Escapade (9781301744510) by Susan Carroll Page B

Marceone had hushed her daughter,
encouraging him. "You never mind what Tessa says, Johnnie. You just
keep trying. You'll learn."
    And so he had, going at it with that same
dogged determination he threw into achieving every goal he set.
    “Ow!”
    An outcry of pain from Rory snapped his
attention back to her. It would seem he hadn't learned so much
after all.
    "Sorry," he said, apologizing for having
stomped on her foot. He paused a moment to let her rub her ankle.
When they attempted to resume the dance, they were more miserably
stiff than before.
    "Aw, the hell with the steps," Zeke said.
"Let's do it our own way."
    Rory glanced up at him, surprised at first,
then flashing an answering grin. Surprisingly enough, they fared
better bounding across the room in their own style. Rory matched
him step for step.
    By the time the music ended, their mad romp
was accorded a smattering of applause from the other dancers.
Rory's cheeks flushed a bright pink. Breathless and laughing, Zeke
led her over to the bar for a drink.
    Zeke tried to order a lemonade for her, but
the bartender looked at him as though he thought he'd lost his
mind. He had to settle for two champagne cocktails instead. He
watched in some alarm as the thirsty Rory gulped hers down as if it
were water.
    "Hey, take it easy," he said.
    "It's all right. We Irish have 'credibly hard
heads," she assured him and then hiccuped. He smiled. Taking the
glass from her, he prepared to lead her back out onto the floor as
the band struck up a waltz.
    It was then that the inevitable happened. He
spotted someone from the old neighborhood. He could hardly pretend
he didn't know her, for he nearly walked dead-on into the woman.
She was one of Sadie Marceone's neighbors, living in the house on
the opposite corner.
    "Good evening Mrs. Jiannone," he said,
suppressing a grimace. "And how have you been?"
    She stared straight into his eyes. There was
no doubt but what she knew him, but she turned and walked away
without a word. Zeke didn't like to admit it, but the snub hurt
more than any slight Mrs. Van H.'s fancy friends could have dealt
him. Perhaps the pain came from knowing what Mrs. Jiannone must be
thinking.
    It's that worthless boy, the one poor Sadie
Marceone took into her home, the one everyone said would turn out
bad, the one everyone predicted would break her heart.
    They had been right. He had.
    "Is anything wrong, Zeke?" Rory asked. She
wasn't so tipsy that she hadn't noticed what had happened. Her eyes
were wide with concern.
    "No," he said. "I just made a mistake, that's
all." He swept Rory into his arms and into the movement of the
dance. After the abandon of their previous romp, she seemed shy,
dancing at this slower, more seductive pace.
    She tried to keep him at a safe distance, but
as the dance wore on, she let him draw her closer and closer, until
if he had bent down, he could have laid the velvety curve of her
cheek against his own. He was aware of nothing but how soft and
warm she felt, the scent of her hair sweet and fresh even in the
hall's stifling atmosphere. He wanted to bury his face against the
silken strands, lose himself in her, lose all past memories as
well.
    As her slender frame swayed in perfect rhythm
with his, she roused fierce desires, and a gentler emotion he
refused to examine more closely. He only knew he could hold her
like this forever. He didn't want this night to end. But why did it
have to? He had sacrificed a great deal on the road to accumulating
his riches, lost the respect of the only people he had ever cared
about, lost the only real home he had ever known. If being wealthy
couldn't get you what you wanted, then what was the good of it
anyway?
    And he wanted Aurora Rose Kavanaugh. A voice
inside him cautioned him to go slow, to take it easy. But he had
never been a patient man. If life had taught him one thing, it was
that nothing was given freely. If you wanted something, you had to
go after it, take it.
    Rory was too caught up in the