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“A hand. You seemed to like what it could do the other night.” His playful words made her blush madly.
“Shh!” she urged, glancing back to Lord Elkins, who was still too absorbed in his conversation to notice what was afoot. “I meant, why are you offering me your hand?”
“Dance with me, Sophia?” Jeremy whispered, unable to stop himself. He could see the confusion in her expression. Those dark eyes he had thought so much of as of late narrowed a little and flittered over his countenance before returning to his face once again.
For a second, Jeremy feared she was going to turn him down. Lord Elkins abruptly spoke louder, as if angered by the conversation he was having with the gentleman beside him. It must have prompted Sophia to act quickly for she placed her hand in Jeremy’s.
He instantly felt that warmth spread through his body, as he led Sophia away from her brother-in-law and through the crowds, toward the other end of the ballroom where the dancers were gathered together. Only once did Jeremy glance back to Lord Elkins, to see if he had noticed Sophia’s escape, and it was plain to see he had. He was staring after the two of them, with his lips flattened into a harsh line.
Jeremy looked away, not wanting to give anymore thought to Lord Elkins. He wished to think of Sophia only. As they walked between groups of chattering people, drinking punch and sparkling wine, he lowered their hands beside them. It meant when he laced their fingers together, in a more intimate hand hold, no one else saw it, for it was hidden by their bodies.
She is not pulling away.
They had to wait for the last dance to end, but once it had completed, they moved forward onto the dancefloor, and Jeremy led her to the very middle, where he released her hand. They stood apart, holding each other’s gaze as they waited to bow and curtsy with the opening of the violin strings. In that moment, Jeremy could have sworn the air crackled between the two of them, with neither one of them blinking. It was as if a fire was in the air, not in the hearths at the edges of the ballroom.
As the music began, they bowed and curtsied to one another, never once looking away. When Jeremy took her hand, leading her into the first steps of the cotillion, that air sizzled all the more, only accentuated when she spoke.
“Jeremy. Why are you doing this?”
* * *
Sophia couldn’t hold back her question. After all, this was not what they had agreed. Jeremy only did one night, and no more. He had told her as much himself, so why was he asking her to dance now?
“Well, I have tried for years to dance with you, have I not?” Jeremy said as he released her hand and they turned toward each other, circling without a single touch between them. Sophia’s hand itched to take his again, but she kept it firmly down at her side.
“Ha! Is that what this is?” She laughed at the idea. “Your triumph now I have at least agreed to dance with you.”
“Something like that.” He at last took her hand to lead her into the next part of the dance. They walked down the middle of other couples before reaching the very end. “Put it down to my wish to have a good time tonight. I rather think you long for the same thing, and a chance to see a smile on your face is too good an opportunity to miss.”
She was prevented from asking him anymore as they parted ways at the end of the dancers. They carved a perfect circle at the edge of the dancefloor, never once letting their eyes leave one another, before they met again at the far end.
“Who would have thought the Duke of Pemberton concerns himself with making ladies smile?” Sophia said, unable to resist teasing him. “You are defying your reputation, Jeremy.”
“Does my reputation suggest I am only interested in seeing myself smile?”
“Well…”
“Ha! Do not answer that. I do not think I wish to hear it.” Jeremy laughed raucously as they turned around one another and took both hands this time.
Sophia laughed too. It was incredible to her how easy it was to talk with Jeremy now; how she could laugh and tease him, as if there were no walls or barriers between them. It was not something she had known before.
“I tell you what I do wish to hear,” Jeremy said as one of his thumbs brushed the inside of Sophia’s wrist as they moved from side to side, gently. It was an intimate touch, something that was certainly not part of the choreography, and she found herself glancing down at that touch, wondering what he was doing.
Why is he still flirting with me? He had me! He had everything he wanted from a night with me, he said as much.
“What is that?” Sophia asked, clearing her throat in the effort that it would also clear her addled mind.
“You talked the other night of knowing freedoms now you are widow.” As he released one of her hands and circled her, he moved closer to her ear, the better to whisper to her. “And I do not just mean freedoms of the bedchamber.”
“Shh!”
“I mean freedoms of life. Tell me, what are you enjoying in your life now?” His question was one she was happy to alight on. She stood taller with her chin lifted.
“Many things!” she gushed. “Rachel has certainly been a good friend to me in what she has introduced me to. I am no stranger to a wager on a card game, and I have to admit, I have been rather enjoying the opportunity to try drinks that are usually left for men alone. There are other things too… some things that some men here would no doubt call scandalous.”
As she spoke, she glanced away from Jeremy, momentarily looking off the dancefloor toward Nick. He was in the distance of the room, his eyes not on her, though he seemed rather tense, downing a glass of punch in his hands a little too quickly.
“You have me intrigued, Sophia.” The way Jeremy slowed the syllables of her name, as if he loved saying it, made her tremble with a sort of excitement as she looked back to him. “Tell me more. What scandalous things have you done?”
