They were Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara in the flesh. “Well, fiddle-dee-dee, Mr. Warren.” She glanced coyly away and saw her mom and dad, Tara and Neil and Charlie and Ginny all making their way to the dance floor. “I thought you’d never ask.”
His large, warm hand enveloped hers, and her heart lost its steady rhythm, plunging into its own wild dance, taking her along for the ride like a loose roller coaster careening out of control.
They joined one of the groups, and the caller directed them to form two lines facing each other, men in one line, ladies in the other. Reluctantly, she let go of Rick’s hand to take her place, but his smoldering gaze held her across the small distance that separated them.
“Before we break into squares, we want to get everybody warmed up,” the caller explained. “We’re gonna start with the Virginia Reel.”
Summer decided he couldn’t have started with a more appropriate dance; her head was already reeling.
For the next two hours, she and Rick danced every dance. They held hands, held waists, locked arms, locked eyes, smiled, laughed and had the time of their lives.
Sometime during the first few do-si-dos, she lost herself. She was no longer Summer Delaney...or even the fairy princess.
She was Cinderella. And she was having a ball.
* * *
RICK WONDERED IF THERE WAS more to the fairy princess thing than met the eye. Magic? Maybe. He certainly felt like he was under some kind of spell.
The square dance had been fun, although being so near Summer and not being able to kiss her again had been torture. Even now, he could smell her faint perfume where she’d brushed so often against his shirt and just the scent was conjuring images in his mind that had nothing to do with dancing—unless it was the kind that happened between the sheets.
He glanced out the window again. Yeah, Agnes and Herschel were still visiting at her cabin.
His meeting with them while everyone was getting ready for the dance had gone well. The notes he’d taken so far pleased them, but he promised to get measurements and make scaled sketches of all the buildings. Agnes especially liked his mom’s idea of painting and adding flowers. Herschel wasn’t as enthused, seeing it as an unnecessary expense, even when Rick volunteered his time. But they both seemed genuinely interested in his mom’s opinion that they could make a profit if they could catch the real-estate market at the right time.
Herschel was uneasy about what Summer’s reaction would be to such news, but Rick assured him, based on conversations he’d had with her, Summer’s top priority was their well-being. Her dad wasn’t so sure. He continued to insist they needed to stay mum on the selling option until they’d made a decision. And Rick continued to remind himself that what they did with their property was their business, and he certainly didn’t want to get involved with their family matters. If he could only give them a glimpse of the woman, Summer, whom he was getting to know.
“Summer’s got a good head on her shoulders,” he assured them.
“Sometimes,” Agnes answered.
“And sometimes, you can’t tell her anything. You have to just stand back and let her flounder in her own mire.”
Herschel’s face had reddened when he made that remark, and Rick had chosen to let the conversation die there.
Now, he jerked the T-shirt over his head in frustration, taking one last whiff before tossing it into his duffel of dirty laundry. He’d hoped for some one-on-one time with the wild child tonight. Had counted on it all day long.
Although another kiss—or two or three—admittedly had been part of the Summer scenarios playing on a continuous loop in his mind, mostly he wanted to talk, wanted to get to know this woman who was capturing his...thoughts.
He jumped into the shower and scrubbed away the last of the pleasant scent, and then doused himself with a hard spray of icy water for good measure.
As he turned off the water, the sound he’d been waiting for echoed in his ears—car tires crunching down the gravel road. The Delaneys were leaving.
He scrambled to get dressed, grabbed the other things he’d laid out and made a beeline for Summer’s cabin, undeterred even though he watched her lights blink out when he was a few yards from her door.
He leaped up on the porch and knocked quietly, waiting breathlessly until he heard her soft approach on the other side.