attend.
He glanced around but he didn’t see Lizzie and wondered if she’d decided to meet him by the entrance. He’d turned and started for the door, when a light touch on the shoulder stopped him.
Having had his share of people and small talk for the evening, he jerked around with every intention of abruptly excusing himself without a long explanation. And then he saw Sophie.
“Care to dance?” She spoke boldly, but in her eyes he saw vulnerability.
She obviously wasn’t sure what to expect of him. And damned if a part of him didn’t want to just turn and walk away to make her feel as rejected as she’d made him feel all night long.
Instead he placed his hand in hers and led the way to the dance floor. Although he tried to keep an emotional distance, he found it difficult when holding her in his arms, inhaling her unique scent and knowing how her soft curves fit so perfectly against him.
“Enjoying yourself?” he asked, his voice gruff.
She drew a trembling breath. “Not really.”
Her words surprised him. “I’d have thought you’d be thrilled to celebrate your uncle and Lola’s marriage.”
“I am.”
“But?” He swung her around and eased them away from the prying eyes of her family, who stood too close to where they danced.
She tipped her head back. Moisture fringed her lashes, making her blue eyes glassy. “I’m…lonely.”
He blinked, certain he’d heard her wrong. “I don’t understand. Your entire family is here. How could you feel alone?”
She treated him to a grim smile. “I’ve been asking myself that same question. All my life, I told myself that family is all that matters. First we needed to stay together after my parents died and later we just needed each other.”
By her serious tone of voice, he sensed things had shifted for her in a way that had affected her deeply.
“But now…” Her voice trailed off. Her eyes grew even more glazed and unfocused.
She was obviously thinking about what to say next. It was difficult not to make suggestions to lead her to the conclusions he wanted to hear, but he refrained. “Go on,” he said, not wanting her to think he wasn’t listening.
She nodded. “Have you ever been surrounded by people you loved and yet been completely alone? That’s such a surreal thought and yet that’s exactly what happened tonight.”
He understood her, because being here tonight with his daughter and the man whose approval and love he had always sought hadn’t been enough for him, either. Not with Sophie little more than an arm’s distance away physically but emotionally on the other side of the earth.
“I realized tonight that the family I hold so precious isn’t enough anymore,” Sophie whispered. “I need more.”
Despite their slow and easy dancing, Riley nearly tripped on his own feet, because her words gave him a shot of hope for a future between them for the first time.
“It’s confusing,” she said, obviously talking things through for both herself and for him.
“What is?” He switched his grip, lacing his fingers through hers.
“All the rules in my life have shifted. It’s like I’ve done a one-eighty and now I can’t find firm ground.”
“I can relate,” he muttered. The way Riley’s stomach was bouncing around inside him, he couldn’t settle down, either. She was giving him explanations with no firm conclusions and his nerves were shot waiting to see what exactly she was trying to say to him.
She smiled. “I know I’m talking in circles, but I need to do this my way.”
And their ways were never quite the same, which was what had given her pause to begin with, Riley knew. So he shut up and let her continue. Otherwise he might lose this one last chance-at what, he hadn’t a clue.
He could only hope.
“So I looked around the room and realized that I had half-a-dozen examples in front of me of people who had conquered their fears, and I could either do the same or end up alone.” She grinned at him, her smile too bright, too forced, her fear of rejection palpable.
He hated to do this to her, but he had no choice. “Sophie?”
“Yes?”
“I have no freaking clue what you’re trying to tell me. Okay, I take that back. I have an idea, but if I’m wrong, I don’t think I could handle it.”
He stopped in his tracks in the middle of the dance floor. He already held her hands in his and he brought them up to his chest, near his heart. “I get all the why’s about how you’re feeling. Now you have to tell me
Her eyes opened wide and she nodded.
He took a risk and continued. “Fear’s okay. I’m afraid before every game I play. Just don’t tell anyone,” he said, forcing a laugh when he felt anything but lighthearted. “So fear’s okay, but giving in to it isn’t.” He squeezed her hands tighter, hoping to instill her with the courage he already sensed she possessed.
“My family isn’t enough for me anymore. They’re married and happy and settled…and I’m not.” She bit down on her glossed lips. “My sisters faced their fear of losing someone they loved and took the ultimate risk. What I’m saying is, I’m ready to take that risk, too.”
He gave her an encouraging nod. Meanwhile his heart pounded hard in his chest and a pain gnawed at his gut while he waited. For her.
Slowly, she pulled her hands out of his and cupped her palms around his face. “I know I’ve put you through hell and that you’ve been a major grump, to use Lizzie’s words.” A smile tugged at her lips. “And I’m sorry for that. But I can’t fit you into any mold and that scares me.”
“You can’t control me by reading a book. You can’t guarantee that I won’t get sick or injured or worse one day. Life is a risk.”
She nodded. “I realize that now. And I want to take that risk with you because I love you.”
“Say that again,” he said, the pain in his chest and stomach slowly easing.
“I love you,” she said on a hoarse whisper. “And I want to spend my life with you.”
He knew the courage she’d needed to take this step and he planned to make sure she never regretted it. He reacted on instinct, picking her up and twirling her around.
“Now I’m going to make you a promise you
“What’s that?” she asked, grinning from ear to ear. Obviously she approved of his reaction.
“I will never leave you and I will never consciously do anything to hurt you.”
Sophie nodded, her throat full, unable to believe this rebel man was hers and hers alone. “I’m sorry it took me so long to come around.”
“Who am I to criticize someone doing something their own way?” he asked, laughing.
“Hey, I found this girlie hangin’ around outside.” Uncle Yank strode up to them, Lizzie in tow. “I know she belongs to you,” he said, poking Riley in the chest. “What kind of parent leaves his kid alone while he hits on a woman in the other room?”
Lizzie’s eyes grew wider. “Is that what you were doing?” she asked.
Sophie rolled her eyes. “Uncle Yank-”
Riley grasped Sophie’s hand in his. “Let me handle him.”
“By all means.” Smiling, Sophie stepped back so the two men could tangle.
Riley looked at Lizzie and winked before turning to the older man. “Yank, you’ve been my agent for my entire career and we’ve always gotten along well,” Riley began.
Uncle Yank raised one bushy eyebrow. “Your point?” he asked gruffly, still in protective guardian mode.
“I’m hoping we can get along equally well if you’re my uncle-in-law,” Riley said.
The older man’s mouth opened then shut again. Apparently he’d rendered Yank Morgan speechless-not an easy feat. Considering Sophie was stunned at the comment herself, she could understand her uncle’s reaction.
“In-law?” Sophie asked, wanting to make sure she understood exactly what Riley was saying.
“That’s what I want to know,” Yank said. “Are you askin’ for-”
