Finding Elizabeth (15 page)

“Robert!?” she shouted above the noise, elated to see his happy face.

“Yep, that’s me, the dork from high school.”

“You were never a dork—a nerd, maybe,” she teased. “It’s so good to see you. You look great!”

“And you look stunning. Come on, dance with me. I want to make my friends jealous.”

“Good grief. I would love to, Rob, thank you—but jealous? Surely that’s not possible.”

“Those guys lusted after you as much as I did back then and, trust me, nothing’s changed.”

“Oh god—really? I never knew. I’m speechless. But I was all arms and legs.”

He smiled and angled his head for a better look. “Yeah, those legs.”

The music drowned her laughter. When she could manage it, she said, “How could I refuse?”

They danced past Katherine’s table. It allowed her to catch a glimpse of Jack. He seemed unconcerned that she was in the arms of someone else. In fact, he looked relaxed and smiling as he sipped his drink. When the dance was over, Robert escorted her to her table and, after a brief introduction to Jack, left.

With a careless wave of her hand, Katherine said, “I went to school with him.” She cringed inside, wondering why the hell she felt the need to explain anything.

“You do realise your friend Robert’s mission was to dance with you past that bunch of blokes, as many times as possible?”

“It’s a long story.” Katherine shook her head. “We’re all from the same year at high school.”

“What I found interesting was that, as soon as one of his mates made the slightest movement towards you, he quickly slipped you away into the crowd.” Jack grinned. “Clever man, I was envious. You look stunning.” he leaned forward and added with meaning, “You are without a doubt the most desirable woman in the room.”

She thought it better to let that comment slide. “For a moment it felt like we were all still in high school, frozen in time.”

“No one was frozen, least of all Rob … or his friends.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“Very clever. You probably have an arsenal of things that wiggle.”

His cheeky laugh was drowned out by the band starting up again—
thank goodness
.

“Come on, let’s dance before one of Robert’s friends whisks you away,” he said, and held out his hand.

The band’s stack of speakers pumped out the music. Katherine could feel the bass in her chest, and she wondered how the older folk were coping. At first, they tried to talk, but in the end they had to settle for lip-reading. At one point, she could’ve sworn Jack said, “You’re amazing. You have no idea what you do to me.”

You have no idea what you do to me?
Holy cow, this was going way beyond anything she had imagined.

Leandra! It’s all your fault.

Seeing her worried expression, Jack leaned in closer, his mouth brushed her ear. “What’s wrong?” he asked before pulling away just far enough to see her face.

Katherine shook her head. “Nothing!” she lied into his concerned grey eyes.

Jack slipped his hand around the small of Katherine’s back. His other hand held hers close to his chest as if he wished to comfort her. God only knew why. She was a woman with all her faculties, and this night was not going to slip out of her control.
Maybe
. She sighed, but her body remained tense.

Jack lifted her fingers to his lips. He opened her hand and softly kissed her palm, his warm mouth lingering on her skin.
God, that’s not going to help
. The hot, luscious sensation shot through her and lodged below her navel.
Oh, that’s not fair
, she complained of her body giving in so easily to lust. Jack Riley was a master at seduction.

Katherine faltered under the impact of his kiss. Jack caught her up, clasping her close to the length of his glorious body, his thighs flexing against hers with every step. His right thigh moved stirringly between her legs, and her reticence melted away as she relaxed into him.

“At last,” he breathed in her ear, sending delicious goosebumps down her neck. His warm hand caressed her back and around to stroke her rib cage. His heat seeped through the soft fabric of her dress onto her skin.

The romantic lighting dimmed further, the crowd faded from view. Katherine floated as in a dream. He surrounded her with his powerful arms, where sensuality and protection existed as one. His chest pressed firmly against her breasts, and her nipples hardened.

She slipped her hand under the lapel of his dinner suit and moulded her palm against his pectoral muscle. She slipped her other hand around his neck and into his soft hair. His arousal pressed against her belly as their bodies became one fluid motion to the slow rhythm of the love song. Protected in his arms, she wanted to crawl inside his jacket, into his shirt, feel his skin.

Katherine rested her cheek against his jaw.

“Kate,” he whispered teasingly, “you’re an intoxicating turn-on.”

“Well,” Katherine quipped softly, “so I’ve noticed.”

He chuckled into her neck, nipped her earlobe and drew her in tighter. “You realise since you’ve put me in this,
hmmm
, condition we’ll have to stay on the dance floor all night.”

He caressed the soft skin at her nape, and she trembled under his touch.

Jack gently eased Katherine’s head back. His tender gaze smouldered with a profusion of emotions; longing was top on his list. She returned his gaze without flinching.

“I’ve wanted to hold you close to me like this from the first moment I saw you,” he murmured low.

Katherine’s breath caught. She sighed, releasing the tension. As if in a dream she let the dance and Jack carry her away.

The band took a short break. Katherine’s eyes fluttered open, her light-headedness slowly disappeared. If they didn’t move soon, they’d be the only ones left on the dance floor. Jack took her hand and led her back to their table.

“You dance beautifully,” she murmured, sitting down. “You move well.”

“It was all your doing,” he said, giving her a playful lopsided grin.

“Oh the power, I never knew I had it in me,” she said flippantly, with a hand on her chest and batting her eyelashes.

A fresh-faced young woman, wearing an evening suit, her fair hair in a short bob, approached their table. “Would you like your photo taken?” she asked, raising the professional camera slung around her neck.

“Would you mind?” Jack asked. “It’d be a great souvenir.”

Twenty minutes later, the photographer dropped two copies on their table.

Katherine studied the pictures in the dim light of the candle glow. They made a good-looking couple, and it would be a lovely keepsake to remember him by.

Jack peered over her shoulder. “You’re beautiful. I look like a rabbit caught in headlights.”

Katherine gave him a playful smack on the arm and handed him one of the prints.

“Could you keep mine for the moment?” Jack asked.

“Sure.” She put them in her clutch bag, but wondered why he didn’t slip one into the inside pocket of his jacket. Perhaps he thought he would crush it. Was the whole photo idea just a ruse? Overwhelmed with negative thoughts, she wondered, had she lost her man radar?
Shit
.

It was drawing close to midnight when Jack suggested they leave. As they shrugged into their coats and hats, Katherine noticed movement outside the glass doors. She laughed as Frank guided his horse-drawn sleigh to the kerb.

“What’s so funny?” Jack asked, kneeling down to help her with her boots.

“Oh nothing. It’s perfect, that’s all. After coming here in a sleigh, going home in anything else would be an anticlimax—right?” She hadn’t meant to sound sarcastic; it had just popped out that way. He gave her a puzzled look. And for doubting his sincerity, a pang of guilt hit her in the chest. “I’m sorry, it’s wonderful, and very romantic,” she said with meaning, and bent down to kiss his cheek. Jack looked up with a silly grin on his face. “Hey, Prince Charming, don’t forget the stilettos.”

“I wouldn’t dream …” he said, rising with her shoes in hand. “Your carriage awaits, my lady.”

Arm in arm they made their way to the waiting sleigh.

Frank skilfully guided Trudy along Main Street. They passed by places of worship festooned with lights ready for Christmas. On the front steps of a church, carollers dressed in nineteenth-century costumes rehearsed. They held candles and lanterns, their beautiful voices rose in perfect harmony. Their breath fogged out into the clear, still air as they sang, creating luminous halos around them and the lights they carried. Frank slowed the sleigh to a crawl, enabling them to enjoy the hymn as it drifted in the quiet night air. The snow in this area had covered all present-day images, returning the old church, the snow-covered fir trees and the carollers to a bygone era.

Jack’s arm tightened around Katherine, his body warm and solid next to hers as she sat entranced. Was he experiencing the same sense of wonder?

Smiling, she turned to Jack, “I can’t imagine how you arranged for everybody to be on time. I have to assume it’s sheer luck.”

He didn’t speak, but gave her a wicked grin before returning his attention to the singers.
Oh my, perhaps he did orchestrate all this
. She worked out the logistics of organising everything. Surely it was impossible to get the timing just right. Well, good on him if he had. Either way, her appreciation of him had grown throughout the night.

At a word from Jack, Frank shook the reins to get his horse moving and easing into a gentle trot, taking the sleigh along the quiet back roads to her cabin. After a cheerful goodbye and ‘Merry Christmas’ to Frank, they waded through the powder snow to the cabin. Katherine knocked the snow off her boots, and opened her door. Bubbles woofed and came bounding through the living room, turned a corner, skidded on the old timber floor and slid towards the door.

“Bubbles, come back here!” Leandra yelled. She shuffled sleepy-eyed, down the hall, hair all mussed. The slogan on the front of her pyjamas read, ‘I’m up. What more do you want?’. “Hi, you two.” She waved her hand once and shuffled back to bed.

Jack rough-housed with the dog, and seconds later Bubbles headed out the door for a pee.

Damn, there wasn’t going to be a night of hot, sweaty sex.

“Thank you for a wonderful night. I haven’t enjoyed dancing like that for a long time.” She leaned closer, reached up and kissed him. “Good night, Jack.”

“Good night, Kate. Can I have my photo?”

“Of course,” Katherine stared at him; her pulse went up a notch, and her brain said, see, not a ruse after all. She opened her clutch bag and handed him one of the photos.

“Thank you.” He kissed her mouth, smiled, then turned and left.

“Come on, Bubbles.” Katherine went inside, knowing Leandra would bawl her out for not taking a leap of faith, but to her way of thinking, a giant leap, an all or nothing leap.

Definitely not ready for that.

“Leandra … I’ve got something to tell you.”

Without a care in the world, Jack smiled all the way home. He knew he was in for a sleepless night, and didn’t care—he looked forward to it. Inside his mountain chalet swap-home, he loosened his tie, turned the thermostat up and took his jacket off. He poured himself a glass of red wine from the drinks cabinet, sat on the red leather sofa and picked up the phone to ring Dave. Restless, Jack surged to his feet the moment it stopped ringing.

“Jack?” Dave’s sleepy voice croaked. “You’d better be dying.”

“Dave,” Jack peered at his watch. “Christ, I had no idea it was this late. Look, forget it. I’ll ring in the morning.”

“I’m awake now—speak.”

“I met this girl and—” Jack gazed at the photo taken at the dance and placed it on the mantelpiece.

“You rang me in the middle of the night ’cause you met a girl!? Are you insane? Hang on, don’t say another word.”

Patiently, Jack waited. He could hear Dave breathing. There were no bathroom noises, so he hadn’t gone to take a leak. And he wasn’t whispering to one of his luscious babes either.

“Right,” Dave announced, “well mate, you’re in deep shit.”

“Yep, it’s possible.” The glass of red forgotten, Jack paced the sumptuous living room. His shoes clomping on the hardwood floor messed with his ability to think straight. Even worse was Katherine’s lingering perfume. “
Fuck!
”

“
Oooh yeah!
” Dave said. “Get out of town—the country!”

Jack stopped, kicked his shoes off, moved to the plush cream rug and curled his toes into the pile. On the opposite side of the room, the inky blackness outside made his reflection easy to see in the picture window, and he wished Katherine was standing by his side. He shook his head and shuffled his feet in the lush rug.

“Jack, what’re you doing, packing?”

“No, I’m staring at the shag-pile.”

“You’re a braver man than I thought. You’ll get carpet burns doing it there.”

“Dave!” Jack complained. “That’s not—never mind. Go back to sleep.”

“Wait a sec,” Dave chuckled. “Get this; my boss reckons ballet is a sport. And since I did such a great job on the ballet piece, he wants me to do another.”

“You slept through it. And you’ll probably sleep through the next.”

“Yeah, but you’ll have my back. It’s the dancer’s last performance and it’s in Spruce Valley. How about that!”

“Yeah, what’re the odds!” Jack said drily and thought,
Shit, this is getting tricky
.

“It’s the same dancer from the other night. He wants me to do a follow-up—her career, her future. I told the boss it was a great idea, and for my trouble I’ll take two weeks off, thank you very much.”

“Dave?”

“Yeah.”

“The girl I met …?”

“
No-o
,” Dave breathed.

A blizzard woke Katherine during the night. Knowing the cabin had survived decades of storms, she snuggled deeper under the warm quilt and went back to sleep without a care, to dream of dancing with a man who smelled like sunshine.

By late morning the howling wind had stopped. She heaved the feather-down quilt from her head and listened. All she could hear was soft snoring.

Lifting the covers she saw … “Leandra! What are you doing here?”