CHAPTER 10





I held my breath as he inclined his head towards Keiser, who matched his stare. He stopped in front of a fawning woman. They exchanged a few familiar words, clearly past acquaintances.

The musicians started once again.

"Andrew Dietrich," he leaned up to whisper when he follow the direction of my stare, "He is my brother."

"He hardly looks like your brother," I whispered back. His lips twitched and a smile crinkled at the corner of his eyes.

"He's the playboy of the bunch," he said before straightening to watch the dancers.

"A dance, my lady?"

My eyes caught his as he stood before me, arms extended.

"Why not," I shrugged, placing my gloved hands into his outstretched ones.

He offered me a polite smile as our hands met.

"Have you ever danced this one before?"

"Once or twice," I grinned, having a long history with dancing.

"I'll follow your lead, and pray we don't trample anyone," he commented.

Doing just that, we entered the dance floor, the music spinning around us. He glanced down at me briefly before looking away. As devilishly handsome he was, he still seemed intimidated to be in my presence.

I didn't know if that was a good or bad thing as we were having so much fun.

He twirled me around a moved through the steps of the dance. He looked straightinto my eyes, "You look beautiful tonight."

Suddenly I was acutely aware of how close we were dancing as I couldn't think of a single thing to say beside that he just called me beautiful.

We continued to dance and spin. The lights of the chandeliers twinkling on the shining floor. I spun in delicate circles, my dress blowing out. I could feel his warm hand on my lower back, my small feet gliding with agility along the floor.

We finished the dance with a curtsey and a bow, as the music had ended.

As I rose, Andrew's build caught my attention as he stood right in front of me.

"I think you should be best aided by some refreshments," Keiser said, hinting for me to leave.

Recognizing his que, I was relieved, finally being able to move from my position beside the dance floor.

I headed towards the refreshment tables tucked away at the side of the room. I spooned myself a glass of punch before standing by the wall.

As I sipped from my glass, I glanced at Kaiser and his brother. They were talking in low murmurs.

Being snapped out of my thoughts, a woman gave me a not-so-subtle nudge.

Dimpling prettily, she extended her hand to mine, "Ella Jules," she introduced.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ella." I smiled.

"He is so impossibly handsome," she said, hinting over to their direction.

"Well that is certainly something," I smirked, winning me a puzzled look from her.

"Let's go watch shall we," she sauntered off leading me to the edge of the dance floor, not too far from the boys. I watched the dancers commence into a waltz.

After this, the night seemed to pass by in a blur. ...



𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 (𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝). 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭!

𝐕𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭