Courtship

Part 33

With serious misgivings, Marina allowed Rafe to lead the way to the next room. The last thing she wanted was to put her in this position. Avoiding talking to him was sensible. Dancing with him was far from sensible. Not when she knew she would make a fool of herself. Probably drool all over the man. She gave herself a serious talking to as she followed him into the room. Claire was not exaggerating. The room was packed. People were dancing. Or attempting to dance given the close proximity of others around them, it was a miracle that anyone actually got to move at all.

"Would you mind if I took a rain check?" Marina asked. If they got into that throng, they would probably be plastered against each other. Not a good plan.

"What?" He leaned closer on the auspices of trying to catch what she said, for the music blaring out was deafening. In reality he just wanted to be closer.

"I said would you mind if I took a rain check?" She hollered as she too leaned toward him. This close she could practically count each hair that formed his designer stubble.

Rafe nodded, and smiled as he hollered, "Let's get a drink."

Hollering hadn't made much of a difference given the base drum deafened all and sundry. So she tipped her head back and yelled one word, "What?"

His lips quirked at the corners. He leaned forward so that his lips were practically glossing over her earlobe as he sealed his lips to her ear and said, "Let's get a drink." And without waiting for her response he placed a hand in the small of her back and steered her out of the door and back the way they had come.

Marina moved automatically. Probably because that light, gentle whisper of contact between his lips and her ear had rendered her incapable of thought processes. And that hand in the small of her back was sending bolts of electricity through at every point of contact. This could not be happening. She had given herself weeks to wean herself off him. She had avoided him, going cold turkey she had called it, so that she could convince herself that she could manage her life perfectly well without him, despite her heart protesting. She was a strong willed woman, so this gentle pressure in the small of her back should not have the impact of a tsunami.

Rafe knew the route along the balcony linking the rooms would take them from the dance room to the kitchen where they would find the impromptu bar. Claire had gone in search of Nick to tell him that Marina was dancing, so when Rafe and Marina stepped out onto the balcony they only had to make it past a couple of revelers who were standing out on the balcony enjoying the cool night air and not being deafened by the loud blare of music from the room next door. It was the blast of cool air that reminded Marina that she was blindly following the man. It was the sound of laughter between the couple on the balcony that reminded Marina that she was here with Nick and should not be ambling along with Rafe as if they were a couple. She shifted, causing him to remove his hand from the small of her back.

The loss of contact had an extraordinary effect. She felt bereft. Ridiculous! Silently she remonstrated with herself. She could not feel bereft just because he'd removed his hand. Honestly, at this rate she'd be behaving like a schoolgirl on her first date!

"Where are we going?" She asked as he reached for her hand. Now why had she allowed him to take her hand? And why did that single point of contact make her feel like that giddy schoolgirl she was trying not to become?

His fingers laced with hers. A good fit, he thought as he kept firm hold. "To get a drink." Rafe reminded her and threw her what she could only describe as a heart-melting smile.

Marina blinked. Yes, she was going to need a strong drink pretty soon. "Oh, yeah. Right." She mumbled as she followed him.

"The shortest route to the kitchen is along this balcony, otherwise we'd have to fight our way through that crowd in there." He looked over at her and smiled. Again her heart did cartwheels. This had to stop. Her head knew it was on the loosing side when her heart simply pounded in response to his smile. " I don't know where Claire gets her invite list! But the numbers seem to go up every year!"

She had counted on the cold night air to give her a chance to find her equilibrium. Time to get this feeling back under control. She attempted to tug her hand free. Not that she had any measure of success. She did not want to make an issue out of the fact he still had her palm. And conducting a tug of war over her hand was bound to end in disaster! Ok, sound normal, Marina commanded herself as she said, "I'd forgotten that you and her brother have been friends for years."

Rafe pushed open the next door. He was feeling inordinately pleased with himself. He had managed to get her on her own. Now to see if she and that guy she'd brought to the party were an item or not? A few direct questions should sort that out.