Free Bond of Fate by Jane Corrie

beg your pardon,' he said stiffly. 'I should have thought of that. Are you ready?'
    Melanie nodded, and clutched her evening bag with fingers that trembled. He should have known how ignorant she was of these niceties, was what he had meant, she told herself, and she really couldn't see how they were going to get through the evening when for two pins she would have a blazing row with him.
    There would be at least three women at that party who would go through hoops for him—Podge's mother, a rich divorcee whose pale blue eyes never attempted to hide her feelings when Julian was around, included—so why on earth had he picked on her? Melanie wondered angrily as they descended in the splendid hotel lift that was large enough to hold a few gilt chairs for the convenience of the older residents. Because he could squash her, that was why !
     
    she thought grimly. She was a little Miss Nobody where he was concerned, convenient in two capacitites. One, a teacher for his daughter, and secondly as a shield from the attentions of these avaricious women. Melanie suspected that the second convenience was more important to him than the first, as it stood to reason that he could have settled for a tutor for Celia without the added complication of taking a wife. He hadn't been strictly honest about that side of the affair either, and had chosen to drag his ex-wife into the scene to make it more plausible.
    By now, Melanie had completely disregarded Celia's views on the matter concerning her mother's character and determined pursuit of her ex-husband. Celia was biased, of course; she adored her father, and not surprisingly, after witnessing the way their society women friends unashamedly pursued him, she was of the opinion that no woman could resist him.
    Well, this one could, she thought sourly, and if he had treated his first wife in the manner that he had recently adopted towards her, then Zara Cridell could be forgiven for taking off the way she had !
    The large hotel ballroom was crowded when they entered, and a doubly miserable Melanie realised that she was going to be in trouble again very shortly, for she couldn't dance, at least not in the way the couples on the floor were dancing, for this was not a disco affair where all you had to do was look as if you were keeping in time to the music. The couples on the floor were whirling about, all following a step pattern that they knew by heart, and for a second thing, even if she had been able to dance, her sheath-like dress was not going to give her much freedom. She felt another surge of anger towards the proud man at her side for not explaining this to her. He could have told her that
     
    there would be dancing, couldn't he? A party didn't necessarily mean dancing in Melanie's experience, limited as it was to her student days.
    Her courage failed her at the door of the ballroom. `I can't dance,' she said in a stiff voice. 'You really will have to make some excuse for my absence,' she added, as she began to turn away in readiness for a flight back to her room.
    `You're staying,' Julian said softly as his lean hand caught her wrist before she could complete the turn and clamped a hold that gave her no option but to stay right where she was. `I won't be doing much dancing either, if it comes to that,' he added smoothly. `Lees circulate.' He drew her hand through his arm in what must have looked like a possessive gesture, but which was, in fact, a very firm grip indeed on the wretchedly nervous Melanie.
    It wasn't easy for her having to nod and smile at people as they passed down the long room towards a gathering of people near the buffet and bar section, where several tables had been placed for certain invited guests and where the host, Andrew Misting, and his daughter were holding court. At the appearance of Julian and Melanie a ragged cheer went up, making Melanie feel awful, as it must have called the whole attention of the room to their arrival. She felt Julian's casually placed hand