Willowleaf Lane (27 page)
Authors: RaeAnne Thayne
She knew it was a mistake but she couldn’t resist this chance. With her heart racing, she stepped forward slowly, into his arms.
He clasped her right hand in his left, and she curled her other hand around his neck. He was warm and smelled delicious, that expensive aftershave he rarely used, probably because he knew his own pheromones were enough to make women swoon.
“I should warn you, I was a lousy dancer in high school, and I haven’t gotten much better over the years,” he murmured.
Amazingly, she was filled with the absurd urge to laugh. “That’s okay. I’m probably good enough to carry both of us. Pop made each of my brothers practice with me before he let them go to any school dances. Six proms, six homecoming dances—you do the math.”
He smiled down at her, and she wasn’t sure her heart was big enough to hold all the emotions surging through her.
They danced through the empty ballroom while the tea lights twinkled and the orchestra played softly just for them. Contrary to his claim, Spence was a fine dancer. She should have known he would be, athletic and graceful, sure-footed.
It was a priceless, magical memory. Wanting to burn every instant into her mind, she closed her eyes and rested her cheek against his lapel, listening to each beat of his heart.
When he raised their clasped hands to his mouth and pressed his lips to her fingers, it was too much. Her feelings were too big, too terrifying. If he kissed her, she would be lost.
She slipped her hands free and jerked away, making a break again for the door. Again, he beat her to it.
“Charlotte, stop. Why are you running away? What did I do wrong now?”
“You didn’t do anything.” Tears began to trickle out, and she couldn’t seem to stop them.
He looked stricken at the sight of them. “This was a stupid idea. I’m sorry. I just thought, I don’t know, that maybe if I could go back and try to fix that one moment when I hurt you, we could get past it and move forward.”
She shook her head, tears falling freely now. “It wasn’t a stupid idea. Don’t say that. It’s the most romantic, wonderful thing anybody’s ever done for me.”
He stared at her. “So why the hell are you crying?”
She laughed and wiped at her eyes with shaky fingers. “I’m crying because I’m such an idiot.” She had to say it, just push forward through the fear and get it out.
“I love you, Spence,” she said in a rush. “I’ve loved you most of my life. Or I thought I did, anyway. When you came back, I fell in love all over again, and this time I knew it was no silly crush. This was the real thing. I love you so much I can’t breathe around it but...I’m so scared I won’t be enough for you. I’m terrified you’ll never love me as much as I love you.”
He continued staring at her without saying anything. She had never felt so foolish, so horribly stupid, not even that moment when she had stood listening to him talk about her in the hardware store.
She fumbled in her clutch for the tissue she knew was in there, avoiding his gaze. Finally she found the darn thing and, as she pulled it out and wiped at her eyes, Spence started to laugh. It rippled through the ballroom, even over the soft music, and she heard relief and triumph in it.
He came over and took the tissue from her, wiping her eyes with a tenderness that made her cry all over again.
“You’re right. You
are
an idiot—about this, anyway. This isn’t some kind of competition about who loves the other one more.”
He gave her that patented, devastating Smokin’ Hot Spence Gregory smile. “Of course, if it were, I would remind you which of us made a pretty good living because of his fierce competitive streak. You have to know, there’s no
way
I would ever let you win a contest like that. You’ll just have to accept that I’m always going to love you more.”
He did have a very well-developed sense of competition, she had to admit.
“Look around you,” he went on. “How can you think for a second I don’t love you enough? I’m so crazy about you, I put myself through all of this, for
you.
”
She imagined the logistics that must have been involved in creating this wonderland, of her friends carting out all these decorations from the storage unit in town, hanging the lanterns, ordering the spectacular floral arrangements.
“For the past two days, I’ve had to endure all of your friends giggling and smirking at me while they made plans for this. That’s not even mentioning all the crap I’ve had to take from Peyton, who thinks this is the most hilarious thing she’s ever heard. She’s been completely insufferable.”
He all but wagged his finger at her. “And just so you know, I had to personally approach Harry Lange. Do you have any idea how excruciating that was? He made me practically promise him our firstborn son in return for letting me use his ballroom and agreeing to make the call to order you to his imaginary cocktail party. Look at me, Charlotte. I’m wearing a damn tux. I
hate
wearing a tux.”
She almost smiled at that. He likely had no idea how gorgeous he looked. Hearts had probably broken all across town as he drove up here.
She looked around at all he had done for her and a soft warmth began to beat back the icy fear, inch by inch.
“I don’t know how much more proof you need,” he murmured. “I love you, Charlotte. You’re kind and loving and beautiful, inside and out. You’re everything I never knew I needed.”
He stood in front of her, Smokin’ Hot Spencer Gregory, with his heart in his eyes. He was hers. She might be an idiot but she wasn’t about to let him go because of some ridiculous fear.
In the next breath, she launched herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and kissing him with every ounce of love she had stored up her whole life.
After one brief, shocked moment, he kissed her back with fierce emotion.
They stood that way for a long time, wrapped together on the dance floor until gradually Charlotte realized something subtle had changed. The music had stopped.
A moment later, they heard a throat clearing over the sound system.
“Excuse me, sir.”
Spence looked up at the violinist Charlotte had completely forgotten about—just as she had forgotten the other five members of the orchestra ensemble.
“Would you like us to keep playing?”
He glanced down at Charlotte, a question in his eyes. She smiled and took his hand, and they danced together there in the empty ballroom while the music played and the tea light lanterns flickered gently overhead and her happiness bubbled over.
* * * * *
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ISBN: 9781460315163
Copyright © 2013 by RaeAnne Thayne
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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