Dalila burst out laughing, taking Audra’s arm in hers and leading her to the other side of the room where Dane had already gone. Dalila stopped. “I was kidding. It actually was a flower. But it was awful. It’s okay. I can admit my own shortcomings. No one can be amazing at everything.” She shot Audra a grin and she laughed. Audra had liked Dalila Townsend from the moment they met at the art class downtown. Despite her last name and social standing, she was down to earth and genuine, just like her brother.
Dane was talking to a boy who looked to be about fifteen, with the same brown hair and green eyes as he and Dalila. He must be their brother, Dustin. Dane grabbed Audra’s hand as she approached them. “Audra, this is my little brother, Dustin, the pain in the ass I told you about.” But he grabbed him with an arm around his neck and pulled him toward him in a mock wrestling move that made it obvious he was joking.
Audra laughed softly, shaking Dustin’s hand when he’d shaken Dane off. “Don’t listen to him. He’s just jealous because his little brother’s got more play with the ladies.”
Dane rolled his eyes but then smiled at Audra. “There’s only one lady I want any play with. You can take the rest.”
Audra’s heart squeezed with happiness and butterflies fluttered between her ribs. She still wondered at times how she’d found love in the arms of someone as handsome and wonderful as Dane.
“Gross,” Dustin muttered, and they both laughed.
“I’m sorry my mom’s not here tonight. She’ll be back from Europe next week.” Dane had talked well of his mother, saying she was a good mom, if a little bit flighty, with a great love for shopping and lunching with her friends—and exclusive resorts in Europe. Audra had met her briefly at Dalila’s party, but, truthfully, she was glad she could spend time with his family in small doses. It was nerve-wracking enough being around his grandmother. But before she could even nod, a bell sounded, and the chatter stopped. Dane’s grandmother reappeared in the room from wherever she’d briefly gone. They all took their seats and Audra glanced around nervously, her hands balled in her lap as the formal dinner began, two maids in black and white uniforms emerging from what she assumed was the kitchen with steaming platters of food. My God. She’d never dined like this before—not even in a restaurant. And this was the norm for them?
For the first part of the meal, she mostly listened to the chatter around her, smiling when appropriate, and trying to be engaged while also watching what the others did as far as table manners so she’d know she was doing the appropriate thing as well. She and her father didn’t exactly have five-course meals at their house—ever. Most often, Audra threw something in the microwave without
even bothering to dish it onto an actual plate.
When the soup arrived, she watched Dane pick up the round spoon on the right of his plate and followed suit, tuning back into what Dalila was saying. Something about a winter formal at their country club.
“Dane,” his grandmother said, wiping the corner of her mouth with her napkin. “I told Celeste Sinclair that you’d take Winnie to the formal. It’s important that our whole family be there since we’re being honored as Platinum members.”
Winnie Sinclair?
Audra’s heart stuttered and then resumed in a quickened beat. Dane was staring at his grandmother in confusion, his mouth working to finish the bite of food he’d just taken. “I’ll be taking Audra to the formal, Grandmother, not Winnie.”
The table had grown extremely quiet and Audra dared a glance around. Dalila’s eyes were wide, and when she caught her gaze, they filled with sympathy. Dustin simply looked confused. “I’m sorry, Dane, but that would never do.” Dane’s grandmother gave her a look that was both cold and condescending.
Dane placed his napkin down slowly. “And why not?” He lowered his hand, taking hers in his. He squeezed her hand tighter. No doubt he could feel how much she was trembling.
Audra felt as if his grandmother was a spider who’d lured her in with a few simple niceties, and then once she’d relaxed and his grandmother had her in her web, she’d pounced. Audra felt stunned, attacked. Heat crawled up her neck and she wanted to bolt out of there, but Dane’s touch anchored her. She sat frozen, gripping his hand in hers, waiting for what would come next.
“I don’t want to embarrass you, Audra dear, but the Townsends are expected to keep company with a certain . . . quality of people. Especially in public.”
“Grandmother,” Dalila squeaked and her voice sounded pained, incredulous.
Luella Townsend looked briefly at Dalila and then back to Audra, smiling tightly. “We certainly don’t have to discuss this over dinner. But I thought it important that Audra understand exactly the way things work when your last name is Townsend. Dane may do as he please in private and behind closed doors, but in public, such . . . things will not be tolerated.”
Things? Audra thought. I’m a . . . thing?
Dane threw his napkin on the table and stood slowly. His muscles were clenched tightly and he seemed to be radiating rage. Audra’s heart thundered in her ears, and when he pulled on her hand, she stood jerkily, her chair falling backward with her sudden movement and landing sideways on the plush white and pale blue oriental rug. She gasped in a strangled breath and let go of Dane’s hand to bring her own to her chest, but she hit the bowl of soup still in front of her and it flipped off the table onto the floor. The bowl simply bounced, but tomato bisque splattered the rug in large, ugly splotches of red. “Oh God, I’m so—”
“It’s okay, Audra.” Dane pulled her to him. “It doesn’t matter.” But it did matter. It would always matter. He pulled her hand, and she turned into him, refusing to meet anyone else’s eyes except his. His stride was quick, his long legs moving so swiftly that she had to run to keep up with him. And as they made their way toward the front door, tears spilled from her eyes and ran down her cheeks. Oh God, oh God, oh God.
**********
Dane was seeing red. How dare his grandmother make Audra feel that way? He gripped the steering wheel tightly, exhaling a long breath. She sat stiffly beside him, the look on her face bleak, slightly shell-shocked. His shoulders fell, and he pulled to the side of the road, shutting off the car and turning toward her. “Come here.” He opened his arms, and she fell into them immediately, laying her head on his shoulder as he kissed the side of her hair, making slow circles on her back. “I promise you that will never happen again.”
Audra shook her head against his coat. “You can’t promise that, Dane. She obviously doesn’t think I’m good enough for you.”
“She’s wrong. You’re too good for me.” She let out a small, soggy-sounding laugh and lifted her head. But he wasn’t smiling, and he hoped she could see the sincerity in his expression as he wiped the tears from her cheeks. He was leaving for Stanford in a couple of months, and it was killing him to know he’d be leaving her behind. But he also knew he wanted to make a good life for them, to graduate college, to step into the role at his family company, the one he’d been groomed for all his life. His friends all told him he was crazy to make a commitment to a girl right before he went off to college. They said he should be partying and dating as many college women as possible. But Audra was the only one he wanted, the only one who set his body and his soul on fire, who made him feel like the sun was rising inside him each time he looked at her. So he just laughed and ignored them.
He kissed her softly. “I love you,” he said. He’d never used the words with any other girl, because he’d never felt them. Not until now. “Forget everyone else, my sweet butterfly dancer. You were mine, even then. Before I ever met you.”
She drew in a sharp breath, gazing at him with those wide, trusting eyes. “I love you too,” she whispered.
He smiled, moving a piece of hair back from her face. “You and me,” he said, and she nodded before he kissed her.
CHAPTER TWELVE