room for the evening. Ada’s father was at a table a few away, so Jonny was trying not to mention her name.
