Crimson Peak: The Official Movie Novelization by Nancy Holder Read Free Book Online

that was delightful.
    “I will if you play it for me, dear sister,” Sharpe said.
    Lady Sharpe regally inclined her head. “With pleasure.”
    When Edith moved to stand beside Eunice, Alan noticed the distance she had put between them. Then Mr. Cushing stepped close.
    “Interesting development, don’t you think?” he said in a low voice.
    Alan heard the disapproval in his voice and wondered if he had missed something. He nodded. And then he tensed as his mother approached Edith. Her smile was forced, and her eyes were hard as diamonds.
    Mother, please don’t stir up a hornet’s nest
.
    “Edith, what a surprise this is,” Mrs. McMichael bit off.
    Edith flushed, indicating that she knew that she was rather in the wrong. She had already sent her regrets, and to show up on the arm of Eunice’s suitor was an affront.
    “We were not expecting you for dinner,” his mother added, in case Edith did not fully understand the gravity of her social faux pas.
    “I know,” Edith said contritely, “and I am terribly sorry for this imposition. I am sure there is no place for me and—”
    “Oh, don’t worry, my child,” she interrupted her. “Everyone has a place. I will make sure you find yours.”
    Alan inwardly winced at the barb.
    Over at the piano, Lady Sharpe arranged herself and flashed a tiny, complicit smile at Eunice. With a theatrical sweep of his hand, like a magician, Sir Thomas took a candle from a nearby candelabrum.
    “The waltz,” he began, playing to the gallery. “Not a complicated dance, really. The lady takes her place slightly to the left of the leading gentleman. Six basic steps. That is all.”
    Alan’s sister and their mother were attentive, eager. What woman wouldn’t be, about to be swept into the arms of a true-life Prince Charming?
    “However, it is said that the true test of a perfect waltz is for it to be so sweet, delicate, and so smooth, that a candle flame will not be extinguished in the hand of the lead dancer. Now
that
requires the perfect partner.”
    Eunice, of course
, Alan filled in. His sister would be so enthralled that he doubted her dancing shoes would touch the ground.
    Sir Thomas turned… and held out his hand to
Edith.
    “Would you be mine?”
    Everyone in the room gasped. Edith’s eyes widened, and then she looked demurely down. Alan saw her lips move, but he could not hear her reply.
    * * *
    Edith looked at Sir Thomas’s outstretched hand and wondered if he had any idea of the scene he was causing. A brewing scandal, and the shame it would bring on her. There were murmurs among the guests, and she couldn’t make herself look in Eunice’s direction. In the heat of Sir Thomas’s gaze as he had challenged her to come with him to the party, Edith had thought of herself as a New Woman, freed from the strictures of the old century. But now that she stood before him with eyes downcast, wordlessly begging him to observe propriety, she realized she wasn’t quite as modern as she had supposed herself to be. These were her friends, and she wanted their good opinion… no matter how desperately she would love to dance with him.
    “I don’t think so, thank you,” she said in a voice meant only for him to hear. Ladies
never
refused a gentleman’s invitation to dance. However, this was beyond the pale. Yes, she had arrived on his arm, but she was not here
with
him. She had felt almost Bohemian, an artistic nonconformist making an entrance… but having anticipated that Sir Thomas would propose to Eunice tonight, she had fully expected to bid him adieu soon after. “But I’m sure Eunice would be delighted,” she added bluntly, further bolstering her awkward but nonetheless sincere desire to put right her foolish indiscretion.
    His smile did not waiver. “I daresay, but I asked you.” To the onlookers, he said, “Please make some space.”
    Somehow she found herself moving to the center of the ballroom. Which was worse? To stand there while he stretched out his hand