“May I cut in?” His voice had that quintessential upper
class quality about it that sent a shiver down her spine.
Before reluctantly letting her go Edgar moved forward,
kissed her on the cheek and said “thank you for the lovely dance,” then he
placed her hand in Sebastian’s.
“I thought you might need rescuing.” Sebastian laughed
before Edgar was really out of earshot.
“Do I look like a damsel in distress?” Looking up at him she
was not quite sure how to behave in the inscrutable gaze of his cold blue eyes.
He just smiled or maybe some would call it a smirk.
She threw down another challenge, “Besides isn’t Edgar your
boss, being CEO and all that? And paying for all this I assume.”
“Well technically I
suppose but he is a worse dancer than Ed Balls on Strictly!”
“You don’t watch Strictly! Do you?” Alice was caught off
guard. Her own Saturday nights comprised
of watching TV in her pyjama’s but surely Sebastian moved in very different
circles.
“Not as a rule, I have a younger sister who does; it was the
topic of conversation over Sunday lunch.” With that he twirled and then dipped
her.
She’d imagined dancing with him would be a bit like dancing
with a Mr Darcy type figure in a period drama, each step accompanied with a witty
riposte. But she soon realised she didn’t
have Elizabeth Bennet’s gumption and had already run out of words to say.
He
enfolded her in his strong arms and she felt immediately safe, he spun her
round but never let her fall and by the time the song ended she was giddy.
“Another drink? Some fresh air perhaps?”
“Air I think.” She whispered breathlessly.
He led her out to the balcony and she watched the twinkly
lights of the city below.
“The view up here is stunning!”
“It’s not bad from where I’m standing either.” He was
staring at her and grinning. He smiled a lot she realised but his eyes had softened, they were no longer icy. “You really are the belle of the ball.”
“Oh give over.” She could feel her face warming despite the
cool breeze.
“No honestly. No one can keep their eyes off you in there. Yellow
dress I suppose, it really stands out.”
Alice never spoke but gave him a hard stare at that one.
“Yes I know, completely my mistake but you must be my lucky
charm Alice. You could be the girl to turn my life around.”
And he really meant it because things hadn’t been so great recently, but we’ll come back to that a little later…
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