She rounded on him. “Ye cannae do this.”
A frown creased his brow. It was clear he knew what she meant, but he would like her to clarify either way.
“Do what?”
She stepped closer to him. “Embarrass me.”
His frown faded into a smile. There it was.
It wasn’t jealousy or anger that he had nearly been asked to dance by another woman. It wasn’t even the bold claim she had made in front of his clan. This was about being respected.
He released a slow breath before answering, “I would never do that.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Ye nearly did.”
“By standing still while a widow approached me?”
“Everyone was staring at ye. Ye let the room think she had the right.”
The amusement came before he could stop it. He kept it from his mouth, but not from his eyes.
Violet saw it at once, of course. She missed very little when temper had sharpened her.
“I am glad this is amusing to ye,” she hissed.
“It isinterestingto me.”
“That is worse.”
“Aye,” Connor said. “Often.”
Her fingers tightened around each other. The fire in the grate was low, and the lamplight caught the flush still high on her cheeks.
Connor stepped away from the door, his hands raised so slightly.“Perhaps ye wanted to dance with me,” he said.
Violet’s eyes flashed. “I didnae.”
He cocked his head. “That was fast.”
“Aye. Simple answers always are.”
“Is that what ye call yer response?”
Her mouth opened, closed, then pressed into a line. She looked toward the desk, the shelves, the window, anywhere but at his hand when he offered it.
“Then dance with me now,” he said.
Violet stared at his hand. “There is no music.”
“Ye can still hear enough from outside.”
At that moment, almost as if someone had heard him mysteriously from the hall, a fiddle rose above the voices, then settled beneath them again.
Violet looked at the door, as if considering whether she should stay or go.Connor, on the other hand, waited to see what her decision would be.
And that was the whole trap. He would not pull her or crowd her. He would make her choose the contact she had come here pretending not to want.
Eventually, she placed her hand in his and he ignored just how cold her fingers were. Connor closed his hand around hers and put his other hand on her waist. The distance between them was as it should be, and yet her breath quickened when his palm settled against her.
