Chapter 27 #2
“A slow country dance,” Adrian said to the musicians, as if he knew.
With a gracious nod, the musicians took a moment to discuss what they should play and then began. Valerie’s eyebrows shot up as she recognized the music: a variation of ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ that society seemed to favor, though she had heard many versions in her twenty-two years.
At the same moment, Adrian’s brow furrowed, his eyes clouding over in a manner that puzzled her. Was he regretting his decision to ask her to dance? Did he not like the music? Perhaps, it was too festive for him.
He blinked and the expression was gone, though the smile did not return. With a mask of unreadable calm, he took a step toward her, taking it slowly. She mirrored the movement, her palm lifting up to press lightly against his, before she turned away and swept herself around in a circle.
“Please, join us,” Valerie called out, unable to bear the pressure of so many eyes on them and them alone. “It is a party! Everyone, please!”
Perhaps taking pity on her, perhaps eager to be involved in such a momentous occasion, a few more couples filtered back onto the dance floor.
Soon enough, the entire town hall was filled with couples dancing, from children to the elderly and everyone in between, laughter spilling out above the melody of the musicians.
It was the most astonishing thing Valerie had ever seen.
Indeed, something like this could never have happened in London society, or even at the grand houses closest to Gramfield, where she occasionally received invitations.
It did not seem to matter to anyone if they could dance or not, their talent secondary to their exuberance and enjoyment of the moment.
“I had no idea it could be like this,” she rasped, choked up by the heartwarming scene.
“It is all because of you,” Adrian replied, his hands pressing against hers as they stepped side to side together for six beats. “I had no idea it could be like this.”
She gazed up into his eyes, wondering what he meant: the party or something else? Her mouth opened to ask, but she closed it again, losing her nerve. Why end a night like this with disappointment, if she did not gain the answer she secretly, desperately sought?
“Have you arranged many gatherings?” he asked, half-clarifying what he had meant. “You must have done, to have created such a successful evening.”
She shook her head. “Honestly, no. I have only ever arranged little parties for my siblings. This is my first.”
“You have a gift for it,” he said, as the dance compelled them to draw apart, both of them linking arms with the next pair and turning a circle, before they came back to each other.
“I am almost tempted to ask you to arrange another for the new year,” he continued, gazing down at her with such fire in his eyes that her heart beat faster in response. “You could invite your siblings to stay.”
“No… no, I could not do that,” she replied in a rush, a cold sweat prickling down the back of her neck.
My father cannot know where I am. He will come and fetch me back. She desperately wanted to tell Adrian, but the words would not come, fear making all speech stick in her throat.
“Whyever not?” he asked solemnly. “Is there something at Gramfield you need to return for, other than them?”
Her eyes were imploring, tears stinging, her mouth parted with all the things she could not say. She did not want to discuss this now. She did not want to discuss this at all, for then it would be real, and the great invisible clock that hung over her head would begin clanging.
“Please…” she managed to rasp.
“Please? Please what?” He stopped abruptly. “What are you not telling me, Valerie?”
As panic began to rise and all eyes turned to them, she could not endure it any longer. This was neither the time nor the place. Could he not see that he was ruining everything she had created? Could he not see that he was ruining the most perfect evening?
“I am sorry,” she murmured, as she turned tail and hurried off.
She made it to the snowy steps of the town hall before Adrian caught up to her, his hand closing about her wrist, pulling her around to face him.
Breathing hard, his brow creased with confusion, a curious sort of pain in his eyes, he panted, “What are you not telling me? I suspected something last night, but I did not press the matter.” He paused.
“Now, I will hear it, Valerie. If it is bad enough to make you run away like this, then I will hear it.”
“It is bad enough to make me run away,” she shot back, her throat raw. “That is precisely the problem.”
“What do you mean?” he pressed, his grip tightening on her wrist.
Expelling a pained sigh, realizing she could not escape the truth any longer, but hoping beyond all hope that he might be able to remedy her situation, she knew she had no choice now. She had to tell him.
“My father arranged a match,” she said bitterly.
“Demanded I marry some… stranger in three weeks’ time.
Though, it is more like a week now. My father has terrible debts; I am supposed to save him with this marriage.
But… I ran because I do not want to marry this man. I ran and… I do not know what to do.”
All of a sudden, Adrian turned cold, his handsome face a thing of ice and steel. “There never was a mysterious sister in Scotland, was there?”
“What? No… I mean, yes. There is, and I—”
“I should have known,” he interrupted, his voice a razor blade to Valerie’s heart. “I should have trusted my instincts when you first arrived. You thought to ensnare something better than your father arranged for you. Or, you sought to ruin yourself so you would not have to proceed.”
She blinked up at him, a tear beading on her eyelashes. “No… no, it was nothing like that! I—”
“You will leave my estate tomorrow morning,” he said crisply, his voice devoid of softness, his lips forgetting how to smile once more. “Enjoy the rest of your party.”
He strode past her down the steps and went directly to his horse, that grazed peaceably on the town green.
She watched, speechless and heartbroken, as he pulled himself up into the saddle and, without so much as a backward glance, rode off into the night, kicking up plumes of glittering snow behind him.