business was the best way to keep herself out of trouble, talking about upsweeps for the prom might be carrying things too far.
She licked her lips, trying to think of something to say, but when she caught his gaze again the words died on her tongue. As he swept her around the floor, with her feet feeling as if they were barely touching the ground, the ruffle of her dress flowing around her, and the room spinning by, she felt like a princess. Mesmerized by his beautiful green eyes, she couldn’t help but wish this dance, this moment, could go on forever. She felt his hand tighten at her waist, watched his lips as they bowed upward into a broad smile, and her stomach sank to the floor. She had never wanted anything so much in her entire life, in spite of the fact that she knew it was dead wrong and that she wasn’t going to get it.
She almost willed the band to play an extra chorus and when they did she used that unexpected gift of two more minutes to memorize his scent, the look in his eyes, the way his hand felt on the small of her back. She remembered every tingle resonating through her, every pinpoint of awareness inspired by his touch, every good and happy thought that raced through her brain. Because when the song was over and they broke apart to applaud she knew she would do what she had to do.
She faced him, smiled and politely said, “Thank you for the dance,” then ran like the wind into the kitchen.
A quick glance around the stainless steel and Formica room told her everything had been wiped down, washed or returned to its proper position. She faced Ricky Avery, ready to ask him if certain tasks had been done, but remembering the business advice Tanner had given her as he held her in his arms, she smiled and said, “Looks good in here.”
Tall, lanky, curly haired Ricky beamed and peered around with self-satisfaction. “You think so?”
“Yeah,” she said, patting his shoulder. “You did very, very well. I’m proud of you.”
Ricky straightened his shoulders and suddenly looked ten feet tall. “Thanks.”
Bailey smiled. “You’re welcome,” she said, then grabbed the purse she had left with the kitchen staff for safekeeping. “I’ll see you around town,” she added, and started for the door.
Ricky gave her a puzzled frown. “You’re leaving?”
“I’ve already had enough excitement for one night. Besides, I’m working in the morning.”
“But tomorrow’s Sunday.”
“Somebody’s still got to comb out all those up-dos,” Bailey quickly countered. “If everybody wraps their hair for bed tonight like I told them, they’ll be okay for church in the morning, but after church nobody’s going to want to walk around in blue jeans and a T-shirt, looking like Athena.”
“But you planned this…and the night’s only started,” Ricky protested, obviously confused.
Bailey smiled a response, but seeing that Tanner had finally made his way to the kitchen and was about to walk through the door, she said, “I know. See you tomorrow.”
She raced out into the dark, empty night. In her haste she was very careful to make sure she didn’t lose one of her shoes because then for sure she would have felt like Cinderella leaving the ball. And she wasn’t. She was a beautician from Wilmore, West Virginia, trying to build a business, trying to help her town. She was a common, simple, ordinary woman. Not royalty. Not a princess destined to marry a prince.
She climbed into her SUV and shoved the key in the ignition just in time to see Tanner come out of the back door of the church hall. He waved. She yanked her gearshift into drive and drove off. Content with one dance. One very happy memory.
Chapter Two
But Tanner wasn’t nearly satisfied with a memory. He trudged back into the red, white and blue church hall, his lips pursed, his mind going a million miles a second.
“She dumped you,” his father said casually as Tanner pulled out a folding chair and sat beside his mother.
Tanner loosened his tie and grimaced. “She went home. Ricky Avery said she said something about having to comb out up-dos in the morning.”
“If she said she does, she does,” Tanner’s mother confirmed, then popped an olive in her mouth. “Not everybody’s retired like you are.”
“No kidding,” Tanner said.
“In fact, she just bought her beauty shop from Flora Mae Houser. Flora Mae had it for the past thirty years. You probably don’t remember her, but she was the woman who—”
Tanner scowled at his mother.
“Sorry, dear,” she said, then smiled. “I keep forgetting my two men hate it when I switch topics without warning. We can go back to talking about how Bailey doesn’t want to have anything to do with you.”
“If she hadn’t just run like her shoes were on fire, I would have sworn you set this up for me to meet her,” Tanner grumbled. There wasn’t another woman in the room who came close to Bailey. Nobody else he cared to even talk to, let alone dance with. And his parents would have known he’d like her from the first hello.
“Not me,” Jim McConnell said.
“Not me, either,” Doris seconded. “Nobody sets anything up for a woman like Bailey. Besides, look around you. There are plenty of fish in this proverbial sea. Just go ask somebody to dance.”
“I’m out of the mood,” Tanner said, rising from his seat. “I think I’ll go home, too.”
Doris smiled. “You can’t go home. You drove us, remember?”
He sighed. Now he knew for sure his parents hadn’t set him up with Bailey. If they had, they wouldn’t have ridden with him in his car. They would have given him access to drive Bailey home. Or to follow her when she ran, since his mother probably knew Bailey would leave early because of work. He hadn’t been set up. His parents didn’t want him married to Bailey Stephenson. They simply wanted him married.
Tanner’s mother waved her hand in the direction of the crowd. “Go ask somebody to dance. Your good mood will come back.”
Tanner didn’t bother to argue that he hadn’t been in a good mood about this dinner dance until he met Bailey. He didn’t want to mention it to his parents, because then he would have to explain it to himself. And if he started explaining it to himself he would have to use words like intrigued, fascinated, maybe even smitten. Which was ridiculous. He’d hardly said two words to the woman. He couldn’t be interested in someone he didn’t know beyond eye color and occupation. Besides, she obviously didn’t want to have anything to do with him. He couldn’t be smitten with someone who didn’t even like him. It wasn’t normal.
It was for that very reason that Tanner rousted himself from his seat and did ask a few of the eligible women to dance. But though lovely, intelligent and fun, none of them seemed to intrigue him the way Bailey had. He didn’t know what it was about her that drew him, but something did. And it was something more than the fact that she was a challenge. She fit in his arms. She smelled wonderful. And he saw those darned violet eyes of hers the minute he closed his eyes that night in bed.
In church the next morning, Tanner decided he was just tired, and overwhelmed from selling his
