“Uist! Ye complain too much!” he said, and stepped backward, awkwardly dragging her with him. “All right, then, pretend ye are dancing with yer dandy Mr. Lockhart, will ye, light as a fairy on yer pretty little feet, and ye’d like him to pay close attention to what ye say. How, then, do ye drag his attention away from yer bonny sister across the room?”
She frowned as he moved backward, dragging her along. “It’s quite impossible to pretend anything without at least the hint of music.”
“Ach, Anna! Can ye no’ use just a wee bit of yer imagination? We’ve only begun to dance!” He smiled; his gaze dipped to her bosom again. “Go on, then,” he said, his voice softer. “How do ye gain his attention?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said irritably. “I suppose I should kneel between his knees.”
He smiled lopsidedly at that. “That would undoubtedly gain his attention. But no’ the sort I think ye want.”
“Ah. So that lesson only applies in the delivery of a whiskey, is that it?”
“That is no’ the only thing it applies to, but ye will require many more lessons ere we broach the other arts for which yer knees are useful.”
Anna blushed furiously at that, and he laughed. “Shall we try again, then? How do ye gain a man’s attention?”
“Oh all right!” She tried to find her feet without music, stumbling a little as he shifted directions and forced her backward. “I suppose I’d say something like…‘You seem to enjoy dancing, sir.’”
Grif suddenly paused in his strange little dance, looked at her as if he expected her to say more. “Is that the best ye can do, then?”
She thought about it. “Yes,” she said with a firm nod. “If I make polite conversation with a gentleman, he should respond in kind.”
Grif sighed heavenward, as if she were intentionally taxing him. “ ‘If ye make polite conversation, a gentleman should respond?’” he mimicked her. “If ye want a man to see only ye, to think of only ye, then ye must do more than make polite conversation!”
“Really?” she said uncertainly. “What more should I do?”
“Mary Queen of Scots,” he groused. “Mind what I do now. Do ye see how far away I hold ye from me?”
“Yes. A proper distance.”
“Aye. ’Tis a proper distance for grandmothers and spinsters. But if ye want him to hold ye close like a lover, then ye will move just so,” he said, prompting her with a hand at the small of her back, pushing her closer to him. Anna took one step. Then two, at his urging, and a third, so that now her bosom was brushing against his coat.
He grinned appreciatively. “Now ye have me undivided attention. And ye say…?”
“I say… ‘Do you enjoy dancing?’”
“No, no! Ye look up into me eyes, through those lovely lashes… lean forward now, lean forward… aye, there ye have it! And say, ‘Ye’re a bloody fine dancer, Mr. Lockhart,’” he said in a falsetto voice while batting his lashes. “ ‘What other talents might ye be hiding from me, then?’”
Anna couldn’t help herself. She burst into laughter.
“What?” he demanded.
“What other talents might you be hiding?” she repeated, and laughed again.
“Then give me one better!” he challenged her. “Show me how ye’d gain yer love’s attention, and God blind me if ye mention the bloody weather!”
She laughed again, laughed deeply at her situation, which suddenly seemed ridiculously absurd.
With a dangerous grin, Lockhart yanked her into his chest, holding her so tightly that she could scarcely catch her breath. “Ah, there ye are,” he said low. “A bonny laugh ye have, Anna.”
That was the moment Anna felt something inside her trip and fall, something come clean away from all the snares and traps and tangles of the propriety in which she’d been steeped all these years. And as he began to move, she pressed into him as he had shown her, looked up at him from beneath her lashes as he’d directed, and said, in a purring voice, “My, my, sir, how well you move us about the dance floor! One can’t help but wonder if you move as well in other, more intimate circumstances,” she said, and let her lips stretch into a soft smile.
It worked. Grif’s grin faded; he slowed his step a little and blinked down at her for a moment. But that dangerous smile slowly appeared again, starting in his eyes and casually reaching his lips. “If ye were to pose such a question to me, lass, I’d say, ‘As fast or as slow, as soft or as hard as ye’d want, leannan. Pray tell, how would ye want?’”