Voices From Within (Book 2)

Chapter Forty-Four

Chapter Forty-Four

Thanturnam Rogues

Ridge found his brother Rupert at the food buffet talking to some older women. One of them had a large fan that she was flapping around and laughing at everything Rupert said.

"Excuse me, Ma'am. I need to speak to my brother in private."

"Why, of course, young man," said Consuela. "Oh, Mr. Rupert. I'll see you on the dance floor."

She flared her large lace fan, and Rupert twiddled his fingers at her.

"What is it that so important?" said Rupert as he turned toward Ridge.

"Come here. I got to talk to you."

"What?"

"Rupert, as a Thanturnum man who is always a gentleman to women, how do you justify stolen kisses?"

"You want girl's advice from me? You ought to talk to Roman or Reggie."

"Have you ever had a stolen kiss?"

Rupert looked at him and snorted as he searched his brain, wondering why he wanted to know.

"I don't know if you call it stolen, but I did have some young gal catching me in a corner with a chair. She sat on my lap and began pecking at me like a chicken and playing with my beard."

Ridge burst out laughing at Rupert.

"I might have had too much to drink that night, so it was easy to fall in the chair."

By now, Ridge is wiping his eyes from laughing, and he was feeling the effects of the whiskey. Maxwell interrupted their laughter. He stood next to the musicians holding a guitar.

The floor cleared and Maxwell struck a few chords and asked the lovely senoras and senoritas to join him. Juliette and her mother, Carmen, Constance and Charlotte and her mother's friend Consuela, joined Maxwell on the dance floor.

Then a lively Hispanic tune played with Maxwell on the guitar. The women joined in a circle, throwing one hand in the air and the other pulled up their skirts, showing their legs. The women stomped a rhythm and danced with vigor as they dipped and swirled. Constance had her larger fan and was using it like a dance prop as she twirled in the middle.

It was quite a show as Rupert and Ridge watched. Ridge only had eyes for Juliette. He cussed himself for being weak and attracted to her. She had such passion and life as she danced. When the ladies finished with a flourish and a deep curtsy to the musicians, the audience burst into applause.

Then Gordon Thanturnam stepped up to the musicians and spoke for a minute.

"Thank you, ladies. That was breathtaking to watch. Now I would like to call my sons to the front."

The Thanturnum men finished their drinks, knowing their father wanted them to sing. Many of the women looked on as all four brothers walked to the front of the dance floor to join their father. The men started out in slow, serious tone with a song that made their voices blend in harmony. The baritone voices carried through the large ballroom as guests smiled and listened.

Then, with a wink from Gordon, the song switched into a Scottish drinking song that was a ballad. The men sang, and their antics made the women giggle. When they finished, Rupert feigned thirst, and they brought drinks to them with calls for another song.

"To family," said Gordon.

The men toasted and drank down their glasses of whiskey. Two more songs followed until the men took their bows to cheers and applause. The handsome men left the dance floor to return to their women.