Miss Merton's Last Hope

by Heather Boyd

  Julia twirled a red curl around her finger. “What about dance instruction as something to do today? You wrote your parents that you could help me prepare for the Oxford Ball next year and Imogen is sure to want to dance at her party. I should practice.”

  Melanie winced. Dancing would deny her the quiet morning she’d been hoping for, but this was not her house anymore. Julia was mistress of it now and her own needs came second. “I told my parents a great many things. There really isn’t anything wrong with your method.”

  “But I’m not as graceful as you.” Julia nodded. “You look very elegant when you dance. I don’t want to embarrass the family when we do visit Oxford.”

  Melanie thought a moment. “All you really need to do is be a little less enthusiastic. You’re supposed to let your partner lead you, not you lead him around the dance floor.”

  Julia winced. “I’ll have to practice. Valentine will be home soon. I want him to see that I’m trying.”

  Melanie stared at Julia, a girl she’d once dismissed as hopelessly wild but now saw simply had lacked a good example to mimic and someone to please. She was willing to try to change a little and all because of Valentine’s love.

  The discovery made her feel a trifle envious. There was no one she’d change herself for; well, not so far. There wasn’t one man who had sincerely tried to claim even the tiniest portion of her heart, and as had been pointed out yesterday, there might never be. That fact should comfort her, but it didn’t. After all, she was trying to avoid becoming a wife. “Very well, we can practice dancing today.”

  Julia clapped her hands. “This is going to be so much fun. Thank you.”

  Five

  “You are not getting out of here without taking a turn,” Valentine whispered as the sound of the pianoforte once again filled the room with beautiful sound. The parlor had been cleared for dancing and Valentine’s wife was waiting in the center for a partner to come back to her, looking incredibly lovely and altogether anxious. Why Valentine wanted another man here was a complete mystery. He should want to be alone with his wife.

  Well, more or less alone.

  Walter cast a second glance at the other occupant in the room. Always lovely, always elegant and unruffled, Melanie Merton had largely ignored his arrival in favor of choosing music to play. “What do you need me for?”

  Valentine frowned. “To keep Melanie company while we dance.”

  He raised a brow. His head was still spinning from Valentine’s accusations yesterday that he was interested in Melanie. He most assuredly was not. Yesterday he’d done no more for her than he would have done for any of his friends’ sisters. And then today, he’d only stopped in on his way back from the vicar’s because he’d heard the music.

  However, discovering an impromptu dance lesson in progress had been too amusing to walk away from immediately, so he had stayed a while. A decision now he should perhaps regret. “Will I be accused of having designs on her later?”

  “Of course not. I don’t know what I was thinking to say that. You’re a good friend to all of us. I’m very lucky she’s so comfortable around you that you managed to find out what troubled her.”

  “Fortunate timing. Nothing more. I caught her at a weak moment.” Walter shrugged.

  “Please. A reprieve for my toes is needed,” Valentine whispered. “I don’t know why Melanie allowed this.”

  “The Oxford Ball is important to your parents. Besides, how could Melanie say no to what your wife wants? It is Julia’s home now and this is how it’s supposed to be,” Walter murmured out the side of his mouth.

  Valentine appeared startled by his observation and stared across the room. “Do you think she’s upset about that too?”

  “How could I know, but it doesn’t take a brilliant mind to see the situation has changed due to your marriage. The ladies are smiling at each other still so I don’t believe there’s anything to worry about. Let me tell you now, though, that it is not easy to be the odd man or woman around newlyweds.”

  He moved toward Julia. What could it hurt to stay a while longer? “Mrs. Merton, forgive my presumption but would you be agreeable to having tea sent in? Dancing is thirsty work and I understand you’ve had a very busy day so far.”

  Julia Merton grabbed her husband by the hand and towed him back to the center of the room. “If you insist.”

  “That is a fine idea, Mr. George,” Melanie said, glancing up swiftly at the squabbling couple then back down to the keys with a frown. “Or any moment there might be no marriage,” she muttered.

  He laughed quietly so the warring spouses didn’t hear and hurried to find the housekeeper, who was more than happy to serve something very quickly to ensure the peace was kept.

  When he returned, he caught Melanie staring at her brother and his wife as they bickered over whose fault the latest stubbed toe was with such a strange expression on her face that he froze. She appeared almost wistful. He hoped bringing up the past as he had yesterday hadn’t been a mistake.

  Her head snapped around and she spotted him staring at her. She chose new music and set it precisely before her.

  He stopped close to her and she began to play, one eye on the keys, one on her brother and sister-in-law as they fumbled through the steps of a waltz. Over the years, Imogen had dragged him to many a public recital, but the ones he had enjoyed most always included Melanie’s performances. She played so effortlessly he couldn’t help being impressed, even when he’d wanted to find fault with her for that too.

  Valentine winced and started to hop. The music ceased.

  “Forgotten how to dance, Val?” he teased.

  The look Valentine sent him was pure irritation. “I would dance perfectly well if my wife would let me.”

  That remark brought a chill into the new bride’s expression. He moved nearer to them, puzzled at how two people so obviously in love could not perform the simple function of dancing together. Julia was one of his favorite partners. She wasn’t at all relaxing, but she certainly did know the steps of every dance.

  He bowed to her extravagantly and held out his hand. “May I?”

  Val backed away quickly with a disgusted scowl and Melanie commenced to play once more. As he’d expected, Julia followed his lead but he did need to keep a firm grip and force her to bend to his pace and style of dancing. After a few turns about the room, he bent his head. “You’re doing well,” he whispered.

  “Tell him that,” she grumbled.

  Her posture changed after her words and he quickly guessed she was much too tense to enjoy herself. When he’d danced with her before the marriage, she’d been bubbling over with excitement at every step, but now she was trying much too hard. “My dear, could you ease your grip on my hand the tiniest amount? You have nothing to prove to me.”

  She bit her lip and glanced past his shoulder to where her husband stood waiting with such a tortured expression that he brought them to a halt again. She winced and whispered, “Do you think he regrets he could not have done better?”

  Walter had thought the marriage had ended Julia’s doubts, but apparently not. “Stuff and nonsense. Since you are asking me, I think you are exactly what he needed in a wife. He’d be much too boring otherwise.”

  “I’ll never be as elegant as Melanie.” Her shoulders sagged. “I’m a disaster.”

  “If you were beyond help, he would probably love you more.” He glanced up and met Melanie’s gaze over Julia’s shoulder. “He would be a fool to want you to mimic her. You have as many worthy accomplishments as she does.”

  Julia blushed. “I wish I’d had you for a brother instead of Linus. Imogen was so lucky to have you in her life.”

  “She would laugh to hear you say such an outrageous thing and come after me with pins to deflate my ego.” He smiled as he caught Melanie watching them, her frown proving she was trying very hard to hear their conversation. “My sister only sees my faults.”

  “What are they again?” Julia asked and then laughed, and the
moment of dissatisfaction on her part appeared to pass.

  After a time, Melanie surrendered her position at the instrument to Valentine and as he took up the tune, she stepped up behind Julia. “Relax your shoulders, Julia dear.”

  Julia took a breath and her shoulders dipped the smallest amount. Walter’s ability to lead seemed now less of a struggle with Melanie guiding his partner.

  He nodded slowly, pleased with the change. “You see, only a little adjustment is needed. Dancing, like marriage I suppose, is an act of faith and compromise. Just be yourself and all will be well.”

  Melanie’s eyes widened momentarily at his bold words. He’d seen enough of marriages, good and bad, to make that suggestion. When two parties in a marriage refused to yield their opinion and make allowances for an opposing point of view, the union always suffered for it.

  He spun them to a gentle stop. “Valentine, your turn.”

  Julia’s shoulders sprang back up.

  Melanie moved back into position behind Julia, set her hands on her shoulders until Valentine had taken his place. Walter did not play an instrument so he clapped out a beat he hoped they could move easily to. With Melanie’s help, the newly wed couple’s next steps seemed a great deal smoother. Melanie joined him near the windows soon after and watched the pair in comfortable silence.

  He leaned close. “What do you think?”

  “They need to practice more often together, but I think they’ve made progress. Thank you for reassuring her.”

  “My pleasure.” He paused a moment as the Merton’s spun by. “Shall we join them?”

  “Here? There’ll be no accompaniment.”

  He ceased clapping but the newlyweds continued despite the silence, at last in harmony on the dance floor. He hoped it held. “Why not? If we join them, surely they will keep dancing too. Besides, we’ve danced together since you were six. I imagine we could do it with our eyes closed.”

  He brought Melanie into his arms, perfectly ready to dance in their usual fashion. Melanie was a very good dancer, she let him lead, and he found her rather a soothing partner.

  Her eyes fluttered shut as they moved and he was astonished. “What are you doing?”

  “Testing your theory.”

  A few turns later, he was surprised to feel himself grow self-conscious. He was used to her trust on the dance floor, but not her complete surrender to his control. As they moved around the room silently, an urge to tug her closer into his arms grew. Her eyelashes were very long and dark across her cheeks. He widened his fingers on her back and with a subtle pressure, drew her closer than he would normally do in public. A small huff was all the rebuke he received and he made no further changes.

  She glanced up at him at last and licked her lips.

  A shock of pure desire filled him and he tightened his grip on her hand as every futile, improper thought he’d ever harbored swamped him at once. He should not, could not, think that way about her. Not ever. He tore his gaze away to stare over her head until the feelings passed.

  When the rattle of the tea tray forced them apart, Melanie rushed away to serve everyone and he was very glad for the distance. She didn’t look him over with a frown when she delivered his cup, but he thought her strangely agitated.

  He couldn’t understand what had changed to make him feel desire for her, of all women. It made him feel uneasy and strange and self-conscious. He wasn’t the sort of man she would look at twice, and neither should he consider her in that manner. There was much about her he didn’t like, particularly her prickly, cutting demeanor.

  When she sat, she chose a chair far away from him but kept peeking at him. Had she guessed the direction his thoughts had taken?

  He worked hard to suppress his confusion as he sipped his tea, made exactly as he liked it without the bother of being asked to decide what went in. He stared at the cup a moment, realizing Melanie drank hers exactly the same.

  That discovery left him with an awkward awareness of Melanie that made his whole body tingle.

  Six

  Since the dance lessons were clearly over for the day, Melanie’s attention drifted to Walter George again as he assisted with righting the room’s furniture back to its normal placement. He had stayed, danced with her again after tea, and seemed in no hurry to go about his own business.

  Melanie didn’t mind that Walter was here, but the quality of her thoughts relating to him confused her. He was a fine dancer, an entertaining conversationalist. His sense of humor had smoothed over the tension building between her brother and his wife. She liked him.

  She liked Walter George very much, and that was altogether baffling to realize after being acquainted with him for so long and thinking nothing more of it until he’d pulled her closer in their dance.

  When their eyes had met and held, she’d almost swooned at the heat in them. Only her training had saved her from reacting; only her understanding of Walter’s character had prevented her from jerking back. The moment had quickly passed and since then he’d been nothing but a perfect gentleman. The same Walter she’d always known and trusted.

  Although yesterday when he’d held her, her heart had beaten a little faster than she was accustomed to in his presence. She hadn’t even minded him prying about her governess’s death. He had seemed to possess a genuine interest in understanding her reactions, her need to avoid being held. He would tell no one of her emotional outburst too. He’d promised and she believed him completely in that regard.

  Walter had always been a man of his word.

  He was possessed of an exemplary character. Very loyal to his friends and family.

  She fussed with straightening the sheet music, surreptitiously noticing his ease and affability with her family. Walter was everyone’s friend. People just seemed to like him, fathers, mothers, sons, though she’d never heard of him having a sweetheart of his own.

  Perhaps it was his ready smile, offered so often in the recent weeks that made her notice his qualities now. Despite all she’d done wrong in the past, all the toes she’d trod on unwittingly, he still seemed willing to be friendly toward her. The first to overlook her many mistakes.

  She wasn’t really sure why he would want to.

  “Are they straight yet?”

  His question brought a wave of heat to her face and she quickly set the sheets in a neat pile, and closed the lid over the keys. She normally did not stand around contemplating the appeal, or not, of her brother’s closest friends. “I’ll just put them away.”

  She nudged the stool beneath the pianoforte and hurried to place the sheet music in Valentine’s study where they belonged on the high shelf. Footsteps followed her and a shiver raced over her skin. She set the music away then faced the room. Walter George had followed her.

  “Yes?”

  His lips twisted into a slow grin. “Thank you for the dance.”

  “A pleasure.” Her heartbeat quickened as she held his gaze.

  “Was it?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “I had wondered, after yesterday, if you’d have rather not danced. I trust I did not make you feel too uncomfortable.”

  She shook her head to reassure him. While in his arms, she had thought about his proximity, but it had certainly not distressed her. “You are a fine dancer, sir. I do not think the lesson would have ended so well without your presence.”

  He smiled again. “You tested my theory that we could dance together even with our eyes closed. What was your opinion?”

  “I was curious but it seemed no hardship to me.” She blushed, remembering the feeling of spinning out of control in Walter’s sure grip. It had been a wonderful sensation. Almost like floating in the sea, which she hadn’t done in years. Not since she’d been a girl in Andy’s care. “Did you close your eyes, too?”

  “No, I was much too busy making sure to avoid crashing into your brother and Julia. Perhaps another time when they are less unpredictable.” He glanced behind him and frowned.

  Wondering
what it was that drew his notice, she moved to his side, just as his attention returned to her.

  His eyes lit with teasing light that set her instantly at ease. “Your brother and sister-in-law have just crept upstairs, no doubt for a private word about the dancing.”

  She frowned at the news. “They do sneak away fairly often. I suppose that is why Mr. Radley formed the idea that I was interested in him. I never considered the consequences properly. Please understand it’s not by my design that we are left alone.”

  “Oh, I am well aware of that,” he whispered. His fingers rose to caress her cheek. His thumb stroked over her skin and she blushed, suddenly hot and uncomfortable and all too aware of him as a man. “But I cannot say I am disappointed.”

  She gaped and then snapped her mouth shut. Was Walter flirting with her? Since he’d never done so before, she wasn’t sure what to think or do, or how to account for it. But she was actually more often alone with him than she’d ever been with Linus Radley. She eased back against the wall, away from him.

  Walter grinned and took a place at her side then set his hands behind his back so he leaned upon them. He stared at the window and a frown creased his brow. “Julia worries a lot more than I’d imagined.”

  Melanie relaxed. She was merely imagining his interest. Walter would not have the least idea to be improper. He probably meant nothing by those smiles. He was a friend, perhaps more so than prior to her confession about her governess.

  However he viewed her, she appreciated his steady presence and wondered if she could ask more of him to risk confiding further. There had been many times she’d longed for someone to talk to. She leaned toward him, hoping she hadn’t misunderstood his kindness. “This morning, I happened upon her before she’d left her bedchamber and had to insist she change her appearance. She’d pulled all her hair back and wore the most modest gown she owned. I am sure my brother would not have liked to see her that way.”