The blades were nearly too small for his boots.
“Mr. Rudolph loaned them to me,” he explained, apparently oblivious to the very unladylike thoughts racing through her mind as she adjusted the laces.
“He sends food over to my aunt’s home often. He is a most obliging innkeeper.”
“Doesn’t your aunt employ a cook?”
“She employs a very kind woman who works in the kitchen; calling her a cook is something of a stretch.” She laughingly regaled him with a few of the mishaps that had occurred since they’d arrived to live with Aunt Winifred and then examined the fit of his blades.
“Wouldn’t it be easier if I left them off? It seems that the soles of my boots would make the entire endeavor easier.”
“But then you wouldn’t be skating, you would be sliding.”
He shook his head, turning to face her completely, and lifted his other shoe onto the bench.
“But I would be sliding in an upright position.”
Eve grinned. “Don’t be so sure of that.” She laughed but then added to the pointers he’d received from Mr. Clark and in a matter of minutes, they were both pushing off the bench and he was only wobbling only a little.
“Hold onto me.” Eve loved skating and was already feeling a rush of excitement. Or was that because Nicholas was holding her hand and allowing her to lead him onto the ice?
“I read once that it is the gentleman’s responsibility to assure his partner doesn’t lose her balance and fall.” Laughter shook his voice because it was he who was grasping onto her tightly. When they reached a clear spot, she drew his arm around her shoulders.
Eve had forgotten how wonderful it felt to be this close to another person—to him—to know his strength beside her. “I will pretend that I am leaning on you so that no one calls your manhood into doubt.” The words were meant jokingly and yet butterflies danced in her belly—because he was most definitively the manliest gentleman of her acquaintance.
“Turn your back foot, like this, and slide your front foot forward,” she instructed and then dissolved into a fit of giggles when he lost his balance and nearly sent both of them sprawling to the ice.
Even so, he showed no indication of giving up. Thunder-blue eyes focused on the ice ahead of them, he kept one hand out and his brows drawn together. Seeing his determination to master something—simply because she enjoyed it—had Eve melting inside.
And although he relied on her less and less, he did not remove his arm from her shoulder, and he seemed to be intentionally holding her closer.
He leaned close and spoke near her ear. “I rather like this activity, after all. It has certain… advantages. And of course, afterward, I’ll have to find some way to warm you up.”
She wasn’t cold at all, in fact, she was warm from her exertions, and yet a shiver of anticipation ran through her.
She could imagine herself falling for him all over again.
If she hadn’t already.
“All right.” He dropped his arm. “I will hold my own for a few moments. Show me how you skate when you are not moving along at the pace of a tortoise keeping me from toppling over.”
His eyes twinkled at her in encouragement.
“You are sure?” Although she felt a little reluctant to leave his side, her feet itched to fly along the surface.
“Show off for me.” He nudged her away from him with a smile.
Eve smiled to herself at such a thought, but then nodded, and with one confident stroke, and then another, sent herself whirling across the ice. With the cold wind on her cheeks and causing her scarf to fly out behind her, she easily maneuvered herself around the other skaters.
Even as she skated, she was quite aware of him watching her. Nicholas made no attempt to do anything other than watch her. She flashed him a grin and turned her body so that she was skating backward.
Her heart raced and for the flash of an instant, she felt something she’d thought she would never feel again.
She felt…
Happiness? Joy?
How was this possible? She examined the emotion as she made her way around the ice.
Nothing was settled in her life. Noelle was entering a precarious engagement. Holly was one bad decision away from ruining herself. Mama was gone and her papa was slowly killing himself at home alone.
And there was no guarantee that Nicholas would ever love her again.
Her feet suddenly tied themselves into knots and, unable to regain her balance, she tripped and, on hands and knees, slid headfirst along the ice and into a large drift of snow.
Although she would have liked to climb under the snow and hide, she didn’t want other skaters to be concerned that she’d been hurt. Scrambling, she pushed herself to her feet just as Nicholas arrived at her side.
“Are you hurt?” He ran his hands along her arms and then brushed the snow from her legs.
“I am embarrassed,” she answered honestly.
He held her eyes as though to reassure himself and then tucked her mittened hand into his elbow and led her to where a very small sleigh was parked.
“Not exactly the sleigh I had in mind, but if you are finished, I’ve made arrangements for you to ride back to the village in style,” he announced with a grin.
“I admit freely that I would like nothing better than a hot cup of tea.” She had no doubt that he would have remained for as long as she wanted. “But… where did you find this?”
He flicked his gaze to a young man who was carrying a small child upon his shoulders. “The father asked if I’d mind pulling it to the bakery. His daughter has quite had enough of the snow, and he was going to have to make a return trip.”
It was then that Eve realized he’d removed his blades and had them draped over his shoulder once
