Chapter 14 #3
“I think so too,” Phoebe smiled genuinely, and was surprised to find that she meant it.
The duke and duchess slipped soon after, clearly busy playing the part of the good host as they walked around the ballroom greeting guests.
“They seem kind,” Phoebe commented ad she faced her husband.
“They are. I have known Thomas for as long as I have known myself, it seems. It was only natural that I know his wife too and I am glad that you like them.” Edward replied easily.
He glanced around the room briefly, and when his eyes settled on her again, she could see a hint of intent behind them.
As if on cue, the string quartet started a new song and he held out a hand to her and asked,
“Would you oblige me with the honour of a dance?”
Flustered, Phoebe stared at him opening and closing her mouth, unsure of what to say.
Eventually, she began, “You do not have to —”
“I know I do not have to. I want to,” he replied plainly. “Dance with me, wife.”
She took his hand and allowed him to lead her onto the dance floor. While she had received formal dance training as a young girl and reserved that knowledge, she had not gotten the chance to practice as a debutante, because none of the men would look at her twice.
She recalled clearly, watching other women twirl around the ballroom with dance cards on their wrist, full of interested suitors, while she had been branded as an outcast, unworthy of a single spec of attention.
“Focus on me, Phoebe,” Edward ordered lowly as he bowed to her, like the other men in the dance floor did to their own partners.
Phoebe nodded as she curtsied and the music started, the tone sharp and fast paced. A waltz.
She followed his lead, struggling to keep up at first but eventually settling into a nice rhythm that made her smile slightly with enjoyment.
His hand felt secure around hers and the warmth of this touch on the lower back was spreading through her skin, to the point she guessed that she had a permanent flush on her face.
The sights and sounds made the experience even better, with her everything seemed to glow and shimmer as they danced and the music continued to rise, a symphony of stunning sounds. Phoebe had never felt so … pleased.
“We did not have to do this,” she whispered once the pace had slowed slightly and she had regained bearings of her thoughts. “We did not have to dance. I would have been all right just watching.”
Edward regarded her briefly and hummed. “Perhaps. But I couldn’t but help but notice how worried you were about the perception of others. And maybe, I wanted to show you off a little. I cannot help it, given how lovely you look tonight.”
Phoebe balked at him in surprise, wondering how he could just…say that so freely.
“It… it sounds as though you saw an opportunity to gloat and you seized it.” She accused, trying not to show how shy she felt in that moment.
Edward narrowed his eyes at her. “You spent a brief time with the duke and duchess of Ravencroft and you have already picked up their slandering ways.”
“It is hardly slander if it is true, darling husband,” Phoebe blurted in a streak of bravery.
“The only thing that is true is the fact that your beauty is incomparable to any other in this room. And if my desire to ensure that everyone knows — causing them to bite their tongues in grief because they cannot have you — means I am gloating, then I am fine with that. It changes nothing — not a single thing about what is in front of me,” he mumbled, pulling her close so suddenly, she wound up flush against his chest.
He had never been this bold before. She was not foolish to assume he did not have desires like other men, he has always been so calm and collected about their dealings, she assumed he did not feel attracted to her.
But tonight, he has kept his hands on her, and now he was speaking in this odd manner that caused heat to pool in her stomach.
The conflict emerging within her must have been evident on her face because he leaned forward, his lips brushing against the shell of her ear as he whispered, “A Penny for your thoughts, duchess?”
“I don’t … I don’t understand why you are acting this way,” she confessed quietly.
He leaned back to smirk at her, letting his gaze lower onto her body, his eyes lingering in her bosom before it made its way back up to her face.
“It is this dress. It looks quite stunning on you.”
Then he lowered his lips to her ear again and whispered,
“All evening, I’ve battled with the urge to rid you of it. It is all I have been able to think about.”
The music came to a stop and the other guests bowed and curtsied to their partners but Phoebe stood still, staring at her husband as her cheeks filled with heat. He returned her stare silently for a moment, then, he took her hand and began to lead her off the dance floor.
“E-Edward? What are —”
“Come, wife,” he murmured, wrapping an arm around her to keep her pressed to his sided as he walked them in the direction of a door that led out of the ballroom. “Let us go and bring my thoughts to reality.”