Heir of Earth (Forgotten Gods) (15 page)

I blushed immediately and was really glad April had spun me around. If not, I would have ended up staring at the freshly cut grass at my feet while I turned every shade of crimson and looked like a total nerd. So far Lucas thought I was pretty cool. I didn’t want to do anything to mess that up.

April dragged me to a nearby vendor’s table where we pretended to look at all the cheesy Irish postcards. April picked up a postcard picture of Ennishlough and pretended to study it while she leaned over and whispered to me.

“Remember what I said about Lucas?” she said. I nodded my head as I took the postcard she handed me. I put it back down on the table as she picked up another one.

“I bet if we walk over there he’ll ask you to dance.” I could tell she loved the idea of playing matchmaker. And honestly, I liked the idea, too. But my excitement quickly faded when I thought about dancing.

“April, I don’t know how to dance like that. I haven’t been to a dance since middle school,” I said, shaking my head at her master plan.

“What? What about prom? Isn’t that like a big deal for you Americans?” she shrugged her shoulders and looked at me with a scrunched brow.

“For some people, but not for me.”

“You never went?” she asked, and I shook my head. “Too busy with your horses?”

I shrugged my shoulders. I didn’t want to lie to my only friend, but if I told her the truth—that I had never been asked—it would only lead to more questions I didn’t want to answer.

“I swear, Faye. I’m going to teach you how to have fun if it’s the last thing I do,” she said, taking my hand and leading me to a secluded spot behind the row of vendors. “It’s simple. All the girl has to do is put her hands on the guy’s shoulders and move back and forth.” She put my hands on her shoulders and her hands went to my hips. We swayed back and forth in a little circle and then erupted into a fit a giggles when April gawked and groped at me like an awkward, hormone charged boy dancing with a pretty girl.

“Remember, act like you couldn’t care less. It drives the boys crazy!” April said as she gave me her best Hollywood movie star pout and walked back into the roar of the festivities as if she had never left. I scratched an imaginary itch on my cheek to hide my smile and followed her into the festival, more than a little bit nervous about what I was about to do.

We slowly made our way around the edge of the crowd and I copied April’s every move as we tried to look casual. When we were about two tables away from Lucas he called out my name.

“Be cool,” April whispered under her breath as a satisfied smile played on her face. She put the trinket she had been holding back onto the table and we turned around together.

“Oh, hey, Lucas,” I said in what I hoped was a casual voice.

“Where’d you go? I saw you earlier and you just disappeared.” He closed the space between us and for a moment my nerve failed me and I stared blankly at him.

“Girl stuff. You’d be bored,” April answered, distracting Lucas with a smile as she kicked me in the back of the calf to get my attention.

“You look really nice tonight,” Lucas said. His attention focused back on me.

“Thanks.” I managed to get a word out. April stared at me with an imploring look on her face. “I…I guess we both look better when we haven’t been working at the barn all day,” I could tell every guy in Lucas’ group was staring at us. I wanted to talk to him, but the thought of all those boys watching us made me so nervous I couldn’t think of anything to say. I began to pull at my fingernails, just like I always did when I got nervous. Lucas’s eyes fell to the braid running over my shoulder.

“I like your hair like that.”

“Thanks, April did it,” I said, running my hand down the length of my blonde braid.

“Is that your new girlfriend, Lucas?” A younger boy taunted from the group.

“Leave it to Lucas to hook up with the new girl,” another one teased.

“Are you going to ask her to dance?” A voice shouted out, all mockingly sarcastic, his hands coming up to air-dance with a pretend girl.

“Why don’t you just kiss her Lucas?!?” A few chorused together, laughing at themselves in the way boys do.

The hot sting of a full-on, blood-red blush crept across my face, and I stared at my shoes to try to hide it. Sweat prickled my neck like a spotlight was shinning down on me, exposing all my insecurities to the world. The group of boys began to laugh and I didn’t know what to do. So I turned to April, grabbed her arm, and practically ran away.

“She’s not my girlfriend!” Lucas said defiantly as he punched at the arm of one of the more annoying guys.

I didn’t stop until I couldn’t hear their insults anymore.

“I’m really sorry about that Faye. Those guys are totally immature. Don’t bother with them,” April said as she shook her head and rolled her eyes. I looked back at the group once more.

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t really care anyway.” But it was a lie. I did care. I did want Lucas to ask me to dance. I wanted anyone to ask me to dance. I didn’t want to feel like the untouchable girl holding up the wall forever. I was ready to be somebody else. Anybody else.

I chanced a glance over my shoulder, back at Lucas’ group, as we made our way back to the food tent. April rambled on about how immature boys her age were. I wasn’t paying attention where I was going and ran smack into somebody.

“Whoa! What’s the rush?” He asked as soon as we had both steadied ourselves.

“I am so sorry!” I gushed instantly before I even had a chance to see who I was apologizing to.

My jaw dropped open and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked up. He certainly wasn’t one of the immature Clonlea boys April was talking about. He had to be a tourist, because I would have noticed someone so handsome in Clonlea if I had seen him before.

He was gorgeous. He was Dayne gorgeous, but with black curly hair and dancing blue eyes. An amused smirk twisted along his beautiful lips as he reached out to my shoulders and steadied me when I almost fell over again.

I took my eyes away from the depths of his baby blue gaze for a second to look at April. She was shaking her head in open-mouthed wonder as well. I quickly looked back to the man in front of me. He wore a navy shirt, just tight enough to reveal the bulge of muscles around his neck and running over his shoulders. He smelled heavenly, like the summer lavender growing wild in the fields around Clonlea.

My brain was suddenly incapable of processing anything but him. True to form, his good looks and penetrating gaze left me dumbstruck, and all I could do was stare at him with my mouth hanging open.

“Well, I’ll forgive you…” his voice trailed off as he stared down at me with a wicked grin. “ … if you dance with me.” He finished and I continued to stare at him as if he had said nothing.

His eyebrows arched into an amused question mark and my head nodded in agreement all by itself. As I gazed longingly into his eyes, every thought that had been swimming around in my head vanished. The boisterous festival all but disappeared, and a weird sensation radiated up my arm when he took my hand and led me to the dance floor by the sea.

I was vaguely aware April called my name and grabbed my arm to stop me as we walked away, but for some reason I couldn’t turn to answer her. It didn’t register how odd that was. So I stumbled along behind him, like a little puppy dog at his master’s heels.

He easily cut through the crowd that had become a noiseless blur to me, and we were on the dance floor in a matter of seconds. He spun me around effortlessly and held out his hand for mine in the soft glow from the paper lanterns. I raised my hand to meet his, but before I could take it another hand came into the tunnel like vision that had taken over my eyes.

It didn’t bother me that I was no longer in control of my body. A blissful, tingling sensation snaked up my arms, disconnecting me from the stranger’s hand that had been gripped tightly around my own, pulling me away from him. Breaking his grip on me.

Slowly my senses returned. The new hand stayed clasped around my own, and a third body occupied the space between us, pushing me even further away from the stranger.

“She’s dancing with me.” It was a familiar voice, but lower and more threatening than I had ever heard it before. Fear pricked my insides, and I realized the hand that had pulled me away from the stranger was Dayne’s. The ocean breeze caught in his hair and sent the perfumed scent of Dayne wafting over me, even more intoxicating than the stranger had been. If it hadn’t been for Dayne’s hand squeezing mine so tightly I could have sworn it was all a dream.

I sidled away from the two men, giving them more space, but Dayne kept a firm hold on my hand, refusing to let me go. I looked up into his usually beautiful face and saw the stony mask that now glared at the strange man, daring him to disagree. I half expected Dayne’s hair to stand on end like an angry dog defending a juicy bone.

It was obvious they weren’t friends, but something was there, a connection between them that was deeper than some random altercation. The way they looked at each other was familiar, staring with the same icy glare— a look that was much too harsh for strangers, and much too serious to be fighting over dancing with someone as insignificant as me. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, and it was one of those moments that was gone in the blink of an eye, leaving me to wonder if I had imagined it.

I was sure the entire festival was staring at us, having been brought to a standstill by the violence threatening to erupt between them. But as my body returned to normal and I began to look around the crowd I noticed that no one was looking.

“My mistake,” the stranger said, raising his hands apologetically before he disappeared into the crowd.

After what felt like an eternity of silence, I allowed my eyes to drift up to Dayne’s face. He looked at me for the briefest second and then his body snapped to attention. His hand shot out to the side while his other hand reached around my waist and pulled me against him. It was totally old-fashioned dancing, even I knew that, and I began to pull away. I barely knew how to dance in a simple back and forth circle. There was no way I could dance in the formal way I was pretty sure Dayne had been taught since he was a little boy. After all, he was practically Irish royalty—castle and all.

His hand around my waist held me with a lion’s grip, despite my resistance, and he reached down for my hand. We waited as he counted the beats, and in an instant we were off, twirling around the romantically lit dance floor like an amusement park ride. My body was totally in his control. I had never learned to dance like this, but Dayne managed to make my awkward and uncoordinated feet move like a ballroom pro.

My eyes stayed level with his chest, marveling at the situation I was in, reveling at the feel of his touch, so gentle but firm at my waist. On a few occasions, I peeked through my lashes at his chiseled expression.
Why did he seem so mad?

“Did you know that guy?” I finally managed to ask, unsure how words were able to form in my mind and actually make it out of my mouth. Being this close to Dayne normally tied my tongue and made me feel like a babbling idiot. He didn’t look at me or say a word. He continued staring over my head at the dancers twirling past us so I assumed he hadn’t heard me over the music.

If everything hadn’t happened so quickly, I am sure I would have found a way to blush every shade of Valentine’s Day red and run away. But I didn’t. If it had been any other guy, I would have been totally weirded out. But it was Dayne, and I had literally dreamed about being in his arms for weeks. Now I was, and I had never felt more like Cinderella dancing under the stars with her fairytale prince.

My body was alive, electric at his touch, swirling in the breeze blowing in off the Atlantic. I was aware of every part of him that touched every part of me. His hand over mine was strong, but soft, perfectly warm, but not sweaty. My arm stretched up and rested on his shoulder. His muscles twitched with every new step and turn, the heat of his skin radiating through the thin cotton shirt warming my hand. Our hips pressed together every now and then as his hand guided me through the dance steps like he was reading my mind.

As our bodies swayed expertly together, a smile spread across my lips. I still didn’t have a clue why Dayne wouldn’t want me dancing with that other guy, but I didn’t really care. I was in his arms, and I was falling more in love with him with every turn—if that was even possible.

“I don’t have to know a guy like that to know you have no business dancing with him,” he finally said just as I forgot about my question.

“What do you mean?” I asked totally confused by his answer.

“Listen, Faye. The locals around here learn early. We don’t mix with the tourists. You’re so young and innocent. You don’t have a clue what a guy like that has on his mind. You’re an easy target, and for some reason your new
friends
failed to let you in on the joke.” I blushed, remembering April had tried to stop me and I hadn’t listened. But why should he care? I certainly wasn’t Dayne’s friend.

“I’m eighteen, and I know enough to take care of myself,” I said, suddenly angry with him for making me feel like an immature fool. “And my
friends
would have danced with him too!” I was lying, but I didn’t care. He made me mad, and my voice was harsh enough to let him know. I flinched at the tone. I’d never argued with anyone ever before, and now I was sticking up for myself with Dayne?