Save the Last Dance (5 page)

He gave her a startled look. “A loan? I…pay my debts on my own. But it was nice of you to offer.”

“You could pay me back.” The sooner the better, or there’d be no groceries on her table this week or next. But from the decisive shake of his head that wouldn’t be an issue. “I guess that’s a ‘no’?”

His faint smile returned. “Right.”

The look of stubborn pride on his face conveyed far more than his words, echoing the same kind of determination she’d developed herself over the years. She had no right to pry into his personal affairs, and once again, she felt her admiration and curiosity deepen, coupled with an unexpected sense of connection.

And maybe he felt it, too, because he tipped his head and studied her, his eyes warm and deep and compelling, as if he were seeing into her very soul. “You aren’t like any girl I’ve ever met,” he said finally.

A little embarrassed, she ducked her head. “Understatement of the year?”

“No—I mean it.” He held her gaze with his. “Go out with me Friday night. Please?”

A flash of panic hit her. “I can’t.”

“Saturday?”

“Sorry. Really—I have to work all weekend. And I’ve got a ton of homework, and…”

“Please?”

His voice lowered, and the note of vulnerability won her over when nothing else would have. “Well…”

“Nothing fancy…Maybe a movie at the dollar theater? Pizza?”

He was all wrong for her. She’d been down this road before, and it had led to heartbreak and humiliation because of who she was and where she’d come from. But she suddenly knew that if she didn’t grab this chance, she’d regret it for the rest of her life. What could be the harm with just one simple date?

“Saturday, then? But it would have to be after nine.”

“Deal. I’ll pick you up at your place, nine sharp.” He climbed onto his bike and grinned at her. “Don’t forget.”

She watched him disappear across the campus and felt her heart turn to lead. Just talking to him did funny things to her insides.

Made her imagine things that couldn’t be.

Made her temporarily forget why any relationship—especially with someone who would have so much to lose—was impossible.

Nope, she wouldn’t forget.

But between now and Saturday night, she was going to think up a perfect excuse….

Or maybe she’d tell him the truth.

K
ATE’S RESOLVE VANISHED
when Jared appeared at her door at nine o’clock Saturday, with a tentative smile and two tickets for a campus production of
Much Ado About Nothing,
starting at nine-thirty. He was dressed in khakis and a black polo shirt that emphasized his broad chest and biceps. Just looking at him nearly took her breath away.

He stared down at her, his eyes darkening and his smile fading. “You are,” he said quietly, “the most intriguing person I’ve ever met. I thought I’d find a note on the door saying that you couldn’t go.”

She bit back a laugh. “Actually, I wrote one, but tore it up a few minutes ago.”

From somewhere back in the apartment, Deanna called out, “I made her do it, so you can thank me.”

Startled, he looked over her head toward the sound of Dee’s voice, then touched Kate’s cheek with his fingertips. “Look, if you don’t want to go, just say the word.”

He was so different from what she would’ve expected of someone with a background like his. Where was the superficial charm, the arrogant, offhand sense of entitlement that so many of the fraternity guys wore like a badge of honor?

Remembering his gentle defense of the little boy at the corner store, she fought the urge to lean into his touch.
One date. What could be the harm? Just one evening, and she’d back away from all the temptation before her…before it was too late.

“That note was…um…a mistake,” she admitted.

“I’m glad.” His eyes twinkled. “Tell your friend that I owe her a favor. Are you all set?”

She grabbed her purse and denim jacket from a bench by the door. Out in the crisp night air, their hands automatically caught and held as they strolled through the fallen leaves covering the sidewalks.

The sweet scent of burning leaves drifted on the breeze, coupled with the aroma of cinnamon-laden apple pie emanating from one of the 1940s stucco bungalows they passed on their way to the campus theater.

“I hardly know you,” Jared said, “yet I feel like I’ve known you forever. Is that weird?”

She angled a teasing glance at him. “Maybe we were siblings in another life.”

He laughed. “Believe me, I don’t think of you
as my sister.” Silvery moonlight painted the campus in shimmering, eerie shades of gray. In the shadows of a massive old oak, he stopped and turned to her, lifting her chin gently. “In fact, I’ve wanted to do this since the moment we met.”

He hesitated, giving her a chance to pull away, then lowered his mouth to hers for a brief kiss.

It was as if she’d been touched with fire. Sensation and longing spread through her, and she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck. “One more?”

This time, he kissed her longer—still chaste, still holding back, but in that kiss she felt such connection, such desire unfolding inside her, that at first she was only dimly aware of the single word echoing through her heart.

Forever…Forever…

And she knew that no matter what happened in her life, no matter what happened with this relationship or with any others, she would never forget this moment in Jared’s arms.

T
HE IRONY OF THE PLAY’S
romantic conflicts amused her, though she scarcely heard the actors speak. Instead, she was aware of Jared’s woodsy aftershave. The warmth of his arm next to hers. The surreptitious glances of some of the other students in the theater.

For this one precious night, she felt like the wealthiest princess in the world—flying high and savoring every moment.

Afterward, they lingered at a coffee shop, talking until the lone waitress stopped mopping the floor and told them it was long past time for the place to close.

With obvious regret, Jared stood, flipped a five-dollar bill onto the table and ushered Kate outside. “I think I could’ve stayed there till dawn, if she hadn’t told us to go. Next time, we’ll have to try that all-night diner on Fourth.”

Next time?
Maybe…
Kate’s heart lifted, even as reality started to nip at her thoughts. “What would your mother say, if she knew you were hanging out with someone like me?”

“Like you?” The surprise in his voice was palpable. “What wouldn’t she like?”

“Who have you dated before—girls from your country club? Your social circle?”

“Yes, but…” He faltered. “That’s just ’cause they were attending the same school, I guess.”

“I don’t think we should see each other again.”

At that, he stopped short and gently swung her around to face him. “My family has nothing to do with this.”

“No?” She took a slow breath as she gathered
her courage. “Mine does…and I think yours would take issue with that.”

“Our families don’t matter.”

They would. He just didn’t know it yet, and if she could save them the embarrassment and awkwardness of that revelation, they’d both be better off.

But then their eyes met. Locked.

Looking up into his strong, chiseled face, she saw his eyes melt as he stared down at her, and her heart expanded until it barely fit in her chest.

She’d dated a few boys in high school. She’d had a girlish attraction to some of the coolest guys at school, and after seeing the
Star Wars
and
Indiana Jones
movies, she’d had a silly crush on Harrison Ford.

But never had anyone made her feel like Jared did—a soul-deep attraction that she felt with every fiber of her being.

“I want to see you again. Tomorrow night?”

The deep timbre of his voice and its absolute determination sensitized her skin, sending renewed shivers of awareness through her. Every bit of her resolve fled like a fallen leaf on the rising October wind.

She nodded, feeling a little faint.

The obstacles between Shakespeare’s young lovers in the play had been amusing…but they didn’t
hold a candle to what lay in her past.
One more time…just one more evening couldn’t hurt, could it?

But all the way home she prayed that she hadn’t made a big mistake.

S
HE SPENT
S
UNDAY AFTERNOON
in the vet school library, trying to study for her anatomy test on Monday. Mostly, she watched the time tick by slowly…slowly…slowly…taunting her with the imperceptible drag of the minute hand as it made its way around the broad white face of the clock on the wall.

At five, she allowed herself to launch out of her chair and jog home, where she showered, tried on four different outfits, and finally made a cheap box of macaroni and cheese to share with Deanna. Leesa, as usual, was at the stable, where she’d go whenever she had a spare hour or two.

“Hot date,” Deanna mused, a forkful of garish orange macaroni halfway to her mouth. “Hmm. I wonder who it could be.”

Kate fixed her with a quelling stare. “Don’t embarrass me when he comes over, okay?”

Her hand at her chest, Deanna feigned astonishment. “Me? Embarrass you? Never.”

“I shouldn’t even be doing this, you know.”

“Why not? Jared is an absolute doll. From the
look in his eyes, he already adores you. What’s not to like?”

“Charlesburg.”

At the single word, Deanna lowered her fork to her plate, and her other hand dropped to her lap.

“See?” A wave of hopelessness and frustration settled in Kate’s stomach like a cold, dead weight. “I have to tell him, because he’ll find out anyway. Either way…”

“But you aren’t responsible for your family. No one can hold that against you.”

“Headline news? Of course they can. Think ‘high school prom.’”

Whenever she thought of that night, the embarrassment still sent flames burning in her cheeks.

Because she lived so far out in the country, she’d offered to drive into town and meet her date at the school. Phillip had been inside, standing in a circle of friends, their heads bent together. When one of them spied her, they’d broken apart instantly and her heart had done a slow-motion dive to the floor.

Phillip turned his back on her, took the arm of Chelsea Goodwin and went out on the dance floor. Two of his friends strolled over to meet Kate, their faint smirks barely hiding their anticipation.

“Is it true?” Wendy exclaimed. “Really, really true?”

Kate stared at them, feeling herself shrink against the cool cement block wall of the gym.

“I mean, I never met anyone related to a
murderer
before!”

“I—” Kate’s words lodged in her throat.

She’d gone to live with several different relatives since eighth grade. Different schools, different states, but the past always caught up with her, branding her forever with the most terrible night of her life.

She’d fled from the prom. Deanna had run after her a few minutes later—but only after furiously berating Wendy for her careless words.

Deanna reached across the plates of macaroni and took Kate’s hand. “Jared isn’t like those kids in high school. We’re all older now. That’s just history.”

“I’d like to believe it.”

“Then do. You’ve barely dated the past four years. It’s time to give someone a chance.” Deanna waggled her eyebrows à la Groucho Marx. “Especially him. Like, he’s totally awesome. And,” she added with a grin, “maybe he has an equally rad brother.”

“M
AYBE YOU MISUNDERSTOOD
and it was, like, next weekend or something.” Deanna looked over the top of her pharmacology textbook at the clock on the stove. Almost midnight. “That has to be it.”

After washing the dishes, Kate had paced the small apartment for a while, then collapsed on the couch with her homework. “Or he had second thoughts. It’s just as well.”

“You could call him. Maybe he forgot.”

“Even if I wanted to, I lost his number. Not that I’d actually do it.”

“You are the most stubborn person I ever met.” Deanna flipped to another page in her book and fell silent for a few minutes before looking up again. “By the way, there was a weird guy outside this morning—after you left. He pulled his car to a stop in front of the apartment building and asked Leesa and me a lot of questions.”

“He was hitting on you, I bet.”

“Yuck. I hope not—he had to be fifty or more. Sorta bald. Business suit.”

“You shouldn’t talk to strangers, Dee,” Kate intoned, mimicking Deanna’s mother. “I heard your mom say that
lots
of times.”

“Hey, Leesa and I could run faster’n he could, believe me, ’cause he was pretty hefty. He said he was doing a survey of the building and had randomly picked three of the apartments.”

“Ours?” Kate made a face. “Did you tell him about the ants? The mold in the bathroom?”

“He mostly asked friendly questions about us.
Where we were from, why we’d moved here, our majors and so on. Oh, and how happy we are with the place, of course. He was really disappointed that he missed talking to you, too.”

Kate felt a flash of suspicion. “You didn’t tell him anything personal.”

Deanna rolled her eyes. “Of course not.”

“How do you know that he was who he said he was? Did you call the apartment manager?”

“Leesa and I aren’t exactly stupid, thanks very much.” Deanna threw her hands up in defeat. “You are
way
too paranoid, but if it makes you feel better,
you
can call.”

Mollified, Kate sank back against the cushions and managed a contrite smile. “Sorry. Guess I’m just a little edgy…since Prince Charming didn’t show up, and all. Which is just as well, really, because that saves me from any awkward situations later on.”

“Like, when you refuse to go out with him again? You oughta be pretty good at shutting guys down by now.”

She shrugged, but Deanna wasn’t even close. Kate was looking ahead to the situations that might occur if she dared follow her heart and got as far as meeting his family.

She could only imagine what the Matherses
would think if they looked too deeply into her family’s past.

The specter of tabloid frenzy would have them barricading their doors.

“Y
OU’RE SURE
it’s the same girl?” Sylvia Mathers leaned closer to the entryway mirror and touched the corner of her mouth with a long fingernail, correcting a miniscule smudge of lipstick. “Absolutely sure?”

“Definitely.”

Dexter shoved his hands in his pockets, which was infinitely better than watching him fidget with his watch, his wedding band and the cuffs of his suit jacket. And once again, Sylvia second-guessed her decision to send her stuffy brother on such an important mission.

“You talked to this girl? The one Jared told me about on the phone this morning?” She suppressed a shudder. “The one he thinks is his dream girl?”

He twitched, averted his gaze. “Not Kate. She wasn’t there. But her roommates were talkative enough. Then I drove clear up to Charlesburg—four hours away—and asked around about her family. As always, you were right. They spell trouble with a capital
T.
Have you told Jared that you were checking up on her background?”

“You know how he is—always leaping to the defense of the downtrodden and misunderstood.” Sylvia snorted. “So I simply reminded him of his current and future duty to this family. I also reminded him of his ‘long-standing’ commitment tonight.”

“The children’s hospital gala?”

“I told him that he’d promised to be my escort. He brought me home just a few minutes ago. Nice affair, actually. Big crowd, successful benefit.” She reined in a tired sigh. “See and be seen, as they say.”

“Is it worth it, Syl?” Dexter’s voice held a note of reproach. “Maybe your kids don’t care about all of this.”

“My children are my
life.
And I’m going to see that they take their rightful places in society.”

“Well…maybe they want something different for themselves. Maybe they don’t care about all the status and money and power.”