“What?” Zeke looked at her, startled. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Just...nothing.” She kept dancing and told herself that she was wrong. She couldn’t possibly still be in love with Camden Guthrie. Not after everything that had happened. Not after he’d betrayed her, left town, married Julie Wheeler.
And she realized that, no, she wasn’t still in love with him. This love was new. It was based on who he was now.
Yes, he was basically the same man he’d been back in the day. But now he was self-assured. Comfortable in his own skin and making no apologies for what he wanted. Then there was helping Tony out with the baseball camp. Him hiring Olivia Turner and her crew of mostly female construction experts. He had made a huge donation to the children’s wing.
Hell, even the loyalty he’d shown the woman he’d left Beth for had made an impact on her. He was touching her heart again, and he was making plans for a future here. In Royal.
Of course she was in love with him again. She’d been predisposed for the fall. They shared a past that was taut with both pain and joy, and now that he was home the future dangled out in front of her like a shiny prize she just couldn’t reach.
“Seriously, Beth,” Zeke said. “You okay? You look a little pale.”
“I’m just hot.” Big lie since the wide Texas sky was studded with massive white clouds that kept playing tag across the sun, keeping the heat to a minimum. But her cousin accepted it because he was a good guy.
“Beth—” Gracie rushed across the dance floor. “I tried, but Justin’s on his way over here, so—”
“Thanks for the heads-up.” She looked up at Zeke. “Sorry.”
“No problem.” He gave her a grin that made his green eyes shine. “I’ll just sweep Gracie off her feet.”
“Oh, you don’t have—”
Beth laughed as Gracie’s refusal was lost in the dance. Zeke swung her into a country swing dance, and Beth left as Gracie was spinning and laughing up at her partner.
It wasn’t as if Beth could leave the party—she was in charge of it. But she didn’t want to talk to Justin. She stopped to chat with her neighbors, waved to friends as she passed and checked in with the firefighters. Some were giving tours of the station house, and others were riding herd on a dozen kids crawling all over the gleaming red fire truck as well as the EMS truck.
Smiling, Beth told herself to just concentrate on the day. To push all thoughts of Cam and whatever they were to each other to the back of her mind. It wasn’t as if she could solve anything right now anyway. And as if the Fates were laughing, Cam stepped up behind her.
“You look beautiful.”
She turned at the sound of that deep voice and looked up into chocolate eyes that were burning with the same kind of intensity she’d seen the day before. Her entire body snapped with the sizzle suddenly bubbling in her blood.
“Thank you.” She wore a sky blue dress with shoulder straps, a squared neckline and a full skirt. Her favorite heeled sandals completed the outfit and brought her much closer to eye level with the man currently staring at her as if he could gulp her up.
She gave Cam a quick once-over and nearly sighed. His gray Stetson was pulled low over his eyes. He wore a white dress shirt, a black blazer and black jeans with a pair of polished black boots that completed the image of “dangerous cowboy.” And that’s just what he was.
&n
bsp; “What’re you doing here?” she asked.
He shrugged and looked out over the crowd. “I live here, Beth. I ought to be part of the town.” He shifted his gaze back to hers. “And I figured it was a good place to run into you.”
When her heart did a ridiculous flip, she told herself to just stop it. Unfortunately, her body wasn’t listening to her head.
“Beth?” Another deep voice, easier to hear this far from the band’s speakers.
She turned and smiled as James Harris stepped up to give her a quick hug. James was tall and gorgeous, with closely cropped black hair, dark brown eyes and skin the color of melted caramel.
“James, hi.”
“You did a great job with this event,” he said. “Makes me really look forward to the party at the TCC this October. Can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with for that.”
“Oh,” she said, smiling, “you’re going to love it. I’ve got lots of plans.”
He laughed. “I’ll bet.” Then he shifted a glance at Cam. “Hey, Camden. Good to have you back in Royal.” He held out one hand and Cam shook it, smiling.
“Good to be back. I’ve been thinking about coming to see you. The word is you breed the best horses in East Texas.”