Page 31 of Home to the Cowboy's Arms

“Do you plan to keep this up all evening? How did you figure it out?”

He grinned. “At the springs, just before you made that graceful entrance into the pool…I noticed a tiny perfect little butterfly on the back of your ankle. The same ankle that you were so helpful to show to me when you did your sexy turn in front of me on the runway.”

“That’s cheating.”

“Is it? Then why hadn’t I bid on anyone before you came out? I think I would recognize those amazing eyes even with a mask and those scarlet lips…well, no one can smile the way you can. Should I go on?”

“No. Thank you for your contribution tonight. The charity fund will be able to be even more helpful this year.”

“Will you be wearing this outfit when we dine out?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Too bad. I think you should wear feathers more often and who knew our mayor had such legs?”

“You are getting way too much enjoyment out of my public embarrassment.”

“Admit it, you were having some fun up there on that runway.”

“The only thing I admit to right now is that my feet have moved beyond the unbearable pain stage. How some women can wear these silly high heels longer than two minutes is beyond me. So, beware of a woman experiencing great pain in her feet. Nothing is funny at this point.”

“I understand. Come with me.” He didn’t wait for her response but had control of her hand in his and she tried to keep up.

He paused long enough to say something to one of the catering staff and then he continued on down a hallway to a quiet alcove that was set back into an atrium area.

“Sit down,” he instructed. There was a bench that sat in the area.

“I warn you that if I sit now, I may not get back up again.”

“That’s a chance we’ll take.” The catering person appeared and handed a basket to him and then returned to the ballroom.

Cade sat down on the bench then.

“I’m not getting fresh with you,” he said as a preamble to his next move. He reached down and drew one leg over to rest her foot on his knee. Then he made short work of taking off the offending shoe and placing it on the floor. From the basket, he withdrew a towel.

“This might be a little warmer than you like. Just let me know.” He slowly wrapped the heated towel around her foot. “Too warm?”

“No, I like it warmer like that. How did you know to do this? Your friend must wear high heels like that.”

“She does. And I watched her do this on occasion.” He began to kneed beneath the arch of her foot. The warmth of the towel and his expert touch worked their magic.

“You are surprising to say the least,” she said. “A man with many talents. But you didn’t have to do this.”

Cade shook his head. “Other foot.” He began the same work on the new foot.

“You don’t like it when someone does something unexpected for you…maybe tries to help you out. I first thought it was just me that you didn’t like helping you out. But then I realized that it’s others, too. You don’t like giving over any of your control to anyone else. You know sometimes it’s good to have someone to share the load with. It doesn’t mean you aren’t strong enough. Sometimes it takes a lot of guts to admit that two heads are better than one.”

“More of your armchair psychology?”

“Just experience.”

“Guess I sounded like a witch the last few minutes.” She relented. “I’m sorry. I could blame it on being tired. Or my feet hurting.”

“You could. Give yourself a break. And that leads to the dinner part of this evening. How about we just choose to enjoy a nice evening, free food, good company. And you can leave the feathers and the shoes at home.”

“Agreed. And now I’m going to go change out of this heavy outfit and toss the shoes in a dumpster.”

“That’s a shame. You could wear them on special occasions. For special people…or a special person. Just a suggestion.” The grin gave him away.

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