AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His heart sank at the prospect of spending an evening with the prickly Miss Claybone. But, to his surprise, instead of a flat refusal, Miss Claybone actually smiled!
“What say you, Miss Claybone?” he asked. “Can you bear to have me at your side tonight?
“If Alice is agreeable to it, then so am I,” came the reply. “You possess the one quality which renders a dance partner agreeable in my eyes.”
“Which is?”
“You’re married,” Miss Claybone replied. “I can safely dance with you without feeling hunted. And if you promise to protect me from the gallantry of the gentlemen tonight, then I, for my part, will promise not to tread on your toes.”
“Very well,” Ross said, turning to his wife. “If you’re sure?”
“I am,” Alice said, relief in her voice. No doubt, though Alice relished congenial company and merriment, in her condition, she craved solitude and wanted Ross out from under her feet—and he was willing to oblige her, in this, as in everything else.
