A blush flashed into her cheeks. Andrew could only assume it was because she knew how intimate it was to give her Christian name. Why would she give only that name? Did she not want him to know who she was?
“Alright, Rose. I’m Andrew.” He preempted her question, “Just Andrew.”
Her blue eyes widened and he could see deeper into her soul. Her fire for life. Yet a hesitancy.
“Andrew,” she whispered his name into existence. A cloud floating around the two of them. How could it be? Was it that so few people called him by Andrew?
He tried to ground himself back into reality. “What brought you out here? Besides dancing.” He smiled.
“Besides dancing?” Rose laughed a few short notes. She looked him in the eye as if to gauge whether or not she should tell him the truth.
“The real reason.”
“Hmmm… I see you think you can read my mind.”
“I would never be so bold as to think that. Nor would I want that power. But in this case, I slipped up.”
A pause, long enough to allow for a few new snowflakes to flutter down on her cheeks. Then, “I received some good news earlier.” Rose’s smile tugged at her cold, reddened cheeks, and Andrew was compelled to mirror it.
“That’s wonderful. What was the news?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
Rose thought for a second before answering, “Both.”
“You’re just a Rose with good news?”
Laughter trickled out again. “Yes, that’s me. That’s all you need to know, I’m sure.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I’m quite sure after this dance, we’ll never speak again.”
The claim elicited a stillness from Andrew. “Now what in the world would make you say that?”
“I know more about us than you do.”
“What–”
“Woof!” Dodger barked and flopped himself down right between the two dancers.
“You are quite right, Dodger. I do believe the dance is over.” Rose removed her hands from Andrew’s body, and he felt more than warmth leave him. He watched helplessly as she patted the dog and then took a few steps away from him. The snowfall was picking up.
“You have an exceptionally intelligent dog. I do hope you’ll be happy together. Thank you for the dance. I shall treasure it forever.” And then a blown kiss, a wave, and a departure. She was leaving.
Andrew watched her depart, knowing it was useless to go after her. “What the deuce was that all about?” Andrew dropped to his haunches and mechanically patted Dodger.
If he had taken notice of where he squatted, he would have seen that he had been deposited right back onto his smoothed patch of snow. If he had taken even more notice, he would have realized that Rose was not heading in the direction of the house; rather, she was veering away from it ever so slightly.
Instead, he forced her out of his mind so that he could consider Dodger and how that Judas would be dealt with later.
Chapter 4
ROSESTARTEDTORACEback to the house, for if she didn’t run toward it, surely she would run back to Andrew. After only a few hundred yards, she stopped because her legs ached from the short sprint, and her lungs burned to be free from her chest. Small beads of sweat were dropping down her forehead, mixing with a few rogue tears dashing down her cheeks. Her normal heartbeat was long gone, and in its place was an amateur drummer learning a new, and vexingly, erratic rhythm. Rose pushed her palms against her cheeks to warm them and make the tears and sweat disappear. This was an outrageous reaction to a first encounter. He was just a man. A mere mortal. Nothing more. Nothing more than an absolute god in hessians with the purest green eyes she’d ever seen. She shook the image from her mind.
The dance had addled her brain. His unique scent of mint and honey. She wanted to inhale him again. His hands on her waist, then his hand clasping hers. It had been too wonderful, too dreamy. She wasn’t made for this many dreams.
