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“Damn, the train was early,” he growled with frustration and raked his hand through his hair. Dropping his chin, his gaze fell on her upturned face. Their eyes locked. Then that confused little frown of his, which had been in evidence in her grandfather’s study the day before, returned. “Erika?”
Swallowing, she attempted to say something, but nothing coherent came forth, so she simply nodded again. Jay’s questioning gaze held her spellbound and she knew instantly from the change in his expression that he had read something in her eyes that Erika herself wasn’t sure she recognized.
With one hand, he reached up and stroked her hair as it lay splayed out in a soft curtain around her face. During rehearsals, she had chosen to wear it down and minus a hat because she felt it helped her to get into the character’s time period. However, the infuriating thing was, winds up on harbor hill had a nasty way of tossing the loose strands and blowing them annoyingly in her way. Yet, at that moment as Jay continued stroking the golden locks, she thought they were anything but bothersome.
“You’ve become so beautiful,” he whispered and she thought she must have heard him wrong. She blinked and stared up at him hard, hoping he would repeat it. “Ryan’s a very lucky man.”
Ryan.
Astonishingly, it took her muddled brain a moment to recall who he was exactly. Then she groaned inwardly and closed her eyes. She felt him go stiff above her, and then heard him produce a low wispy sigh before pushing himself to his feet.
“Come on,” he said, sounding like the old Jay she knew. “They’re going to be wondering where we are. If I don’t get you back, they’ll probably start looking for us. That’s all we would need. To have them find us like this.”
Embarrassment flooded her cheeks. Not necessarily from the picture he created, but from her own naive brain thinking Jay was about to kiss her. And she had wanted him to. Tears stung the back of her eyes as she pushed herself up onto her feet and wondered what was happening to her. She would have risked everything with Ryan for Jay Colby? What a fool she was.
As she watched him run back to the tracks to retrieve her boot, she felt a renewed hatred toward him surge. Jay Colby was a big crude, uncouth ox who would be the last man on earth she would consider as a partner. It wasn’t her fault that he had muscles the size of melons, or a chest as rock hard as the boulders lining the coast. Or arms that felt so warm and comforting when they embraced her she melted right down to her toes. Or eyes that shone as bright as any silver found in the large curio in her grandfather’s dining room.
“Well? Are you coming?” He held her boot in one hand and the other he extended to help her up the slippery bank. His eyes, however, looked far from friendly.
Rather than being disheartened by this, Erika was relieved. She didn’t need her addled brain getting all mixed feelings. It was best to keep Jay Colby firmly where he belonged.
Chapter 15
Erika leaped out of bed bright and early full of excitement and threw back the heavy curtains overhanging her window. Today Ryan was returning home.
Her eyes instinctively searched out the harbor below. The Francesca was due in port sometime that morning, but she was yet to arrive. With just the slightest heave of regret, she drew the silky tapestry shut and headed off to get dressed.
An hour later, she stood on the wooden planks on the harbor front and gazed out over the lake. Still no Francesca. She ignored the nagging little feeling in the pit of her stomach. At breakfast, Fiona had made some snippet comment about him not coming home this time, but Erika had ignored her. She ignored all the doubting voices. He would come.
Her grandfather had slipped out of the house earlier that morning to his office before she came down to breakfast. She tried not to let his anger and disappointment bother Erika any longer, but truth was she was beginning to lose th
e battle.
Gazing out at the lake once more, she couldn’t wait for Ryan’s return. Once he did, everything would be all right. He always had a way of making her feel better.
When she heard the town bell ring out at the eleventh hour, she turned reluctantly from the port and headed toward the opera house. The Francesca was obviously late and Carnie’s dress rehearsal would have to wait.
When Carnie had informed Erika that dress rehearsal would be held in the opera house, she had reluctantly agreed. The woman had a point when she noted the growing number of intrigued spectators was forcing them to move the rehearsal indoors and away from inquiring eyes.
Erika hadn’t thought the activity on top of harbor hill was anything to be curious about. Surely there were much more exciting happenings going on in town square. And since Jay had elected to keep himself properly dressed ever since the other day when she demanded he put his shirt back on, she couldn’t fathom the curious spectator’s interest.
When she entered the darkened stage, she spotted him immediately. He was working steadily on the balcony and seemed oblivious to Erika’s presence nearby. She didn’t really know why she took note of this other than she certainly took notice of him. And every day since that ridiculous incident by the bridge.
Observing him from hooded lids, she noticed rather than going shirtless, he had opted to wear a very loose cotton shirt cut short at the sleeves to expose his large and tanned forearms. Every time he moved, the muscles in them would ripple as if tiny little snakes were embedded under the skin. It almost became hypnotic to watch after a while.
He paused hammering a piece of lumber together to place some nails between his teeth to hold, then used the back of one of those steely arms to swipe away a band of sweat building up along his forehead. The action had the hem of his shirt lifting slightly, but enough to give a small peak at a strong abdomen beneath where it disappeared into the low rise of his pants.
“Cancel?” Carnie declared, forcing Erika to draw her attention back to the woman. She had sought the woman out to inform her dress rehearsal would have to be delayed due to Ryan’s non-show. “Impossible.”
Erika sighed. “Not all together. Postpone it, at least until the Francesca arrives.”
“I have my regular acting troupe arriving after lunch.” She informed Erika. “Not to mention your grandfather has been safely occupied in a board meeting all morning. If he even got wind of my allowing this production to practice in here, he’ll have my job! There isn’t a whole lot of opportunities in this area for my kind of work.”
Erika felt dejected. Carnie was right. She had risked sneaking them into the opera house as it was, Erika couldn’t very well ask for more. “Very well. We’ll go without him.”
“That won’t do either.”
“Well, unless you plan on playing the part of Dominique, we have no other choice.”
