Диана Палмер – One of a Kind: Lionhearted / Letters to Kelly (страница 9)
Leo had forgotten how pretty Janie could look when she worked at it. Lately, he’d only seen her covered in mud and flour. Tonight, her figure drew eyes in that dress. He remembered the feel of her in his arms, the eager innocence of her mouth under his, and he suddenly felt uneasy at the way she was clinging to Harley’s arm.
If he was uncomfortable, Marilee was even more so. She stood beside Leo and looked as if she hated herself. He took another long sip of his drink before he guided her toward Harley and Janie.
“No sense hiding, is there?” he asked belligerently.
Marilee sighed miserably. “No sense at all, I guess.”
They moved forward together. Janie noticed them and her eyes widened and darkened with pain for an instant. Leo’s harsh monologue at the hardware store had been enough to wound her, but now she was seeing that she’d been shafted by her best friend, as well. Marilee said Janie didn’t know her date, but all along, apparently, she’d planned to come with Leo. No wonder she’d been so curious about whether or not Janie was going to show up.
Everything suddenly made perfect sense. Marilee had filled Leo up with lies about Janie gossiping about him, so that she could get him herself. Janie felt like an utter fool. Her chin lifted, but she didn’t smile. Her green eyes were like emerald shards as they met Marilee’s.
“H… hi, Janie,” Marilee stammered, forcing a smile. “You said you weren’t coming tonight.”
“I wasn’t,” Janie replied curtly. “But Harley was at a loose end and didn’t have a date, so he asked me.” She looked up at the tall, lean man beside her, who was some years younger than Leo, and she smiled at him with genuine affection even through her misery. “I haven’t danced in years.”
“You’ll dance tonight, darlin’,” Harley drawled, smiling warmly as he gripped her long fingers in his. He looked elegant in his dinner jacket, and there was a faint arrogance in his manner now that hadn’t been apparent before. He glanced at Marilee and there was barely veiled contempt in the look.
Marilee swallowed hard and avoided his piercing gaze.
“I didn’t know you could dance, Harley,” Marilee murmured, embarrassed.
He actually ignored her, his narrow gaze going to Leo. “Nice turnout, isn’t it?” he asked the older man.
“Nice,” Leo said, but he didn’t smile. “I haven’t seen your boss tonight.”
“The baby had a cold,” Harley said. “He and Lisa don’t leave him when he’s sick.” He looked down at Janie deliberately. “Considering how happy the two of them are, I guess marriage isn’t such a bad vocation after all,” he mused.
“For some, maybe,” Leo said coldly. He was openly glaring at Harley.
“Let’s get on the dance floor,” Harley told Janie with a grin. “I’m anxious to try out that waltz pattern I’ve been learning.”
“You’ll excuse us, I’m sure,” Janie told the woman who was supposed to be her best friend. Her eyes were icy as she realized how she’d been betrayed by Marilee’s supposed “help” with Leo.
Marilee grimaced. “Oh, Janie,” she groaned. “Let me explain….”
But Janie wasn’t staying to listen to any halfhearted explanations. “Nice to see you, Marilee. You, too, Mr. Hart,” she added with coldly formal emphasis, not quite meeting Leo’s eyes. But she noted the quick firming of his chiseled lips with some satisfaction at the way she’d addressed him.
“Why do you call him Mr. Hart?” Harley asked as they moved away.
“He’s much older than we are, Harley,” she replied, just loudly enough for Leo to hear her and stiffen with irritation. “Almost another generation.”
“I guess he is.”
Leo took a big swallow of his drink and glared after them.
“She’ll never speak to me again,” Marilee said in a subdued tone.
He glared at her. “I’m not her personal property,” he said flatly. “I never was. It isn’t your fault that she’s been gossiping and spreading lies all over town.”
Marilee winced.
He turned his attention back to Janie, who was headed onto the dance floor with damned Harley. “I don’t want her. What the hell do I care if she likes Harley?”
The music changed to a quick, throbbing Latin beat. Matt Caldwell and his wife, Leslie, were out on the dance floor already, making everybody else look like rank beginners. Everybody clapped to the rhythm until the very end, when the couple left the dance floor. Leo thought nobody could top that display until Harley walked to the bandleader, and the band suddenly broke into a Strauss waltz. That was when Harley and Janie took the floor. Then, even Matt and Leslie stood watching with admiration.
Leo stared at the couple as if he didn’t recognize them. Involuntarily, he moved closer to the dance floor to watch. He’d never seen two people move like that to music besides Matt and Leslie.
The rhythm was sweet, and the music had a sweeping beauty that Janie mirrored with such grace that it was like watching ballet. Harley turned and Janie followed every nuance of movement, her steps matching his exactly. Her eyes were laughing, like her pretty mouth, as they whirled around the dance floor in perfect unison.
Harley was laughing, too, enjoying her skill as much as she enjoyed his. They looked breathless, happy—young.
Leo finished his drink, wishing he’d added more whiskey and less soda. His dark eyes narrowed as they followed the couple around the dance floor as they kept time to the music. “Aren’t they wonderful?” Marilee asked wistfully. “I don’t guess you dance?”
He did. But he wasn’t getting on that floor and making a fool of himself with Marilee, who had two left feet and the sense of rhythm of a possum.
“I don’t dance much,” Leo replied tersely.
She sighed. “It’s just as well, I suppose. That would be a hard act to follow.”
“Yes.”
The music wound to a peak and suddenly ended, with Janie draped down Harley’s side like a bolt of satin. His mouth was almost touching hers, and Leo had to fight not to go onto the floor and throw a punch at the younger man.
He blinked, surprised by his unexpected reaction. Janie was nothing to him. Why should he care what she did? Hadn’t she bragged to everyone that he was taking her to this very dance? Hadn’t she made it sound as if they were involved?
Janie and Harley left the dance floor to furious, genuine applause. Even Matt Caldwell and Leslie congratulated them on the exquisite piece of dancing. Apparently, Harley had been taking lessons, but Janie seemed to be a natural.
But the evening was still young, as the Latin music started up again and another unexpected couple took the floor. It was Cash Grier, the new assistant police chief, with young Christabel Gaines in his arms. Only a few people knew that Christabel had been married to Texas Ranger Judd Dunn since she was sixteen—a marriage on paper, only, to keep herself and her invalid mother from losing their family ranch. But she was twenty-one now, and the marriage must have been annulled, because there she was with Cash Grier, like a blond flame in his arms as he spun her around to the throbbing rhythm and she matched her steps to his expert ones.
Unexpectedly, as the crowd clapped and kept time for them, handsome dark-eyed Judd Dunn himself turned up in evening dress with a spectacular redhead on his arm. Men’s heads turned. The woman was a supermodel, internationally famous, who was involved at a film shoot out at Judd and Christabel’s ranch. Gossip flew. Judd watched Christabel with Grier and glowered. The redhead said something to him, but he didn’t appear to be listening. He watched the two dancers with a rigid posture and an expression more appropriate for a duel than a dance. Christabel ignored him.
“Who is that man with Christabel Gaines?” Marilee asked Leo.
“Cash Grier. He used to be a Texas Ranger some years ago. They say he was in government service as well.”
Leo recalled that Grier had been working in San Antonio with the district attorney’s office before he took the position of assistant police chief in Jacobsville. There was a lot of talk about Grier’s mysterious past. The man was an enigma, and people walked wide around him in Jacobsville.
“He’s dishy, isn’t he? He dances a
Leo turned on his heel and left Marilee standing by herself, stunned. He walked back to the drinks table with eyes that didn’t really see. The dance floor had filled up again, this time with a slow dance. Harley was holding Janie far too close, and she was letting him. Leo remembered what he’d said about her in the hardware store, and her wounded expression, and he filled another glass with whiskey. This time he didn’t add soda. He shouldn’t have felt bad, of course. Janie shouldn’t have been so possessive. She shouldn’t have gossiped about him…
“Hi, Leo,” his sister-in-law Tess, said with a smile as she joined him, reaching for a clear soft drink.
“No booze, huh?” he asked with a grin, noting her choice.
“I don’t want to set a bad example for my son,” she teased, because she and Cag had a little boy now. “Actually, I can’t hold liquor. But don’t tell anybody,” she added. “I’m the wife of a tough ex-Special Forces guy. I’m supposed to be a real hell-raiser.”