Western Christmas Brides by Lauri Robinson & Lynna Banning & Carol Arens

Author:Lauri Robinson & Lynna Banning & Carol Arens
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Historical
Published: 2017-11-23T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Christina sat on a wooden bench at the edge of the dance floor, resisting the impulse to pinch herself. Was she dreaming? Had she fallen asleep over her lesson book and would wake up tomorrow and find that this evening was nothing but a dream?

Oh, she did hope not. In the past three hours she had learned two new ways to dance, both of them exciting and a little bit wild—a real expression of the boisterous, free-spirited Western frontier. And she had exchanged thought-provoking words with Ivan Panovsky. Her memories of this night would stay with her for the rest of her life.

She sipped the glass of lemonade clutched in her hand and tried to calm her racing heart. Square dancing was certainly strenuous! She’d never dreamed her crippled ankle would allow her to execute such complicated steps. And it was exhilarating, floating across the floor in...in... Oh, mercy! In the arms of Ivan Panovsky.

Then another thought popped into her mind, one she desperately tried to wriggle away from. She would never forget the pleasure she felt being held close to Ivan Panovsky.

Across the floor Annamarie was now dancing a spirited two-step with Kurt—no, it was Adam. And now it was Kurt again. How competitive young men could be! The next moment the musicians struck up a waltz, and a shadow fell across her.

Ivan stood before her, holding out his hand. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but instead he tipped his head toward the dancers circling the floor, and his dark eyebrows rose in a question. When she hesitated, he bent, plucked the lemonade glass out of her hand and set it on the bench beside her.

She rose and took his hand. Without a word he led her onto the dance floor, turned her toward him and placed her hand on his shoulder. Then he pulled her so close the ruffles on her pink-flowered shirtwaist brushed against his chest. His gray-green eyes held hers, and she caught her breath.

The music was slow, a tune she didn’t recognize, but apparently Ivan did because he began to hum the melody. In the next instant she became acutely aware of his hand at her back. Still he didn’t speak, just held her close, and they moved together around the perimeter of the polished wood floor. Dancing with him was like floating.

Over his shoulder she watched the other dancers swirl and circle, and then she looked up into Ivan’s face. He was almost smiling, but not quite. Instead, she saw an odd hesitation in his eyes.

“Ivan?”

He drew her closer, so close she could feel the warmth of his body. “Do not talk, Christina.” His breathing hitched and then evened out. She liked that, knowing that he was feeling something unusual, because she was feeling something unusual, too. It was a strange sensation, a kind of understanding between the two of them that had nothing to do with the music or the fact that they were moving together in the slow steps of a waltz.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.