Page 3 of Rescued Heart

Bianca gripped her phone. She kept missing so much. Things had to be resolved with her family before her sister’s wedding.

Her mother’s voice popped into her head.Honey, if you came to your sister’s wedding…people would look at you, not Madeline. You wouldn’t want to steal her day, would you?

No, she didn’t want to steal the spotlight. But feeling a part of the family again would be a nice change.

Eddie cleared his throat. He squinted at her under his mask that barely covered the space around his eyes. The chandelier hanging above their table highlighted the sparkle in his gaze. He had a clean-shaven jawline and wide shoulders. He could star in a movie. Maybe he was one of the extras? Or one of the financial backers for a luxurious resort rumored to be coming to the town.

He slipped his hands into his pants pockets. “Might I suggest a deal? I help you find this Carter guy while you help me dance close enough to the mayor to ask him a question.”

Bianca straightened her back. “What kind of question?”

She wouldn’t lead an undercover tabloid reporter to swoop in on anyone. No, she was here for a restart. Not to repeat the past.

Eddie tilted his head toward the swarmed dance floor. “I need to make sure he’s still going to sign off on an important grant for some inner-city youth.”

“Oh.” Not connected to the media, the movie, or even the resort. She glanced at her phone. Still no reply from Carter.

Eddie held out his palm. “What do you say? Teammates for the night?”

Carter lived for the spotlight and would not miss an opportunity to be among those dancing.

Bianca slipped her hand into Eddie’s. “One song.”

His grip sent a warmth through her. “I’ll take what I can get.”

She could offer him nothing more than teammates, each needing something from the other. A simple exchange.

So why did her heart flutter as if this was a start to something more? Love had left her misguided and at rock bottom. She could not let it happen again. This time, she would seek the qualities God wanted for her future relationship.

Eddie stepped forward. “I’m assuming we’re looking for a man in a mask.”

She laughed as she followed his lead to the dance floor. Finally, someone with a sense of humor. “However did you guess that?”

Her teammate for the song pulled up beside a woman in a purple dress and a white sequined mask and her dancing partner. The man’s lack of enthusiasm did not remain hidden behind his pointy-beaked mask.

Eddie clasped Bianca’s hand in his and held it out in a waltz form. He rested his other hand on the middle of her back. His attention scanned the crowd, but his whisper tickled her neck. “And I suppose this Carter also looks sharp in a suit? Since you assumed I was him and all. A fellow strapping lad in his prime.”

Bianca rolled her eyes. “He’s also as humble as you as well.”

Eddie’s chuckle harmonized with the melody of the keyboard. “I feel like you have the advantage since I already gave you my name.”

Bianca took in the movements of those dancing around her. No one seemed as practiced as Carter would be with his ballroom training. No one except the man she’d mistaken for her costar. “My friends call me Bianca.”

Not that she had many of those lately. Except Frances, the waitress who had not only listened to Bianca’s woes caused by the situation with her ex but shared the true Hope with her. However, Frances was currently thousands of miles away in California and thirty-plus years Bianca’s senior.

“Well, Ms. Bianca, it’s good to know that we’ve gone from teammates to friends.”

Bianca lifted on her toes to gain a better view over the sea of feathers before her. “We can be best friends if you spot Carter.”

He spun her in a counterclockwise rotation. “Is that him? Beyond the woman with the red glitter mask?”

Bianca squinted. “I don’t see…”

A camera light flashed to the side of her, and the mayor walked in front of the man in question.

Bianca tilted her chin. “I spot the mayor, though. He’s heading across the dance floor toward my right.”

Eddie whipped his head around. “You up for some more spin moves?”

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