Read Online Texas Rose by Marie Ferrarella - Free Book Online

she’d gone out for cappuccino with several of her students afterward. There’d been a time, she fondly recalled, when she would have stayed out until the wee hours of the morning, partaking of something a great deal stronger than coffee. But sadly, she mused, everyone had to make concessions to age, even she.
    Once the students had started to drift away, saying something about having to get up early for class or work the next morning, she had opted to do a little romantic research and taken a ride around the park in one of the horse-drawn carriages.
    It was just as lovely as she remembered it. The lasttime she’d been on a carriage ride around the park, it had been with her last husband, Edward.
    The best of the lot had been last, she’d mused, sentimentality getting the better of her. He’d been a keeper. Had he not died of a heart attack, she knew they’d still be married.
    She could wish her niece nothing better than to have a love like the one she’d finally found with Edward.
    Rose had it right under her nose, Beth thought. That Carson boy had a great deal of potential. She could tell just by looking at him. By what she saw in his eyes. It was true, they were windows to the soul.
    She wasn’t about to allow something as idiotic as an ancient feud ruin it for Rose, or him, either. She’d taken an instant liking to Matt. But that might have been because he reminded her a little of her last husband.
    Beth sighed as she put her key into the lock. Turning it ever so slowly, she cracked the door open just a little.
    Nothing.
    Still exercising caution and discretion, Beth opened the door a little more until she could finally manage to slip through. Tiptoeing in, she looked around, hoping to see clothes strewn around, littering the floor all the way from the terrace to Rose’s bedroom.
    There was no litter, no clothes. Everything was as neat as she’d left it.
    Battling disappointment, Beth marched out to the terrace and found that the candles had been blown out and only one of the plates looked as if it had been eaten from. The other had a salad that had obviously been toyed with, but never seriously entertained.
    That would be Rose’s, she concluded.
    Beth sighed. Candlelight, moonlight and music and still nothing. This was going to be harder than she thought.
    Crossing back into the living room, she closed the French doors leading to the terrace behind her. The people from Claude’s would be by in the morning to clean up and take the dishes. She was far more concerned with the state of things within her apartment than what was left out on the terrace.
    Were they up? Holed up in their separate rooms looking longingly at the wall that divided them? She could just envision them, too stubborn to make a move, sick with love for each other.
    It was a scene worthy of a play. Maybe she’d tackle it someday. Right now, she had to tackle the protagonists of her would-be drama and make them see the light.
    Beth caught her lower lip between her teeth, nibbling as she debated which of the two to talk to tonight. Or if she should exercise restraint and just let things go until morning.
    Letting things go had never been her way, but shewasn’t entirely governed by her emotions. She knew the danger of pushing too much, too hard.
    Her debate was abruptly aborted by the sound of a door being opened down the hallway.
    The next moment she saw Matt’s tall frame emerge from the shadows. He was carrying his suitcase in his hand.
    It looked serious. Beth was beside him in an instant.
    She gave him a long, studied look, her eyes resting on the suitcase. “I hope you’re one of those eccentric people who likes to hold their possessions close to them when they go out for a walk.”
    Finding Beth in the living room had taken Matt by surprise. He didn’t think anyone would still be up at this hour. But then, this was the city that never slept, he remembered. Obviously that