The Ballerina Bride

by Fiona Harper

  That was when she saw the idiot dangling from the outside of one of the second tier boxes, one arm gripping the railing, one foot straining for the railing of the box below.

  Insane! The man was literally insane.

  Something else, too. Something that made her heart contract with an unwanted association. He was also fearless.

  A lump rose in her throat. Tonight of all nights, some nutter had to go all Tarzan and remind her of him.

  It might have been entertaining for those watching if the man hadn’t slipped just then, only narrowly saving himself by balancing one foot, then the other on the edge of the Grand Tier balcony and hanging grimly onto the curved brass stem of one of the shaded lights nestled in the plasterwork.

  That was when Allegra dropped the large bouquet she’d been holding and pressed her hands to her mouth.

  There was only one man daft enough on this planet to try something so stupid.

  Finn McLeod.

  She held her breath as he nodded his greeting to the shocked occupants of the box he’d landed on and continued his descent past them to the stalls.

  Allegra didn’t know what to do, what to think. Yes, she’d seen the story in that morning’s paper about Finn and Natalie’s split, but while that was current gossip to the rest of the nation, to her and Finn it was old news. It didn’t change anything. So why was he here?

  The sudden realisation of what he must have been doing—who he must have been watching—directly before he’d started his unconventional journey to the stalls hit her.

  He’d seen her dance?

  Now her hands moved to cover her face completely. If throwing herself at him on the beach hadn’t been bad enough, he’d just witnessed her pouring the contents of her pathetic little heart out. It really was too humiliating.

  The sounds of a scuffle and muffled shouting made her peel her fingers from her face. The security guards were now attempting to haul Finn off to the back of the auditorium where they’d be able to wrestle him down the stairs and out of view of the rubber-necking audience.

  But Finn broke away and started to run towards the stage. Not for long, however. There were two of them and only one of him, and they hadn’t just climbed down the outside of two balconies, so it didn’t take them too long to restrain him again.

  ‘Allegra!’ he yelled as the guards dragged him to the top of the aisle.

  The outraged whispering that had been steadily increasing in volume since Finn had hit the floor suddenly ceased.

  ‘Crazed fan,’ someone muttered behind her.

  Allegra tried to get her tongue to work, but it just didn’t want to cooperate.

  They were almost there now, at the top of the stairs, and Finn would disappear in a few seconds, probably to spend the night in a police cell.

  She took one last step forward. Stephen grabbed her arm but she shook him off.

  ‘Wait!’ she shouted and more than two thousand faces, which had all been facing the back of the auditorium, now swivelled to look at her. She swallowed.

  ‘I know him,’ she said, and her voice sounded breathless and scratchy, as if she hadn’t used it for some time. ‘It’s okay.’

  The two guards looked at each other and, while they weren’t one hundred per cent focused on him, Finn slipped from their grasp. He stood up, straightened his terminally wrinkled clothing, patted one of the guards on the shoulder in a matey gesture of thanks and then began walking down the aisle towards her.

  A bony hand grabbed at his sleeve and Finn almost brushed it away, but then he turned and saw its owner—an elderly lady with her white hair pulled tight into a bun at the top of her head. She thrust a cellophane-wrapped rose at him.

  ‘Here, young man, I have a feeling you might be needing this.’

  Finn nodded his thanks and carried on his journey, even though he knew a whole forest of red roses might not be enough to repair the damage he’d caused.

  Allegra was standing right at the front of the stage, her hands loose by her sides. As he approached, she moved to the right of the stage, her back straight, until she was directly opposite the end of the aisle. He encountered a problem in the shape of the orchestra pit, but decided the most direct path was probably the best, and hopped over the barrier, narrowly missing a couple of the string section, and continued his journey.

  It was awfully quiet, reminding him of when the crew had that instinct for when he was about to do something really stupid or really spectacular, and neither he nor they knew which until he did whatever he was going to do. Couldn’t someone cough or rustle a sweet wrapper?

  She looked so different like this, even close up. Instead of the messy ponytail he’d got used to, her hair was glossy and flowing. Her sun-kissed face was blanched with make-up. There were large dark sweeps of eyeliner both above and below her eyes and her mouth was blood-red. She almost seemed like another creature.

  It was all wrong, wasn’t it? Him coming here, making a fool of himself? He should just turn around and leave.

  But then he spotted the tiny raised bumps on her arms and shoulders, insect bites that not even the stage make-up had been able to hide, and he began to smile.

  He took his last step so he was standing at the footlights staring up at her. Her hand flew to her ribcage and stayed there. Complete silence blanketed the auditorium. She looked at him, fear and joy warring for pride of place in those large blue eyes.

  He took a deep breath and resisted the urge to stuff his fists in his pockets. ‘This grand enough for you?’

  Allegra blinked and her mouth worked. ‘Maybe,’ she said finally.

  He shook his head, not knowing what to say, where to start, so he handed her the rose and she clutched it to her torso with both hands.

  ‘More flowers would have been better,’ she said.

  Finn shrugged, a crazy lightness surging up inside him. ‘You know me—not a big planner. Tend to work with the resources at hand.’

  Was that a glimmer of amusement in her eyes? He hoped so. Just the possibility gave him the guts to carry on.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘Fell off a cliff again. Made a really stupid choice.’

  There. A spark of hope in those blue irises. It lit a fire inside him and he hitched his mouth into a half smile, told her all about it with his eyes, and saw her receive and understand.

  But he knew that wasn’t enough. Some things needed to be said out loud.

  He glanced over his shoulder briefly. Just hadn’t expected so many straining ears in attendance when he finally got up the courage to say it.

  ‘I love you, too.’

  Allegra’s lip quivered, and Finn got a horribly unfamiliar stinging sensation at the backs of his eyeballs.

  ‘And I’m sorry I ran away. It was a stupid thing to do.’

  She began to smile, slow warmth spreading her lips into a delicious curve. ‘I know all about that,’ she said softly. ‘But running away sometimes has unexpected bonuses.’

  Was it still quiet in the auditorium? Because Finn couldn’t tell. The pounding in his ears had drowned it all out.

  Allegra’s gaze sharpened and became more intense. ‘Tell me to jump, Finn.’

  ‘Jump?’ he said, suddenly very confused.

  Too late to work out what she’d meant; she’d done it. With a bend of the knees and a push of the feet, she’d left the stage and a flying ballerina was heading straight towards him.

  This time, however, he caught her.

  And then he lowered her to the floor, making sure he kept her tightly in his arms. To have and to hold. Suddenly, he realised what a wonderful concept that was, what an amazing adventure that would be, so he used his lips to do something far more productive than talk. He used them to taste. To share his vision for the future. To p
romise.

  Noise erupted around them. Finn opened half an eye and closed it again. Seemed as if Allegra Martin had just got her second standing ovation of the evening. But this time he was sharing it with her and that was fine by him. The noise around them only reflected what he was doing on the inside.

  She wound her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, pulled him deeper. He didn’t resist. This was how it should be from now on. They were in this together now. Whatever crests and troughs life threw at them. What a fool he’d been.

  ‘Allegra?’

  She prised her lips from his and half-opened one eye. ‘Mmm-hmm?’

  ‘You mustn’t let me be so stupid ever again.’

  And she didn’t, of course.

  * * * * *

  ISBN: 9781459219458

  Copyright © 2012 by Fiona Harper

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