Free Country Brides by Debbie Macomber Page A

soberly when she reentered the room. “Skip ’s right, I’ve been cross and unreasonable all day. I hope my sour mood hasn’t ruined your dinner.”
    â€œOf course not,” she murmured, giving him a smile.
    Clay stood up to serve the dessert, spooning generous helpings of apple crisp and ice cream into each bowl.
    Skip chattered aimlessly, commenting on one subject and then bouncing to another without any logical connection, his thoughts darting this way and that.
    â€œWhat time are you going over to Kate’s tonight?” he casually asked Clay.
    â€œI won’t be. She’s got some meeting with the women’s group from the Grange. They’re decorating for the dance tomorrow night.”
    â€œNow that you mention it, I seem to remember Kate saying something about being busy tonight.” Without a pause he turned to Rorie. “You’ll be coming, I hope. The Grange is putting on a square dance—the biggest one of the year, and they usually do it up good.”
    â€œKate already invited me. I’ll be going with her,” Rorie explained, although she hadn’t the slightest idea how to square dance. Generally she enjoyed dancing, although she hadn’t gone for several months because Dan wasn’t keen on it.
    â€œYou could drive there with us if you wanted,” Skip offered. “I ’d kinda like to walk in there with you on my arm. You’d cause quite a stir with the men, especially Luke Rivers—he’s the foreman at the Logan place. Most girls go all goo-goo-eyed over him.”
    Clay’s spoon clanged loudly against the side of his glass dish and he murmured an apology.
    â€œI’m sorry, Skip,” Rorie said gently. “I told Kate I’d drive over with her.”
    â€œDarn,” Skip muttered.
    The meal was completed in silence. Once, when Rorie happened to glance up, her eyes met Clay’s. Her heart felt as though it might hammer its way out of her chest. She was oppressively aware of the chemistry between them. It simmered in Rorie’s veins and she could tell that Clay felt everything she did. Throughout dinner, she’d been all too conscious of the swift stolen glances Clay had sent in her direction. She’d sent a few of her own, though she’d tried hard not to. But it was impossible to be in the same room with this man and not react to him.
    A thousand times in the next couple of hours, Rorie told herself that everything would be fine as soon as she could leave. Life would return to normal then.
    When the dishes were finished, Skip challenged her to a game of cribbage, and grateful for the escape Rorie accepted. Skip sat with his back to his brother, and every time Rorie played her hand, she found her eyes wandering across the room to where Clay sat reading. To all outward appearances, he was relaxed and comfortable, but she knew he felt as tense as she did. She knew he was equally aware of the electricity that sparked between them.
    Rorie’s fingers shook as she counted out her cards.
    â€œFifteen eight,” Skip corrected. “You forgot two points.”
    Her eyes fell to the extra ten, and she blinked. “I guess I did.”
    Skip heaved a sigh. “I don’t think your mind’s on the game tonight.”
    â€œI guess not,” she admitted wryly. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go up to bed.” She threw him an apologetic smile and reached for her coffee cup. Skip was right; her mind hadn’t been on the game at all. Instead, her thoughts had been on a man who owed his loyalties to another woman—a woman whose roots were intricately bound with his. A woman Rorie had liked and respected from the moment they met.
    Feeling depressed, she bade the two men good-night and carried her cup to the kitchen. Dutifully, she rinsed it out and set it beside the sink, but when she turned around Clay was standing in the doorway, blocking her