Page 13 of Counting on Love

“Really?” She had to laugh. “I do beg pardon for calling your relative a strange creature.”

“My brother.”

“Which one?”

They separated. She faced Lord Ralston. He had taken her on two carriage rides but had not pursued her further. They exchanged smiles and breathless pleasantries until she returned to Lord Taverston.

“Reginald. The younger. Youngest, I should say.”

“He doesn’t dance?”

“Well, he must, mustn’t he, being a gentleman?

Surely he’d told this story many times over. He timed it well with the steps. They touched hands to approach. His hands were warm even through their gloves. They backed away.

“But I fear it brings back painful memories.” Taverston still smiled, but his eyes looked strained. Distracted.

“My word. How painful? Perhaps you shouldn’t be telling.”

“What? No. I’m sorry. I lost my…footing.”

He hadn’t. But they parted again. And she faced Dunstun. He stepped woodenly, stone-faced. She managed to keep her smile. Then went back to Taverston.

“Man’s a pigwidgeon,” he said, very low, as they circled one another. So he’d kept his eye on her.

“Perhaps he has painful memories.”

“I’m certain he does. Well, Reginald’s are of a different sort. You see, as eldest, I was the first to be subjected to the dancing master. At thirteen. I was still stumbling along when Crispin joined me a year later.”

“Stumbling?”

They parted. She saw he was now gliding along with Alice, who was smiling at something he said.

Back to her, he continued, “Oh, I stumbled. Crispin, surprisingly, was a natural.”

“Why surprisingly?”

“You’ll see when you meet him.”

Oh. They touched hands. He smiled, a little abashed. He had very blue eyes.

“I hope you will meet him, I should have said.”

They swirled and swirled. Then slowed to begin again.

“The dancing master was a sadist. Crispin and I had to learn with brooms for partners, until Rudolfo—”

“That was not his name!” She laughed again.

“It is what we called him. He finally decided we were ready to dance with a female. We were breathless with anticipation.”

She had to wait for their final steps together for the climax of the story.

“Well,” he said, returning to her. “It was his great aunt. But in the end, we learned.” He bowed to her as the dance concluded.

“I can say nothing about Lord Crispin, but Rudolfo taught you well. Yet Lord Reginald found it too painful?”

Lord Taverston took her arm and led her to the side of the room.