as he shrugged out of his coat. What he felt for Ruby was powerfully rare. It was gentle as a December sun dawning, as everlasting as the stars in the sky and so true it came from the deepest places in his soul.
He still did not know if he had a chance with her. Would she want him for a beau? What would he do if she didn’t?
He shouldered into the kitchen doorway, searching for her in the ordered chaos. Cook sliced a roast chicken, steam billowed from a potato pot while workers scurried around putting food on platters and finding a colander for the boiling potatoes. Everything faded when he spied Ruby at the farthest worktable, transferring piping hot dinner rolls into a cloth-lined basket.
Gossamer tendrils of her platinum hair curled around her face as she bent over her work. He took in the long, lean curve of her arm, the straight line of her back and the way her every movement was graceful. She plopped the last roll into the basket and covered the baked goods to keep in the heat. How dear she looked in her dove-gray maid’s dress and white apron. She spun around, holding the baking sheet with a hot pad in one hand and their gazes collided.
The chaos vanished, the clatter silenced and time froze. In the stillness, he saw her unguarded, with her feelings exposed. A lasso of emotion lashed around him and roped his heart to hers. For one perfect moment, they were bound and tied together in an immeasurable way, and he could see something he hadn’t before. Her heart. Tenderness washed over him like grace.
“Hey, Romeo.” Mateo lightly punched him in the shoulder. “Didn’t you hear your pa? He’s calling you.”
He heard nothing but Ruby. When she shyly broke away, hope took root in his soul for what could be.
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