Maid For You 3

Chapter 60

I blinked angrily. The next dance? I thought incredulously. Using the waltzing skills I taught him? No way!

"Sure," Luke said, almost coldly. I whipped my head to look at him with angry eyes.

Excuse me? I thought.

"Luke?" I asked.

"I'll be back," he said flatly. "I mean, I can't just say no, right?" He then held out his hand for Marstella to take and lead her a ways away.

No. Absolutely not. This was ridiculous. As I watched him and Marstella walking several yards away before getting in position to wait for the next song to start, a felt my insides boiling. I got that Luke was mad at me, but this was crossing a line.

"That's it," I muttered. Just as I was about to begin my dramatic march up to the them, someone grabbed by arm and twirled me around. My eyes widened.

"Nikolas?" I asked, surprised at his sudden close proximity and the intensity of his blue gaze. Despite the fact that we talked on the phone all the time, seeing him in person and so close suddenly made me feel a little breathless. Seriously, was he always this handsome? Were his eyes always this blue?

"I am afraid that I must insist on this next dance," he said, taking my arms in his to set up. "It would be unwise to go after Luke and Marstella."

"You noticed?" I asked as we began dancing.

"I did," he said. "I wasn't far when I saw that Marstella approach him."

"Why shouldn't I go up and stop them, then?" I asked.

"You should not have to chase after your beaux," he said, twirling me. "It looks desperate." We reconnected, and I felt my heart beat faster. Had we danced this close at the Autumn Festival? Had he smelled this good? Maybe my anger with Luke was warping my senses.

"I am glad that we have this opportunity to dance," Nikolas said. "Though I wish I had been able to approach you sooner."

"That's okay," I said. "You've been busy. But, I am glad that we can dance, as well. I wanted to talk to you, anyways."

"Your dancing has improved since the Autumn Festival," he noted.

"Really?" I asked.

"Indeed. It seems as though Queen Klara's lessons have paid off."

"I'm glad to hear that," I said as I started to lose myself in his bright blue eyes. Snap out of it! I thought. I need to focus on Luke and Marstella. I caught sight of the unseemly pair, which tragically did not look so unseemly—Luke and his ex did look nice together.

"Why is he dancing with his ex-girlfriend?" Nikolas asked with his lip curled as he followed my gaze.

"We got into a big fight last night," I said.

"Again?"

"This time it wasn't my fault!" I cried. I briefly recounted our argument and how he seemed to think I was angling for a marriage.

"And his solution is to dance with Marstella?" Nikolas asked.

"Apparently!" I cried.

"Tch."

"Anyways, I'm sorry you've caught me at this inopportune moment. I do want to talk with you—I haven't seen you in a while. How have you been?"

"I've been well," Nikolas said, raising an eyebrow and wearing a small smile with his lips parted. Ba bump. There it was again, my heart thudding at his mere smile for some reason.

"Have you?" I asked. "Is it because you are courting Esmerelda?" I couldn't help myself—I had to ask.

He rose both eyebrows this time. "I suppose you must be very curious."

"I am intrigued," I admitted. "Though maybe not as much as Queen Klara."

He chuckled slightly, another small action that made my heart pitter patter. "Oh, I am sure she is very interested."

"She wants me to report to her on the nature of your relationship with Esmerelda, but of course my loyalty lies with you."

"I appreciate that," he said. "You can tell her the truth, however."

"Which is?"

"I am not officially courting her, though I am entertaining the idea of it. I am just getting to know her first before I decide if I am going to begin a courtship."

"That's fair," I said, surprised at the flicker of relief that he wasn't official courting her. Wow, I thought. What the heck is wrong with me? How selfish can I be? And why do I care? Maybe I felt that his courtship would change our friendship, though that hardly seemed fair since I was dating someone and we had remained friends. "And what does this mean for Calista?" I continued. "Since the Queen is sure to ask my opinion on that matter."

"The truth is I do not know about Calista," he answered. "I cannot say that I will marry her or that I will not. I will have to see how things progress as the future plods along."

"Well, she'll be glad to know nothing is official," I said. "But really, I'll only speak to her about it if you're okay with it."

"I am."

"Okay," I nodded. I bit my lip for a moment. "And..."

"And what?"

"How are things with Esmerelda? Or, how are you feeling about her, that is?"

"I do not know for sure," he admitted. "She is a very demure sort of girl, very quiet. I am not sure if I like it or not."

At that moment, the song came to a close. I noticed Prince Coleman a ways away watching us dubiously, but I ignored him. "I suppose our time is up," I sighed. However, at that moment, my eye caught on an alarming sight over Nikolas's shoulder. Marstella and Luke were leaving the ballroom out a set of double French doors! What the heck!

"What is wrong?" Nikolas asked, reading my face.

"He's leaving with her!" I gaped. "Where are they going?"

Nikolas whipped around in time to see them slipping through the doors. I started heading that way, and Nikolas followed right after me.

"No need to follow me," I told him as I trotted towards the doors.

"What is your plan?" he asked.

"I don't know," I said. "Confront them if I must, eavesdrop if I can." I turned around. "Don't follow me, alright?" I had a feeling that one way or another, I didn't want Nikolas to witness was to come—either he'd see me lose my temper or hear something unpleasant.

I took the single door before the set of double doors that Luke and Marstella had left through, and as I suspected, it led to a small little corner surrounded by three walls—the wall holding the door itself, and two short marble walls adjacent to the door. All the small doors in the ballroom were imbedded in such pockets.

"And what was so important that we had to talk out here?" I heard Luke say. There was no one else out in the hall and the only sound was the faint din of music from the ballroom, so their voices rang clearly to my ears. Obviously, I realized that eavesdropping would be the preferable option in this scenario.

"I wanted to talk about it," Marstella said."Just, about us and about—about how I cheated on you. And about how wrong thatwas."