Part 11 (2/2)
Betsy nodded.
”Well,” he drawled. ”I saw it coming. He's had three wives, and the first one was my sister Janine. He made me a hired hand while they lived high on the hog, and I knew he hated my guts. Now he's turned my whole family against me. My sister, Mary Ellen, my brother Jace. I don't have anyone because of him.”
”You have me,” Betsy said quietly.
Clint took her hand in his, knowing it was time to take this to the next level, knowing he had to secure her complete loyalty. He brushed his thumb across the top of her hand in a caressing gesture, and the look in her eyes told him this wasn't going to be difficult at all. ”You've become important to me, sugar. You saved my life and now I want to share it with you.”
Betsy's heart started beating faster than it had ever beat before. For forty-three years she had waited for a man to say those kinds of things to her. When she was a teenager, she used to sneak into the movie house. She liked the stories about men and women and love and having someone the rest of your life. But men didn't look at a woman who had no pretty clothes and had no money to buy makeup. But the way Clint looked at her...she felt special. Everyone else she had ever cared about had left her. Her parents were dead, her brother far away somewhere.
The touch of Clint's fingers, the messages in his eyes, told her maybe he wanted some of the same things she did. Yet... ”What if the law catches up to you?”
”We're just going to have to make sure that doesn't happen. Not until we can leave the country.”
”Leave the country?”
”I'm putting together a plan. Are you with me?”
”You mean, you'd really take me with you?”
”Betsy, you've been an angel of mercy to me.” Something powerful glinted in his eyes that made her feel powerful, too. ”I think you could be a lot more, if that's what you want,” he finished.
She wanted somebody of her own, a man of her own, so desperately that tears came to her eyes.
He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. ”When I'm feeling better, I'll show you just how grateful I am. But for now, if you're willing to help me out, I can make our life a little easier.”
”How can I help?”
”I need you to go to the Double Crown to the cabin where I used to live and get me something. I have cash stashed away and a few other things. Think you could do that for me?”
The idea of buying anything she wanted at a grocery store, of filling her small refrigerator, of feeding her cats, of helping this man so they could have a life together, was enough to make her say, ”Just tell me what I have to do.”
For two days Mallory hardly spoke to Reed at all. Monday she'd met with Lily and shown her the ideas for the guest suite. Lily had been pleased, and they'd gone shopping today-all day-and begun the redecoration process. Mallory had bought her own jeans, boots and hat, as well. But she'd been careful how much she'd spent. Maybe she had been a spoiled rich kid while she was growing up, but she wasn't one now. She'd opened a checking account at a local bank and deposited the commission Lily had given her. A few more commissions and she could look for s.p.a.ce to rent.
The tension between her and Reed since the barbecue had practically bounced off the walls. Especially when his parents had phoned last evening and insisted on giving her their good wishes. Though from the look on Reed's face during some of the conversation, they'd asked questions he was reluctant to answer. Just from their voices and their well-wishes, Mallory liked Teddy and Fiona Fortune already. They thought she'd be returning to Australia with their son. They thought she was really their daughter-in-law.
Afterward Reed had said to her, ”They won't mind that I kept them in the dark when they learn your safety was involved.”
But Mallory minded. She didn't like pretending to be someone she wasn't. Even more disturbing were the times she wished she and Reed weren't pretending!
As she made supper Tuesday evening, wrapping ground meat in tortillas and baking it with cheese in the oven as Rosita had instructed her to do, she heard Reed's truck pull into the drive.
When he came into the adobe and then the kitchen he remarked, ”That smells good. Do I have time for a shower?”
She nodded and then said, ”I called Zane this morning and got Dawson's itinerary. Then I faxed him from Ryan's office.”
Reed came closer to her and she could smell leather and horses and his own scent. Steeling her senses against the pleasure of it, she went on. ”I didn't want someone else telling him about our marriage. I wanted him to know what was going on before he came home.”
”You told him about Bentley?”
She nodded. ”As best I could in a letter. I told him no one else knows.”
The nerve in Reed's jaw worked and his expression was stern. ”That's quite a lot for Dawson to absorb.”
”He called a little while ago and we talked. He said he'll be home on Sunday and we can hash everything out. I sensed there was something he wasn't saying- Maybe it was my imagination. Anyway, he told me I should...trust you.”
”But you don't, do you?”
”I got engaged to a man who wasn't trustworthy. I can't trust my own mother to listen to me. I married you without knowing what I was doing. So I can't even trust myself! The only person I'm sure I can trust is Dawson.”
In some ways she knew she could trust Reed, especially to keep her safe. But in others... She was afraid he'd steal her heart and go back to Australia.
Reed's body was incredibly close to hers. The two of them standing there generated more heat than the oven. She waited, almost hoping he'd kiss her, yet knowing the next kiss could lead her into more trouble than she was already in.
The silence grew almost throbbing in its intensity until he asked, ”Do you think about our kisses in the middle of the night?” His voice rasped over her senses, making them more alert to him.
”Sometimes,” she said in a tremulous voice, being honest, yet not completely honest. Sometimes in the middle of the night, her imagination took her much further than kisses.
”I think about them every night. I don't believe you've ever really been confronted by a man's physical needs, have you?”
The suppressed desire in Reed's blue eyes was something she'd never seen before, let alone known. Her throat went dry as her heart raced and she didn't think it would ever slow down again.
”How did you evade Bentley? Just say no? Tell him you had a headache?”
”Reed, don't do this-”
”Don't do what? Tell you I want you? Tell you I think you've denied your own desires and pa.s.sions all your life? Let me tell you something, Mallory. Honesty and trust go hand in hand. If you had any idea of the pictures running through my mind every night, you'd know for certain you can trust me. Because I'm sure some other man would care more about his own needs than about keeping you safe. This is no picnic for me, either.”
With that, he stepped away, and left her standing alone in the kitchen, her heart pounding, her body yearning for contact with his.
After he'd showered, they ate with record speed, not talking, avoiding eye contact. She had served dinner inside tonight, knowing they weren't going to linger. As Reed took his dish to the sink, he finally spoke. ”I'd like to go over to see Cruz tonight, but I don't want to leave you here alone at night.”
”You could drop me off at Rosita's. I want to borrow another cookbook and return this one. That way we wouldn't have to be...together.”
”That might be best,” he said tersely. ”When will you be ready?”
”Just give me five minutes to freshen up.”
He nodded. ”I'll be out by the pickup.”
Throughout the evening, as before, Mallory enjoyed her time with Rosita, but she couldn't help wondering what Reed was doing at Cruz's ranch, what they were discussing...if he was still feeling the aftermath of that restrained earthquake in the kitchen tonight. He was a pa.s.sionate man and just the idea that he wanted her made her tremble. But why did he want her?
If that was all, it wasn't enough.
It was nearly ten-thirty when Reed returned to Rosita's for her. The night was silent except for the sound of the tires on the road as they drove home. But as he pulled onto the gravel, he ordered, ”Wait here.”
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