She heard Rosa inhale sharply but she really did find him an agreeable sort. Certainly the invitation was acceptable. ‘I would be delighted to,’ she said graciously.
It was so arranged and Haligon toasted the agreement with the last of his wine, rose, bowed to them all and left the table.
‘Yo-ho, Tenna,’ Rosa murmured as they watched his tall figure disappear in the Gather crowd.
Cleve, too, grinned. ‘Neatly done. Do hope you’ll be back on another Cross soon in case we have some more problems you can help us with.’
‘Oh, run off, will you?’ Tenna replied flippantly. Now she allowed herself to finger the dark green leather hide. ‘Was he watching us, do you suppose? How’d he know?’
‘Oh, no one’s ever said Haligon was a dimwit,’ Rosa said. ‘Though he is, riding runner traces like he has.’
‘He must have told his father, then,’ Cleve said. ‘Owning up to all that shows an honest nature. I might end up liking him after all.’
‘Proper order,’ Rosa said. ‘Though he never admitted using the traces before when Torlo braced him on that.’ She grinned at Tenna. ‘It’s sure true that a pretty girl gets more attention than a plain one like me.’
‘You are not plain,’ Cleve said indignantly and realized he had fallen into Rosa’s neatly-laid trap to elicit a compliment from him.
`I’m not?’ she replied, smiling archly.
‘Oh, you!’ he said with the wordless disgust of the well-baited. Then he laughed and carefully split Groghe’s glass between their glasses. ‘Much too good to waste.’
Tenna returned to the station long enough to put away the beautiful leather. And long enough to get many requests for dances and to be supper partner from other runners who congratulated her.
‘Told ya so, dinnit I?’ Penda said, catching Tenna’s arm as she was leaving. The woman was grinning from ear to ear. ‘Pretty girl’s always heard, ya know.’
Tenna laughed. ‘And Haligon’s going to stay off the traces.’
`So his father promised,’ Penda said, ‘but we’ll have to see does he.’
‘I’ll see that he does,’ Tenna promised airily and returned to the Gather Square. She’d never had such a marvellous time before.
The supper lines were now forming down the road at the roasting pits and she began to wonder if Haligon had just been funning her and had never intended, Lord Holder’s son that he was, to honour his invitation. Then he appeared beside her, offering his arm.
‘I didn’t forget,’ he murmured, taking her by the arm.
Being partnered with a Holder’s son allowed them to patronize a different line at the roasting pits and so they were served well before Cleve and Rosa. The wine Haligon ordered was more of the excellent one she’d sampled in the afternoon so Tenna was quite merry and relaxed by the time the dancing began.
What surprised her, because she’d given the first dance to Grolly – as much because he didn’t expect to get any dances from such a pretty girl as because he asked her first-was that Haligon did not dance it with someone else. He waited at the table for a breathless Grolly to bring her back. It was a sprightly enough tune for dancing but not as fast or complicated as the Toss was. The next dance was at a slower tempo and she held out her hand to Haligon, despite the fact that half the male runners at the Gather were now crowding about for a chance to dance with her.
He pulled her into his arms with a deft movement and they were suddenly cheek to cheek. He was only a little taller than she was so their steps matched effortlessly. One circuit of the room and she had perfect confidence in his leading.
Since they were dancing cheek to cheek she could feel his face muscles lifting in a smile. And he gave her a quick pressure with both hands.
‘Do you know when you’re running again?’
‘I’ve already had a short leg, down to the Port,’ she said. ‘Enough for a good warm-up.’
‘How do you manage such long distances on your own legs?’ he asked, holding her out slightly to see her face in the light of the glowbaskets that lined the dance floor. He really wanted to know, too.