Dr. Tristan Aldredge was indeed a beautiful package, but what meant more to her was the man he was. She admired the man who leaned out of a helicopter to catch a child on a rope. She’d come to care about the man who gave his time to help people in need, loved his family, and watched movies with two single ladies.
And too, the fact that he’d returned a day early pleased her greatly. That he’d shown up wearing a tuxedo to this informal event was like proclaiming that he and Jecca were a couple. No more secretiveness. No more meeting only in the dark.
Jecca couldn’t help thinking that with their similarity in dress, Tristan was telling everyone that he and Jecca belonged together. She knew it was a primitive emotion, but to go from feeling like an outsider to belonging was exhilarating.
The room full of people was silent as Tristan walked toward Jecca. When he got to her, he didn’t say a word, just put out his hand and she took it. How familiar it felt!
Someone put on music, a slow waltz, and Tristan pulled Jecca into his arms. Since she’d snuggled with him on a rainy night and as they sat beside a lake under a starry sky, she knew she’d fit against him perfectly, easily, fluidly. When he moved with her in a slow dance, she went with him.
All of it was like a dream. His arms around her, the ease of his movements, the way his eyes never left hers, was like something she’d made up. She followed him easily, moving about the cleared floor space to the music. The people around them blurred. She saw only Tristan, heard only the music, felt only his body.
They danced as though they’d been doing it all their lives. Maybe it was because she’d come to trust him, but she relaxed totally and let him lead. When he stepped away, but still held her hand, she knewhanth their s she was to turn and come back to him. It was as though their minds as well as their bodies were working together.
At one point Tristan put his arm out and Jecca leaned against him. He stepped back, still holding her, and she let herself fall backward, trusting him to support her waist. Vaguely, she was aware of the gasp of the people around them. It must have looked as though she was going to fall, but she knew Tristan would hold her.
When the music drew to a close, he pulled her to him, chest against chest, one arm behind her back.
For a moment their eyes held. The intensity of the deep blue of his eyes, his gaze that was a fathomless pool of desire, made her body seem to catch fire.
He gave her a small smile of understanding, and Jecca smiled back. What they were feeling was mutual.
With his hand on hers, he spun her out, then pulled her back. And when she reached his arms, he caught her in a dip so low her hair nearly touched the floor.
In the next moment the music stopped, and he lifted her to stand beside him, his arm firmly around her waist.
Jecca’s heart was pounding, partly from the dance, but mostly from the desire she’d felt coming from him. No man had ever before looked at her like that, as though she were what he wanted most in the world, what he needed, what only she could give him.
She didn’t dare look at him for fear she’d start tearing off his clothes.
As they stood there, side by side, for a moment the people around them didn’t move. They just stared, as if they didn’t believe what they’d just seen.
Finally, there was a collective sigh of female voices in the room.
“Why can’t you dance with me like that?” a woman said to her husband and broke the silence. People started laughing and talking, with everyone gathering around Tristan and Jecca. They would have been pulled apart except that he kept his arm so firmly around her waist that he wouldn’t let anyone separate them.
Reede made his way through the crowd. “You stole my spotlight,” he said to Tris. “And my girl.”
Tris pulled Jecca even closer. “You never had a chance.”
Reede looked at Jecca. “Tell him that isn’t so. You and I go back a long way. With our history, we—”
He broke off because Nell had put herself between Reede and Tristan.
“Who are you?” Nell asked.
Reede smiled fondly at the pretty child. “You don’t remember me, but I’m another one of your cousins.” He reached out as though he meant to ruffle her hair.
Nell Sandlin was not the type of child who allowed a stranger to ruffle her hair. She gave Reede a very adult look that told him to back off, then she turned and slipped her hand into Jecca’s.
Jecca held on tightly to Nell’s hand, Tristan’s arm firmly around her waist, and the three of them looked at the people around them. When the questions started, it was a bombardment. Where had they met? How long aet?="0em" wigo? How serious were they?
Tris gave a tug on Jecca that seemed to say “Let’s go.” In turn, Jecca squeezed on Nell’s hand, and a second later the three of them began making their way through the crowd to the front door. Several people tried to stop them, but they never let go of one another.
Once they were outside, Tris said, “To the car!” They broke apart and started running.
Since Jecca didn’t know where he’d parked, she followed Nell and Tris as best she could. “Hey! I’m in heels,” she called when they got ahead of her.
Tris ran back, grabbed her hand, and kept running. Nell was at his BMW and had the front passenger door open. He helped Jecca inside, Nell closed the door, then she climbed into the back to sit among a menagerie of stuffed animals and some truly beautiful dolls.