Three Nights with a Scoundrel: A Novel (14 page)

“There you go again. I don’t want to be excused, or guarded. I want to dance.” Her chin took on a decisive set. “Even if only for a few sets. Last night, I was unprepared for that party. So overwhelmed. This time, I want to show everyone I’m equal to the occasion.”

“So I see.” More than that, he sensed, she wanted to prove it to herself.

Of course she did. And why shouldn’t she? Just like the bird currently swooping from candelabra to chandelier, Lily had too long been caged by habit and grief.

She had a loving, generous soul, and she was not a woman formed for a life of solitude. But by pressing the idea of matrimony so strenuously, Julian had only given her more reason to build up a defense. If he truly wanted to be her friend, to see her settled in a happy, healthy future—to see her
married
—he needed to stop shielding her and start empowering her. Lily didn’t need protection from him. What she needed was confidence. Her chance to soar.

If he could give her that, Julian thought it just might be the truest accomplishment of his life.

She put her hands on her hips, scolding the parrot through a smile. “Come down from there, you cheeky thing!” Turning to Julian, she asked, “Did I leave the walnuts in the study?”

He nodded. “Shall I send a servant for them?”

“No. No, don’t. Let him fly.”

Yes, he thought as he watched her flirt with the errant bird, what Lily needed was confidence. And oddly enough, confessing his attraction had been a first step. He should have thought of it long ago. Nothing made a woman more desirable than an awareness of her own desirability. He could note the difference already. A saucy cock of the hip, a mischievous crook of the finger. The subtle drop of her shoulders that emphasized her bosom. She was aware of her body in ways she hadn’t been this time yesterday. With progress like this in a day’s time, by next week she’d have the men of London at her feet.

And yes, the reality of that would turn Julian into a snarling, jealous beast. But for Lily’s sake, he would take his turn in the cage.

“So will you help me?” she asked him suddenly. “Practice dancing for the assembly, just a bit? Perhaps tomorrow, or—”

“No.”

She blinked.

“Not tomorrow, and not just a bit.” Smiling, he moved forward to take her hand. “We’ll start right now. We’ll practice for as long as it takes. And then, at the assembly—Lily, you will show them all.”

Chapter Eight

Damn, it was good to have a direction. Real, physical work he could do for her. Even if that work was just shoving aside some furniture and rolling up the carpet while a parrot taunted from above.

Julian led her to the pianoforte in the corner. After removing an arrangement of lilies from the top, he ran one hand over the polished wood veneer. This was a remarkably fine instrument. Far superior to any he’d learned on in his youth. He’d never had a single lesson, nor even much opportunity to practice. But after a few hours sitting down to the thing—testing the keys and experimenting with intervals, learning how the contraption worked—he’d understood it and had simply been able to play. He could hear a tune with his ears, and his fingers just knew how to translate it into the proper sequence of keys.

Some said God had given him a gift. To Julian, it was much the same as his ability to reproduce voices—just one more function of having acutely trained ears. From the earliest days of his life, listening had always been his paramount task. He’d always been alert,
always
been listening. Their lives had depended on it.

“Julian,” she teased as he sat down to the instrument, “you know actual music isn’t required. Not for me, anyhow.”

“Humor me,” he said, shaking his fingers loose. “How shall we begin?”

“The quadrille? Surely balls still begin with the quadrille?”

He nodded in confirmation. “Place your hands flat atop the pianoforte. Lean against it, if you will.”

She complied.

“Now close your eyes.”

She did so, smiling.

His breath caught in his chest. “God, Lily. You’re so damned beautiful it hurts.”

She didn’t react, of course. He’d known she wouldn’t. But for whatever reason, he couldn’t help testing her. It was the strangest thing. He’d been that way with his mother, too. Always testing her with outlandish comments made to her back: “Look sharp, it’s an elephant!” and such.

Setting the memory aside and placing his fingers to the keys, Julian played several bars of Le Pantalon, the first figure of the quadrille. When he stopped, Lily opened her eyes.

“How does it feel?” he asked.

“A bit unpleasant. It tickles all along my teeth.”

“But the rhythm. Did you recognize it? Can you visualize the steps?”

She nodded.

“Again,” he said. She closed her eyes, and he played through the same section, taking it a few bars further this time. Her fingers tapped along with the beat.

“Once more,” he directed at the end. “This time, eyes open.” He played straight through to the end of the figure, holding eye contact with Lily as together they recited the steps. “One, two, turn …,” “Now to the corner,” and so forth. At the conclusion of the sequence, he rose and offered his hand. “Are you ready to try?”

Nodding her agreement, she took his hand. Together they moved to the center of the room and queued up facing one another.

Their first attempt was over before it even began. They started with a deep, stately curtsy and bow, but when they lifted their heads, they found the parrot sitting on the floor between them, cocking his head and blinking a perplexed, beady eye. Lily dissolved into helpless laughter while Julian shooed the creature away.

They tried again, this time making it through a small section of the dance.

As they practiced the figure, the occasional feathered interruption overrode any awkwardness. For the most part. One particular segment of the pattern required them to link hands and circle one another, maintaining eye contact all the while. On each attempt, Julian lost his rhythm in those lovely eyes and stumbled over his feet. It took a half-dozen tries before they executed that turn successfully.

But they did eventually succeed, and Lily’s pleasure in their mastery of the figure was clear. Using this method, they worked their way through each section of the quadrille. First, Julian would sit at the pianoforte and play the rhythm, and Lily would “listen” with her hands. Then they would attempt the steps with varying success, avian antics depending.

The quadrille conquered, he suggested a particular country dance, one that had climbed to a new apex of popularity just this season past.

“It’s all the rage,” he said. “They’re certain to include it at the assembly.”

“I never learned that one.” Lily worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “But let’s have a go.”

It was a disaster. Though the rhythm was simple, the dance’s pattern was lively and complex. Julian attempted to demonstrate both the lady’s and gentleman’s parts, but he could only be in one place at a time.

When Lily missed her entrance cue for the fourth time running, she threw up her hands in defeat. “I’m sorry. I’ll never learn this. I’m wasting your time.”

“No, you’re not.”

She shook her head, obviously discouraged. “I just can’t seem to catch it. Popular or no, I’ll have to sit this dance out.”

“Don’t be distressed,” he said, grasping her by the elbows to prevent her from turning away. “We’ll try again later, or tomorrow. Every day until the assembly, if that’s what’s required. And it will go so much easier in a group, you’ll see. With dancers on either side, you can take your cue from them.”

Her chin quavered, and frustration rose in his chest. It wasn’t frustration with her, but with his inability to fix this for her. To fix everything for her.

“Lily,” he said. “It’s just a dance. You
can
do this. You can do anything.”

She sighed, shrugging away from his touch. “There’s not enough time. I shall have to stick to the dances I remember, never mind that they’re a decade out of fashion. If only I could recognize each dance by the music, that is. This is hopeless.”

“No, it’s not. I’ll learn the order of dances ahead of time and write it down.”

“How will you do that?”

“Easily.” Simple matter of slipping a coin or two to the orchestra leader. “You can keep the list folded in your glove. And we’ll strategize, when it comes to arranging partners.”

“There’s always waltzing,” she added. “Surely I can manage a waltz with any competent partner. I needn’t do anything but follow his lead.”

“True,” he agreed. “We can make certain you’re paired with someone you know. A good dancer. Morland would do.”

“Or you.”

He paused, momentarily struck mute by the thought of holding her in his arms, close and tight, while the entire
ton
looked on. “Or me.”

“Can we try?” She looked to the pianoforte.

“But of course.”

He sat down to the instrument once again. This time, he allowed his fingers to linger, skimming over the tops of the ivory keys as he deliberated just what to play. Finally, he positioned his hands, closed his eyes, and simply let his fingertips decide. They coaxed from the instrument a slow, melodic waltz. He couldn’t even remember where he’d heard it. Perhaps in one of those Austrian snuffboxes, with clockwork that produced tinkling tunes? The melody did have a Viennese lilt. As the progression built, he allowed the music to take over and surrendered to the beauty and haunting romance of the tune.

When he finally looked up, some moments after the final chord, he found Lily draped over the instrument, staring rapt at his hands. “I’ve always loved watching you play,” she said. “So much passion.”

He couldn’t respond to that. So, wordlessly, he stood and offered her his hand.

They moved to the center of the room, and she tentatively placed her hand on his shoulder. His palm fit perfectly into the notch between her shoulder blades. She smelled of fresh dusting powder, and her eyes were a rich, deep brown. If it wouldn’t sound so puppyish to say it, he might have compared them to burnt sugar. Dark, and all the sweeter for it.

In lieu of compliments, he gave her an appreciative smile. Then, without warning, he spun her into the waltz. Her little gasp of surprise thrilled him more than it ought. He loved the feel of her body, lithe and warm. The way they fit together, moved as one. She trusted his lead, and he swept her in confident turns about the floor.

“You waltz beautifully,” he told her, after they’d completed a few circuits of the room. “You have nothing to fear. At the assembly, you’ll be the object of admiration from every quarter.” He would make certain of it.

She pressed against his lead. “That’s enough, I think.”

He twirled her to a halt, but she didn’t move away. Instead, she pulled their clasped hands closer, into the space between their chests.

Good. He needed that extra barrier. She was too close, and he was tempted to pull her closer still. His heart pounded a rhythm three times faster than the one their feet had so recently obeyed.

“Do you remember the night we first met?” she asked.

He bit back a laugh. Did he remember the night they met? Of course he remembered. He could have cited the date, the occasion, the warmth of the evening, the ruby-red shade of his waistcoat that night. The double twist of her pinned-up hair, the fourteen silk-covered buttons down the back of her gown. The precise moment he’d first seen Lily Chatwick smile. He remembered
everything
.

He said, “Remind me.”

“It was here, of course, at the house. Leo’s birthday dinner.”

“Your birthday dinner, too.”

“Yes, but the guests were his. It was the night he started that ridiculous club with the stud horse, Osiris. Do you recall it now?”

He nodded.

“You watched me all that night. Through our conversations, at the dinner table, then over drinks afterward … You never took your eyes from me.”

“I was attracted to you. Haven’t I confessed as much? You’re a beautiful woman, Lily. I’ve always been attracted to you.”

“It seemed more than that.” She tilted her head, looking at him from a new angle. “There was something almost predatory in your gaze that first night. I think you were forming designs on me.”

“Wh—?” His breath left him, and with it went any hope of denying the truth.

“Oh yes,” she said, her mouth curving in a subtle smile. “I knew it. You followed me from the room, remember? Before we went into dinner, I excused myself to check on the place settings, and you followed me. Most brazenly.” Her cheeks colored with a blush, and her gaze flirted with his lapel. “You’ve forgotten it, I’m sure. To you, it was just another idle flirtation. But it wasn’t an everyday occurrence for me.”

“It should have been.”

“Yes. Yes, that’s precisely what you said. I asked you if there was something you needed, and you said no.” She smiled. “I was flustered by that arrogant smirk you wore, however well I know the expression now. I asked you directly, ‘Why are you following me?’ And you said …”

He gave in. “I said, ‘Why are you surprised? When a beautiful woman leaves a room, she hopes a man like me will follow her.’”