Lauri Robinson Read Free Page B

suddenness her feet faltered.
    Garret’s hold on her other hand tightened. “Are you all right?”
    She wasn’t sure if she was all right or not. No, she knew. She may never be all right again. Before Jim, back when all of Carson City thought her the preacher’s daughter, she’d dreamed what it would be like to have Garret court her. He never had, though.
    Never would, either. She’d heard him tell his brother Jeb how no one wanted to court the preacher’s daughter. Her so-called father was no longer in Carson City. He’d left more than two years ago. Went down to Oklahoma to convert the Indians the government was relocating there. But she still pretended he was her father; it was better than who she really was.
    At one time she’d tried to convince herself that what Jim had discovered wouldn’t change people’s minds about her. But it would, whether she’d continued to clean the church and board the circuit preachers who traveled through regularly since Reverend Boyle had left or not.
    “Rory?”
    She shook her head to clear her mind, tell herself this wasn’t about her. It was about Garret. Everyone needed an ally at least once in their life, and she could be his, even if it meant giving her a glimpse of a life she could never have. “One dance,” she said, “and then I need to get back to serving punch.” Back to my life of shame.
    “One dance,” Garret agreed, escorting her toward the center of the barn.
    Rory kept her gaze averted, feeling eyes watching them. Though it had been years, everyone in town knew how Emily had rejected Garret for the much older banker. Everyone also knew Emily regretted her decision.
    Garret stopped right in the middle of the dance floor, where everybody could see them, which had Rory’s cheeks burning. Then he bowed, and her heart threatened to choke her at his gesture of chivalry. She managed to provide a deep curtsy just to prove she could play this up as much as he. He laughed aloud as he took her hand, pulled her within reach and settled his other hand on her side.
    Her breath stalled in her lungs as the heat of his palm penetrated her dress and layers of underclothes as if they weren’t even there. Pretend , she told herself, and looked up to meet his gaze.
    With eyes twinkling brighter than stars, Garret gave a slight head nod as if asking if she was ready. Although she was second-guessing herself at the way every bit of her being tingled, excited to be so close to him, she nodded. Her feet seemed to leave the earth as he began to sweep her across the dance floor.
    Oh, heavens. She’d been right. Garret could charm a snake out of its skin. That was what if felt like. As if he’d stripped her out of her outer shell—her clothes, too, considering everywhere he touched had her skin feeling as if it had been sun-blistered.
    He was handsome, with his dark hair and clean-shaven jaw, but it was his eyes that held her captive. The way they never left her, and when he tugged her closer, something shocking flared inside her. There was still a respectable distance between their bodies, but it sure didn’t feel that way. Every part of her that felt him was more alive than ever and told her that after dancing with Garret she’d never be the same again.
    Three dances later, Rory was out of breath yet laughing as she hadn’t in years. “Are you hurt?” she asked.
    The music had stopped and she was kneeling beside Garret, holding his arm as he lay flat out on the dance floor. “What hit me?”
    “Shh,” she said close to his ear. “Mrs. Carter lost her balance and took out half the row.”
    It had been another Virginia reel and saying no when Garret suggested one more dance hadn’t crossed her mind.
    “Did she land on anyone?” His whisper tickled her ear as much as his words did her imagination. Mrs. Carter was a very large woman.
    “No,” she answered while attempting to quell her fanciful imagination. Whispering with him had all sorts of wild ideas bouncing