Page 59 of Royal Games (The Royals of Monterra)

“I don’t think so,” I said, shaking my head so that he’d understand my response even if he couldn’t hear me.

This was not what the club promoter wanted to hear. “Come on. I’ll throw in another thousand dollars if you’ll dance. Just one dance.”

Then Rafe was on his feet, pulling me up by the hand. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“We’re dancing.”

I leaned back on my heels, stopping him from propelling me forward. “I can’t!”

He studied me for a minute, like he was trying to figure out the right thing to say. “Do you trust me?”

Did he really not understand that that was our entire problem? I didn’t know whether or not I could trust him.

“I won’t let anything happen to you. Come on.” He tugged on my hand again.

And like a lamb being led to the slaughter, I followed meekly behind him, trying my best not to remember in excruciating detail the last time we had danced together.

Chapter 18

While we were onMarry Me,I had taken him on a date that was about getting to know me better. I had found a nearby western bar that had dancing on Friday nights.

He was surprised when we pulled up. “I thought you didn’t drink.”

Rafe had been a good sport, wearing the full country getup. Cowboy boots, cowboy hat, and jeans. It made him even more scrumptious.

“I don’t. But I do line dance.”

He protested, but I begged and pleaded. To my delight, he gave in faster than a badly built card tower. I showed him the basics, and we stood behind the other dancers while I taught him the steps. He turned out to be a surprisingly quick study, and when I said as much, he mentioned that his mother had made him take dance classes when he was younger. Which was totally adorable.

We danced until we were both out of breath and sweating. I used my hat to fan my face. “Let’s go outside,” he suggested.

And even though we were in California in the summer, it was still a thousand degrees cooler outside than in the bar.

“Better?” he asked.

“Much,” I said, pulling my hair up and fanning the back of my neck.

Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” came on. “Listen,” I said. It had always been my aunt’s favorite song. It was the one she’d played during her first dance at her wedding reception. After Richard left and we discovered that he had taken all of our money, she had locked herself in her room for twenty-four hours, playing that song over and over again. The next day she came out, all steely reserves and strength, and went on with her life as if Richard had never been part of it.

She hadn’t played it again since.

“Do you like this song?”

It was a song that reminded me of both good and bad times. It was haunting and beautiful. “I love it,” I finally said, not wanting to explain the entire complicated history.

“Then we should dance.” He offered me his left hand, and I put my right hand in it. He put my other hand on his shoulder, and his right hand went around my lower back, emptying all the breath from my chest. He pulled me in close, swaying slowly back and forth.

His gaze pierced my heart, and there was something in his expression, an emotion, that I didn’t recognize.

Instead of ruining this moment by overanalyzing, I rested my head against his shoulder, closing my eyes. He put his cheek against the top of my hair, making me sigh with pleasure. I wanted this moment to last forever.

I forgot about everything. I forgot about the camera crew filming us, about the people standing in the doorway watching us, about my fears that I didn’t know him very well.

Because right then only one thing mattered—I absolutely knew I had fallen in love with him. The truth slammed into me with 1.21 gigawatts of electrical power. My face felt feverish as that love filled my heart with a buoyant happiness.

I didn’t know if he felt the same. I’d seen enough contestants blindsided on this show to know that he might be feeling one thing but acting like he felt another. Being with him here like this, though, seemed so true. So right. He made me feel like I belonged in his arms, in his embrace, and in his heart.

So you could imagine my shock when the techno music cut out, and “Crazy” filled the loudspeakers. I looked up to see Frank standing next to the DJ, and he gave me two thumbs up.

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