One More Dance by Roxanne Rustand (best ebook reader for pc txt) 📗

another crisis that could seriously affect his quality of life—or end it.” He took a deep breath. “But right now, decisions need to be made and they need to be made fast. Just how well do you know your husband’s wishes?”

She closed her eyes as a wave of memories assaulted her. Oh, once she’d known his wishes very well—he’d been closer to her than the beat of her own heart. But their troubles, so many these past few years, had created a chasm that neither had been able to cross.

So how well did she know him now?

CHAPTER FOUR

THE PAST

“I saw your boyfriend at the library last night,” Deanna teased. “I think he was looking for you.”

Kate’s heart fluttered. She exhaled slowly, trying to keep her expression blank. “I’m not sure who you mean.”

Deanna rolled her eyes. “Right. A guy like Jared Mathers is certainly forgettable—if you’re ninety and have serious dementia.”

“He isn’t my boyfriend. I barely know the guy.” Kate turned another page of her radiology textbook and uncapped her yellow highlighter, trying to ignore the image of him that had been sliding into her thoughts all day.

The sexy gleam of straight white teeth when he flashed a smile that warmed her clear to her toes.

The lazy grin that deepened the dimples bracketing his sensual mouth. The sensual slide of his silver-eyed gaze, shaded by long, thick eyelashes any girl would kill for. Money. Status. Looks that ought to grace some glossy advertisement in an outdoorsman’s magazine, though he had none of the self-absorption of some of the rich, pretty boys on campus.

So totally out of her league that she really, really needed to forget she’d ever met him. “I talked to him for a few minutes at a party. Then I ran into him by accident at the library, and...well...we had that pizza.”

“Sounds like a good start to me.”

“And the end. That was two weeks ago and I haven’t seen him since.”

Deanna shrugged. “Well, I’d swear he was looking for you. In a casual, offhand sort of way.”

“Maybe he was just lost.”

“A couple girls went up and talked to him—all that coy, flirtatious stuff, you know?” Deanna snorted. “He certainly could’ve asked them for directions, but he didn’t give ’em a second glance.”

Hope and longing warred in Kate’s chest, coupled with a healthy dose of reality. She slapped her textbook shut. “Look, there’s no point in talking about this, okay? Have you seen his family on the front page of the newspaper? Do you know who his dad was? Who his uncles are? Maybe he goes out slumming now and then, but I won’t be some rich boy’s amusement, and he sure as heck wouldn’t really be interested in me. Like I said, end of story.”

“Only if you want to throw away a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I don’t mean the money—I just mean he seems like a really nice dude. You’re crazy not to see that.”

The incredulity in Deanna’s eyes nearly made Kate laugh. “Does ‘worlds apart’ mean anything to you?”

“What are we in, the Dark Ages? You’re not exactly some peasant.”

“I would never fit in his world, and I have no illusions about that.” Turning away to hide her emotions, Kate closed her eyes briefly, remembering the mocking glances of the sorority girls when she’d tried to console Jared the night his girlfriend jilted him. “Can you see me on his arm at some governor’s ball? Making conversation with political types or discussing my exhausting yoga, golf, and tennis schedule with a gaggle of women who live for that sort of thing?”

Deanna shrugged. “I’m just saying that you ought to give the guy a chance.”

Kate bit back her rising frustration. “I’m sure he really doesn’t want one. And even if he did, nothing matters more to me than school right now. I barely have time to eat, much less have a social life.”

“I already told him you’d say that.”

Kate whirled around to look at her. “You talked to him? I thought you said you saw him from across the room or something.”

An unrepentant grin lit Deanna’s eyes. “I know how much you love my interference, so I was trying to skip over that minor detail. Here, he gave me something for you.” She pulled a scrap of paper from her pocket and slid it across the table. “I guess we should get an answering machine. He told me he’s tried to call several times, but there’s never an answer. So if you’d like to meet him for coffee sometime, here’s his number.”

Suppressing the urge to snatch it up, Kate gave the piece of paper an offhand glance. “Someday, maybe.”

“You could borrow something to wear, if you want.” Deanna studied her for a long moment. “My mauve gauzy top and black silk slacks would look great on you.”

“Deanna.”

Her friend held up both hands, palms up. “Okay, okay. I’m done with being your fairy godmother, I promise.” Shouldering her backpack, she started for the door. “I’m heading over to check on how my surgery dog’s doing. Want to come along? We could stop at Bill’s Pizza.”

Kate’s stomach rumbled at the suggestion but she shook her head. “Can’t.”

Deanna hesitated in the open doorway of the kitchen, resting one hand on the frame to look back. “I think you’ll regret not taking a chance, Katy. When something really wonderful comes along, you’ve got to be brave enough to go for it.”

Long after her friend was gone, Kate stared at the closed door. Brave...or just plain foolish?

Like always, she would follow her head and not her heart, because she knew which way would lead to the ruin of her dreams. Her future. Everything she had worked for since that fateful day in eighth grade when her future had changed forever.

She only had to remember her mother’s tragic life to keep things in perspective.

SOLID PLANS AND ABSOLUTE focus melted into a puddle beneath her feet when Kate walked into the corner grocery at Elm and Sixth the next day and found Jared kneeling