Only 04 - Only Love

their light touched. The spare lines of furniture and handmade rugs were transformed into solid, gracious forms.
    Smiling, Whip went up to Willow, bowed with polished grace, and held out his hand to her.
    “Madam,” Whip said gravely, “as hostess, the first dance of the evening is yours.”
    “I’m not as graceful as I was the last time we danced,” she warned.
    Whip’s smile was haunting, almost wistful.
    “You’re a beautiful woman, Willow, and never more so than when you’re carrying the child of the love you and Caleb share.”
    Willow flushed and smiled and allowed her older brother to help her to her feet. She curtsied with the ease of a woman who had been raised with all the refinements wealth and natural elegance could provide.
    When Willow stepped into Whip’s outstretched arms, he held his sister as though she were made of fine, very fragile crystal. Their hair was as bright and golden as candle flames, their eyes gleamed with pleasure, and their steps blended smoothly. Together Willow and Whip glided and turned gracefully through the room while Caleb’s harmonica transformed the night with music.
    Shannon watched brother and sister dance with a feeling close to envy. She, too, had once known what it was to attend balls, if only by peeking through the second-floor balustrade and watching the swirls of silk and satin and music below. Too young to dance and too old to be sleepy, she had passed many an hour dreaming about the time when she would be of an age to join the laughing, silken dancers.
    But before that time had come, the world had changed. Silks and gowns and balls vanished from Shannon’s life before she could enjoy them firsthand.
    The final notes of the waltz quivered through the air. Shannon sighed and turned to Caleb.
    “I didn’t know a harmonica could make such beautiful music,” she said in a husky voice.
    Caleb smiled slightly. “You’ve lived way off in Echo Basin too long. The only music you have tocompare with my harmonica is the howling of the wolves.”
    “Would it surprise you to know that I enjoy the wolves’ music—as long as I’m safely inside the cabin?”
    “Nothing about a girl who charged a grizzly with an antique shotgun would surprise me.”
    The approval in Caleb’s eyes made Shannon flush and smile shyly up at him at the same time.
    “If you can spare time from flirting with my brother-in-law,” Whip said coolly, “we could rest Willow’s feet and dance together.”
    “I don’t know how to dance and I wasn’t flir—” Shannon began.
    Her words stopped abruptly. The anger she saw in Whip’s eyes made her mouth too dry to speak.
    “Rafael!” Willow said, shocked. “Where are your manners?”
    “In his watch pocket,” Caleb suggested dryly, “along with his brains.”
    Whip shot him a savage look.
    Caleb smiled thinly.
    “Save it for Reno,” Caleb suggested. “He’s been waiting for a chance to get even ever since you dumped him on his butt with your Chinese wrestling tricks and then took strips out of his hide for the way he was treating Eve.”
    “He had it coming,” Whip said. “He was being a damn fool about not marrying her. Anybody could see it.”
    “Except the damn fool involved,” Caleb pointed out. “You might think on that. You might think on it real hard. Then you can apologize to Shannon by teaching her how to waltz.”
    With that, Caleb winked at Willow and pickedup his harmonica. Soon haunting harmonies once again filled the room.
    Shannon looked everywhere but at Whip. Her cheeks were still stained red from his accusation. And from her own anger. She had done nothing to earn the sharp edge of Whip’s tongue.
    Whip’s large hand appeared in front of Shannon’s eyes. His fingers were long, tanned, oddly elegant for all their strength. The nails were clean and closely trimmed.
    He smelled of peppermint.
    Whip saw the accusation in Shannon’s blue eyes when she looked up at him, then the sudden flaring of her nostrils, and then her surprise.
    “Peppermint,” she said.
    “Willow has it planted out back. I picked some for your room while you and Willow were clearing the dinner table.”
    “I—thank you,” Shannon stammered. “That was very kind of you.”
    Whip held out his other hand and said softly, “Dance with me.”
    Honey girl.
    Though Whip didn’t say the words aloud, they were there in the silver blaze of his eyes as he looked at her.
    “I d-don’t know how,” Shannon said.
    “I’ll teach