Always in My Dreams Read Free Page A

features were made lovelier by her animated smile, the brightness in her green eyes, and the color in her cheeks. Her hat was set forward at a jaunty angle and a fringe of white fur touched her forehead. Not far away, a bonfire on the bank cast all the skaters within its circle of light in a gold and orange glow. Where Skye's hair peeped out beneath her hat and scarf it was like a flame.
    He held out his elbow and waited for her to slip her arm in his. He thought tonight she seemed to grasp him more tightly, as if he had extended a lifeline. Daniel studied her face again. No, there wasn't a hint that anything was wrong. Skye would never let anyone see what she was feeling; she rarely let anyone know what she was thinking.
    "What happened?" he asked, as they skated toward his friends. Someone called out his name and he raised a hand in recognition.
    "Nothing happened."
    "Skye."
    "Nothing happened," she repeated. "Exactly that. They cut me dead."
    Daniel shook his head, hardly able to take it in. His friends were not often so deliberately cold to Skye. He looked around as they joined the pairs of skaters crossing the ice in a large circle. A band played on the bank, loudly enough for them to match their movements to music, but not so loudly that it interfered with conversation. "Hi, Charlie. Alice." He cast a quick smile over his shoulder so as not to misstep. "You remember Skye Dennehy, don't you?"
    Charlie looked distinctly uncomfortable. His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. Alice offered a wan smile. "Skye. It's a pleasure." They offered their greeting in unison, and as if shocked by the volume of it, they bent their heads and concentrated on their footwork.
    Skye's laughter was bright and unfettered, but she leaned closer to Daniel. "I've known Alice Hobbs since we were six," she whispered. "And just last week Charlie confided in me that he intended to ask for her hand." Behind them, Charlie and Alice had left the circle and were waiting to join it in another place. "What's wrong with everyone?" she asked. She had been snubbed before; in fact, she took something of a perverse pleasure in forcing people by the very act of ignoring her to acknowledge her existence. This was different. There was something almost vicious in the way she'd been cut out tonight.
    Daniel shrugged. "I'll be damned if I know," he said. The band on the shore struck up another tune. The introduction of a banjo increased the tempo and the skaters picked up their pace. There were bright flashes of gold and crimson as the women whirled, their skirts lifting to reveal white petticoats and flannel leggings. Now it was Daniel who leaned into Skye for support. She held him securely and made certain their feet didn't cross paths. "I'll never understand it. The circumstances of your birth are hardly your fault."
    Skye knew that Daniel meant well. In truth, it made no difference to him. She had sensed that from the very beginning, which was why he probably knew her better than anyone outside her own family. But he was naive about it. She could have pointed out that his parents had never invited her into his home, although they would have been pleased to have made Jay Mac's acquaintance.
    The circumstances of her birth, as Daniel referred to them, had taken on a new twist in recent years when John MacKenzie Worth had actually married his mistress. It had made some difference to New York's social elite that he had seen fit to make a match after the death of his wife, although behind closed doors they had blamed him for her suicide. Prior to Nina's death, Jay Mac had openly kept Moira Dennehy as his mistress and had raised five bastard daughters with her.
    Skye was no more accepted in the social circle of her peers than her mother or sisters had been; she merely worked harder at it. There was an awkward transition when Jay Mac married Moira, but by then people were so used to cutting out the Dennehy women no one knew quite how to stop. Then there was the