He sipped his drink and watched the muted light play across her finely etched features.
Her warm hazel eyes flickered across his face. “I suppose it would be looking in from the outside. But to us, all of the people who everyone else reads about were like family.” She drew in a breath, reached for her glass and realized that her hand was shaking. She concentrated on bringing the glass to her lips without spilling her drink. “What about you?” she asked, steering the conversation away from herself, a topic that she didn’t relish discussing.
Preston set his glass down, tilted his head slightly to the side, his full lips pressed lightly together and puckered out. “Well, I’m a product of a single teenage mom. Public schooling. My mama worked two jobs that added up to one most of my life.” His dark eyes drifted away from Lee Ann. “She would tell me every day that she expected me to make something of myself. She wasn’t working so I could grow up to be a nobody.” The corner of his mouth jerked as the images of those days of “have not” flashed through his head. “As soon as I was old enough, I got a part-time job after school, packing groceries, delivering whatever needed to be delivered, flipping burgers, waiting tables. You name it, I did it at one point or the other.”
“It must have been hard.”
He looked directly at her. “I suppose to someone looking in from the outside,” he said, playing with her statement to him. “But like you, it was the only life I knew. Sometimes I would see the other kids in their new sneakers or tooling around town in their daddy’s car, walking into fancy houses.” His face and voice took on a hard edge like a tide that suddenly rushed to shore pulling the sand out from under your feet—unexpected and scary. “I knew there was more out there than what was in front of me, and I had to find a way to get it. My life and my mama’s struggling made me what I am. Determined and focused to get what I wanted. And I did, but I’m not finished yet.”
Lee Ann held her breath anticipating what she wasn’t sure. And then he smiled and the tide slowly receded, and she was standing on solid ground again.
“Don’t mind me, I can get a little caught up in my own rhetoric sometimes,” he said, catching the look of apprehension in her eyes. “Come dance with me.” He stood and extended his hand, once again the dashing, gallant gentleman.
Lee Ann placed her hand in his, and he helped her to her feet. They moved onto the dance floor, and then she was in his embrace. And he was all around her, his arms, the lines of his body, his scent. Her head barely reached his shoulders, so she found herself resting it against his broad chest as they moved in harmony, swaying easy to the music of the band, and she had the oddest sensation that she had done this all before, with this man. It was all so familiar and right. But of course that couldn’t be true. She’d never met him before.
Preston didn’t want to give in to the urgent need to pull her closer, to feel her fully against him. The sensation of her being so close and still so far was messing with his head. The fresh scent of her hair, the barely there fragrance that she wore combined with the heat of her body had him coiled tight as a rattlesnake. He had to concentrate on the music, the aroma of food, the smatterings of conversation that floated around him to keep his mind off what she was doing to his body. In as much as he wanted her closer, there would be no doubt about her effect on him if he did. She’d be sure to think that he was some randy fool who couldn’t control his urges. He was almost thankful when the music ended. He needed some air and some space.
He released his hold around her waist and stepped back. She tilted her head up to look at him; the dewy softness of her lips, the light dancing in her eyes and the tiny pulse beating in her throat had him wanting to forget what was proper and simply take her mouth and sample it until they couldn’t take it anymore.
“Thank you for the dance,” he managed to say, his voice thick and jagged. “I’m going to go mingle a little.”
“Oh…of course.” She put on a practiced smile and wondered what she’d done wrong.
He took her elbow and walked her back to the table. “Thanks again for the dance and the conversation.”
She offered a tight smile while she watched him walk away, and for reasons that she couldn’t explain she felt like bursting into tears.
“Hey, baby doll, come on and dance with your big brother.” Rafe curved his arm around her waist before turning her petite body into his.
His arms were strong, familiar and secure, and for a few minutes she could forget how small and insignificant she felt, which of course was ridiculous. It was just a conversation, a drink and a dance. No big deal.
“You’re stiff as a board.” He peered down at her. “What’s wrong? Did he say something out of the way to you?”
She heard the sudden rise in his tone. The smooth easy cadence was gone. Lee Ann dared to look up at his piercing dark eyes.
“Don’t be silly,” she soothed. “I’m fine, and no, he didn’t say anything out of hand.”
Rafe took a hard look over his shoulder, seeking out the young senator as if seeing him would somehow validate what his sister said. He turned back to Lee Ann. “You sure, because I have no problem sharing a few words with him man-to-man.”
Lee Ann gently pressed her hands against Rafe’s hard chest. “I can take care of myself. Thank you very much,” she added with a slight smile.
He leaned down and kissed her forehead then skillfully moved with her around the floor. “All you have to do is say the word,” he said, his protective instincts kicking into high gear. He’d always been that way with his sisters, since they were all little. He took great pride in being the big brother, and yes, it was true that he loved women but none more than his sisters and of course his mother. Lee Ann was the one most like their mother, and he was sure that was one of the reasons they were so close, as children and as adults. “I’ll hang around if you need me to,” he said.
“No, please. I know your lips are itching to play, so whenever you’re ready just go on. It’ll be fine. I’ll tell Daddy something or nothing.” She grinned at him.
The dance came to an end, and they walked across the grand ballroom out to the balcony. The air was still heavy and filled with the scent of a hot spring night. Beyond the cove of streets, the lights of the city peeped in and out, and the soft sound of the Mississippi rolled gently in the distance.
For a fleeting moment, caught in the beauty of the evening, Lee Ann wished that she was peering out into the night, whispering soft words and sharing light laughter with her own someone special.
“Looks like everyone who’s anyone is here tonight,” Rafe commented, taking a brief look over his shoulder into the main room.
“Well, you know Uncle Jerry never does anything halfway.” She continued to stare out into the night.
Briefly Rafe put his hand around her shoulder, and she tilted her head to rest it against him. “Can I get you a drink, a plate of food?”
“Another spritzer would be nice, thanks.”
“Be right back.”
She inhaled deeply and reentered the ballroom, watched the milieu move around her and felt so apart from the activities. It was so unlike her she thought, not to be like a butterfly flitting from one guest to the next, enjoining and cajoling as if she was the hostess. Smiling, as was her habit as she passed familiar faces, she found herself back on the balcony, sure that
