“Why is it sae easy for everyone else?” he asked quietly.
“It’s never easy at the beginning, it just gets easier with practice. I’m surprised ye never learned how tae dance.” A small laugh escaped her lips at the thought of having a life that wasn’t filled with dancing and joyfulness. Rhys was a strange man in this instance and it was strange that he hadn’t done the things she had considered normal.
“The only thing I practiced was sword fighting,” he said as he tried to shift his feet and failed to do it quickly enough, falling out of tempo with the music. Caitlin was doing everything she could to help him, but it seemed that conventional methods weren’t going to be successful. However, once he mentioned sword fighting, she had an idea of what she could do.
“Sword fighting! Why, now ye’re speaking my language,” she said. “Dancing is just like sword fighting! Ye hae tae hae quick feet for both of them! Pretend ye are fighting,” she said. At first, Rhys looked utterly confused as Caitlin shifted her position to take up the stance of a sword fighter. Their arms were still linked, but she pretended to parry and thrust.
“What dae ye know of sword fighting?” he asked, with a look of astonishment. Caitlin enjoyed a secret smile. She suspected that he had never known a girl to move in this way.
“Oh, there’s a lot ye dinnae ken about me,” she said teasingly. “But I wouldnae want tae give away all my secrets before we’re married. We hae a lifetime tae discover them,” she said, and then spun around him elegantly. He smiled and laughed, and started to find more freedom in the movements. He held out his hand as though he clasped a sword and smiled with glee as his dancing improved. He moved naturally and as he did, something changed within her. While they whirled around dancing and the music played havoc with her mind, she completely forgot that he was a Frasier and she was a McClearey. They were just two young people having fun, and she also felt a flush of warm arousal flare inside.
It took her completely by surprise and she wasn’t sure how to handle the feeling. It passed as quickly as it had arrived, and she was grateful for this, but her cheeks flushed with warmth and there was something fluttering in her stomach. It had happened while she had been watching Rhys dance. He showed grace and power, and he bristled with masculinity, so much so that it was impossible to resist. Caitlin rolled her lower lip under her teeth. It felt as though her mind had been opened. The moment was so pure, so wonderful, that she longed to feel it again. His mood had changed completely and he was surrendering to the dance. The music filled her ears and her heart, which beat along with the rhythm of the music. Rhys clasped her hands and twirled her around so that the world blurred around her and only his face was clear. When she looked at him she started to see him not as the enemy, but as her future husband. It was still difficult to shed those earlier feelings, but she wanted to leave a good impression on him and to make him just as excited as she was.
When the hour was late and she was exhausted, she knew it was time to retire. Everyone clapped as the music paused for a moment to give the minstrels a chance to rest. Caitlin was filled with delirium. Excitement coursed through her heart and she found herself flinging her arms around Rhys’s neck. Inspired by instinct and with her inhibitions released, she gave him a fleeting kiss, and then drew away, retreating like the shadows as sunlight broke over the world at dawn. Rhys looked stunned. Caitlin fled the hall, giggling with laughter as she returned to her chambers. With everyone in good spirits, it seemed as though a new era had beckoned, and she was starting to feel glad that she could be a part of it.
Rhys was certainly not what she expected, and as she slipped into bed she reflected on the evening. He was a little rough around the edges, but that was to be expected of a Frasier. There was certainly much to work with there, however. One day her aunt had told her that a husband was like a sculpture; he needed a great deal of work to be perfect and it was up to the wife to mold him into being the perfect man. Well, if such a thing was true, then Caitlin decided that she had the suitable hands with which to mold Rhys, and she went to sleep with a smile on her face, her mind filled with thoughts of dancing and swaying to music for the rest of her life.
4
Caitlin had proven herself to be quite a surprising girl. When the evening began, Rhys had vowed to be aloof and distant. After all, he didn’t see much point in being polite when nothing was going to come of this façade. The only thing he had to do was to prevent Caitlin, or anyone else, from suspecting that anything was amiss. He had begun the evening by drinking like anyone else, but then stopped so that he wouldn’t lose his senses. It wasn’t the night of the attack,
