A Rainbow in Paradise (2 page)

But if Sarah can find happiness, why can't
I
? That odd sensation was back, striking at the pit of her
stomach with a force so powerful, it almost knocked the wind out of
her. She found her gaze turning slowly, inexorably, back to Logan.
Can he be—?

No, of course not. The wedding bell blues
must be getting to me
, she told herself firmly, unable to stop
herself from glancing his way again. He was looking at her, too,
and the expression on his face suggested... But no. It was silly
enough to have these ideas in the first place without persuading
herself that he felt the same things. Still, there was something
about the way he looked at her....

You're acting like a giddy schoolgirl
,
Eden chided herself. She sighed and turned back to the wedding.

"Who's the dark
belagaana
?” Logan
asked Chris, careful to keep his voice low, as they stood side by
side in the receiving line.

"You mean the great-looking brunette?" Chris
whispered, then, "Good evening, Mrs. Lawrence. Thanks for
coming."

Logan nodded politely to three more guests,
then murmured, "She's Sarah's friend, isn't she? The one she always
talks about?"

"Eden," Chris supplied helpfully. "Eden
Grant, from Phoenix. She and Sarah used to room together."

"Eden," he whispered thoughtfully.
Even
her name speaks of paradise
. Aloud, he said, "She's so..."
Logan let the words trail away as he watched a beautiful, perfectly
poised Eden greet an older couple, putting them at ease.

Chris grinned, obviously amused. "Yeah, she
is, isn't she?"

Logan answered with a grimace, but he
couldn't seem to keep his gaze from turning back to the stunning
woman with hair like a desert night and eyes the color of a summer
sky. He found himself wondering if she'd noticed him, and what he
could do to get her attention if she hadn't.

* * * * *

Eden, standing beside Sarah as the bride and
groom received their guests, kept her voice low as she asked,
"Don't tell me, let me guess. That's gotta be Logan Redhorse,
right?"

"Oh," Sarah said, as if caught by surprise,
"you mean Mr. Tall, Dark, and Gorgeous standing next to Chris? The
one you keep staring at who can't seem to take his eyes off
you?"

Eden made a face. "Yeah, that one."

"He
is
good-looking, isn't he?"

"And Phoenix gets warm in the summer," Eden
answered coolly. "So why haven't you said anything, girl? You know
you're only allowed to keep one at a time."

"I didn't know you'd be interested," Sarah
answered in a whisper, then raised her voice as Mrs. Peterson took
her hand. "Eden, you remember Mrs. Peterson, don't you?"

"The one who makes the prize-winning peach
pies," Eden said, giving the woman her most ingratiating smile.
When both Petersons had passed, she added with a touch of pique,
"Why wouldn't I be interested?"

"He works for the Navajo nation," Sarah
answered. "Lives out on the reservation."

"So?"

"I thought you'd become a big-city gal these
days."

"Oh, you know me." Eden adopted a breezy
tone. "I go where the men are."

"Yeah, right." Sarah didn't seem to be
buying. "I've noticed that about you. And where are the dozens of
men you're keeping dangling these days?"

Eden wrinkled her nose again. “Marriage has
made you mean, girl."

Sarah chuckled in response.

"So honestly, why didn't you mention
him?"

Sarah shrugged. "Logan hasn't been very
interested in
belagaana
women—at least, not as a rule." She
turned a speculative look toward the man in question, who seemed
quite interested in one particular specimen.

The conversation was interrupted once more
while Sarah, then Eden, greeted the Washburns and the Shelleys,
then Eden whispered, "Logan has something against non- Navajo
women?"

"His mother was
belagaana
," Sarah
answered quietly. "She abandoned him as a newborn. He has never
forgiven her for it, or the rest of us, either."

"Oh." Sarah's words struck Eden like a blow
to the midsection.
Abandoned by his mother?
"That would be a
tough one."

"I suppose it would," Sarah answered.
"Logan's making progress, though—when it comes to women of other
cultures, I mean. He really likes Kate."

"Who wouldn't?" Eden responded. "Kate's a
dear. By the way, I've been meaning to ask you about her. Now that
she's married your father and you've married her son, is she your
stepmother or your mother-in-law?"

"Both, I suppose." Both women turned to look
at the vivacious older woman who stood beside Sarah's father, her
new husband, and near her son, who was now Sarah's husband. "She
says I can just call her Kate."

"Works for me," Eden answered. "I can see why
Logan, or anyone, would like her. I always have."

"She's a sweetheart," Sarah answered, "and
Logan says he likes me, too. At least that's what he tells me all
the time—that I'm not bad for a
belagaana
, that is—and I
don't think Logan's the kind to say he likes someone if he
doesn't."

"No, I don't think so," Eden answered. "He
looks like the honest type." Even as she spoke the words, she was
struck by the irony that she had just been thinking about an
impossible fantasy man who would always treat her with respect and
honesty. With the moment of
deja vu
came the otherworldly
sense that more was happening here than met the eye.

"So, do you want an introduction?" Sarah
asked.

"Not today. You have enough on your
mind."

"Not too much to help my best friend meet Mr.
Right."

"Mister Maybe Later," Eden shivered, unable
to say more. Then she heard Sarah saying, "Mrs. Snow, you remember
my friend, Eden."

Eden was determined to remember her purpose.
"Hello, Mrs. Snow."

"Why hello, Ed..." The older woman furrowed
her brow. "Are you well, dear? You're looking a bit pale."

Eden mustered a smile. "Yes, of course. I'm
fine. I think it's just the heat."

"True, the heat is wilting everyone," Mrs.
Snow answered, but as she turned away, apparently reassured, Eden
thought,
This is weird. This is much too weird.

The reception line had broken up and the
d.j., a family friend who had given his services as a wedding gift,
announced the cake-cutting ceremony as "an ancient gesture
symbolizing the couple's desire to nurture and provide for each
other."

What a sweet thought
, Eden
pondered
,
though I suspect it's really just an excuse to
see which of them will try to embarrass the other more in
public
. She shook her head, wondering when she'd become so
cynical.

Chris delicately cut a small piece of
wedding-frosted carrot cake, and navigated it with precision,
carefully avoiding mussing Sarah's makeup. Sarah responded with
equal care through most of Chris's bite, and then stuffed the last
bit into his mouth while their well-wishers applauded. The
"Anniversary Waltz" began as both bride and groom attempted to
swallow their bites or cake.

"Let's invite the bridal couple to start the
first dance," the d.j. announced.

Eden applauded with the rest of the crowd as
Chris led Sarah to the middle of the front lawn. He took his bride
in his arms, and then said, "Just a minute, sweetheart," and
stepped up to the d.j.'s podium. The wedding guests waited in
suspense while Chris took the microphone. "We'll be happy to start
this dance," he announced with a gleam, "but we'd like our maid of
honor and best man to join us, please. Eden and Logan, come on up.
Mom and Wiley, will you come up, too?"

Everyone applauded again and Eden cheered
right along with them until she realized the crowd was opening
around her, making an aisle between her and Logan Redhorse. That's
when it hit her who the maid of honor and best man were, and what
Chris had just asked them to do. Feeling more than a little like
the proverbial deer caught in the headlights, Eden watched the same
realization cross Logan's face. Then she waited, stock-still, while
he crossed the lawn toward her.

Dance with her
, Logan thought as he
moved across the grassy lawn, oblivious to the cheers of the
watching crowd.
Touch her, hold her. At least it will be a
chance to find out if she's really just a flesh-and-blood woman and
not some sort of apparition
. He stopped in front of her and
held out his hand. "Dance?" he asked, barely able to choke out that
much.

The woman seemed to be having trouble with
words as well. Instead of speaking, she nodded her head and put her
hand in his.

Warm! So warm
! The energy that surged
between them reminded Logan of the time he'd once grabbed an
electric fence and taken the shock in his hands, only this time,
instead of dropping the live wire, he longed to hold it closer.

She feels it, too
! He heard her sharp
intake of breath as she looked down at their clasped hands, her
eyes wide with wonder, and then into his face again. Unable to
answer the unspoken question in her eyes, he gestured toward the
lawn where Chris and Sarah already danced and their parents waited
to join them. Eden nodded and Logan led the way.

Then somehow she was in his arms and they
were moving to the music.
I'm holding paradise,
he thought
as he steered her into an awkward waltz, wishing for the first time
that he'd bothered to learn the old European ways of dancing.
She may be
belagaana
,
but I'm holding paradise in
my arms and I never want to let her go.

* * * * *

"Lovely wedding, wasn't it?"

The words hadn't registered with Eden until
she realized someone was directing them toward her. She looked up
from where she was organizing wedding cake leftovers onto a tray
and spotted Alexa McAllister, who had been folding chairs last time
she looked. Eden smiled vacantly, trying to focus on Alexa's words.
"I'm sorry, Alexa. What did you say?"

"I said it was a lovely wedding," Chris's
sister-in-law repeated, a glimmer of amusement lighting her blond
good looks.

"Yes, lovely," Eden answered.

It had been only a few minutes since the
bride and groom had left together in Chris's road-worn pickup
truck, tin cans rattling behind them, paper streamers dangling from
most available surfaces. Eden had heard some of the relatives
volunteering to help clean up and had offered a "me, too," starting
at the table with the cake. Now, as she watched, Alexa began
helping her, organizing pretty pieces of cake onto the tray.
"Reverend Phelps does a nice ceremony, doesn't he?"

I'd like to have him do mine and
Logan's
, Eden thought, and then shuddered at the very idea.
What's the matter with me today
? "Yes," she said absently.
"He does do a nice service."

Alexa worked quietly for a moment, carefully
filling the tray with cake slices, and then said, "When we've
finished cleaning up here, a bunch of us are going into Holbrook
for the Fourth of July picnic at the park. It'll be Jim and Meg and
their little girl, Kurt and me, Logan, maybe a few of the other
guests. We're hoping you'd like to join us."

Logan
! Eden had barely heard the other
names. "Yes, I think that would be fun," she said, trying to keep
her voice calm.

"Good," Alexa answered. "We'll count on it,
then." Moments later, the cake forgotten, she excused herself to
return to the job of folding chairs.

* * * * *

Eden looked at her watch.
Almost five
o'clock, and we've still hardly spoken to each other.
She and
Logan had spent the entire day near each other, seldom farther than
a couple of yards apart. The almost-electric power that surged
between them whenever he came near had been pulsing like mad
throughout the day, at levels high enough to exhaust her waning
energy, yet they'd scarcely exchanged a dozen words. It seemed as
if... as if they were both too overwhelmed to speak. At least, she
knew she was.

I never imagined anything like this
,
she mused to herself, watching from the corner of her eye as Logan
took aim at the beanbag toss, organized to benefit a local church
day care. The smooth stretch of well-worked muscles beneath the
crisp cotton of his white dress shirt reminded her that this was a
man of confidence and power, a man she'd be wise to take
seriously
.
I've never imagined anyone like him
, she
amended, her eyes alight.

The game ended with Logan winning a large
stuffed animal and donating it back to the day care, and then the
other men went to join their wives and Logan turned toward her. The
determined look on his face told Eden that Logan, too, had been
thinking about their day together. "Eden, can we talk for a
minute?"

I wonder. Do you think we can
? "Sure,"
she said, nodding.

He took her elbow and led her aside, away
from the tables where the McAllisters were preparing to eat their
barbecue supper.

"Hey, you two! Where're you going?" Meg
called.

"We'll be back," Logan answered over his
shoulder.

"Give 'em a little privacy," Jim encouraged,
while Chris's brothers and their wives chuckled in quiet
assent.

"Just get back in time for the fireworks!"
Meg called.

"Unless they're going to make some of their
own," Kurt said, and Alexa shushed him with a muttered, "Kurt!"

"Ignore them," Logan whispered near Eden's
ear. "Let's walk a ways."

"All right," she answered calmly, silently
thinking that she'd walk all the way to Antarctica if Logan kept
holding her.

He did hold her, his arm clasped warmly
around her waist, leading the way around the baseball diamond and
past the soccer fields until they were on the other side of the
park. When they came to a bench, he finally let her go. "Have a
seat," he offered, and Eden sat, looking toward him expectantly,
wondering what he would have to say.