Deborah Camp (12 page)

Theo sensed he wasn’t the only man in the room spellbound by her. After tonight, the gentry would be calling on her, he thought. But he’d be the first in line.

But Regina was more than a future conquest. Theo was a scholar of flirtation and the nuances of body language, and what he felt for Regina went
far beyond a casual interest. When she looked at him, he felt exposed. He was afraid others would see him wearing his heart on his sleeve, and he wasn’t ready to share his feelings for her, wasn’t quite sure how deep those feelings ran. It was frightening, this strong current of emotion that surged through him, and he grappled for something solid to hold on to, a firm gravel bottom on which to stand so he wouldn’t drown in the liquid grace of her, or in the gray depths of her eyes.

“Theodore?” Irene Cooper tugged on his sleeve. “Whatever are you gaping at?”

Theo forced his gaze from Regina. “Nothing … let me fetch you some refreshment. I don’t know about you, but my mouth is as dry as cotton.”

“I’ve no doubt, the way it was hanging open a moment ago.” Irene glanced toward Regina. “Isn’t that the woman who made such a fuss the other night at the council meeting?”

“Who did you hear that from?”

“One of Father’s friends was there. He said that one of those runaway wives living at Mrs. Nation’s made a complete fool of herself. That’s the one, isn’t it? He said she lives next door to Mrs. Nation.” Irene laughed scornfully. “Have you heard what they’re calling her place now? Hatchet Hall! Isn’t that clever?” Irene looked at Regina again, her haughty smile wearing thin. “That one wanted the council to hand over money. Just like that! Can you believe the nerve of her, making such demands?”

“Your father’s friend needs to have his hearing checked,” Theo said, barely keeping his anger at bay. “She asked for no such thing.”

“You were there?”

“Yes, and if I were you, I wouldn’t repeat unfounded gossip, Irene. Someone might start something about you next.”

Irene aimed her nose higher in the air. “Nevertheless, she has her gall showing up here at the cotillion.”

“And why shouldn’t she?”

“She’s married! All the women at Hatchet Hall are married. Just because they desert their husbands doesn’t make them available, you know.”

“What I
know
is that Miss Rose isn’t married, and she has as much right to be at this dance as you. More, actually. She helped decorate this ballroom and she prepared some of the refreshments.”

Irene pretended to examine the magnolia blossoms circling one wrist. “I don’t want to talk about
her
anymore.”

“Good thinking,” Theo said, centering his bow tie on his wing-tipped collar. “You should steer clear of subjects of which you’re woefully ignorant.”

He regarded her high color and trembling lips for a moment before smiling broadly and planting a kiss on her cheek. “Don’t pout, my pretty. You just stay put while I fetch something to cool us off.”

He waited for her begrudging smile before winding his way through the couples to the row of linen-draped tables set against the far wall. There, Carry Nation’s boarders served punch and finger foods to the gussied-up townfolks. Eric was one of them. He balanced a cup of punch and a cucumber sandwich in one hand, while he spoke earnestly with a sweet-faced woman who wore one of the Full Bucket discards. Talented fingers had transformed the fussy, ribbon-bedecked royal blue dress into a stately gown with an apron front. A white lace inset across the dipping neckline changed the garment from daring to decent.

Eric, dressed in a dark blue suit, leaned closer to
the woman to speak more privately. Theo just caught the tail end of what he was saying.

“… I hadn’t ever thought how difficult it would be. You’re to be commended for having the courage to do what was right for you and your daughter.”

Theo nudged him, and Eric turned and pumped his hand, his ready smile in place. Theo admired Eric’s easygoing, unruffled demeanor. To those who knew the cousins only through the court system, it was generally held that Theo had the coolest head, but Theo knew better. Outside the courtroom, Theo had trouble remaining calm and detached and often relied on Eric’s placid, stoic character.

“Hello, cousin. Did you finally get loose from the clutches of Miss Cooper?”

Theo dipped his head, acknowledging the women serving refreshments. He selected two cups of punch. “I’ll ignore that salient observation, Eric. And who are you escorting this evening?”

“The lady I was supposed to escort is at home. She has the sniffles and a high fever. The doctor forbade her to leave her bed, even for the Spring Cotillion.” Eric shrugged. “So I came as an available man.”

Theo looked in the direction of Irene Cooper and scowled. “I wish I had been so lucky.”

“Hello there, you.”

Theo swung back around and grinned at Bitsy Frederick. “Hello there, you.” He set down the cups of punch long enough to bow over Bitsy’s gloved hand. “If it isn’t the comely Mrs. Frederick.” He wiggled his brows. “I’d wink, but the last time I did that I sent the town gossips into a frenzy.” He eyed her and released a low whistle. “You should carry a bucket of water when you wear that dress.” He smiled at her puzzlement.
“To throw on all the fires you start. I believe you’ve already started one in me.”

Bitsy released a lusty laugh. “I never heard of such a yarn in all my born days!”

“Speaking of fires,” Eric interrupted, “Irene Cooper is blowing steam out her ears waiting for you.”

Theo craned his neck away from his stiff, white shirt collar. “I feel as if I’m wearing a chain.” He extended another smile to the women behind the refreshment table. “Ladies, you all look splendid—much too splendid to be hiding here. If Eric had any sense, he’d be asking you to dance.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Eric admitted, his gaze moving unerringly to the lady in blue. “Would you give me the pleasure of one dance, ma’am?”

Theo looked from the woman to Eric, surprised by his choice. He would have asked the flirty Bitsy Frederick first. The woman Eric had chosen shook her head.

“I really shouldn’t. I can’t. Really.”

“Oh, go on, Lu,” Bitsy said, taking the punch ladle from her. “Dance with the gent. Your reputation won’t suffer from it.”

“But what will people think?”

Bitsy rolled her eyes. “That he asked you and you had the good sense to accept. Go on!” Bitsy grasped her shoulders, turned her toward Eric, and gave her a gentle push. “Don’t forget, I’m next.”

Eric nodded and offered his hand to his dance partner. Theo watched them take the floor. The woman in blue wasn’t beautiful, but she was pretty in a gentle, quiet way. Perhaps it
was
in character for Eric to select her, Theo thought. Eric gravitated toward serene, proper women, while Theo liked them a little wild.

So why in the hell am I with Irene Cooper? he wondered, crossing the room to her. He handed over a cup of punch and laughed at her frowning visage.

“Be careful, Irene, your face might freeze that way.”

“I didn’t come to this dance to stand around and wait for you to get around to me, Theodore Dane.”

“Forgive me, I was merely talking to my cousin.”

“I had no idea you had so many cousins. All those women serving refreshments are your kin? One of them is the woman you winked at in broad daylight on Basin Street, isn’t she? Her name’s Mitsy.”

“
Bitsy
Frederick, and is this such a backwater town that the folks have nothing better to do than flap their tongues about little or nothing?”

“Winking at a married woman is hardly nothing!”

“I’m surprised you’d be seen with such a dastardly man,” he noted with dry sarcasm.

“I gave you the benefit of the doubt, but after what I just witnessed, I fear I might have been wrong about you.”

“You’re a spitting kitten, aren’t you?”

She smiled, feline. “When I must be, yes.”

He dipped his head close to her ear and placed a growl in his voice. “It’s a very foolish kitten that would spit at a tiger and expect to escape unscathed.”

She gasped, craning away from him. “Are you threatening me?”

“Finish your punch, Irene,” he drawled, bored. “Then let’s dance.”

“I don’t think I care to dance with you.”

He took the cup from her hand and set it along
with his on a nearby table. “Yes, you do,” he said, and led her, unresisting, onto the dance floor. Within a minute, she was purring in his arms.

Dazzled by the spectacle of the Spring Cotillion, Regina was glad when the sheriff was pulled aside by three men for a discussion of something unsuitable for a lady’s ears. Any other time she might have expressed her displeasure at being ousted from any conversation, but she was glad for the respite.

At the refreshment table she turned in a slow circle to appreciate the colorful streamers overhead and the bouquets of spring flowers gracing the tables. Garlands decorated every support post inside the ballroom of the castlelike Crescent Hotel atop one of Eureka Springs’s highest peaks. Through the narrow floor-to-ceiling windows, she could glimpse the glowing lights of the town below, nestled in the lap of the earth.

“Everything looks wonderful,” she commented.

“We did a good job,” Lu said. “People have lavished us with compliments. They especially love the flowers and wondered where we got them all. I invited them to drop by Mrs. Nation’s and see her bountiful garden.”

“Yes, but they won’t,” Regina said with a brittle smile. “They treat us like lepers. Hey, where’s Bitsy?”

“Dancing with Mr. Dane. He’s asked her twice and me once. He’s such a nice man. I like his cousin, too.”

“I saw you dancing with Eric Carmichael earlier.”

“Do you think I shouldn’t have?”

“Heaven blessed, Lu, that’s what a dance is for!” Regina searched the crowded dance floor until she
caught sight of Bitsy. “Didn’t Mr. Carmichael bring anyone?”

“No, his lady friend took ill. Joy, we’d better refill these platters.”

While Lu and Joy Edwards uncovered more layers of sandwiches and cookies, Regina couldn’t take her eyes away from Bitsy and Theo. Envy wouldn’t allow it. Theo seemed totally absorbed in Bitsy, and she with him, as they moved like a cloud over the dance floor.

If only he were a clumsy dancer, Regina thought, but he wasn’t. If only he seemed bored with Bitsy, but he didn’t. If only … she were me, but she wasn’t.

“The sheriff is quite attractive, Regina. I think he looks ever so much better without that gun strapped around him.”

Regina selected a cream cheese sandwich and a cup of the strawberry-flavored punch. “Yes, he’s nice-looking,” she said absently, then she tasted the punch. “There’s a rumor going around that someone spiked this with brandy.” She sniffed it. “I can’t smell any liquor. Maybe it was vodka or gin.”

Lu traded a secretive smile with Joy. “I started the rumor.”

“
You
put brandy in the punch?” Regina asked.

Lu laughed. “No, silly! I just told a few of the men that I
thought
someone had poured brandy into it when my back was turned.” Her eyes glistened with mischief. “The men weren’t drinking it until then and now they can’t get enough of it! It’s more popular than the spiced apple cider.”

Regina laughed with Lu. “You clever little fox. I’m proud of you. If you hadn’t started that rumor, someone
would
have poured liquor into the bowl while you weren’t looking.”

“Do you have another space empty on your
dance card, Miss Rose?” Eric asked, stopping behind her.

She whirled toward him. “Indeed I do.”

“Please?” He held out his hand. “Do me the honor?”

“The honor is mine.” She set her cup on the table and exchanged a quick smile with Lu and Joy.

Eric led her amidst the other dancers. The quartet finished a song and began another. Regina looked for Bitsy and Theo. Bitsy was behind the refreshment table again. She finally spotted Theo conversing with the sheriff and the mayor in a corner of the room.

“The lady your cousin is with tonight …”

“Irene Cooper,” Eric interjected.

“… is she the banker’s daughter?”

“One and the same,” Eric said. “You don’t know her, I take it.”

“I’ve seen her around town. I don’t know many people here because I rarely socialize.”

“Pity.” Eric whirled her around, jostling a laugh from her. “It’s a pity all the ladies at Mrs. Nation’s don’t socialize. Miss Rose—”

“Regina.”

“Miss Regina,” he repeated. “Do you know Lu Beck well?”

“Yes.” Regina tensed, wondering if Lu had confided in Eric. Did he know that she and Lu were in-laws?

“Do you think she’ll go back to her husband?”

Regina studied him a moment, looking for his angle. It took another moment before she realized he was attracted to Lu.

“It’s none of my business, I know,” he explained. “But she’s such a nice lady and I’d hate to think that she would end up in a bad situation again. Not that I would encourage anyone to divorce, but sometimes it’s the only solution. Or do
you think she won’t divorce? I’ve heard that some women don’t want to legally dissolve the marriage and they—”

“Eric, Eric,” Regina said, laughing. “Slow down! Let me answer at least one of your questions. I don’t think Lu will go back to her husband and I hope she’ll seek to end her marriage. She’s young and pretty and deserves a second chance. She has a daughter, who would benefit from having a caring man around, as well.”

“Yes, she mentioned Annie.”

“Are you interested in courting Lu?”

“Not if it would be uncomfortable for her.”

“Eric, she’s only been away from her husband a few weeks. She needs time to think, time to heal.”

Eric seemed saddened by that. “Yes, of course.” He heaved a sigh. “Patience is not one of my virtues.”

“Kindness is, though,” Regina noted. “So be kind to her. That’s what she needs most of all. Women who leave their husbands suffer tremendous guilt. Lu would be mortified if she thought people were questioning her morals.”

“Yes, of course.” His gaze drifted to where Lu toiled. “She should be out here dancing, not filling punch cups. It pains me that she’s been dealt such a rotten hand. She’s a courageous woman, don’t you think? I mean, coming here with no money and no idea of what the future might hold for her and her child must have been terrifying.”