Did he not care for her?
That thought felt like a knife slicing through her heart, and Madeline quickly excused herself from the table before tears began streaming down her face. Running back upstairs, she hid in her room and allowed herself to fall to pieces. Fear and doubt wrecked her body until no more tears would come.
Last night, there had been hope, and now…?
Splashing cold water onto her flushed face, Madeline stared at her reflection in the small mirror by her vanity.
What do you want? A distant voice whispered in her ear, and for the first time, Madeline did not hesitate to answer. “Him.”
A soft smile came to her face as she realised that after all this time she finally knew exactly what she wanted. The only question was, how would she go about conquering her husband’s heart?
Keeping herself busy around the house, Madeline spent the day remembering the many moments she had shared with her husband since the night they had first met. Although questions remained, she did not doubt that he felt something for her, and that thought made her heart dance in her chest.
When darkness began to fall, Madeline thought she would go mad with the way her pulse hammered under her skin as she waited for her husband to return. Helping Bessy prepare supper, Madeline kept one eye on the door, willing it to open and bring her husband back to her.
Only it did not.
Supper came and went, and the door still would not open.
“Do you think something happened to him?” she asked Bessy as they cleared the table. “Maybe?”
“Nah!” Shaking her head, her mother-in-law snorted. “He’s merely actin’ like a typical man. The moment he feels somethin’, he runs for the hills.” Gently patting Madeline’s hand, Bessy smiled at her. “Don’t worry, dear. He’ll be back.” Her smile turned wicked. “And then ye should knock some sense into him.”
Staring at her mother-in-law, Madeline did not know what to think. However, neither was she given the opportunity to clear her thoughts because Bessy grasped her arm and pulled her toward the front of the house. “Remember? Ye promised to teach us the waltz.”
As they stepped into the front drawing room, Madeline noticed that all the remaining furniture had been moved from the centre and was now aligned at the far wall. By the front windows stood Kara and Sean. While his wife had an excited gleam in her eyes, Sean looked as though he was going to be sick.
“Come, come,” Bessy called, gesturing for the couple to join them in the middle of the room. “Let’s begin before I grow old.” Chuckling, she grasped Sean’s thin wrist and yanked him forward. Mumbling something under his breath, Kara’s husband acquiesced.
“Now, what do we do?” Bessy asked, turning to look at her daughter-in-law.
Feeling a bit overwhelmed, Madeline tried to remember her own dance lessons. “Well,…eh…this will be a little difficult without music.” To say the least.
“We could hum,” Kara suggested, her words turning Sean’s face white as a sheet. “Don’t complain,” she chided him. “I’m only asking for one night. You’ve seen people waltz before as well, did it not seem magical?”
Looking mildly apologetic, Sean still shook his head. “That still doesn’t mean I want to do it myself. You might recall how I have two left hands. Chances are, I’ll have two left feet as well. Are you truly willing to risk your toes?”
Kara laughed, shaking her head at him. “Maybe all you need is practice.”
Sean snorted, “Doubtful.”
Hands on her hips, Bessy sighed, eyeing them all reproachfully. “I’d like to remind ye that I’m not gettin’ any younger.”
“All right,” Madeline agreed, realising that there was no way of putting this off. “Stand next to me in a line and do as I do.” Quickly, the two women complied while Sean dragged his feet. Then Madeline showed them the basic steps, no more than necessary. “For now, we’ll just move up and down the room,” she cautioned. “Don’t try to do circles yet. It’ll only mess up your footwork.”
Standing in line, each concentrating on their own steps, the small group danced up and down the length of the room. As expected, Sean stumbled more than once, his steps completely out of line with Kara’s enthusiastic humming, while his wife seemed to glow with each step she took. “This is marvellous,” she beamed, squeezing her husband’s hand excitedly.
After a while, Madeline suggested Sean and Kara stand up together, explaining how they needed to move together. “Simply do as you did before but remember that you now need to be the mirror image of the other. When Sean steps forward, Kara needs to retreat and the other way around. Do you understand?”
Kara nodded eagerly while her husband mumbled something unintelligible under his breath.
For the next quarter of an hour, Madeline and her mother-in-law spent many wonderful moments suppressing their laughter as Sean tripped over his feet, stepped on his wife’s toes and almost dragged them both down to the floor. Each misstep was followed by a series of apologies and curses, interspersed with pleas to finally end this.
Kara, however, refused to give up. “I want one dance,” she told him, her eyes shining with determination. “One dance where I feel as though I’m floating on air.”
Again, Sean mumbled something that sounded like a curse.
Kara’s gaze darkened. “Be advised that the longer you complain, the longer you’ll have to do this. Concentrate, and we’ll be out of here before midnight.”
“What is going on here?” a dark voice spoke from the doorway, and all heads snapped around.
Madeline’s breath caught in her throat as she found her husband standing only a few steps away, his brow drawing down as he looked at Kara and Sean. Then his gaze travelled to her, and for a moment, Madeline thought her legs would give out.
“Your wife is teachin’ us to waltz,” his mother explained, a mischievous gleam in her eyes as she looked at her son. “Care to join us?”
“She is teaching you to waltz?” he repeated, his gaze once more finding Madeline’s.
Smiling at him rather shyly, Madeline nodded, her heart hammering in her chest as his dark eyes gazed into hers, not unlike they had the night before when…
Clearing his throat, her husband took a step back, his gaze dropping from hers. “I’ll leave you to it then.”
Before he could walk away though, his mother rushed forward and grabbed him by the arm. “Not so fast, my boy. Sean could use all the help he can get.” Pushing him toward Madeline, she ordered, “Dance with your wife. Show us how it’s done.”
Chapter Twenty-Six ? Only Mine
Drawing in a deep breath, Derek stepped toward his wife.
Carefully lifting her gaze, she looked at him, her cheeks slightly flushed and her breathing faster than he would have expected. Was it the exertion? Or was it…?
Derek swallowed as he held out his hand to her. “May I have this dance?” His own voice sounded strange to him as though he were trapped in a dream. However, when his wife stepped forward and slid her hand into his, it was as though he woke up with a start.
All his senses narrowed in on her. The warmth of her skin. The scent of lavender that rose from her raven-black tresses. The emerald glow in her eyes as they held his. The way her breathing hitched when he pulled her closer.
How could anyone be so acutely aware of another? Derek wondered, feeling his insides tremble with excitement as he began to move in time to Kara’s soft humming.
As he held his wife in his arms, the rest of the world fell away. He barely remembered a day spent on repairs, dreading the moment he would have to return home and see in her eyes that…
What? What did he see in her eyes? Was she thinking of another? Wishing for another?
Derek smiled. No, she was not. The way she was looking at him spoke of the same excitement he felt in his own veins, and in that moment, he barely remembered their audience and almost swept her up in his arms.