Three Little Matchmakers: A Regency Novella by Susanne Dietze

Author:Susanne Dietze [Dietze, Susanne]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2024-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

Henry hadn't thought about that waltz with Caroline in years. He’d been twenty or thereabouts and not particularly enthused when Esther cajoled him into dancing with them. She was close to making her come-out in society, fretting about making a good impression, so he’d given in and waltzed with Esther and Caroline in turn so they could practice.

​That day, he had realized Caroline was not the bony, long-limbed child she’d been when he left for university. She had become rather pretty, in fact.

​She was even prettier now.

​But she didn't smile, so he did what he'd done when they danced all those years ago. He tightened his hold on her and spun her far too fast to be a model couple if they were, indeed, instructing the children. The only reason to spin her like that was to make her laugh.

She gasped instead, gaping at him while her lavender hem twisted about her ankles.

The children cackled. “Again!” one of the girls shouted.

He wiggled his brows at Caroline and then, at last, she smiled. “Once more?”

​“You wouldn’t—”

He did, spinning her hard and fast. She gave into her laughter, tipping back her head, exposing the line of her neck. With a subtle release of her waist and pressure against her hand, she twirled out on his arm, and then he pulled her back. They were both laughing, hardly able to one-two-three in a box pattern, much less make a proper turn about the room.

​“Me next.” Julia hopped up and down. Lucy spun in her own circle, holding the black-trimmed hem of skirt out like a ball gown. Rupert twirled and fell onto the floor in a dizzy-looking heap.

​Loath as he was to break his hold on Caroline, Henry released her hands and bowed before Julia. “May I?”

​“Oh yes.” She gripped his hands while Caroline turned to take Lucy’s.

​Henry turned Julia in a sort of waltz, but it was obvious she only wanted to be spun about the room like a top, so he did. Her blue eyes curved into happy crescents and she laughed, revealing a hole where a bottom tooth should be. She was losing teeth already? When did that start? Henry had all but forgotten such a thing happened. He didn’t know a thing about children.

​Except that they apparently liked being spun into frenzies.

​“Switch partners,” Grandmama called, starting the song over again.

​Giggling, Lucy took his hands with her tiny ones. She looked so much like Esther it ached his chest, but only for a moment. It was difficult to mourn when one’s arms were being tugged by a giggling sprite. “Faster!”

​He obliged, glancing up to where Caroline made a lopsided circle dance with Julia and Rupert. They skipped, he twirled, and then it was time to switch again. Rupert plowed into Henry’s legs.

Rather than spin him, he hauled the lad into his arms—he weighed almost nothing—and tossed him in the air, catching him around the ribs. A high-pitched squeal erupted from his tiny frame—had Henry broken him?

“Again!” Rupert’s voice was almost as high as the squeal.

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