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

the better because you saved his life. You’re now my official hero.”

Jared hunkered down next to her. “I found this house to rent and just couldn’t pass it up. It’s close to the vet school for you, and just a few blocks from the campus bus for me. I figure that we spend an awful lot of time going back and forth to see each other, and things could be a lot more simple.”

Her smile faded. “It’s all great, Jared. Really. But if you thought I would move in, well...”

“That’s where Murphy comes in. I figured I might stand a better chance if you were offered two guys for the price of one. What do you think?”

Her eyes widened, and her hands stilled on the pup’s soft golden fur. “I...I’m not exactly sure what you’re saying.”

“I knew I’d have trouble with this, so I had a talk with Murph, and he said he’d handle it. He has a present for you.”

She gave a nervous laugh as she glanced around the hallway. “I hope it doesn’t involve paper towels and Pine-Sol.”

“Not that kind of present, though he and I had a talk about that, too. He promises he’s going to try really hard to be good.” Jared reached over to ruffle the pup’s baby-soft coat. “Check his collar. I could be wrong, but I think he said he’d put the present there.”

“If it’s edible, I don’t think I’m interested.”

“I don’t know. Better take a look, don’t you think?”

She stilled, then took a shaky breath and gently felt Murphy’s collar. “Maybe he lost it.”

“I sincerely hope not. Check a little closer.”

She gently fingered the collar, then released the catch and lifted it away. The overhead light caught the piercing sparkle of a slender band tied to the buckle, and at that she froze.

“Strange rabies tag,” Jared murmured when she didn’t say anything. He felt his pulse pick up an unsteady beat. “What does it say?”

“I...” She blinked and rubbed at her eyes with the back of her wrist. “I think Murphy is a little young to be looking for this kind of commitment.”

“He’s just the right age. And so are we, Kate.”

“Are we?” She shot a brief glance at him, her voice tinged with panic. “I never thought...I mean, what will your mother say? You know she’ll hate this. You have so much school left. So do I, and...”

Jared lifted the sleeping pup from her lap and set him on the braided rug in front of the door, then took her hand and they rose to face each other.

Looking into her eyes, he saw worry and confusion, with a touch of fear, but he also saw the longing that matched his own, and that gave him the courage to continue. “I love you, Kate. From the moment we met, I felt this connection that just took over my heart, and I know it will never leave. When you broke up with me, I thought the world had ended. Now—it’s like anything in the world is possible, but only if it’s with you.”

“Your family.”

“I don’t have to be Senator Ellsworth Mathers II to find success, Kate...though there’s no reason I couldn’t, whether I’m with you or not. My mother was dead wrong about you...about us. And she can’t make decisions about where you and I go with this relationship.”

She leaned her forehead against his chest. “I wish that were true. But I don’t want to come between you and your family, ever.”

“I love you, Kate. Why spend the next years of college apart when we could be together?” His heart lifted when she didn’t immediately disagree. “We could get married next week. The week after that.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Will your family disapprove?”

At that, she wryly shook her head. “They wouldn’t care.”

“Well, mine will accept this.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “They’ll come to love you, just as I do. I promise.”

“I love you, too, more than I could ever say.” She silently looked up at him for so long that he feared the rest of her answer. “I just hope you’re not wrong.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

KATE HELD UP HER HAND to stare at the ring on her finger, shifting her hand in the candlelight of the church to catch the sparkles.

It had been his grandmother’s ring, and she could well imagine the value of it. She had little knowledge about fine jewelry, but it seemed to have perfect clarity and the brilliant cut caught fire in the sun. Jared had kept it in his safe-deposit box at the bank since the day his grandfather gave it to him after the death of Jared’s grandmother.

She could only imagine what Sylvia thought about a treasured family heirloom falling into such disreputable hands. Jared had called her the evening Kate said “Yes,” and she’d heard only his side of the conversation, but the woman had been anything but pleased.

So be it.

Perhaps Kate’s dreams of having an extended family, with dinners on Sunday and warm, happy holidays together, would never come true, but she and Jared had each other, and her happiness had grown with every passing day.

And what had started as an engagement had rocketed forward in a white heat, with neither of them seeing any point in delaying beyond the first available date at the church.

“You’re sure you want to go through with this?” she asked quietly. “I know it isn’t the sort of fairy-tale wedding you would’ve had if you were marrying someone else.”

“You are my fairy tale,” he whispered back. “I don’t need anything else.”

And it was true for her, too.

The small chapel stood near the college. Built of massive, rough-hewn stone back in the 1800s, it smelled of candles and age and crumbling hymnals. Harsh late-afternoon February sunlight filtered through a dozen intricately cut, jewel-toned stained-glass windows on the west side of the church, bathing the heavy pews in glowing light, the flickering candles adding a touch of intimacy.

Only Deanna, Leesa and Phil were present, but the elderly minister smiled beneficently on