He offered his hand with the palm up. “If you can survive the experience.”
She looked to Lavinia for approval. Lavinia nodded. The idea of watching the Duke dance was as astonishing as seeing him sprout wings and take to the air, even thoughshehad danced with him several times.
Sophia placed her hand in his. Lavinia adjusted their posture, pressing Sophia’s arm just so, guiding the Duke’s hand to the small of his daughter’s back.
“Count the steps,” she instructed. “One, two, three. One, two, three.”
They began to move. Sophia, visibly terrified at first, soon found the rhythm, swept along by the Duke’s confidence.
“There,” Lavinia said, stepping back. “Perfect.”
Sophia looked up at her father, eyes shining. “You did not say you could dance.”
He shrugged. “It is a skill acquired through necessity, not pleasure.”
Lavinia could not stop herself. “I suspect you are more accomplished than you let on, Your Grace.”
He looked at her then, and in that single, direct glance, Lavinia felt the temperature in the room tilt. She busied herself with the pianoforte, adjusting the sheet music and pretending to read. “Would you like accompaniment?”
Sophia nodded, and the Duke, his attention never leaving his daughter, guided her through the steps. The effect was not graceful, exactly, but there was a steadiness in it that made Sophia’s movement lighter by degrees.
Lavinia played, letting the notes lift the mood. She watched as Sophia’s confidence grew, her steps growing surer, her body relaxing. She even ventured a twirl, which the Duke executed smoothly.
When the piece ended, Sophia beamed. “Did I do well?”
Tristan nodded, releasing her hand. “You did.”
Sophia turned to Lavinia. “Did you see?”
“I did,” Lavinia said. “You made it look effortless.”
Sophia laughed again, the sound brighter this time. Then, as if remembering herself, she stepped back and curtsied to both of them. “Thank you, Lady Lavinia. Thank you, Father.”
Tristan nodded, then dismissed his daughter with a gentle, “Go and prepare for your lesson with your governess. She will not be pleased if you are late.”
Sophia darted away, leaving the room suddenly too large, too silent.
Lavinia closed the lid of the pianoforte and turned to find the Duke watching her with his arms folded.
“You have a gift,” he said, and the words, though measured, felt heavier than any compliment she had ever received.
“Thank you, Your Grace.” She found she could not quite meet his gaze.
He moved closer. “You have accomplished in weeks what two years of governesses failed to achieve.”
“She is a remarkable girl,” Lavinia said, “despite her belief to the contrary.”
“She is a child who has been given little reason to believe,” he replied, and though the words were soft, the edge in them was clear. “You have changed that. And I—” He stopped, as if the admission required more effort than he had anticipated.
Lavinia waited, not daring to interrupt.
“I am grateful,” he finished. “Though I have never said it. Perhaps I should have.”
Lavinia’s throat tightened. “You need not say it, Your Grace. I am only doing what I was hired to do.”
He regarded her for a long moment. “You do more than you were hired to do.”
She did not know what to do with this—whether to curtsy, to smile, to run.
