Save the Last Dance (17 page)

Kate could see he was wearing out fast. “I’d better let you rest.”

“I need…I need to tell you something.” He gritted his teeth and paled, then eyed the analge
sia machine, letting the delivery push button drop out of his hand. “Things have been hard. My fault. I decided…you’re right. It’s not fair…to you. Not anymore. I’m closing the legal clinic.”

These were the words she’d longed to hear for the past six months, maybe longer. If the clinic closed, there’d finally be a chance for them to spend more time together. There’d be freedom from the fear that gripped her heart whenever he worked there late at night.

And yet, it was totally wrong.

“You’d do that for me?” She’d been in love with him almost since the day they’d met, but now she felt that love radiate through her with even greater power, warm and deep and steady. A bond that would last for an eternity and beyond. How could she ever have doubted him?

He held her gaze with his. “It’s the right thing to do. For us.”

She shook her head. “I can’t let you do it, unless it’s really, truly what you want,” she said quietly. “That place has been your heart and soul. It has meant more to you than anything else in your career, and I won’t ask you to be less than the man you are.”

“Come here.” He glanced at all the medical equipment surrounding the bed and the tangle of IV lines
dangling in the way. “If I can’t hold you, I’m unhooking all of this and walking out of here so I can.”

The love and need burning in his eyes touched her the way no words ever could. Glancing over her shoulder to make sure there was no nurse in sight, she lowered the side rail and carefully negotiated her way past the IV lines and monitoring equipment until she could gently ease herself into his arms, for just a moment. The steady beat of his heart beneath her cheek and his firm embrace made her feel as if she’d just come home.

And just like that, they were twenty again—so innocent, so filled with the brash confidence of youth. So sure that nothing could ever go wrong when love was so absolutely right.

“We’ve had some hard times,” she murmured. “But I wouldn’t give up a minute with you to change any of it. It only made us stronger.”

“I love you, Kate,” he whispered against her hair. “More than you’ll ever know. And I pray that your last dance will always be mine.”

ISBN: 978-1-4268-3839-2

SAVE THE LAST DANCE

Copyright © 2009 by Roxanne Rustand.

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