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It is a waltz!
It was the same dance she and Lord Felton had shared at Maeve’s wedding. Slowly, Lord Felton raised Chloe’s hand and took her waist. She prayed that the blush she could feel filling her cheeks wasn’t too noticeable, though the heat she felt on her face told her it might just be.
When Lord Felton began their dance, Chloe was quite happy to ignore the rest of the room. She forgot Maeve and the Duke were there, and even the violinists became something of a blur in the background. All she could think of was Lord Felton’s soft touch to her waist and the way he kept smiling at her.
“You should dance more, my lord,” Chloe said, eager to continue their conversation now that they were alone.
We do not have this opportunity very often!
“Me?” He laughed off the idea. “I think Maeve would prefer it if I didn’t. Knowing my luck, I would have knocked all her guests over.”
“Ha! You are not nearly so calamitous as you think,” Chloe said with vigor and lifted her head a little, looking Lord Felton in the eye.
“No?” he said, with that charming smile growing. “Perhaps it was to my advantage tonight. There were not many ladies I wished to dance with.”
“You were going to ask me, were you not? Before Mr. Moretti arrived.”
“That I was.” Lord Felton held her gaze as he said those words.
For a brief second, Chloe felt a spark course through her.
Is it possible that he . . .?
“Watch where you’re leading, Leo!” the Duke’s words made Chloe snap her attention away from Lord Felton’s eyes. For such a large room, the two couples dancing came dangerously close to colliding. Chloe giggled as Lord Felton took a firmer hold of her waist and escorted her across the floor, keeping her safe from a collision.
“Your skills are improving,” she praised Lord Felton as he held onto her. She was thrilled to see that he kept a close hold on her, with the touch firmer. It made her gloved fingers slide against his own a little.
Here . . . I feel safe.
“You say that now, wait until I fall over,” he said and pretended to trip for comic effect. Chloe laughed heartily and held his hand tighter, showing that she would not let him fall.
“Consider yourself safe. If you do genuinely fall, I will not release you.”
“Does that mean you’ll keep me standing or we’ll go down together?” Lord Felton twirled her away across the floor with his words. Despite his words and willingness to laugh at himself, she thought him a very good dancer. It was easy to smile and be swept up in the movement.
“If we go down, we’ll certainly make Maeve talk,” Chloe whispered and pretended to gasp, as if it was the greatest scandal. Lord Felton laughed at her words, tipping his chin back and indulging in the laugh so much that Chloe bristled with pleasure.
I like being the one to make him laugh.
“Then we best stay standing,” Lord Felton said quietly.
“I won’t let you fall, my lord. You can have my word on that.”
“Leo!” the Duke snapped again.
“My apologies!” Lord Felton had to slip his hand further across Chloe’s back this time to stop another collision. She smiled, watching how near she and Maeve came to crashing into one another’s shoulders, before she was spun away in the opposite direction. “Regretting accepting that dance yet?”
“Far from it,” Chloe said. “Dancing with you, my lord, is always very entertaining.”
“Is that a compliment?” Lord Felton asked. His hand was still in the same place around her back. It made a thrill pass up Chloe’s spine, for it brought her closer to him.
“Believe me, it is. I have had many a dance where the partner, though competent, had no skill at bringing a smile to my face. Perhaps that is the greater skill. Would you not say?”
“Perhaps so. I rather like the idea, for it paints me in a better light,” he mocked himself, glancing down at his own body and prompting Chloe to giggle once again.
They moved near the violinists as they danced. With the string music growing so loud, Chloe felt unable to talk for a minute. She concentrated on the dance alone, thinking of the way her body responded to everything Lord Felton did. His hand in hers led her around the floor, but she also clung to it, feeling his fingers slide against the side of her hand. The close hold he had on her back made them stand near to one another. They had become so close that she had to tilt her chin upward to see him. It brought into focus the difference in their height, with Lord Felton tall, and Chloe quite small and petite in comparison.
He is staring at me too.
