Dancing in the Dark Read Online Free Page B

once. It can make the difference for Wayans this year, Charity. By the way, how did you get that name?”
    She blinked in surprise at the unexpected question. “My parents, of course,” she said cheekily, then explained. “My father teaches colonial history at Boston University. And my mother is a tour guide for Olde Plimoth, the original village.”
    “The one where everyone dresses and talks like the Pilgrims?”
    She nodded. “My mother speaks fluent Elizabethan English, which is always interesting when she forgets herself at home. Anyway, they gave their three daughters Puritan names.”
    “Faith and Hope?” he asked, taking the usual guess at her sisters’ names.
    “Prudence and Virtue,” she corrected him, chuckling. “I think I got the better deal.”
    He laughed, and she immediately wished he hadn’t. He had a wonderful laugh, genuine and full-bodied. And he was easy to talk to. Her blood slowed, teasing her veins with a subtle sensual lure. She could feel an indefinable attraction pulling her to him. It was becoming harder and harder to equate him with the crazy naked howler in the woods.
    He was still smiling at her. “And you’re all expected to live up to your names, right? Wasn’t that the purpose of them?”
    “Lord help us, yes. We did go through some rebellious periods, though.”
    Hers had been spectacular in some ways. She’d left college four credits shy of getting her teaching degree, telling her parents she’d done everything they wanted and now she would do what she wanted. Her jobs had started with promise in various junior management positions, but never went higher. She’d settled for less each time, until she’d settled at Wayans. Going home would be a form of defeat, and she didn’t consider it an option. Yet she seemed to be working harder and harder for less and less.
    She had been settling for less and less in the romance department too, after her long-ago engagement had ended. Funny how women clamped onto a relationship just because a man expressed interest in them, she thought. When she’d finally broken up with Cal, her last mistake in the male department, she’d decided she wasn’t settling any longer. All she wanted was a nice man. If she found someone, great. If she remained alone, that was fine too.
    Frowning, she wondered about friends and realizedshe didn’t really have any. Lots of friendly acquaintances, but no friends. Maybe she liked being alone a little too much. Night school didn’t help matters.
    “So you were rebellious,” Jake said, drawing her attention back to him. His smile turned more intimate, sending her blood pulsing a little faster. Wild ideas rushed through her about other ways he could send her blood pulsing, and she instantly dismissed them. Jake Halford, she was certain, was not a nice man who would take care of her emotions in the aftermath. “Your childhood must have been interesting,” he went on, “but three girls! I have four sisters myself, all older, all the bane of my existence.”
    Despite his words, his tone was affectionate, and she smiled. “Poor baby.”
    “That’s about how they treated me, until I finally pointed out that I’d grown up. They weren’t thrilled with that.” He grinned devilishly, and she could imagine him easily sticking up for himself. His self-confidence was steady and noticeable, but not at the conceit level. He was obviously comfortable with himself as a man and as a person. So few people, male or female, were. He continued. “But I like the ancient values. I think we’ve lost something within ourselves over the last few hundred years, especially by denying them.”
    He leaned forward, a gleam coming into his eye. “Look at us, Charity. Humanity has deteriorated into confusion and unhappiness. In ancient times men were the hunters, warriors, and protectors, and women were the gatherers, nurturers, and also protectors. They worked together, each in their own way and yet completely interdependent,