Dancing in the Dark

She’d seen to that, hadn’t she?

The phone trembled in her hand. The voice at the other end was asking about area attractions and she said, still calmly, that there were lots of things to do and see in these mountains.

Finally, mercifully, the conversation dwindled to silence.

“Thank you for calling Twin Oaks,” she said brightly. “We’ll see you next weekend.”

She hung up, shaking. She didn’t dare turn around. What would Seth see in her eyes?

Clint came strolling up. “Everything okay?”

“Fine.” She smiled at him, or hoped she did. “I just took a reservation for next weekend. I entered it in the book.”

“Great.” He paused. “You okay?”

“Oh, I’m fine. Fine.” She cleared her throat. “Actually, now that you mention it... Would it be all right if I took a break? Just for a couple of minutes.”

“Hey, you don’t have to ask permission. You need a break, take it.”

“Thanks. I just didn’t... Thanks.”

She’d have to pass Seth and the twins to reach the bathroom, but that was all right. She wouldn’t look in his direction. He surely wouldn’t look in hers. She might even have imagined that instant when their eyes met a little while ago.

The bathroom was unoccupied. Thank goodness for small favors. Wendy let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and put her hand on the door.

“Wendy?”

Her heart stood still. Seth had come up behind her. She turned slowly toward him, while butterflies swarmed beneath her breastbone.

“Yes?”

He smiled, a slow, lazy smile she felt straight down to her toes. “Are you busy?”

“I—I am, yes.” She waved a hand toward the bathroom door. “I was just going to take a break....”

“I noticed.” He stepped closer, curled his hand around her arm. “The thing is,” he said softly, “I need you.”

CHAPTER TEN

THERE WAS A TIME when Seth used to tease her about being able to read her mind. Could he still do it, so many years later? Did he know what she’d been thinking only moments ago? That it was still true, that all she wanted, all she’d ever wanted, was him?

“Wendy? Did you hear me?”

His voice was low, his eyes locked to hers. She didn’t trust herself to speak. He was barely a breath away. All she had to do was reach out, cup his face in her hands, bring his mouth down to hers.

“Uncle Seth? We have to go now.”

The small voice was taut with urgency. Wendy blinked and looked down. Robin and Randi stood on either side of Seth, clutching his hands and shifting from foot to foot.

Shifting from foot to foot? Oh. The twins had to go to the bathroom. That’s what this was all about. Seth didn’t need her; the kids did.

“You want me to take the girls to the bathroom?”

“Would you? I’d do it myself but I’ve never dealt with...” He blushed. “You know, the mechanics.”

A minute ago she’d wanted to kiss him. Now she wanted to bang her head against the wall at her sheer stupidity. But his embarrassed smile reached her and she took pity on him. He was a man confronted by something he was totally unprepared for, just as she’d been unprepared for the foolish thoughts that were nothing but the imaginings of her own silly sentimentality.

“No problem,” she said, and held out her hands to the girls. “Come on, kids. Let’s go to the ladies’ room.”

“It’s not a ladies’ room.” Randi piped up as Wendy bumped the door open with her hip. “Mommy says it’s a unaset room.”

“A unaset...” Wendy smiled. “Unisex. Right. That’s what it is. Okay. Let’s get you guys unbuttoned.”

She helped two pairs of overeager little fingers work their way through buttons and snaps. There was only one commode and Randi volunteered to wait, making the offer with solemn courage. After they were done, all the snaps and buttons had to be done up again. Finally, Wendy lifted each child to the sink for a round of hand-washing.

Randi gave her a curious look. “Do you have little girls of your own?”

“No,” Wendy said, forcing an answering smile, “I don’t.”

“She doesn’t have little girls,” Randi whispered to Robin, as if Wendy weren’t there.

“You’d be a good mommy,” Robin said, with all the wisdom of her three years.

Wendy took the cloth towel from the child and tossed it into the wicker hamper. Gently, she smoothed Robin’s tumbled chestnut curls from her forehead.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

“You could have a baby. Maybe with Uncle Clint for the daddy.”

“Or Uncle Seth. He’d make a good daddy, too.”

Wendy’s throat tightened. Did you laugh or cry at stuff like this? Laugh, she decided, or at least smile. She gave each child a quick kiss and pulled the door open.

“Come on, you two. Let’s find your Uncle Seth so he can help you finish building that castle.”

“We already did.” The little girls beamed at Seth, who was leaning against the reception desk, arms folded, feet crossed at the ankles. “Right, Uncle Seth? Didn’t we finish the castle?”

“Right down to the moat.” Seth scooped the twins into his arms. “And a great castle it is, strong and safe from goblins and witches and dragons.”

Two heads nodded with enthusiasm.

“Did you thank Wendy for helping you?”

The twins looked at her. “Thank you, Wendy.”

“You’re very welcome.”

Randi looped an arm around Seth’s neck. “Can we go for a walk?”

“It’s late. I think it’s bedtime for you guys.”

Robin stuck out her bottom lip. “But it’s snowing.”

“Uh-huh. All the more reason not to take a walk.”

“Walking in the snow is fun. It’s all squishy.”

Seth grinned. “Squishy is always good,” he told Wendy, who smiled back at him.

“And it’s pretty. Snow is like fairy dust, Uncle Seth. So, please, can we go? Please? Just for a little walk?”

Seth looked into the two pairs of blue-green eyes, knew he was a goner and gave a deep sigh. “A very little one, okay?”

“Yay!”

“But you have to check with your Uncle Clint first.”

“Check what?” Clint said, hurrying past them with a box in his arms.

“The terrible twosome want to take a walk in the snow.” Seth shot Clint a speaking look. “A short walk. Very short.”

“Yeah, sure. Sweaters, hats, boots, snowsuits, gloves.” He grinned. “It’ll take you longer to dress ’em than to walk ‘em.”

“Okay, kids, you heard the rules. First we get dressed. Then we take a short walk.”

“Uncle Seth?”

“What, sugar?”

Robin tucked her thumb in her mouth. “We like Wendy,” she said shyly. “Can she come, too?”

“Oh. Oh, no,” Wendy said quickly. “I mean, I couldn’t possibly. I—I have—”

“Wendy can’t come with us,” Seth told them. “She has more important things to do.”

Wendy bristled. “I never said that!”

“More important than a walk?” Robin asked plaintively.

“It’s not that.” Wendy took the child’s hands in hers. “I’m...I’m busy, honey. I have to help people with things here.”

“What things?” Randi said innocently.

What things, indeed? There weren’t that many people in the gathering room. Locals didn’t show up much on weekday evenings, Clint had told her. Except for the middle-aged couple sipping coffee as they played chess in front of the fireplace, the room was empty.

“Just things,?

?? Wendy said after a minute. “I’m working tonight. Otherwise, I’d go with—”

“Go where?”

Clint, retracing his path from the storeroom to the desk, paused and raised his eyebrows.

“Wendy says she’d like to go for a walk with Uncle Seth and us, but she can’t ’cause she’s working.”