“Two hundred dollars?” Ruby asked from the stage. “Are you sure?”
Connie stood, her head high, though Emma noticed the tremble in her hands. “Yes.”
Emma turned her attention back at Hays, but he didn’t look her way. The sudden realization that she wanted Hays’s attention left her disconcerted.
The emotions that had been swirling inside Emma for the past few weeks culminated in that moment. Somehow, despite her best attempt at preventing it, she had fallen in love with Hays Hart.
Did he feel the same for her? She had thought so, but the way he looked at Connie now, with admiration and relief—she wasn’t so sure.
Would Connie become the answer to his need for a wife?
“Are there any other bidders?” Ruby asked with uncertainty.
The townspeople looked at one another with stunned expressions.
The only person who was talking was Evelyn. She pulled on her father’s arm, whispering something in his ear. But the older man was shaking his head, vehemently opposing whatever she was suggesting.
“If there are no other bids,” Ruby said with less enthusiasm than she had exhibited all evening, “then I believe Constance Prescott has won the right to the first dance with Hays Hart.”
For a moment, everyone was silent, and then a robust cheer rose from the crowd.
“Uncle Henry”—Ruby waved at the man who sat at the back of the stage—“the dance will now begin.”
Uncle Henry nodded, his jowls wiggling, and set his beefy chin to the fiddle. “We’ll begin as soon as the young lady claims her partner.”
Emma looked down at the unused money in her reticule as Connie moved away from the table to meet Hays on the dance floor. She couldn’t bring herself to watch her friend dance in his arms. Maybe she could excuse herself and leave—
“Emma.” Connie tapped Emma’s shoulder.
Emma looked up, startled, but couldn’t find the words to speak. Connie stood with Hays by her side—and this time he was looking right at Emma.
“As a way to say thank you for all the hard work you and Hays have done for the school and the community,” Connie said, “I’d like the two of you to lead the first dance together.”
Hays extended his hand. By rote, Emma accepted it, though she didn’t have the wherewithal to think about her actions as he tugged her to her feet and led her onto the dance floor. The band began to play “The Blue Danube,” and Hays bowed before Emma.
She offered a shaky curtsy, aware of everyone watching them.
He took her into his arms and for a brief moment they stared at one another. Slowly, the street and all the people of Hartville faded away. It was just the two of them as he twirled her around the floor in an exquisite pattern of movement. Never had she danced with a man who was so surefooted and graceful—it almost felt as if they were gliding on ice, something she missed desperately from home.
“Where did you learn to dance?” she asked, her voice betraying her awe.
“My mother. She insisted we learn to dance.”
“My thanks to your mother.”
His blue eyes twinkled, and he wore his heart in his smile, as always.
The formality of the dance kept them at a distance, but ever so gently, Hays pulled her close, despite their audience, and they waltzed on in beautiful silence.
The song ended much too soon, but it had been perfect—the whole day had been more than she had hoped.
Ruby called the other couples to come onto the dance floor, and soon Hays and Emma were surrounded by the other bachelors and their ladies. Even Travis led Widow Hansen toward them, though they moved slowly through the crowd.
Hays held Emma’s hand and didn’t let it go. He was breathless as he said, “Emma, I’d like to speak to you—alone.”
For the first time since he had brought her to his property along the Sabinal, she wanted to be alone with him again. “All right.”
“So it seems the Hart family ended up paying for the school, after all.” Evelyn Palmer pushed her way through the dancers, her voice rising above the instruments.
Emma frowned. “I think you’re mistaken.” She squeezed Hays’s hand. “It was Connie who paid for Hays—”
“At least that’s what you think.” Evelyn’s cool gaze bore into Emma with triumph. “It’s my understanding that Hays gave Connie the two hundred dollars to pay for that disgraceful dance we just witnessed.”
“What?” Emma looked toward Hays. “What is she talking about?”
Hays frowned at Evelyn. “How would you know something like that?”
“I overheard you through the open window.” Evelyn motioned across the street, where her father’s bank stood proudly next to the mercantile. “Really, Hays, you’ve never been one to deceive a friend.”
Several dancers, including Hope and Gage, stopped nearby to listen.
Heat climbed up Emma’s neck as she studied Hays. “Is it true?”