She wasn't really sure why she had agreed to come to London on yet another outing. Two men courting her was almost too much for Isobel, and, if not too much, certainly tiring. If she wasn't going out on leisurely strolls with Lord Merton, she was being taken around all over by Dr. Clarkson. In a way, it was invigorating. Out of the two of them, he was the one she had more fun with. But, that is because we are friends, and I do not have to worry about trying to impress him, Isobel thought to herself as the car came to a lurching halt in front of a very large building.
"Well, are you going to tell me where we are?"
"You'll see soon enough." Richard smiled, the mischievous gleam in his eyes that she had grown very used to over the past month.
Isobel wasn't sure what had come over her doctor. Or, for that matter what had come over her, because she had taken to referring to him as hers. It wasn't as if anything had changed, they were still friends. But there was something different, and she couldn't quite place what exactly that was.
When they stepped into the building, Isobel was completely taken aback. Dr. Clarkson had taken her to many places she had never been, but they were always in the realm of something so typically him, safe and never too out of the box. He had taken her to a museum, and a castle, but none of those compared to what she saw before her. They were in a club, the kind of environment that Rose would strive in. There were people were dancing, and not only that, it was the sort of dancing that would most likely cause Violet to suffer a fatal heart attack. But the dancing wasn't what shocked her the most, but that Richard had brought her there.
"I-I-don-"
"Didn't think I would take you somewhere so risqué, did you?" Richard said, chuckling at her reaction.
She nearly turned around and walked out the door before her caught her arm.
"Now, if you really don't want to be here, we can leave, but, and I may be crossing a line here, but if you just want to leave so people won't think badly of you, well, I don't know what you've done with the woman I love"
"You're right, you did cross a line." She said, putting her nose in the air in protest, "Find us a table." She added with a heavy sigh.
He was beaming ear to ear as he found gently pulled her along beside him to a free table in the corner of the room.
"I can't believe you brought me here. It isn't very like you." Isobel noted, she had decided that if anything, she should at least be honest with the man.
"Maybe you don't know me as well as you think." He said with a wink.
"But even if I don't…this is not the sort of thing a gentleman like you would do."
"You mean a gentleman like Lord Merton?" Richard asked, his tone accusing and bitter.
"I very well meant you, and you know it." She said, all semblance of propriety disappearing.
He shrugged and it infuriated her.
"I understand, you brought me here to prove that you're the one to make my life exciting , but honestly if you love someone they don't necessarily need to be exciting-"
"Actually, I brought you here to dance." He stopped her.
"You what?" She asked, confused by the sudden interruption in her lecture.
"I brought you here to dance." He said again, getting up and reaching his hand out to her.
"But I don't know how to do this sort of-"
"Don't worry, you'll learn easily enough"
He stood there, unwavering.
She sat there, considering her options. She could go with him and make a complete idiot of herself, or she could sit here with him, and probably end up arguing.
She took his hand.
"Alright then, what is the dance and what are the steps?"She asked as they moved towards the dance floor where couples already were.
"It's called the Charleston, and I'll show you."
"How do you know it?"
"I've done some reading." He said as he pulled her to him and put his right hand on her back and took her left hand in his right.
"Now what?" Isobel questioned as she put her left hand on his shoulder without even thinking.
"All you need to do is move your right foot in front of you, when I move my left back, then after a beat, go back to where you were, and then move your left foot behind you when I move my right up. And then…"
"We go back to normal"
"Exactly"
He led her in the steps very slowly at first, until she got the hang of it. But after a song, she got the hang of it. As the song progressed, he pulled her nearer and nearer to him, so that even if she wanted to, she couldn't look down to make sure she was doing the dance right. Instead, she was looking right at him.
"I do have to tell you something, Mrs. Crawley."
"And what is that, Dr. Clarkson?"
"I didn't bring you here to show you that I am more fun, I brought you here to show you that I am the only one to push you to do things that you will find fun."
"And what, may I ask, is the difference?" She asked, quite amused by his statement.
He stopped dancing and lowered his face inches from hers.
"Oh I think you know, m'dear Isobel" He said, his brogue more noticeable than usual. Isobel could feel her face getting hot when he lifted her left hand and gave her a twirl.
And although she would blame it on the dancing, her face was still red for a good potion of their ride back to Downton.