Can we just take a moment to fully appreciate this moment during their Wrecking Ball dance, after everyone has left the dancefloor in protest at sharing the floor with Kate and Anthony? Because these few words that they exchange, have so much meaning. It’s both of them extending an act of love to the other, and it makes me weak everytime I think about it.
First we have Kate asking Anthony if he wants to stop dancing. We know how much this dance means to Kate; she is the one who asked him to dance afterall. She wanted one more moment with him before she leaves London, leaves England, leaves him behind when she goes back to India. She’s noticed him watching people leave the floor, and she’s asking if he wants to stop, because she knows that he’ll be left to deal with the scandal and fallout from their dance together. As far as Kate knows, she is leaving very soon, so it’s no matter to her what The Ton will say about her after she’s gone, she doesn’t care.
But Anthony isn’t going anywhere; he will have to deal with the gossip and talk, he will have to deal with the opinions of the ‘spectators’ after she has gone, and his family is already dealing with enough scandal as it is. And so, if stopping their dance will make it better for him, Kate is willing to cut short her last moment with Anthony to make it easier for him after she has gone, even though she wants this dance; this moment, to last as long as possible. She wants to ease any burden she can for him, even if it means denying herself something that she wants, because she loves him.
Anthony responds by telling Kate to ignore everyone but him, because the two of them are the only ones that matter here. He wants to keep dancing, as it’s his way of choosing Kate over the opinions of everyone else. Anthony wants this last dance together just as much as Kate does; this last moment before she most likely leaves England, and him forever. It’s him finally picking Kate publically, like he should have been doing all along. He’s picking the one thing (or in this case, person), that he actually wants, and he wants to hold onto her for as long as possible…he wants this last moment together to last as long as possible. And if that means he has to court scandal by doing so…he doesn’t care. He’ll endure it if it means he gets to spend another moment with Kate, if Kate gets something she wants; it’s more than worth it to him.
He’s telling her to just focus on him, and block everyone watching them out because this dance; this last dance and moment that they’ll share, is just about the two of them, and no one else. Because if this is the last time he sees her, he wants it to be like their first time meeting and every significant moment that they’ve had, and for it just to be the two of them on their own.
In a room full of people watching and judging them, it’s Anthony making the world go quiet for them both.