Free A Winter's Rose by Erica Spindler Page A

ever known. Pampered. Elegant. There wasn’t one place on her that wasn’t smooth and soft and perfumed. Like she’d never even gotten her hands dirty.”
    Jackson shifted his gaze to the beach. “Chloe looks like her.” Although the size of the crowd had increased, he found Chloe immediately. Her golden hair stood out like a beacon. His heart wrenched with a peculiar combination of love and regret.
    â€œWe married six months after we met,” he murmured, still gazing at his daughter. “I had no idea she expected me to give up Baysafe and work for her father. That all along she’d assumed I would.” He shook his head. “I was so stupid, I thought she understood and was proud of what I did. I had no idea she’d never even considered living on my salary. She laughed when I told her she should. She thought what I
did, how much I made, a joke. Anyway, she left and took Chloe with her. Chloe wasn’t quite two.”
    â€œI’m sorry.”
    He brought his gaze to Bentley and shrugged. “It’s in the past.”
    â€œIs it?”
    An ache in his gut, he looked down to where Chloe danced with her friends. For long moments he stared at her, then he shook his head. “No, I guess it’s not. And it won’t ever be. Some mistakes are irreversible.”
    Bentley opened her mouth to speak; he stopped her. “I don’t want to talk any more.” He caught her hand across the table. “Go to a party with me?”
    â€œBut—”
    â€œShh…” Even as he told himself it was madness, he curled his fingers around hers, stood and tugged gently on her hand. “Come on, Princess. No more talking. Let’s go listen to the music and pretend we’re fifteen again.”
    He smiled, and Bentley’s stomach crashed to her toes. The man did have a way with a smile. How could the simple curving of his lips make her pulse flutter and her knees weak? It ought to be impossible, illegal.
    Even as she told herself to run as far and fast as she could, she got to her feet. “Fifteen’s no good. I had to wear a retainer.”
    He laughed. “Sixteen, then.”
    â€œWe’ll cramp Chloe’s style.”
    â€œThat’s not a negative.”
    Laughing, Bentley capitulated, and after paying the bill and collecting their coats, they walked down to the beach.
    Instead of releasing her hand, Jackson laced his fingers with hers and as they walked, their joined hands swung between them. Bentley’s pulse stirred, and she scolded herself for being an idiot. She wasn’t sixteen and she couldn’t allow herself to believe that this man was anything other than what she’d first thought. And she definitely couldn’t allow herself to be drawn into his life or his problems.
    Bentley caught her bottom lip between her teeth, acknowledging that she was too late for her own warnings and that she had a problem. A big one.
    The music hit them in a throbbing wave; the energy from the teenagers hit them harder. In the midst of the party, it proved more difficult to find Chloe than from above, and when they finally did, she wasn’t pleased.
    â€œDaddy!” she exclaimed, shooting a mortified glance at her girlfriends. “What are you doing here?”
    â€œBentley and I decided to crash your party.” He grinned at her friends. “We’re going to pretend we’re sixteen.”
    â€œDad!”
    Bentley noticed as a handful of boys standing nearby scattered. One seemed familiar, but when Bentley went to take a second look, he’d disappeared into the crowd.
    â€œIt was all his idea, Chloe.” Bentley laughed and held up her hands. “Really. I tried to talk him out of it.”
    â€œAny of you girls want to dance with me? Ever heard of the twist?”
    Chloe’s cheeks flamed; her eyes filled. She looked like she wanted to die. Remembering the tenderness of that age, Bentley took pity