It had been some years since she had danced and yet as soon as the couples around her began, the steps just seemed to happen on their own. Her feet moved into the steps and turns without fail, no doubt due to her mother who had insisted she dance flawlessly before being allowed to go to London for her season.
Bellamy was very agile and confident, light on his toes and, thankfully, skillful enough to keep his promise of not steppingon hers. At first, she did not want to enjoy the dance, but too soon the music and laughter around her drew her in and every time she touched hands with Bellamy her heart sped up. She enjoyed it a lot more than she had thought possible though she told herself she most certainly did not.
“You dance very well,” she said to him through a turn.
“You seem surprised.”
“Not really, well, maybe a little.”
He laughed. “Even in the army there were social occasions which necessitated the officers to dance with various female guests. You may be surprised by other things I do well.”
She blushed and was reminded that this was Bellamy she was talking to. They parted, clasping hands with other dancers before coming back together.
“Those things do not concern me, no matter how well you do them,” she said with a smirk.
He laughed.
Again they separated and came back together.
She found herself longing for the steps that brought them together, if only for the briefest of moments. When his hand touched hers, she felt a strange kind of warm tingle go right through her. She was right to keep away from waltzing with him. If he were to hold her too close, in the circle of his arms, she may go up in flames, for her thoughts and her cheeks were warming shockingly. Surely, it was the exertion of the dance or the stuffiness of the room and nothing to do with him. Then he smiled at her and the tingles swept through her body like an inferno.
She felt herself wanting to smile back. Why couldn’t she just let go?
It would be so easy to let him charm her. To woo her with his sad past and his seductive quips. She felt sorry for him, she decided. It was the only plausible answer to her reactions. It wasnothing more than sympathy after hearing how he had lost his parents. Any woman with a heart would feel the same, wouldn’t they?
He winked at her with such amusement that she missed a step. Lord, was she doomed to fall for the same tricks that had hideously ruined her life only seven years ago?
Nathaniel had been a good dancer. Smooth with his words and compliments and yet… and yet that had not been him at all. If only she could turn back time. She would play her cards differently, that would be for certain. The deceiving words of a man who promised her the sun and the moon would not play her for a fool again. How could she have forgotten the tricks men played to get what they want?
It wasn’t like Bellamy was here by choice. She had made him come here tonight. It was quite clear to her that he found this whole thing a game which he was playing along with. At every turn he was aiming for higher stakes, just waiting for his cards to turn and take the advantage. Is that what he had been doing at the beginning of the night when she had been upset at seeing her grandmother? Had he seized the opportunity to take the trump card by playing the concerned lover?
The pain she carried with her increased, and she found herself fighting tears again. Was there no one whom she could trust? Lisbeth slowly turned the hurt to anger. It was the only way she knew how to cope with what was happening. She still had need of him and was not ready to let him go but she would be prepared to defend herself against him with everything she had.
The dance ended and Bellamy offered his arm to escort her off the dance floor.
“You think too much,” he announced. “I swear I could see cogs moving in there.” He made as if to look in her ear. He grinned.
She gave him one of her burning glares in warning and he stepped back, shocked. “Surely it wasn’t so bad?”
“You tricked me.” She began to walk towards the refreshment table with determined strides. He did not immediately follow.
Any man can be kind, she told herself, when he was after something. What if she were to give in to him, then what? Then who might he turn out to be? Someone like Nathaniel? The thought was too terrible to contemplate.
“Are you all right?” he asked her, his smile long gone. “You look… upset.”
“I’m fine.” She picked up a glass of wine from the table and took a sip, closing her eyes for a moment.
“Are you sure because—”
Setting her glass down with trembling fingers she turned to face him. “I said, I’m fine!”
He raised a brow. “Countess, if that is even remotely true then your definition of fine and mine are very different, indeed.”
“Bellamy—”
He took her elbow in a strong grip and escorted her to the end of the room with quick strides. So different from earlier, he was not protecting her now. It just went to prove her point.
“Unhand me, now!” she hissed.
