Daring to Love Again by Julia Ridgmont

Author:Julia Ridgmont [Ridgmont, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Laura L. Walker
Published: 2019-09-24T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Despite Darius’s initial reservations about attending the Fourth of July picnic at Jillian’s invitation, he was having a grand time. He couldn’t help but be drawn to her like a bee to honey. She had a way of making him feel like he was the most important man on the planet, especially when she squeezed his arm and commented about his strong muscles or winked at him after sharing a joke, making him feel that she was only sharing it with him. No matter how many times he told himself not to fall for her charms, he found himself wishing he had the right to kiss her. And he knew without a doubt she would welcome it, which made it twice as hard to resist.

Dancing with her was sweet torture. By the end of a set of reels, he was ready to take a break. “Let’s go find another glass of punch.” He offered his arm and she took it.

Halfway to the punch bowl, however, he stopped short. Off in the distance, and in the waning daylight, he thought he saw Verl Burgess standing among a group of young people. He squinted to be sure. However, the man took one look at Kepler’s mutt, who had been weaving in and out among the townsfolk, lapping up tasty morsels that were handed to him mostly by the kids, stepped to the side, and was gone in a flash.

“What are you looking at?” Jillian asked.

“Huh?” In his concentration, he’d almost forgotten she was there. “Oh, I thought I recognized someone, but I must be mistaken.”

She tilted her head. “Someone from here?”

“No, from . . . well, from somewhere else I used to live.” Now that sounded cryptic. He should have thought of a better response.

Sure enough, a look of suspicion came over her features. “Where?”

He decided to be truthful. “Piedmont.”

To his relief, Jillian’s face cleared. “Oh. You never told me that you came from there. Nice town from what I hear.”

“Yes.” It had been so long since he’d told anyone about his former life. As long as he didn’t say too much, he didn’t think it could hurt. “I’m not actually from Piedmont but Wisconsin originally.”

Her mouth opened. “Oh. What made you decide to move west?”

He shrugged. “Odd jobs here and there. You’ve heard the expression, jack of all trades but master of none?”

“Yes.”

“That perfectly describes me.”

“What kinds of jobs have you done?” she asked.

“I was a farmhand back home until I went to work as a stone mason thirty miles away. I thought it was the type of work I wanted to do, but then the boss said I wasn’t doing it right, and that he would have to rip it out and do it all over again. So he sent me on my way back home.” That’s when he’d learned his family had been killed. The thought nearly cut off the air in his lungs.

“What did you do after that?” came Jillian’s soft reply.

Her voice had such a soothing quality to it, Darius could listen to it all day.

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