Everlasting Light - A Civil War Romance Novella by Andrea Boeshaar Page A

into his arms and they twirled around in a close embrace before he released her.
    “That was shameful.” Alaina glared at him after they’d gotten back into line.
    He feigned a curious frown. “You think so? It was all in good fun.”
    “Well …” Perhaps she made too much of his antics.
    “Michael, you dickens!” The gaiety in Jennifer Marie’s tone was laced with disbelief.
    Alaina mouthed the words, “told you so,” to Michael.
    He smiled and his dark eyes shone with amusement. However, he was much more a gentleman on their next turn when he simply took her hand and led her into a pirouette. Alaina couldn’t help giggling as the room spun around her.
    When it stopped, she found herself staring into a pair of very unhappy, golden-flecked eyes.
    Her heart did a dive. “Braeden!”
    “I believe you and I have some talking to do.” He took her elbow and led her from the ballroom. At last they stood in a dimly lit hallway.
    “What do you think you’re doing, dancing with my best friend? I asked you to wait for me.”
    “I, um, well …” She had no excuse. “It was an innocent, harmless reel, that’s all.”
    “Is that so? Well, I have a notion to confront my innocent best friend about this scandalous incident.”
    “Scandalous?”
    “What else would you call it?” A weighty pause. “My family and friends know you came to the party with me. I feel … disgraced.”
    Alaina gasped. “Oh, Braeden, I’d never disgrace you intentionally. Please forgive me.”
    “And dancing … you. Had I not seen it, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
    “Don’t be angry, Braeden.” Didn’t he know that she loved him, not Michael Wheeler?
    “To make matters worse, I learned from my sister that you and Michael have been quite chummy ever since we arrived in Charleston. Is that true?”
    Alaina’s face flamed with humiliation. “You were busy. Michael was merely being polite and keeping me company.”
    “Are you really that naïve, Laina or are you playing games? If it’s the latter, I thought you were above all that sort of nonsense.”
    The anger and disappointment in his voice stole her reply.
    “And here I thought you’d be a good example for my cousin Jennifer Marie. But just exactly who is influencing whom?”
    “How dare you accuse me! This is all your fault. You’ve spent scarcely ten minutes with me this whole weekend, what with all this war business.” The words flowed out of her as if they had a life of their own. “For all your indifference, I wish I never would have come. Dancing with Michael is the most fun I’ve had in days.”
    She pushed past Braeden and pulled away after he reached for her arm. Tears blurred her vision as she took to the staircase. She heard Braeden call her name but ignored him and ran down another shadowed hallway to the bedroom she shared with Jennifer Marie.
    Turning the polished brass knob, she entered and closed the door soundly behind her. Two startled Negro maids gaped at her untimely arrival.
    “You in for the evenin’, Miss?” one of them asked.
    Doing her best to swallow her emotion, she rolled a shoulder in uncertainty. She prayed for composure, but Braeden’s words haunted her. She’d embarrassed him. Everyone thought she’d encouraged Michael.
    At her back, the door pushed open, and Jennifer Marie made her way into the room. She waved off her servants before wrapping Alaina in the closest embrace her hoopskirt would afford.
    “You poor thing. That cousin of mine is an absolute scoundrel. When I saw you two leave the ballroom, I followed, and I heard every harsh word he spoke to you. But you handled the likes of him just fine.”
    “On the contrary. I’ve muddled up everything. My attitude was all wrong.” So much for a marriage proposal tonight. “I didn’t have that meek and quiet spirit every godly woman should possess. I behaved like a shrew!”
    “My, my …” Jennifer Marie tipped her head. “I believe you’re the first Christian I ever