FIVE

Adam had been to dinner at Professor Naismith's house a few times before along with other students. It was a small, comfortable house just on the outskirts of the campus. Ivy climbed the brick walls and a neat boxwood hedge separated it from the narrow street. When Adam knocked at the paneled front door, the housekeeper answered and she welcomed him, recognizing him from the times she had served him at dinner.

"Mr. Cartwright, yes?" she asked, stepping back so that he could enter the foyer where a large potted palm surprisingly flourished.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm he…" but Adam hadn't a chance to finish. He pulled off his bowler. He hadn't worn gloves and now wondered if it was a faux pas. There were so many social niceties that he, barely twenty and having been raised on a ranch, lacked, and it sometimes made him feel socially inferior. But one time, after apologizing for what might have been considered a breach of etiquette, a girl had told him that she could and would forgive him anything as long as he kissed her again-and more often.

"Oh, yes, I know," the housekeeper, a Mrs. Edwards said, "You've come to squire Miss Piper to the end-of-term dance. And may I say that you look very handsome. Now, Miss Piper and I, oh what a fuss we've had all afternoon with her hair and her dress. She has been so excited all day about the prospect of going to the dance that she has been running around, not happy with anything about herself as young girls are wont to do. You must tell her that she looks nice, Mr. Cartwright, even if you think it's a white lie. A girl always likes to hear that she looks nice."

Adam smiled. Things did not sound promising as far as Miss Piper was concerned. He groaned inward at the prospect of dancing with a giggly young girl at her first big dance.

"Now, you sit down right here, Mr. Cartwright, and I'll get Miss Piper-Miss Naismith." The housekeeper smiled at Adam and hurried up the stairs.

Adam heard footsteps behind him and turned to look and it was the Professor. Adam stood up and faced him.

"Right on time," the Professor said. "And I expect my daughter home by ten o'clock. Any later, young man, and I'll come looking for you with a dueling pistol. I have a matched set. I have yet to use them but this could be the first time." The professor smiled and Adam relaxed a bit. But he knew that the Professor meant it when he said that he wanted his daughter home by ten.

Adam saw the man avert his gaze and Adam turned and Miss Piper Naismith came down the stairs followed by the beaming housekeeper. Adam smiled. She was pretty, extremely pretty and would be a true beauty when she became a woman. She wore a pale yellow dress and had yellow silk flowers decorating her modest up-do. But little, brown tendrils had escaped, refusing to be confined, and lay about the nape of her neck. It was a little touch of wildness in an otherwise tamed adornment.

The neck was low but not so low as an older woman might wear and she had mid-length gloves as any proper girl would wear. She stood before Adam and her father introduced them. Piper was glowed with joy.

"Now, Piper," the professor said, you behave yourself, young lady. Don't embarrass Adam here by dancing on the refreshment table and stepping in the sandwiches! And I expect you home by ten o'clock."

"Father, please! Stop teasing me and let me stay until the end of the dance. Please."

"Now, my dear, that will be long past your bedtime-you're still my little girl."

"Oh, father. Please let me stay out until the dance ends." Piper looked pleadingly at her father and he reached out and held her cheek.

"All right, my dear. I trust that the spell won't be broken if the clock chimes midnight." Naismith turned to Adam. "But, Adam, bring her home right after that. Understand?"

"Absolutely, sir."

Adam smiled at the obvious affection between father and daughter, at his gentle way with her. But then Adam could see why; Piper was lovely. Her hair was a rich brown and her eyes were hazel but with a fringe of dark lashes. Her face had the curves of youth, a dewy freshness and her arms were round and she had an inherent grace of movement. Her mouth was small yet the lips were full and Adam, being a young man, wondered what it would be like to kiss her. But being an intelligent young man as well, knew that he should never take the chance.

So after much ado, Adam walked Piper to the dance, her arm lightly through his. Adam did most of the talking while Piper asked him questions about his family and his home but soon they arrived at the hall on campus and he escorted her inside, taking her wrap for her and turning in his hat as well. But once they were well in the room and Piper was taken out on the floor by another student who well knew that she was Professor Naismith's daughter, Adam was gently teased by some of the others as "babysitting." But Adam noticed that after the first dance, Piper was surrounded by young men signing her dance card. She was lovely indeed, Adam had to admit to himself, and seeing her being the center of attention and glowing under the compliments from the admirers, he began to feel pangs of jealousy-and desire. Adam had supposed that he would feel relieved if she was taken off his hands; then he would have a chance to dance with many other young ladies, most of them older than Piper since the dance was only open to graduating students and their choice of partners. But it wasn't so; Adam felt a deep disappointment as he watched Piper taken out onto the floor and twirled around, her feet moving lightly. She seemed to be able to hold her end of any conversation, not talking too much but listening graciously with a small, gentle smile on her face and every so often, she would glance Adam's way and he would give her a slight nod. But being a gentleman, Adam looked around and then approached young women who weren't dancing. Therefore, he passed Piper on the dance floor many a time, looking over at her.

During a small intermission, Adam joined the others as they milled into the refreshment room and worked his way over to Piper.

"Now, Miss Naismith," Adam said, an ironic grin on his face, "here I have escorted you to the dance and haven't had a chance to reap reward for my efforts. Have you any spaces left on your dance card?"

"I do believe that I may, Mr. Cartwright." Piper pulled the looped cord off her wrist and handed it to Adam.

He glanced at it. "I think…have you a pencil, Miss Naismith?" She looked in her small reticule and pulled out a pencil, handing it to him and Adam wrote his name in two places. He handed the card and pencil back to her. "I have the next dance, the waltz and the last dance. After all, I should. We may have to dance out of here and all the way home in order to be on time as your father commanded."

Piper smiled and told him that she would be pleased to dance with him and when the music started, Adam put his hand on her waist and pulled her into the ball room where he held her close to him and fell in love with the young woman with the adoring hazel eyes and the small, full mouth that was as dewy as a rose on a spring morning. And Adam wondered what it would be like to crush her underneath him and feel her respond to his passion. And if the dance as his partner was any indication, it would be with matched passion and desire. For one who wasn't quite 17, Piper Naismith held an overwhelming attraction for him and she leaned into him in such a way as if to entice him. And Adam didn't realize how she would, from that moment on, fill his thoughts and disturb his dreams causing him many a fitful night.