He started to laugh, then his eyes widened. “You’re joking.”

“No. It’s not a popular dance in the clubs I go to, so I’ll just sit this one out.”

“I’ll show you.” He slipped an arm around her waist, changed his grip on her hand. “Put your other hand on my shoulder.”

“I know the stance, it’s the steps.” It was too enchanting a night not to accommodate him. Lowering her head, she watched his feet.

“You know the count, surely.” He smiled at the top of her head. “So you go one, and a quicker two and three. And if you slide the back foot a bit on the last count, you’d glide into it. Aye, that’s it.”

When he circled her, she looked up again, laughing. “Don’t get fancy. I’m a fast study, but I like plenty of practice.”

“You can have all you want. It’s no hardship for me to hold you in my arms.”

Something shifted inside her. “Don’t look at me like that, Murphy.”

“I have to, when I’m waltzing with you.” He whirled her in three long circles, as fluid as wine. “The trick when you’re waltzing is to look right into your partner’s eyes. You won’t get dizzy that way, when you’re turning round.”

The idea of spot focusing might have had its merits, but not, Shannon discovered, when the focus was those dark blue eyes. “You have lashes longer than your sisters,” she murmured.

“It was always a bone of contention between us.”

“Such wonderful eyes.” Her head was spinning, around and around like the dance. On the edge of giddy, on the verge of dreams. “I see them in my sleep. I can’t stop thinking about you.”

The muscles of his stomach twisted like iron, then tightened. “Darling, I’m doing my best to keep a promise here.”

“I know.” Everything was in slow motion now, a drift, a turn, a note. All of the colors and movements and voices seemed to fade mistily into the background until it was only the two of them, and the music. “You’d never break a promise, whatever it cost you.”

“I haven’t before.” His voice was as tense as the hand holding hers. “But you’re tempting me. Are you asking me to break it?”

“I don’t know. Why are you always there, Murphy, on the tip of my mind?” She closed her eyes and let her head fall to his shoulder. “I don’t know what I’m doing—what I’m feeling. I have to sit down. I have to think. I can’t think when you’re touching me.”

“You drive a man past the end of his tether, Shannon.” With an effort he kept his hands gentle as he drew her away, led her back to her seat. He crouched in front of her. “Look at me.” His voice was quiet, below the music and the laughter. “I won’t ask you again, I swore I wouldn’t. It isn’t pride that holds me back, or that makes me tell you the next step, whatever it is, has to be yours.”