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

Imagining butlers and cooks scurrying around behind the scenes, Kate expected to see Mrs. Mathers glide down the staircase in a formal gown, but Jared motioned for Kate to follow, leading the way to the kitchen, where a slender, elegant woman stood at a butcher-block island, eyeing a golden turkey with a measure of distaste.

She looked up and smiled at Jared, offering her cheek for a quick kiss, gave Kate a dismissive glance, then continued to study the offending bird. “I’m not sure it’s big enough. Do you think so, dear?”

“It looks fantastic. This is Kate, by the way.”

Kate moved forward, extending her hand. “It’s so nice to meet you.”

Sylvia nodded politely without accepting the handshake, her face expressionless. “I’ll make sure we have lots of time to talk a little later.”

“When can we eat?” Jared peered around her to an open doorway. “Is the table set? Can we help?”

His mother’s light laugh was silvery, as elegant as she was in her slim black dress and pearls. “I had dinner delivered just minutes ago, and everything else is on the sideboard. If you’ll carry in this platter and help me carve, we can start.”

“Where’s Julia?”

“Your sister insisted on going with your uncle Dex, so she could spend the weekend with her cousins. So I’m afraid it’s just the three of us.”

Outside, the wind picked up, slamming crystalline snow against the windows. Inside, Kate felt a similar chill. Was it her imagination...or had Jared’s mother just taken an instant dislike to her?

“THIS WAS A WONDERFUL meal,” Jared said as he folded his napkin and placed it next to his plate. “The caterers did a terrific job.”

“As always,” Sylvia murmured. She tipped her head at Kate. “I’m sure your family has a big get-together and everyone helps out with the cooking, but now it’s my children and me for holidays. I’ve never been particularly gifted in the kitchen, at any rate. So I naturally have everything catered.”

“That makes perfect sense,” Kate murmured.

Throughout the meal, Sylvia had spoken to her only twice, and that had been to request the salt or pepper. Still, the woman had emanated a strange sense of satisfaction when Kate surreptitiously watched Jared for cues on the proper forks and spoons to pick up for each course.

Apparently oblivious to the uncomfortable undercurrents in the room, Jared had remained his usual congenial self, talking to both of them, regaling them with stories about some of his more challenging moments in law school. If he noticed his mother’s frosty behavior, he gave no sign.

Sylvia looked over her wineglass at her son. “If you’re done, darling, could you possibly bring in some firewood? We can lay a fire in the living room and have our dessert there.”

Kate rose to gather the plates when Jared left the table, but Sylvia motioned her to sit back with a dismissive flick of her hand. “The caterers will send staff to deal with this later. I’d rather have a chance to talk.”

A premonition wrapped icy tentacles around Kate’s stomach. “It was a lovely dinner. Thanks so much for the invitation, Mrs. Mathers.”

“I’m afraid it wasn’t my idea. It was Jared’s, of course, but perhaps it’s just as well.” Sylvia bared her teeth in a wintry smile. “You see, my dear, you seem to have a very troubling past, and I want you out of his life. So now I’m just wondering. How much do you want him to know?”

CHAPTER EIGHT

KATE JERKED HER GAZE to the windows, wishing she could see past the reflections to the darkness outside.

“It will be a while before Jared comes back,” Sylvia said mildly. “The storage building is at the far end of the backyard. There’s plenty of time for us to work through these little details.”

“I—I don’t know what you mean.” Kate’s heart pounded as if it were trying to break free of her chest.

“Perhaps you’d like to take Jared to Charlesburg to meet your mother? Or to catch up on some of the local gossip?” Sylvia pursed her lips. “I’m sure Francine Mathers is still quite a hot topic these days. She is your mother, right?”

“Yes,” Kate whispered, closing her eyes.

“I’m sorry—I didn’t quite hear you.”

“Yes. Yes, she is.”

Sylvia shook her head sadly. “It must have been quite awkward for her, killing your father like that. Murder is such an ugly word.”

“It was an accident.” Kate gripped the back of a chair with both hands. “He came into the kitchen. They were arguing...and he stumbled into the knife she held in her hand. Accidentally.”

“A pity that the judge and jury didn’t think so, dear. But perhaps you don’t remember all the facts quite right. You were what—in eighth grade? And the stress of testifying surely must have been something you wanted to forget.”

“It’s something I think about every day.”

“Then you must understand my concerns.”

Kate looked down at her white knuckles. Even now that she was an adult, the shame and fear and panic sometimes came rushing back in vivid images, leaving her in a cold sweat and breathing hard. “I lost my dad, and then I lost my mom, too, for the long years she was incarcerated. Wrongly incarcerated.”

Sylvia flipped a hand dismissively. “Wrongly or not, I’m afraid you have quite a past...and I’m very afraid of what that could do to Jared’s future if you two ever, well...”

“We’re barely dating!”

“But things can happen.” Her mouth formed a moue of distaste. “A girl is careless—perhaps even on purpose. There’s a necessary marriage, and then there you have it. An alliance that could destroy Jared’s future.”

Kate had already felt self-conscious and out of place in this grand home. But now she felt a flare of outraged anger at the woman’s assumptions. “I’m hardly wanting to trap your son, Mrs. Mathers. I’m in vet school, and I have career goals, too. Marriage and parenthood—in whatever order they occur—have no place in my plans for the next decade.”

“Things happen all the same.”

“Not with me.” Kate glanced again at the