Free Now and Forever by Diana Palmer Page A

don’t!”
    Eileen came back before he could answer her, dragging a tall, lanky redheaded boy by the hand. “Tish, this is Gus!” she said with a beaming smile.
    Tish looked up into pale, twinkling eyes. “Glad to meet you, Gus,” she said genuinely.
    â€œSame here, Miss Peacock,” he grinned. “Eileen’s told me a lot about you.”
    â€œI understand you’re interested in soil conservation,” she remarked as they started out the door, and they were at Jace Coleman’s front door before the enthusiastic young scholar finished his discussion on soil erosion, sediment control, and the benefits to be gained by putting rock rip-rap on stream beds to prevent erosion.
    Nan Coleman laid claim to Russell the minute the four of them went through the door.
    â€œI knew you’d break down and come,”Nan said mischievously, openly flirting with Russell.
    His eyebrow lifted over a pleasant smile. “Did you?” he asked.
    Tish left them there and made her way to the punch bowl, anxious to escape the disturbing sight of her best friend flirting with her…her…what was Russell to her?
    The music, provided by a local band, was lilting and loud, and she had to admit that the players were unusually good. They had a repertoire that included pop tunes as well as country-western music, and she was almost immediately drawn onto the dance floor in the cleared banquet room.
    Between dances, she listened to Jace Coleman, Nan’s tall, gray-haired father, while he mourned his crops.
    â€œI can take the loss, of course,” Jace admitted grudgingly. “It’s just the principle of the thing. Now, it’s armyworms!” he exclaimed.
    â€œBuy beetles,” Russell advised him humorously, joining them with Nan clinging to his arm. “The county agent says they make mincemeat of armyworms.”
    Jace set his thin lips. “I started this farmwhen county agents were a bad joke, and I’ll run it my own way until I’m dead. Then Nan can listen to college boys who’ve never felt the pull of a mule on the other end of a plow.”
    â€œRemember your blood pressure, Dad,” Nan teased gently. “It’s just been a bad year.”
    â€œTell Russell that,” Jace invited. “He planted corn.”
    â€œAmen,” Russell seconded, raising a glass of bourbon to his lips.
    â€œI haven’t seen you take Tish on the dance floor yet,” Jace remarked to Russell. “Has this offspring of mine been monopolizing you?”
    Nan’s full lips pouted at him. “Tish has him all the time. I’m entitled to monopolize him at parties, aren’t I, Russ?” she added with a provocative glance at Russell that made Tish’s blood run cold.
    Russell caught that look in her eyes and ignored Nan. “Do you want to dance?” he asked her.
    â€œMy feet are tired,” she said quickly. “They’ve been walked on until they’renumb,” she added with a nervous laugh in Jace’s direction.
    â€œWasn’t my fault,” he teased. “I haven’t been able to get my bid in for all these young bucks.”
    â€œThen, this is a good time,” Tish replied, holding out her hand.
    Jace shrugged. “They’re your feet, Lutecia.”
    â€œNot too tired, apparently,” Russell chided at her ear as she passed by him.
    She avoided his glance and followed Jace onto the dance floor, fighting down a maelstrom of emotions, one of which was blatant jealousy.
    Across Jace’s lean chest, she saw Nan melt into Russell’s hard arms as he drew her onto the dance floor in tune to the seductive melody the band was playing. The older girl’s tanned cheek nestled possessively against his chest, and her eyes were closed as if she’d suddenly landed in paradise. Tish turned her eyes back to Jace with a feeling of flatness that lasted the rest of the evening.
    Just as the band broke