Dangerous Silence

Chapter 6

Dedicated to dilwidit

Needless to say, I spent the next hour dancing with any man my aunt could pair me up with, but most of them refrained from returning after their feet had been 'temporarily put out of service' by yours truly, while I looked around for Captain Carter. It seemed that he had either left the ball with his friends, leaving me to bear the torture of dancing with all those nimwits by himself, or had perfected the art of disappearing at his will.

My thoughts flitted from looking out for Lord Dalgliesh to Mr. Ambrose, and often settled on Ella, who seemed to be tired out of her wits, as almost every man attending the ball wanted to dance with my poor sister. Whenever the hands of anyone of them decided to wander, I would make sure that his next dance was with me. All that left me with lots of grateful looks from Ella, and a number of perverts to get rid of, so no wonder that my aching feet soon moved towards the only source of relief in the ball room, the chocolate table.

Cursing the whole species of chauvinist idiots to hell, I put a piece in my mouth when the Captain chose to appear. He looked at me with apologetic eyes, but seemed to be nervous and his usual cheerfulness also seemed forced.

Why was he nervous? I had got a perfectly fine excuse of being in the enemy's lair, and yet he seemed more nervous than me. Perhaps there was some problem...

"Miss Linton, am I forgiven?" Oh, he must think that he was in trouble for disappearing!

I narrowed my eyes at him and gave him a smile in mock anger, "You left me alone in the hands of the devil, to dance with other chauvinist fools, as a medium of torture, and disappeared without a word when I needed you the most, and now you ask for forgiveness? A friend in need is a friend indeed, but where were you? Did you really think that I would not forgive the only male friend I have and cherish?"

I grinned at the relieved smile that he gave me, and soon joined me to appreciate the piece of heavenly delight that is solid chocolate. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, the song came an end, and the lively tune of a gallop was played by the musicians. I turned to Captain Carter, with a mischevious grin on my face, only to see him give a similar smile to me. He held out his hand and spoke, "Shall we?"

Giving him a nod, we made our way to the dance floor, and soon started the wildest dance ever invented, and a few indiscreet death threats and glares learnt from the frost king himself, ensured that the gallop lasted for nearly an hour. What fun we had! After tiring out myself with the slow monotonous dances with other men and the encounter with Lord Dalgliesh, I enjoyed myself with the best form of exercise ever. We both danced until our legs ached, and we collapsed on the chairs kept near the chocolate table.

I nibbled on pieces of the irresistable sweet, while we talked about random things, and the adventures he had had in Greenland, which were nothing but tales of fun and merrymaking. A part of me wished that I had been there with him, to play in the sparkling snow and make snowmen, snowballs and snow forts, but another part knew that I would have never given up the chance to go on an adventure with Mr. Ambrose, even if it was to hell and the other option was heaven, but without him. There was something which pulled me towards him, and I was not going to let that something between us go, at any cost.

"...and he fell into the icy cold pond, shivering in the blizzard, coat and scarf and all!" Captain Carter's laughter brought me back from the thoughts of Mr. Ambrose and I joined in his merry laughter at the little pranks he and his friends had played on each other, a geniune smile playing on my lips.

I caught Ella's eye and she winked at me, smiling with joy as she stood with Aunt and my other sisters. I gave her a confused smile, and when she looked pointedly at Captain Carter beside me, and mouthed 'secret lover', I mentally facepalmed.