Saving Grace

Starting, Grace glanced to her right to see Declan dressed in a black tux with a black collarless shirt. He was as stunning a man as any in the room. More so. Her heart beat faster even as she took a quick look around. People were watching, so, taking a calming breath, she went along with him.

“Perhaps we’ve met at another fund-raiser.”

“We’ve met in my dreams—the ones I have after seeing you in those Voodoo ads.” He held out his hand. “Dance with me?”

Grace lowered her voice. “I don’t want to give Mama any ideas. If she thinks there’s anything going on between us …”

Not that she’d seen Mama yet, but Grace was certain her mother was here somewhere in the crowd.

“Oh, come on, let’s give her something to chew on.”

As Declan smoothly swung her into his arms and onto the dance floor, Grace couldn’t escape his touch without making a scene. She shut down that part of her mind that would seek a vision. Practiced enough at it over the past dozen years, she was relieved when nothing untoward happened. He turned her in his arms, and she glimpsed her brother on the sidelines. No blonde. The Westerfield woman had either gotten away or turned him down. Her loss, Grace thought, as Corbett gave her a thumbs-up.

A moment later, when she was facing her brother again, Mama was next to him. Beaming. Just great.

She would have to explain Declan, only she didn’t know how when she couldn’t explain him to herself. “This isn’t a date,” Grace reminded him. “I never said it was.”