Linda Wisdom - Bride Of Dreams

“Who else asked you to go with them tonight?” Cooper questioned.

Caroline tipped her head back, eyes half closed in thought. Her lips moved as if she was ticking off names. In his mind, she took entirely too long before she opened her eyes.

“No one.”

“I can’t believe that.”

“Alice said I intimidate the men. I think I just plain scare them.” She almost yelped with joy when she saw a corner of his mouth twitch.

“Maybe you should try the smiley face on their pancakes,” he suggested.

“I wanted to build a tower with the bacon, but Marge said it wasn’t a good idea.” Her smile faltered.

Cooper spun her around so he could see what caught her attention. Elias Spencer had just come in with Lydia Perry, a member of the infamous Tyler Quilting Circle. Cooper didn’t miss the momentary expression in Caroline’s eyes that he knew was yearning. But why? What did Elias Spencer have to do with her?

It would have been so easy to ask her why seeing any of the Spencer men affected her so strongly. But he didn’t want to tip his hand just yet.

“See anyone you know?” he asked instead.

She looked at him blankly for a moment before she recovered. “I’m sorry, I must have zoned out,” she apologized.

He shook his head, confused. “Zoned out?”

“Mentally wandered off. I usually don’t do that.”

“Maybe it’s the company,” he said lightly.

She ducked her head just enough so she could inhale the spicy scent of his aftershave.

“Fishing for a compliment, Cooper?” Her smooth voice flowed like hot silk over his skin. Her hand moved almost caressingly across his shoulder.

“I never had a woman zone out before,” he said gruffly.

She smiled brightly. “Let’s just call it relaxing and having fun, shall we?”

Cooper wasn’t sure it was a good idea to relax too much around Caroline.

CAROLINE LOVED TO DANCE and did so any chance she had. Tonight she learned that dancing with Cooper was a whole new experience.

She couldn’t remember a partner moving with her the way he did. As if they were one.

The connotation brought images to mind that were best left alone.

Dancing was giving her the chance to glance around the room and see who was where. Luckily, the people she’d hoped to see there had arrived. The Spencer men were all present, and none of them arrived alone. Since they were good-looking men, she wasn’t surprised.

Brady Spencer was the only one she’d had much chance to talk to. She hoped she would have more of a chance tonight. She already knew Cooper was good friends with all the Spencer brothers, Seth, Brady and Quinn, so it would be natural for him to spend some time with them.

“Well, folks, we’re going to take a short break,” the band leader, who also played the trombone, announced in a voice that carried throughout the large room. “Get yourselves something cold to drink, rest your feet and we’ll be back in about fifteen minutes.”

As Caroline and Cooper left the dance floor, she was aware of his hand resting warmly against the small of her back. She’d never thought of it as a sensitive area until then.

“Looks as if we’re being paged,” Cooper murmured, guiding Caroline to the left.

“I told myself, ‘That can’t be Cooper Night Hawk out there dancing,’” Brady called out. He was grinning widely when the couple reached the table. “The man wouldn’t attend a dance if his life depended on it. Then Eden says, ‘Look out there. It’s Cooper.’ I was ready to tell her she needed glasses when I saw you myself. Ow!” He rubbed his arm where his wife had punched him.

“Please excuse my husband. He sometimes needs a mouth adjustment,” Eden Frazier Spencer explained to Caroline. Her violet eyes were warm with amusement. “I hate to think what kind of witty sayings he comes up with at the hospital.”

“I haven’t lost a sponge in a patient for some time now,” Brady insisted.

“Which is why I go out of town for medical services,” Cooper said.

“The man can make a joke, but not once have I seen him smile or laugh,” Caroline confided in Eden.

Caroline secretly envied the other woman her stunning violet eyes. There had been plenty of talk about Eden and Brady’s romance, with everyone insisting that the charming surgeon didn’t go down easy. He hadn’t wanted to get married, but he also hadn’t wanted to lose Eden.

Now he looked as if marriage agreed with him a great deal. Caroline didn’t miss the secret looks and smiles shared by the couple. It was an intimacy she hoped to share with a special person one day.

Cooper turned to Caroline. “How about something cold to drink?”

“Yes, please.”

“Eden, Brady, I’m sure we’ll see you later.”

When they reached the drinks table, Cooper looked at her questioningly.

“Anything diet is fine with me,” she replied.

Cooper purchased drinks and they walked around until they found an empty table with two chairs. Caroline sat down so that she could see the room from her position.

“Everyone is so friendly here,” she commented. “Not that they aren’t friendly where I came from,” she added hastily. “It’s just that it’s different here. People are genuinely interested in hearing how you are.”

“They’ll also be more than willing to tell you how they are,” Cooper said. “There’s nothing like listening to Mrs. Morgan talk about her gallbladder surgery. In great detail, no less.”

“And I bet you can count on them in any kind of emergency.”

“Lightning struck a barn last summer. Started up a fire and the barn was gone in no time. Three days later enough men were over there to rebuild the barn and enough women came along to make sure we were fed,” he said. “I can’t imagine any secrets rolling around in Tyler for too long before they’re revealed.”

Caroline’s smile felt frozen on her lips. “Yes, I guess it wouldn’t be easy to keep them here.” She toyed with her straw, rolling it around in the glass. When she looked up, she noticed several elderly women sitting together. There was nothing remarkable about them that should have caught her attention, except they all seemed to be watching her. If she wasn’t mistaken, she’d swear their whispered conversation was also about her. She knew her skirt wasn’t too short or her upper body too bare, so that couldn’t be it.

She returned her attention to Cooper. “Do I have something on my face?” she asked in a low voice.

He looked startled by her question. “No, why?”

“Because right now I feel like a bug under a microscope. There’s a table across from us where some older ladies are sitting, and they’re watching us,” she whispered.

Cooper shifted in his chair as if he was making himself more comfortable, but so he could also see who Caroline was talking about. He muttered a curse when he saw them. “Have you heard of the Tyler Quilting Circle?” he asked.

She nodded. “Of course. The ladies at Worthington House who get together a couple times a week to work on quilts. They recently donated one for a raffle for the children’s library.”

“That’s the one. When you’re talking about people who are genuinely interested in you, you’re really talking about them. They can get information the FBI wouldn’t have a prayer of finding out,” he replied. He wasn’t about to tell her about the legend of the Quilting Circle’s quilts. He wasn’t the only man who believed telling the legend could make it true. For him.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.