“That’s understandable.” Nicholas stroked his thumb over her fingers, clasped her hand snugly and swung her the opposite direction. “As a boy, I suffered an unreasonable fear of my mother. I’ll tell you about it sometime, but for now, do not forget that you’re a grown woman, one eminently capable of making her own decisions.”
“A ruined woman,” she retorted, her head, impossibly, more topsy-turvy than her feet, “practically on the shelf where I am expected to stay.”
“You’re so far from the shelf you aren’t even in the same room.” He faltered mid-spin. “Did you say ruined? Has some dastard taken advantage of you, Isa—”
“Besides you?”
That stopped him short. But not for long. With a deep chuckle, he was off again, twirling her about the floor with long sweeping strides. “Those were ordained Christmas kisses I’ll have you know, Issybelle. I was commanded by tradition and moved by the holiday spirit.”
“Aye, and I was moved by your lips,” she confessed, holding tight to him and reveling in the whirling sensation that overtook her. Between their conversation and his magnificent dancing spins, dizziness made her careless. “But now I’m to be removed to one of Father’s northern properties.”
“Removed? Like a side of uneaten veal?”
“He’s remarrying come February and installing his new bride at home.”
The spins ground to a halt. Anger raged from his voice and his tensed posture. “What? And the sod’s evicting you?”
“I’m an embarrassment to him, you see. I fear I would be to you as well.” She attempted to tug free. He wouldn’t allow her retreat.
“Embarrassment? To me? How could you think—?” He leaned close and hissed, “Do you think Ed is an embarrassment to his lady wife?”
“Edward? Whatever do you mean?”
His voice turned cold, belying how hotly his breath blasted above her ear. “Does she shun him or gatherings with friends and family because he has only one hand? I should say not! Not the way he beleaguered me—at her behest—to attend!”
Isabella turned her face toward his, and whispered back, “One hand, you say?”
After a brief pause, his body unclenched and he led hers in a sweeping circle. “You didn’t know?”
“She never spoke of it.”
“You didn’t know!” He barked a laugh. “The irony! Just as I did not know you couldn’t see—you get along remarkably well, you know, have impressed me from the moment your dangling curl cast out a lure I couldn’t resist.” He slowed and nuzzled her cheek. “I wish we were alone. I’d show you how very much I’ve come to adore your defiant ringlets and everything about you.”
“But—your heir,” she protested weakly, knowing that was the primary purpose of any peer’s wife. “We’ve no guarantee I could birth your heir or…or that he wouldn’t be blind.”
“Then we’ll love him all the more. All our children.”
Her heart skipped at the feel of his lips brushing her temple just beneath the sash, skipped more at the realization he was completely serious. “Nicholas…”
His mouth moved, pressed against hers once, then he straightened. “But that’s for later. I’ve not finished dancing with you. Here now, enjoy yourself tonight. I promise to address and resolve each of your concerns tomor—”
“What in Hades is the meaning of this?”
The unmistakable bellow threatened to slay every spark of hope and happiness she’d found.
“Isabella? Where in God’s name are— Dancing? Redford, how dare you condone such a farce!” The musicians screeched to a halt. The sounds of sashes slipping over heads and couples shuffling back did little to mask the seething tirade spewed their way. “I arrive home early to find you gone…then track you down, making a mockery of yourself? Flaunting my attempts to disguise your deformity…ungrateful wretch!”
Isabella swallowed audibly but made no move to extricate herself from Nicholas’ embrace. It was the only thing propping her up. “F-father,” she stammered then took strength from the man holding her. Unreasonable fear, she reminded herself. “Father, did you have a happy Christmas?”
“Isabella!” he roared, and a mile away the goose honked its displeasure at being woken. “Come, girl! We leave for Spierton this instant!”
She slid her arm from Nicholas’ shoulder and he immediately took her hand between his. “Married?” she whispered. “Are you certain?”