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"Good evening sweetheart, don't tell me Edwin here is neglecting you again," he said, bowing low as he took her hand for a kiss. Now this was flirting for show and Eleanor grinned at him, fluttering her eyelashes at him for good measure.
"And if I inform you that he is?" she asked, making a little moue with her mouth and trying to look mournful and attention-needy.
The grin that Wesley gave her would probably send another woman to her knees, but sadly had no effect on her. Now if her husband looked at her that way then her heart would have started pounding because that kind of look was always an indication that she was about to be dragged off to somewhere private - preferably, although not necessarily, with a reasonably comfortable flat surface. Leaning in, Wesley whispered in her ear. "Then I'll steal you away and make all your dreams come true."
Eleanor laughed delightedly, drawing Edwin's attention and he looked up to see her and Wesley exchange a conspiratorial look.
"Good evening Wesley, have you met Lord Casper?"
"Sometime back, good evening Casper. Pleasure to see you again."
"Spencer." Although he was polite, Lord Casper had a slightly disapproving look on his face as if he had just sucked a lemon.
Ignoring the other man, Wesley plucked Eleanor's hand from Edwin's arm. "I'm just going to take Nell for a turn around the dance floor," he said as she rolled her eyes at him.
"Aren't you supposed to ask me first?" she complained as he whisked her away.
"Don't tell me you were enjoying sitting there and listening to that old bore," Wesley said with a wink as he pulled her into his arms just as the first strains of a waltz started. "We're too young for that, dear Nell."
"Edwin isn't?"
"Edwin's a good old soul. Much more responsible than me." He winked at her again, whirling her around a slower moving couple. Eleanor laughed, enjoying the sensation as Wesley directed her around the floor with ease, despite the large number of people congregated on it.
"Why did Lord Casper look at you like that?"
"Like what?"
"Like he tasted something unpleasant when he had to greet you."
This time it was Wesley who laughed. "Nell, you are a treat. Don't ever change."
"Aren't you going to tell me why?" she demanded, pinching his arm.
"Ouch! Stop that you hoyden. Of course I'm not, it's not fit for your ears."
Eleanor gasped as she nearly stumbled over her feet, only saved by Wesley's strong arms around her. "You slept with his wife?!"
"What?! Good god Nell, you aren't supposed to talk
about things like that. And no. You must not have met the lady in question or you'd know that she wasn't my type."
"Is there a woman alive who isn't?" she teased. "Alright then, if not his wife... his daughter? His niece? His mother?" Shaking his head after each question, Wesley chortled at that last one. Eleanor narrowed her eyes at him. "His ladybird?"
"You aren't supposed to know about such things, much less discuss them in public," he retorted, after nearly stumbling himself.
"I'm a wife, not an unmarried miss," she said, frowning at him. "Of course I know about mistresses. I have to." That last was said a little darkly and Wesley frowned.
"Nell... Edwin doesn't... he wouldn't..." Wesley searched for the right words. The little flash of vulnerability that he'd seen in Eleanor's crystal gaze had unnerved him.
"You don't think so?" she asked, shooting a little glance over to where Edwin was standing, still talking to Lord Casper although they'd also been joined by Lord Brooke. But her tone wasn't harsh or disbelieving, if anything it was almost wistful, as if asking for confirmation.
"Of course not," Wesley said stoutly, for once his rakish winks and teasing humor had deserted him. "Nell, he'd never do that to you."
He could tell from her expression that she wanted to believe him but that she wasn't entirely convinced. Unfortunately the song was ending and once they stopped moving it would be all too easy for others to overhear their conversation and to make the worst possible interpretations upon it.
While Wesley might not be very serious about a lot of things, that sad little wistful tone of Eleanor's wasn't something he could ignore. He'd never heard her talk like that before and he didn't like it.
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