Dancing for the Lord The Academy

Chapter Nine

Thanksgiving was over and done before Danni even noticed its passage. If she thought about it at all, it was with a fond nod to the holiday, a brief reflection on her family and friends back home, and how they would be preparing for the day. Suddenly, the last week of rehearsals prior to the performance was on them, and Danni knew full well that if she didn’t push herself, and push hard, she was never going to be ready.

It seemed impossible that she would ever achieve the effortless grace that Katarina had displayed in all of her dances. Katarina had been given weeks more to work on it—no, more than that, Danni thought. She’d been preparing for it all along, simply assuming that she was going to be the Sugar Plum Fairy. She, on the other hand, had been absolutely astounded to have the role land in her lap; and now that she had it, she wasn’t entirely certain that she had any idea what to do with it.

Dance. Dance her heart out, again and again, pouring herself into the dance as though she had never done it before. That was the only way to do it.

And Nick was with her every step of the way. That was one thing that Danni was desperately grateful for: no matter how long the day might have been, Nick was right there beside her, encouraging her, insisting that she was doing better than anyone could legitimately expect of her. She didn’t believe his flattering words; but she appreciated them nonetheless. It was clear that he meant them.

And you mean them, too, don’t you, Lord? She prayed, in one of her rare free moments. You’ve asked me to go out there and do my best, and I’ve done exactly that every step of the way. You wouldn’t ask anything more of me.

Once she finally allowed herself to take a breath—once she finally accepted that she was truly doing her best, and that while she might be disappointed in herself at times, everyone else was more than pleased with her—Danni began to notice other things, too.

The fact that Nick was in more pain than he was letting on, for example.

“If you couldn’t do another round, why didn’t you say so?” she demanded heatedly, her hands on her hips as she glared at him.

“I did it, didn’t I?” he shot back. The effect was ruined somewhat by the fact that his left hand was pressed hard against his right shoulder, and even to discount her theory that he needed to take a break, he couldn’t pull it away.

“Yeah, and how much are you hurting right now?” She fell completely out of position, letting her posture slump. “If you were having trouble, you should have said something to me! We could have called it an early day.”

“As hard as you’ve been pushing?” He snorted. “You wouldn’t have had any patience at all for me needing to take a break!”

“A break? You need to take a day!” Danni dragged her hands through her hair, ignoring the fact that the gesture sent pins flying everywhere.

“What do you want me to do?” he demanded. “You need to practice with me. Allie needs to practice with me. And heaven forbid I shouldn’t be on hand for any of the other dances I’m supposed to be involved in. Your practice schedule alone would run me into the ground, but I’ve got news for you, Danni: you’re not the only one who wants a piece of my time!”

“Well, go on, then!” she snapped. Her voice was still quiet, but somehow, there was more menace in it than if she had shouted. “Get out of here. Go work with all the other people who need your time and attention. I’m doing fine, in case you hadn’t noticed.” She pivoted on one foot and strode over to her bag, ignoring the sudden surge of tears behind her eyes. She was not going to let him see her cry—not for him.

A long silence passed; suddenly, Nick’s hands closed on her shoulders, and he turned her to face him.

Danni didn’t even think about disobeying. She had been following his every cue for days, learning to listen for his soft voice, to feel his gentle commands. This was just one more—though she regretted it the moment she turned to face him. She had been determined not to let him see the fact that he had upset her, and here she was, letting it all show.

She ducked her head; he tipped it back up with gentle fingers. “I’m sorry,” Nicholas said simply.

Danni darted a look at him, actually meeting his eyes for the first time. “What?”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated patiently. “None of this is your fault. And I keep forgetting….” He sighed, knowing that his next words were as likely to set off a fresh explosion as they were to calm anything. “I keep forgetting you aren’t Katarina.”

Danni’s eyes snapped fire at him, but she didn’t say anything. Surely he’d had a point, if he was going to insult her that thoroughly.

“It’s not….” He sighed, letting her go so that he could pace the small space uncomfortably. “I told you when I first met you that there are things about Katarina that I admire and even appreciate. Her innate sense of grace. Her work ethic. Her determination to give everything that she does her absolute best, no matter what it costs her. You…share some of those qualities.”

“No matter what it costs me.” Danni added the emphasis to the word very quietly and very gently. “I wouldn’t hurt you for the world, Nick.”

“I know you wouldn’t. I just….” He dragged his good hand through his hair. Being a guy, he didn’t have to worry about pins. “Can you imagine what it was like for me?” he asked quietly. “Even a little bit? I told her that my shoulder was hurting, and she insisted that I needed to just keep working for it. ‘It won’t get any better if you don’t push’ was kind of the party line. And I know that, okay? I know that if I don’t push, I’ll never get the arm back to where it was. I’ve lived with that reality since I first got hurt. So I work as hard as I can for as long as I can, and I ignore the pain until it starts affecting my ability to control my muscles—because I don’t want to put you in danger.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t want…what happened to Kat….”

Danni didn’t make him say it. “You don’t want me to get hurt.”

“Exactly.” He looked relieved. “But with her, it was always one more after what I thought I could do, you know? So I learned to keep my mouth shut and just do it, and she’d feel it when my arm actually started shaking, most of the time.”

“I feel it,” Danni said quietly. “I didn’t realize how far beyond your endurance you had pushed, for it to be doing that.”

Nicholas winced. “I guess you wouldn’t, huh?” he asked quietly.

“Not unless you tell me.” Danni sighed. “I know now,” she offered.

“You know now.” He closed his eyes, leaning back against the wall with a grimace that showed her far more clearly than anything he might have said just how intense the pain had gotten. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” Danni said simply, “that I’m calling it quits for the day. If I need a partner, I’ll go hunt down Androv.”

“I don’t want you to have to do that,” Nick told her.

“I know.” She smiled, grateful that he couldn’t see it because she knew it didn’t entirely meet her eyes. “And I appreciate everything you’ve done for me—but honestly, Nick, I think I’ve got it. The practice now is just…well, if you asked Michael, he would probably tell you that I get a little bit compulsive about these things.”

“A little bit compulsive.” He actually opened his eyes to look at her then. “Is that actually how he would describe it?”

“No.” She grinned, and this one actually was genuine. “He would describe me as the practice Nazi—but even he knows better than to lie to me about how he’s feeling.” With a sigh, she admitted, “Though to be honest, I should have figured it out for myself. I…actually, I had forgotten that you were working with Allie, too.”

It was Nick’s turn to sigh now, letting all his breath out in one great whoosh that conveyed more about his feelings than he realized. He didn’t want to tell her…but at the same time, if he didn’t, she was going to keep blaming herself for the fact that he had pushed too hard. That wasn’t what he wanted—not at all. “Listen, Danni,” he said carefully. “I’m not….” He hesitated. It was so hard to get the words out! “If you’d been Kat…I wouldn’t have pushed as hard to be here for you.” That wasn’t what he really wanted to say. He tried again, conscious as he did so of the furrow between her brows. “It’s peaceful, having someone to work with who just…gets it. You don’t dwell on the bad stuff; you just…dance. And every time you dance, you dance for God.” He still wasn’t saying it right. “I like being around you, okay? I like spending time with you. And your focus right now is on the dance, so the easiest way to get your company has been to just dance with you.”

Danni gaped at him as though he had suddenly started speaking a foreign language. Oh. She smiled at him—a dazzlingly bright smile that told him that no matter how difficult it might have been, telling her the truth had been the right thing to do. “I enjoy being around you, too,” she admitted shyly. “It’s nice…having another believer around.”

“Precious few of them around here.” Nick bent, gathering his things and tossing them haphazardly into his bag. He’d clean it out later…like after The Nutcracker was over. “I’m sorry,” he told her seriously. “I didn’t mean to blame you for any of this—because none of it is your fault.”

“Apology accepted.” She hesitated, but the look in his eyes was so wistful that she couldn’t do anything else: she leaned over and gave him a firm, reassuring hug. “You still want my company?” she asked as she pulled away.

Nick nodded, half relieved that his confession hadn’t scared her and half intrigued by her question.

“Want to go study for a few hours? I think we’ve done all the damage we can do in here today.” The offer was a genuine one; her eyes even sparkled as she gave it.

“That sounds…good,” Nick admitted slowly. “Very good, actually.” He tried for a smile. “I don’t guess you’d be willing to take it back to my place, let me ice my shoulder while we work?”

“There’s ice at my place, too,” she pointed out. “And I have a bigger stack of pillows than you do.” She grinned. “Not to mention the fact that I actually know where all of my textbooks are.”

“Oh, well, when you put it that way.” He hadn’t actually misplaced his. He knew where they were…mostly. It was just that his math book—always his weakest subject, and the one that he liked the least as a result—was under his bed.

Somewhere.

And now that Danni mentioned it, he didn’t particularly feel like digging for it, either. “Your place it is,” he informed her grandly.

The one thing that neither of them had taken into consideration—the thing that they had forgotten, as they teased one another and enjoyed each other’s company—was that Katarina was in Danni’s dorm. She had made herself scarce for the first week or so; and that scarcity had given them a false sense of security. They had gotten used to the fact that yes, she was around somewhere, but there was no reason for them to worry about her.

There was just one problem with that mentality: Katarina was feeling better. She had learned how to navigate on her crutches, and she was tired of sulking up in her room, playing the part of the injured princess and allowing anyone who was interested to wait on her hand and foot.

She was downstairs in the common room when they got there.

Danni, for the most part, ignored her. It was how she typically treated the other girl; thanks to Katarina’s injury, she was at least less inclined to spit bile at her every time she turned around, and Danni was doing her best to take advantage of that fact.

Unfortunately, for Nicholas to ignore Katarina would have been the height of rudeness. They had been partners for several months, and even developed a tentative friendship. If he walked by without acknowledging her, she would be insulted—and not only that, she would probably have a whole new set of nasty things to say about him in front of half of the Academy.

Bad enough that she had tried to trash his reputation when she got hurt. It would be worse if she went after him again now.

So he sighed, lifted a quick prayer for strength heavenward, and leaned in the doorway to the common room, making sure to prop his good shoulder against the wall and not the bad. “Hey, Katarina,” he said quietly. Caution made him keep his voice low; his determination to not make her angry again reminded him to use her full name, as he almost never did when speaking about her. “How are you feeling?”

She glared up at him. “Better—no thanks to you,” she said sourly. “What, is it too much effort to pick up a blasted telephone and call to see how your partner is? She doesn’t have any trouble with it.” She transferred her glower behind him, guessing that if he was there, Danni probably wasn’t far behind.

As it happened, she wasn’t—well, she was in the kitchen, retrieving an ice pack for Nick’s shoulder and letting Mrs. Baxter know that he was there. Unfortunately, she wasn’t close enough to come to his defense.

“Excuse me?” Nicholas asked tightly.

“Are you trying to tell me you don’t know? She’s up there every night talking to her partner back home, going on and on about how much they miss each other.” Katarina rolled her eyes. “I don’t know what she’s whining about when she’s got you.”

For a moment, Nick considered responding with jealousy. The longer he danced with Danni, the more he liked her—and the more he wanted to keep dancing with her even after The Nutcracker was over. Oh, the odds in favor of it weren’t good—but they looked good together, and the teachers usually tried to keep pairs together if they could. They considered it unfair to force them to learn to dance with someone else at the same time as they learned a new routine, especially as quickly as those were thrown at them. Having Danni go back to Michael as soon as he arrived would be a blow.

On the other hand, her loyalty to her partner was commendable—and he remembered her saying that Michael wasn’t just her partner, he was also her best friend. It would have devastated her to hear that he was jealous of that friendship.

Besides, that still, small voice inside him reminded him gently, look who’s saying it.

Katarina wasn’t exactly known for her honesty. Danni and Michael might miss each other; but Nick was sure that he was well on his way to attaining her loyalty and her friendship.

He shifted his weight, trying to ease some of the ache in his shoulder. It wasn’t working. What he really needed was that big mound of pillows up in Danni’s room—a mound even more extensive than his own, and therefore twice as comfortable. “Last time I talked to you, you made it pretty clear that you didn’t want to be anywhere near me,” he pointed out quietly.

“Oh, that.” Katarina waved it off. “You didn’t actually take me seriously, did you? I mean, I was hurting, you know?” She cast a haughty glance at his shoulder. “Something you ought to understand.”

Yeah—and I never once lashed out at you just because I was hurting, even when you were the one causing it. Nick didn’t dare say that aloud, however. Starting a fight with Katarina now wasn’t his intention.

Actually, he wasn’t sure what his intention had been. He had just known that if he didn’t speak to her on the way by, she would be furiously insulted—though there wasn’t any real justification for her anger. They had never really associated outside of dance class. Oh, they’d talked occasionally—for her to inform him that she needed him to be in a certain place at a certain time for so many hours of practice. In all the months that they had worked together, he had never gotten to know her any better than he had the first time he had danced with her.

How different it was, working with Danni! She was well on her way to becoming a good friend, regardless of who the two of them danced with; it had never occurred to her that they shouldn’t be friends. Practices with her were warm, welcoming, and full of laughter even when she was entirely focused on her work; and as far as Nick was concerned, they were more enjoyable all the way around.

“I’m sorry about your ankle, Katarina,” he said simply—and somehow, that said all of it. He was sorry about her ankle.

He wasn’t sorry that they weren’t dancing together anymore.

Luckily, Danni appeared at his shoulder then; and Nick didn’t hesitate as he slipped his hand into hers.

“You ready?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah.” He gave her a grateful smile, glad that she had come in when she had. If she had lingered even for another minute, there was no telling what Katarina might have decided to say to him—and he didn’t want his pleasant afternoon ruined. “You get—“ He glanced down at her other hand. Of course she had an ice pack already. She was the one who insisted that he take care of himself, even when he was trying his level best to convince her that he was just fine.

His smile was all the thanks she needed. Hers in return began to wash away some of the dark feeling he got from trying to talk to Katarina.

“What are you two doing, exactly?” Katarina’s voice was high, sharp.

Danni turned to look at her, her eyebrows knitting together in surprise. “Studying,” she said simply. “Both of us are trying to get ahead in our classes while we can.”

“Studying.” Katarina snorted. “As if Nicholas ever had any interest in any such thing before. Does Mrs. Baxter have any idea what you’re really doing up there?”

“We’re really studying, Kat,” Nick said calmly. “Come up and check in yourself, if you want. Actually, if you’re interested, you’re welcome to join us.” He made the offer knowing full well that she wouldn’t take them up on it. For one thing, Katarina might have been on the same fast track they were academically, but she wasn’t nearly as dedicated to it. She would be several chapters behind. For another, she would consider it beneath her to spend that much time in Danni’s company.

“Really.” She looked them over in a way that suggested she knew exactly what they were trying to do. Nick knew full well that she didn’t even have a clue. “Well, you two have fun, now.” She fluttered her fingers at them in a movement that was meant to appear vindictive and spiteful. Mostly, it just came out looking pathetic.

Nick shrugged and headed for the stairs. Danni paused for just a moment, her heart going out to the forlorn-looking young woman.

“You really are welcome to join us if you want,” she said quietly.

Katarina looked up, and suddenly, all traces of dejection fell away. Rather than answering Danni’s invitation, she took a completely different track. “You’ll never keep him, you know,” she said flatly. “I’ve seen you—you aren’t half the dancer I am.”

“I think that’s up to Nick to decide, don’t you?” Danni very carefully didn’t place any emphasis on the nickname. Let Katarina think of it what she would.

“You think you can hold him with pretty words and kisses, don’t you?” Katarina shook her head. “It may have worked on the boys back home, but it won’t work on Nicholas—I promise you that. He’ll head for greener pastures just as soon as he finds a better dancer.”

“If I were trying to keep him with kisses, I might be worried.” Danni’s voice was wryly amused. She didn’t take offense to the clear insult to either her or Nick. It was clear that Katarina didn’t either know or understand either of them at all anyway. “Personally, I’ve always thought he had more sense than to be won that way.” That having been said, she turned and hurried up the stairs behind Nick. He’d be wanting that ice pack; and anyway, Katarina didn’t have anything to say that she considered to be worth listening to.

Nick was pacing the floor of her room when she got there. “She doesn’t get it, does she?” he demanded.

“Get…what?” Danni slipped inside and eased the door almost shut. She didn’t want to break the house rules; but she also had the feeling that Nick wouldn’t want anyone else to hear his heated rant.

“Anything!” He dragged his hands through his hair. “Human kindness. Friendship. Humanity in general. You name it, Kat’s missing it.” He spun suddenly to look at her. “What bile was she spewing at you after I left?”

“Just the usual.” She kept her voice light. There was no sense in getting Nick any more riled up than he already was, especially when there was nothing either of them could do about it. “Come on. Sit down, get this ice on your shoulder while you rant.”

“I don’t know if I can sit.” But he rearranged her pillows into a pile very similar to the one he created in his own room—more to have something to do with his hands than anything else, Danni thought.

“There’s no use letting her get to you this way. You know she is who she is, and she always will be.”

“That’s not comforting,” he snarled.

“No?” Danni sat down on the bed, patting the seat beside her. With a sigh, Nick dropped down onto it. “I think it will help if you simply accept that it’s her choice, you know.”

“Maybe.” He didn’t look convinced as he took the ice pack from her, staring down at it as though he didn’t recognize it. To be fair, Danni barely did. It was a far cry from the frozen peas she and Michael had always used back home.

“Katarina is just…Katarina.” A squeak in the hall outside made Danni pause, but when there wasn’t any further noise, she didn’t feel any qualms about continuing. This was the conclusion that she had reached about the girl as she struggled to understand why she found it necessary to be so nasty to everyone; and she thought Nick might benefit from it, too. “I have the feeling she’s been hurt pretty badly somewhere along the way—that’s why she treats people the way she does. If she’s nasty to them first, it doesn’t hurt so much when they don’t like her, you see.”

“I don’t understand how it is that half the girls in the Academy idolize her,” he muttered.

“Maybe they haven’t been exposed quite so much to her stunning personality.” Danni smiled tiredly. “Or maybe she doesn’t show them quite as much as she’s shown you. She disliked me from the beginning; you, she just expected to answer her every whim. And let’s face it: you’d still be dancing with her if she hadn’t gotten hurt. Like you told me, she’s not all bad.”

“Can she be pretty close?” His words emerged as a whine.

Danni didn’t answer him, just squeezed his hand gently and asked, “So, are you going to ice that shoulder, or are you going to sit there holding on to the cold pack like you’ve never seen one before?”

Nick grimaced. “Do I have to?” he wanted to know.

“Yep.” Danni took it from him and eased it into place for him, carefully shifting it so that it covered the entire surface of the shoulder. He winced, but didn’t make a sound; they both knew that eventually, this would help. “Now, I believe we have work to do. Dwelling on Katarina isn’t going to get it done; but the two of us getting on it might.” With those companionable words, she pulled out her science book and propped it on her lap, leaning over so that Nicholas could see the Chapter easily.

If anyone had come through the door at that moment, they might well have gotten the wrong idea about what was going on between Nick and Danni. He was propped up against her pillows, as comfortable as though he had done it a hundred different times; they were sitting very close together; and as they read, her head dropped to his shoulder, the book carefully shifted until it was resting between the two of them. When Nick eased the ice pack off of his shoulder, he lowered his head to rest on top of Danni’s.

They read at approximately the same speed. That was handy. She and Michael would never have been able to do this unless one of them was reading aloud—Danni read twice as fast as he did, and Michael tended to want extra time to absorb concepts before he moved on to the next one. With Nicholas, Danni would hesitate for just a beat before she turned the page, her hand lifting almost imperceptibly; with the faintest of movements, he would let her know whether or not he was ready for her to continue.

They finished the Chapter. Danni pulled out a sheet of paper and a pencil, passing another set to Nick—and all of this without ever shifting away from him. She could tell by the way he was sitting that he was actually comfortable and relaxed for the first time all day; the less she jarred him, the more likely it was that he would actually be able to stop his shoulder from hurting before he left for the night.

The ice was reapplied. Nick hissed faintly as the cold began to seep in, a noise that Danni would never have heard if she hadn’t been tucked so close to him.

He wouldn’t have let anyone else hear that noise, she realized—and she didn’t comment on it. She just laced her fingers gently through his and pulled out the next book—again, tucked close enough to her that he didn’t have to move in order to get comfortable again.

It wasn’t unusual for them to work for a long time at night. Both of them were easily engrossed in schoolwork, and they had gotten used to each other’s company. Working together, they even tended to accomplish more than either would have alone, and they were more likely to retain the information. On that particular evening, it was even later than usual when Nick finally slipped off of the bed, yawning hugely.

“If we don’t get some sleep, we’re both going to be useless at practice in the morning,” he pointed out quietly.

“You’re not wrong.” Danni gathered her books, slipping her assignments into them through bleary eyes. She wasn’t sure how she had managed to see what she was doing for the better part of the last thirty minutes.

“I did enjoy it, though.” Nick collected his own materials, slipping them into one of the spare folders that Danni kept in her room. “We were productive tonight.”

“Definitely that.” Danni grinned. “Repeat tomorrow night?”

Nick mock groaned. “You’re going to be the death of me, woman!” In his heart—where he wasn’t sure even he acknowledged it—there was a faint answer to that. But what a way to go!

The next morning, Nick was pleased to see that his shoulder was actually loose and moving freely for the first time in days. He was a little bit stiff as he began the morning; but after a quick shower and a couple of Advil, he was definitely back in fine form.

The night off did me a lot of good, Lord, he admitted tiredly. It’s a shame Danni can’t afford for me to do it every night.

Except that he had underestimated his new partner. She took one look at him that morning and nodded, clearly seeing exactly how much the early evening had done for him.

“You’re not doing any of those lifts,” she said flatly.

Nick stared at her, sure that he must have misunderstood. “Excuse me?” he demanded.

“Oh, you heard me.” Danni put her hands on her hips, giving him that imperious look that always reminded him so much of Katarina—except that when she got it, it was because she was looking out for him, not because she was about to do something that would cause him even more pain. “Tell me you aren’t feeling better than you have in days.”

“I can’t tell you that.” It never even occurred to Nick to lie to her. He knew better than that. Danni would probably just see right through him if he tried; and anyway, it would absolutely destroy the relationship they had been building if he tried to lie about something so obvious.

“Then admit that you need the break, and take it.” Danni lost the haughty posture, walking quietly over to stand beside him. “That shoulder needs a break—and you know as well as I do that when we hit dress rehearsals and performances, you’re going to be in even more pain if you don’t take the time to let it heal now.”

“Allie—“

“Can wait.” Danni’s eyes twinkled. “Tell her I’m being demanding and insisting that you work with me every spare minute this week. I’ll demand it and make it more truthful, if you like.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Except that you aren’t going to let me dance.”

“Oh, I’ll let you dance,” Danni corrected immediately. “You can dance until your feet are ready to fall off, if that’s what you need to do—but you’re not going to do the lifts. We’ll walk through them like we have been all along.”

He wanted to argue with her—wanted to be strong enough to argue with her. She needed the practice. Yeah, they had it down now; but she hadn’t been doing it that long. They couldn’t afford to simply not practice.

“We’ll go back to doing it all-out at the dress rehearsals,” Danni promised him. “But until then, take the break you need.”

Nick felt as though he had been transported into an alternate reality. Thanks to Danni, he had several days to just let his shoulder rest. He danced as much as he ever had or more; but she kept a close eye on him, and any time his jaw tightened even the faintest bit, she made him sit down and take a break.

By Thursday night, he actually didn’t need the ice anymore—which was good, because the next day was their dress rehearsal.

How had he managed to end up with this gentle, understanding partner who actually cared whether or not he was in pain? What had he done that was good enough, pure enough, that God would give him someone who was so entirely good and caring that it would never occur to her to push him when he was hurting?

Danni was Katarina’s opposite in every way that mattered.

By the time they reached the dress rehearsal, Nick was actually eager to dance the entire pas de deux with Danni again. He had dreaded the dress rehearsals, the performances themselves, for weeks; but now, suddenly, he was able to relax into it. Danni would look out for him—he knew that, and appreciated it more than he could put into words.

And then, on his way to the dress rehearsal, Katarina caught up to him.

“Well, it looks like you’ve made it,” she sneered.

Nick’s eyebrows shot up. “There was a question about whether or not that was going to happen?” he asked curiously.

“Well, sure.” She shrugged. “Without me, you don’t have the drive to get it done.”

He didn’t dare point out to her that Danni had even more drive and determination than she did. It would just end in Katarina hating Danni more than ever before, and that was the last thing he wanted to happen. “Well, looks like Androv disagrees,” he said instead, his voice flat and steady.

“Surprising.” Katarina looked down her nose at him. “I would’ve never thought you would actually make it to the performance, not the way you’ve been going.”

Nick bit down hard on his lip and didn’t answer her.

“You know what? I’ve been thinking.” Katarina shifted up as close to her full height as she could get without running the risk that she would knock her crutches over. She must have known full well that after what she was going to say to him, even chivalrous Nicholas wouldn’t bend over and pick them up for her. “I don’t think I want you back once my ankle heals.”

“That’s your prerogative.” Nick shrugged. He had long since stopped caring whether or not Katarina intended to keep her.

“Actually,” she continued, “I don’t think I would be willing to dance with you if you were the last male dancer at the school.”

Nick’s hands fisted at his side, but he didn’t respond the way he desperately wanted to. Instead, he gave her a cold, hard smile. “Again, that’s your prerogative. I’ll be sure to let Danni know that she no longer has any competition to worry about.”

Katarina glowered at him. “Oh, yes, precious Danni,” she taunted. “Wouldn’t want her to have to worry. Does she realize yet that you’re scum of the earth, or has she been so entranced by dancing with the great Nicholas that she hasn’t realized what a jerk you are?”

“I’ve never been anything but kind to you, Katarina,” Nick pointed out patiently.

“Oh, right. Kind. Is that what you call it?” She threw her head back and laughed. “As if you have any idea what that means! I had to drag you into the practice room every time I wanted to dance; you never initiated anything; and as I recall it, you were a real pain about working anything but the piece you wanted to work at any given moment. How many times did I stand and wait on you before I could get started? Do you even know?”

“It’s not my fault,” he told her stiffly, “if you get there thirty minutes early and then stand and wait.”

“Everyone knows,” Katarina insisted shrilly, “that when you have plans to meet someone, you should already be warmed up when you get there!”

Really? Because Danni thinks that we have plenty of time to warm up together. He held the words back with an effort of sheer will alone. Patronizing Katarina wasn’t going to get him anywhere. Besides, he was very close to being late for the dress rehearsal; Danni would be worried about him.

Danni. Suddenly, he desperately wanted to hear her voice, just for a moment. In a few short days, she had come to mean a great deal to him—probably because she was a real partner, the kind that he knew he could count on. Katarina didn’t even register by comparison.

“You know what, Nicholas?” Katarina informed him. “You can have your precious Dannie, and you can do whatever you want to together—because I don’t want to have anything to do with you.”

“That,” he said formally, “is your choice, Katarina.” His hands were trembling as he strode away from her—as much from hurt as from anger.

He had always done his best for her. He hadn’t been the partner she wanted; but then, she had wanted an iron man, someone who felt no pain and never objected no matter how many times she wanted to force herself through a routine.

He couldn’t be that for her. No—he couldn’t be that for anyone. He wondered if anyone could.