Free Deep as the Rivers (Santa Fe Trilogy) by Shirl Henke

toward Samuel, who had just excused himself from Elise and Santiago.
        Well, why not? The worst he could do was cut her cold as he had done at the Phelps gala back in Washington. Summoning her courage, Olivia walked straight across the crowded room toward him. As if by magic the laughing chattering guests seemed to melt away, clearing a path between them until he turned and saw her. At once those stormy blue eyes lit with recognition, but he stood stock-still in the center of the floor, watching her with an unnervingly magnetic smile on his lips.
        Did he welcome her or scorn her impulsive boldness? There was only one way to find out. Olivia’s chin raised another notch as she sailed across the glassy floor with her heart ready to fly from her chest. Could Samuel hear it beat?

 
     
    Chapter Five
     
     
        Samuel watched her make her way across the floor toward him. Her bold walk held none of the sly, subtle nuances of the belle but rather was incredibly self-confident and forthright. Whatever she might be, Olivia St. Etienne was nothing like his soon-to-be ex-wife. Tish’s vapid blond beauty paled by comparison to the fiery freshness of the young Frenchwoman.
        His eyes were not the only ones fastened upon her as she approached. Not a man in the room was immune. She was a vision of spring in pure yellow, a difficult color for many women. The vibrant sheer muslin whispered around her slender curves and set off her lightly sun kissed complexion. In contrast her hair, piled in bouncing curls atop her head, seemed as dark and bright as living flames. Her only adornments were the tiny pearls woven artfully through her coiffure, and embroidered across the neckline of her gown. The effect was exquisite yet virginal.
        He desired her with a schoolboy intensity that appalled him. His eyes swept up the long-legged contours of her delectable body, past the set of that determined little chin to pause for an instant at the lushness of her slightly parted lips, then moved on to her exotically slanted cat’s eyes. The senator had given Tish an emerald necklace and earrings. The heavy deep green stones had overpowered her pallor, but he could envision them caressing Olivia’s sun kissed throat, dripping from her tiny ears, matching the dark fires in those incredible eyes. He could imagine her wearing the emeralds and nothing else. Stop it! Fool. What was it about this chit that so affected his lusty fancies?
        As she approached him, Olivia watched those stormy blue eyes assess her with frank male appetite, but he made no attempt to meet her halfway. Rather, he stood arrogantly in the center of the floor, tall and splendid looking in the perfectly fitted blue uniform, waiting for her. Did he find her as beautiful as the sophisticated women he must have known in Washington? Could he see how she wore her heart on her sleeve? Before courage deserted her, she stopped directly in front of him and smiled, praying her voice would not crack.
        “We meet once again, Monsieur Colonel. I warned you I would track you down.”
        A small smile touched his generous mouth. “And you proved yourself an able huntress, but I thought we’d agreed to dispense with titles, Olivia.”
        Just then the musicians resumed playing. Without thinking she raised her right hand and asked, “Would you do a lady the honor of dancing with her, Samuel?”
        His smile was a dazzling white slash now as he took her hand and swept his other arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him than was strictly proper, even in such a scandalous new dance as the waltz. They glided across the polished walnut floor to the lilt of violin strings, a striking couple moving with grace and verve.
        “You are an exceptional dancer, Samuel,” Olivia murmured, positive he could feel the frantic tattoo of her heart keeping rhythm with the music.
        “As are you. St. Louis is quite a surprise. No one back east would have imagined