Free Bond of Fate by Jane Corrie Page A

tighten its grip on her, as if he sensed her wild urge to escape.
    Two chairs were quickly placed at their disposal at their host's table, and Melanie found herself holding a glass of champagne almost before she had had time to sit down.
    `My wife doesn't dance,' said Julian drily, as he accepted his glass of champagne. `You're really pushing the boat out this time, aren't you, Andrew?'
     
    he added, with a smile, and a nod at the crowded ballroom, then lifted his glass in salute. 'All the best,' he said, and Melanie followed suit, thinking as she swallowed a sip of the awesomely expensive beverage that it was overrated.
    `Decided to retire before I became an old man,' Andrew Misting said with a hint of satisfaction in his voice, and looked towards his lovely daughter who had just slipped across the room to have a word with someone. 'Anna says she doesn't see enough of me, and I guess she's right, so I've decided to play the part of the country squire.'
    Melanie couldn't help wondering what Celia would have had to say to that if she had been present, for she was of the same opinion as Anna, that her father should ease up as well. As she took another sip of her champagne, she stole a look at Julian, who appeared to her to be looking thoughtful, though she really couldn't tell; she had been wrong before about him.
    `You should do the same,' Andrew Misting advised Julian.
    `What should Julian do?' queried Anna as she rejoined them, sitting down in a haze of soft pink gauze that floated around her.
    `Retire,' her father replied.
    `Oh, I'm all for that!' said Anna with enthusiasm. `Aren't you, Melanie?' she asked. 'It can't be much fun for you having to fill time in while his lordship's adding more chips to that great pile he's already made.'
    Melanie swallowed, and quickly took another sip of her drink. Really, it wasn't so bad, she thought, when you got used to it. In the end she managed a rueful smile. 'I suppose it depends on the man,' she said, not daring to look at Julian. 'I mean, if he's happy in what he's doing
     
    Anna chuckled. 'You've got her well trained, haven't you, Julian?' she commented, 'but I suppose it's early days yet. Still, you mark my words, she'll soon be thinking up ways and means to keep you at home, if I'm any judge. Oh, that's a waltz,' she glanced appealingly at Julian, who had no option but to ask her to dance with him, and to Melanie's relief they took the floor.
    Her eyes stayed on them as they danced to the lilting strain of the waltz. Anna's dreamy dress floated around her, and really, one had to admit that they looked the perfect couple. Julian, tall and handsome, bent his dark head every now and again to hear what Anna was saying to him.
    `You'd better take good care of him, young lady,' Andrew Misting said, his eyes, as Melanie's, following the pair on the floor.
    Melanie, surprised, looked back at him.
    `You've stolen the man of her dreams,' he said, in answer to her look, and took the sting out of the words with a rueful smile at her. 'Anna's had her eye on Julian for years, ever since she was a teenager,' he added, and offered to fill up Melanie's glass, which she allowed; the liquid seemed harmless enough. 'The trouble is,' he continued, 'that she's not had much chance of meeting many reliable males. I do too much globetrotting. It's the reason why I've decided to put down roots. I want to see her settled with a good man.'
    Melanie didn't know how to reply to this, and fortunately for her she saw Mrs Dalton approaching them, dressed in a green velvet dress that she must have been poured into.
    `Here's another of them,' said Andrew Misting under his breath just before she reached them. `Personally, I can't stand the woman.' Social etiquette
     
    forced him to give her a cordial welcome, but he did not offer a seat at their table, so it was fortuitous that she was able to join someone else's a few tables away, after wishing her host all the best for the future.
    Julian and Anna came back