Lauri Robinson Read Free Page A

you happy.”
    “Not if someone got hurt,” he said. “I’m not that boorish.”
    She blushed, and his blood heated up a good ten degrees. There was always a special scent surrounding her, like the air after a rain, when everything smelled fresh and alive. It lingered, too; he noticed it in the house after she’d been there. Could tell exactly which room she’d been in. Tonight it filled his nostrils and made him almost light-headed.
    “Dance with me, Rory.” The idea had become something he wanted even without Ray Ray’s payout.
    She shot a glance over his opposite shoulder, and he figured some of the men had moved to get a better look at what was happening. The competitive part of him stiffened. “Dance with me, Rory,” he repeated.
    She settled those blue eyes on him skeptically, and it was a long silent moment before she asked, “Why?”
    Shrugging, hoping he looked nonchalant, he said, “I’m here until cleanup. You either dance with me, or I’ll help you serve punch all night.”
    “There are other—”
    “I don’t want to dance with other women,” he interrupted. The truth of that snagged in his chest.
    She sighed. “You’re not going to leave me alone until I do, are you?”
    He shook his head.

Chapter Three
    The pounding in Rory’s temples said this wasn’t a good idea. Because of Jim, she’d been cold and standoffish to every man in town. The eligible ones, that is. The ones who might possibly pursue her and eventually learn her past. Not that she’d encouraged Jim Houston. He’d learned who she was from his travels.
    She’d given him what he’d demanded, and he’d left town. She hoped he’d never return, as promised, but she didn’t believe it, which was why she saved every dime possible. Leaving Carson City would be hard. The people were kind, the community good and caring, but once word got out she’d deceived everyone for years, things would be different. At twenty-one she was young enough to start over somewhere else and old enough to do it on her own this time.
    Of all the men at the dance tonight, Garret was probably the safest. The one who disliked her the most. He’d never said he didn’t like her, but she’d felt his glares, heard the remarks he’d made about her when she’d insisted Abigail could not stay at home alone—which, besides her limited funds, was the reason Rory hadn’t left town yet. Abigail needed her. She’d left one ailing mother and wouldn’t do it again.
    Perhaps all of that was the very reason she was considering his offer. She could relate to how he felt. He was trying to hide it—doing a very good job of it—but she’d seen Emily Harms come through the doorway even though he’d told her not to look. His mother had told her how Garret and Emily—then Rosengren—had been sweethearts before he went out east to law school as his father had wanted, and how a few short months after he left, Emily married Wesley Harms. Abigail said she feared Garret would never marry, that Emily had broken him.
    Rory didn’t believe that. Garret was too stubborn, too full of himself to be broken by a woman. However, he rarely attended community functions. He wouldn’t be here tonight if she hadn’t volunteered for him to help set up the party and take down afterward. Garret, of course, thought his mother had volunteered him. He’d figure out a way to paint the sky if his mother asked him to and Rory liked that about him.
    Guilt rolled in her stomach. He was here because of her.
    “Dance with me, Rory,” he whispered yet again.
    Emily Harms was a complete idiot for choosing another man over Garret. No matter how ornery or cantankerous, he hadn’t deserved to be treated so unfairly. Rory knew what that felt like. She knew, too, how he ignored Emily and was only asking her to dance to do so again.
    Rory let out the air burning her lungs. “One dance.”
    He grinned. “That’s all I asked for.”
    For some unfathomable reason, her heart lurched with such