The Shepherd's Daughter (Dry Bayou Brides Book 1) (11 page)

He wore all black; trousers, coat, vest, tie, and boots, and his hat was even trimmed in black, too. He looked perfect. He looked like a man who’d gone courting.

A man about to get himself engaged.

Once Ray was able to speak, she said, “I wasn’t runnin’ from you, Willem Ducharme, I was comin’ in here to see what your ma did to make the place perfect for Rebecca’s welcome to Dry Bayou party.”

She lied with a straight face. Her pa, Lord rest his soul, was probably heaving sighs of exasperation at his Perdition-bound daughter.

Billy’s eyes changed from wary to mirthful. “Baby Ray, you know you can’t lie to me. I can hear the untruth in your voice.”

No, she’d never been able to lie to Billy, not
really
. She could stretch the truth a bit here and there, like the night she’d caught him and Rebecca at the creek together, but Billy was always able to catch her out-and-out lies.

“So, what if
I am
lyin’? Can’t a girl come into a ballroom at a party without bein’ accosted?” She knew her voice sounded a little too sharp, but she couldn’t help it.

Billy let go of her arm but his piercing eyes never left her face. Ray turned to leave but, this time, he gripped her gloved hand.

“Ray, may I have this dance?” he asked, the deep timbre of his words sent currents of hot longing through her blood.

Ray blinked up at him like an idiot, then turned to look at the room. It was filling with partygoers and the orchestra Billy’s ma called in from San Antonio was starting the first strains of a…waltz?

She’d been so wrapped up in Billy and trying to get away from the feelings he made her feel, she hadn’t seen anything else happening around her.

She turned back to Billy and tried to pull her hand free. “Shouldn’t you ask Rebecca for the first dance?”

He smiled, then stepped forward. She smelled him then, saddle, horse, sun, and man. There was nothing in the world quite like it.

“If I wanted to dance with Rebecca, she’d be the one in my arms.”

Ray glanced down and realized, sure enough, Billy had stepped close enough to put one hand on her waist.

Before she could refuse, he pulled her onto the dance floor and the music began in earnest. All Ray could do was follow his lead.

Ray felt everything in his arms, how the air whooshed when other couples twirled by, the floor beneath her feet as they flew over it, the eyes of everyone in the room upon her… But the warmth of Billy’s touch sent tongues of fire over her skin.

She chanced looking up and nearly stopped in her tracks at his expression. His brows were pulled down in a look that was too serious to be Billy’s. A rarely seen dimple was prominently displayed by the tight muscle in his jaw.

They continued to dance.
One, two, three. One, two, three
. He held her close, his hand now splayed on the small of her back.

Tell him now. Tell him while you have the chance.

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and blurted, “I love you.”

Several heartbeats passed and when he said nothing, gave no indication that he’d heard her, she risked opening her eyes.

Still dancing, the song was winding down and soon her time with Billy would be over.

Ray tipped her head back and braved a look into Billy’s eyes.

The eyes of a man possessed stared back.

Before she knew it, the music had stopped and people turned to the orchestra to offer their applause. Before she could think better of it, Ray turned to run from the dance floor.

She didn’t make it two steps before Billy pulled her into a corner a few feet away.

“You’re running again, Baby Ray.” The laughter in his voice nearly made her snap with indignation.

“Stop callin’ me that!” She thrust her shoulders back. “You know I don’t like that name.”

He chuckled. “Fine. I’ll stop calling you Baby Ray if you say
those words
again.”

Oh, Lord. Is he gonna make a scene? Is he gonna make me tell him so everyone can hear and they can all laugh at the silly shepherd’s daughter who’d gone and fallen in love with the rancher’s son?

“What words?” She’d play dumb just long enough to slip away, then she could hide in her room until the stagecoach left for San Antonio in the morning.

Billy cocked an eyebrow. “Ray…” He drew out her name like a caress. “You know what words. Say them again.”

Anger filled up all the spaces in her head where her brains used to be. “Why? So you can laugh at me, call me silly, and throw them back in my face?” She flung her arm out and stepped back. “I’m not a fool, Willem Ducharme. I know what I said and I know you heard me. That’s the end of it.”

“No, that’s not the end of it. Matter of fact, this is just the beginning—
Aw-dingit
. Here comes Ma,” he said, his voice tinged with annoyance. He kissed Ray’s ear and a shudder rippled through her. “Give me ten minutes, then meet me in the gazebo on the other side of the garden,” he whispered.

Surprise and wariness collided in her mind. “But—”

“Promise me, Ray,” he didn’t bother whispering this time.

Ray nodded.

Having won her acquiescence, Billy left the ballroom and, seconds later, his ma passed by, hot on his heels.

Why does he want to talk to me? What else is there left to say?

Suddenly, the hope she’d been squelching all evening rose to the surface.

Is he gonna tell me he loves me, too? That he wants to marry me and not Rebecca?

Barely able to contain a squeal of excitement, Ray knew she had to do something to fill the minutes before she met Billy outside.

What’s the harm in goin’ early? I can wait for him there. Maybe surprise him with a kiss…

The thought of kissing Billy again sent a rush of excitement through her.

Whoa, it certainly is hot in here.
It certainly didn’t help that she was wearing so many layers or that the corset was still keeping her from taking any deep breaths.

She spotted the refreshment table and made her way to it. She poured herself a cup of lemonade, but the sound of Billy’s name stopped her from taking a drink.

Ray looked to the right where she saw two of the town gossips huddled together.

“No, no, it’s true. His ma told me that he’s gonna propose to her tonight,” one said loud enough to be heard. It wasn’t gossip if people around you couldn’t hear what you were saying.

He’s proposin’…tonight…

Ray nearly tripped over her own bottom lip and tried to think through the frantic emotions rioting through her body.

Is that why he wants to talk to me? Is he gonna propose to me tonight?

The sliver of hope she’d felt before blossomed into a bouquet of heartfelt promise.

She turned to go, but the other woman spoke. “That’s wonderful news. I hear she’s a beauty and comes all the way from New York. Mrs. Ducharme introduced her to me yesterday. A Miss Rebecca DuCastille, I believe.”

Ray lost all feeling and the glass she held slipped from her hand, hitting the floor with a crash. The sound momentarily woke her from her stunned stupor. “Sss-sorry about that. I…I think I’m feeling faint.”

With that, she raced from the ballroom filled with faces of people wearing expressions of shock, disgust, pity, and concern.

Once outside, Ray tried to draw a breath to clear her head. Those biddies had to be wrong. He loved
her
, didn’t he? She told him she loved him and now he wanted to meet her in private so he could profess his deepest feelings, too.

She had to believe that there could be no other outcome. There just couldn’t.

I love him. He’s mine. We deserve each other.
The words rang out in her head, hammering strength of will into place above her heart.

Tired of hiding from the truth, of letting her fears rob her of what she wanted, of letting the man she loved slip through her fingers, Ray determined to find Billy and ask him if what the biddies said was true.

But where had he gone?

She retraced her steps to the other side of the ballroom and then out the door on the other side of the building. She checked the hotel lobby, the topiary garden, and returned for a quick peek around the periphery of the ballroom.

He was nowhere in sight.

It’s been almost ten minutes. He’s probably at the gazebo by now.

Then she made her way through the front garden to the back, where the footpaths began. At the end of the first path, she spied the very top of the gazebo through a line of lilac bushes. She rushed around the path, eager to find Billy waiting for her. But what she saw stopped her cold.

Billy was there all right, but so was Rebecca, and they were kissing.

Ray doubled over as pain, greater than she’d ever known, exploded within her.

Her breaths came in shallow pants and her heart did a three-legged gallop through her chest.

Anger took over finally. She sneered at the silly dress she’d worn in an attempt to win the heart of the idiot man she loved. She’d actually thought that dressing like a lady would make Billy love her.

You could put a pearl earring on a sow and it would still be a pig. You could put a fine dress on Ray, but she’d still be the shepherd’s daughter.

She ripped the lengths of fine, green lace from her hair and tossed it into the dust at her feet.

Unable to bear one more second of the scene before her, she walked away.

“T
hank you for
being so understanding, Rebecca,” Billy stepped back to let the woman step down from the gazebo. She turned and raised a hand as a sign of grace and acceptance.

“There’s no need to thank me, Billy. I knew all along we weren’t meant to be. I’m glad you’ve found happiness.” Her voice softened with longing and Billy knew Rebecca DuCastille wanted her own taste of joy. And he hoped she’d find it someday.

It just wouldn’t be with him.

“I’ll tell your mother I couldn’t find you. That should buy you a few moments without her…well-meaning meddling.”

They both laughed.

“Much appreciated,” he said and meant it.

Billy smiled and waved Rebecca off, then turned and glanced out over the darkened garden. Anxious and excited weren’t even close to how he was feeling in that moment. Soon, Ray would arrive, and then he’d make her repeat the words she’d blurted out on the dance floor.

“I love you…”
just replaying the words in his head made his heart race.

When he’d first arrived at the party, he couldn’t get his mind to focus on anything but finding Ray and getting her alone. It didn’t take him long to spot her in the garden, draped in brilliant green. The way she looked stole his breath.

He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. He wanted to touch and kiss her. He left Rebecca and started to make his way to Ray, but she ran off like a spooked doe.

Of course he chased her, he’d chase her anywhere. His reward? Their first dance together.

Nothing could be more perfect.

But then she said “I love you”. And he wanted to hear it again, every night for as long as they both lived.

Where was she?

He tapped his foot and waited.

And waited.

Fifteen minutes went by since she’d promised to meet him at the gazebo.

It’s not like Ray to break a promise.

Convinced she’d been waylaid by his interfering mother, he searched for her along the footpath. He stopped by the lilac bushes because something on the ground caught his eye. He picked it up.

A length of dark green lace. The pretty decoration from Ray’s hair.

Now it was in the dirt.

Why?

Truth struck him like a bolt of lightning. She must have seen Rebecca kiss him goodbye.

“
Aw-dingit
.”

With his hope for the future bottoming out in his belly, Billy raced from the garden with Ray’s dark green ribbon gripped like a lifeline in his fist.

He had to find her.

*

Ray kicked off
the other slipper and hiked her dress above her knees so she could swing her legs over the creek without the dratted thing getting in the way.

“He’s marryin’ Rebecca. What am I gonna do now, Pa?” If her father could hear her, she knew he’d probably say something like “
pull yerself up by yer breeches and make a stand fer yer man…”
That was easy for him to say—he’d hunted Ma until she relented. And they lived happily, loved freely, and knew only blessings.