by Debra Holt
“Look, Davis, I will agree we had some great sex, but I don’t think that qualifies for ‘off the market’ status for either one of us.” No matter how she had tried to phrase that in her mind before she spoke it, it still came out sounding all wrong.
Where were the words when she needed them? They were her stock and trade, but she had nothing at that moment. And she knew why.
This wasn’t make-believe on a page of a book. It was real and it was her life. And she was making a royal mess out of it at the moment.
“We got carried away. We shared a really dramatic event, and then I admit I was feeling vulnerable and you said and did all the right things.” She cringed inwardly. “That so did not come out right. That’s not what I wanted to say.”
“What are you trying to say, Stacy? I’m a little confused. What I thought happened here is, evidently, not the same thing you think happened.”
Davis’s eyes had grown watchful, his mood quiet and his fingers stilled as he finished the last button. He didn’t reach for his mug. His desire for coffee was gone. “This is some unexpected territory for both of us apparently. Guess your reaction isn’t what I expected.” Folding his arms across his chest, he hooked one boot across the other and leaned his hips against the counter behind him. His eyes were hooded when he finally faced her. “I think we had a lot more than ‘just sex’ last night. I don’t know about you, but I was making love with a beautiful woman. A woman I hope to see a lot more of in the days ahead.”
His words stirred mixed feelings within Stacy. They had agreed on friendship. But that went out the window at the first kiss. As much as she could tell herself he wasn’t like those men from her past, she knew that it was a wall that still was not easily torn down. She had seen what happened when one placed all their hopes and their heart on nothing but pipe dreams… and the wrong man.
A night of incredible sex… and she kept that term in her head because it was easier to pretend things hadn’t just imploded into some feelings that were a lot stronger and lot scarier to deal with… well, one night couldn’t change things so quickly. Or could it? Stacy was confused and totally unsure of anything at the moment. She had no idea where they were at this point. Their worlds were not the same. She was raised like a gypsy child, never any roots and always with her guard up against strangers… especially cowboys. Davis had roots and history and many people who cared about him. His world was solid and hers was mercurial. He deserved better. He’d see that soon enough in the light of non-emotional thinking. And then she would be left with a broken heart.
“I may have written this scene several times in my books, but it’s so different when it’s real life. I can’t seem to say what I mean when I want to say it. You’ve confused my thoughts and readjusted my beliefs on some things. You weren’t supposed to do that. My world made sense before I met you. Now, it’s just crazy. Our worlds are so different. Our backgrounds… our careers. Surely, you can understand what I’m getting at.”
“Did I misread something?” His voice was low, not brusque, but not as warm as it had been earlier. His eyes dared her to hold his gaze. “What did last night mean to you?”
The shrill ringing of a cell phone broke the taut atmosphere. It was enough to save her from answering his question at the moment.
“I plugged your phone into a spare charger I had in my desk last night. It’s on my desk.”
“I should get it. That’s the ringtone for my agent. I was supposed to talk to her yesterday about the new book notes.”
“Then you better answer it.” He stood, unmoving, his eyes unreadable.
Stacy went to the office and found her phone on the corner of the desk. She answered and tried to concentrate on the conversation, which was difficult to do when her mind was still in the kitchen with Davis.
“Are you listening? You seem to be someplace else.”
“I’m here. I told you I agree with the notes for the back cover. Anything else, I leave to your judgment.”
“Now I know you’re not with me. Just where are you anyway?”
“In McKenna Springs. I’ll be back to town shortly. I’ll call you when I’m back at the condo.”
“Sounds like there’s something going on with you, but I’ll wait for your call. Bye for now.”
Stacy laid the phone on the desk top and reached to retrieve the charger. That was when her eyes were caught and held by a name that jumped off the label on the plain folder lying on top of a stack of paperwork. Donald Harrington.
What would Davis be doing with a folder with Donnie’s name on it? She didn’t stop to think. Her fingers reached for the folder and flipped it open. Her eyes read the first paragraph and she found herself going back over the words again. It was evidently an investigator’s report on the Harrington father and son, and their involvement with a group of investors in a Houston investment company… Excalibur Group.
Stacy read further and in the next to last paragraph, she was shocked to see mention of her name… under “Known Associates.” It was brief and simply stated that she was often seen in the company of the Harrington family. There was one notation… “no information to date of relation to Excalibur Group. Will continue to suggest surveillance.” Had Davis investigated Donnie? And her? And she was under surveillance? It made no sense. Had their meeting been by chance or design? A sick feeling began to form in the pit of her stomach. Was it all just a sick game? Had she been played for a fool? Her world rocked onto its end. Cowboy to the core… the rotten kind.
She walked back into the kitchen and found Davis, coffee mug in hand, gazing out the window toward the woods where so much had happened just a day before. Stacy’s mind was putting two and two together and coming up with answers she didn’t want to think about. He must have sensed she was behind him and he turned toward her, his eyes immediately noting the folder in her hand, and then moving to zone in on her face.
“I suppose you have a good explanation for the reason why you would be investigating Donnie and his family… and that I’m under surveillance?”
The mug went down on the cabinet and he moved toward her, stopping within a foot or so. He reached for the folder and she handed it to him, resisting the urge to fling it at his head.
“I wasn’t investigating you. Your name just happened to come out in the report along with anyone else they’ve been in contact with over the last year. This has nothing to do with you… or us. I was simply asked to take a look at it by a fellow ranger. And I hope you know that it is a confidential file. If any word of this investigation leaked early, then all the work would have been for nothing on it.”
“Us? There isn’t any us. You really had me doubting myself. I let you in. You got closer than anyone has. And it was all just a sham. I should have known better than to trust someone like you. I can’t believe I fell for it all so easily… you’re a cowboy alright but just a lot slicker than those others.” The level of her anger rose steadily. How could she have been such a silly fool?
“We need to calm down and put things in perspective.”
“Calm down? Put things in perspective? Whose perspective would that be? Yours? Why are you investigating Donnie?”
“I’m not investigating Donnie. Another agency is doing that. A fellow ranger in another office in another city is the one assigned to this task force. He knew I was involved in white collar crime investigation a couple years back. I told him I would look it over and it was forgotten in all that happened the last forty-eight hours. Again… it has nothing to do with us.”
“Did you know about the report the day you saw us in the capital? The day we had our ‘friendly’ lunch together?” She watched the slight hesitation cross his face. Her heart sank even further in her chest.
“I received the report that afternoon. As I said, I didn’t have that much time to look it over and…”
“I don’t care to hear anymore.” Stacy cut him off.
“This report,” he continued and tossed the file onto the table, “has no bea
ring on what happened here between us. I asked you a question earlier before the phone rang. I’m still waiting for your answer.”
She shook her head and took a deep breath. She needed to sort out the feelings that seemed to assault her every time she looked at the man. He was intent on boxing her into a corner. And now he wanted her to ignore the file she found and think about them… about what the last few hours meant to them.
“Why must you want to label it? If you’re asking me for an answer right now, then it was a fling… casual, nothing life changing. The same thing that millions of people do every day.” Her words were cold even to her. “You wanted something more than friendship… and we explored that option. But nothing has really changed. We’re the same people today that we were yesterday. Only one of us is a lot wiser for it. Our worlds are totally different. You could no more fit into mine than I could fit into yours here in the country. Seriously, Davis, how did you see this playing out? If you think happily ever after happens in real life, then I have news for you. It doesn’t. It only happens if people like me write it that way.”
Davis’s eyes became unreadable. For the first time, she could not find a clue as to how to read them. A long, dreadful, uncomfortable silence stretched throughout the kitchen. Nervous fingers touched a strand of hair and tucked it behind her ear, her teeth nibbled on the inside of her lip.
“I see. This is to be chalked up to just a mutually gratifying roll in the hay. Along the lines of the city girl experimenting with the idea of doing it with a cowboy. Perhaps even a way to purge things from your past? I suppose I should be grateful, even honored, that you trusted me enough to allow me to participate in this whole endeavor.”
His words made it sound so cold and horrible. It had been none of those things. But she couldn’t voice the feelings she had experienced. Maybe she was afraid to do so. More than that, she was hurt. She had wanted to believe he was different. She had bought into it all… until the report. It didn’t lie. He had another agenda when he sought her out that day in Austin. He had used her. Maybe she had used him a little. She was just horribly confused and she didn’t like that feeling one bit. She was about to reply when he spoke again.
“If it’s okay with you, I’ll keep my opinions. I’ll continue to believe that people do actually find their happy endings. And not in the sterile confines of a book written by someone afraid to come down from her safe tower into the land of the mortals. I’ll drive you into town so you can make your statement. Then I’ll get you back to where you belong.”
There was now no sign of the man who had held her so gently and made such intimate love to her. Davis did not venture another look in her direction. Pushing away from the counter, he strode from the room.
Stacy heard the door to the garage open and shut. From elation, she had plummeted to despair. She wanted to cry but the tears wouldn’t come. There was just emptiness.
*
They rode in uncomfortable silence into Farris. Even in the smaller confines of the vehicle, a wide gulf existed between them. Davis parked the truck in the same place he had on their first arrival in front of the courthouse on the square. Ned and Murph were seated under their usual oak tree with their game of checkers between them. As Stacy moved to stand on the sidewalk, they both raised their hands in greeting. She smiled and returned a brief wave.
“More of your admirers. Too bad they’re the wrong sort too, only they just don’t know it.” Davis’s low words were clipped and went straight to her heart.
He didn’t look in her direction. With his hat pulled low on his forehead, she couldn’t see his expression, except for the hard line of his mouth. Stacy flashed on a memory when his mouth had not been hard, but had worked its gentle magic on her body. Stop. That would get them nowhere. Except nowhere was where they were since her feeble and ill-worded attempt to justify what happened between them. And the discovery of the folder. She followed silently along as they walked the sidewalk toward the building. He held the glass door open for her but still he did not glance in her direction. He was every inch the stoic ranger this morning. He seemed intent on the job at hand… nothing more, nothing less.
“Good morning, Ranger McKenna. It’s nice to see you today.” The receptionist behind the desk in the prosecutor’s outer office greeted the man with a warm smile… perhaps a bit too warm. There was definite female interest in the brown eyes that looked at him as if he were a candy cane in her Christmas stocking. Stacy didn’t like the feeling that hit in the pit of her stomach as she took note of the woman’s interest.
She also noted Davis seemed impervious to the woman’s agenda. That should have made her feel a bit better, but it didn’t. He had offered her the right to take exception whenever other females might want to get to know him. She had turned it down. That didn’t keep it from bothering her. It also flew right in the face of the fact she couldn’t trust him given the report she had found in his office. Why did everything have to be so complicated?
“Good morning, Dena,” he responded with a noncommittal smile. “Mr. Dandridge is expecting us. I have Ms. Smith here for her statement.” The girl finally acknowledged her presence with a look of surprise replacing the look she had lavished on the ranger.
“Oh, yes! It’s nice to meet you, Miss Smith. You’re quite the hero around this town. It was really great what you did for that little girl.”
Stacy felt uncomfortable with more of the hero talk… and with the woman’s scrutiny. She simply nodded and murmured a soft thank you. Luckily, the inner door swung open and the prosecutor motioned them inside. He was a large, older man with a balding head just an inch or so shorter in height than Davis. His eyes were kindly as they fell on Stacy.
“Please come in, Miss Smith. Have a seat right there.” They shook hands and he indicated the chair in front of his desk. He and Davis exchanged a brief handshake. “It’s good to see you, ranger. Good work on that kidnapping business. I hear little Lizzie is home and doing just fine now. And that’s thanks to both of you.”
“I won’t stay unless you need me here for some reason?”
This brought a surprised look from the man just settling in behind the desk. And a startled one from Stacy. She had assumed he would be beside her through whatever was to come.
“Well, I just thought you would stay like you normally do, but… no, it isn’t necessary.”
It was her he didn’t want to stay around. A great sadness enveloped her, but she kept her face even and was determined to not show anyone her feelings. That was something she could do well enough. She wasn’t making sense emotionally to herself or anyone else. Her emotions had been on a roller coaster since the day she had met Davis McKenna. But she could handle this all on her own. She didn’t need anyone. She hadn’t needed anyone for a long time.
“I’ll be over at the diner when you’re done.” Davis hesitated for a moment, but when she gave a brief nod of her head without looking in his direction, he left the room, closing the door after him.
The statement, she thought, would be brief, but it was quite involved. She was inside the office for over an hour. She had to admit the district attorney was quite thorough. At the end, she waited while the secretary transcribed her testimony and then she had Stacy read over it for any additions or deletions. Stacy signed it and then stood, shaking hands with the prosecutor.
“That should take care of that. Now you’ll have to return to testify in court if the pair doesn’t waive their rights to a trial.”
Stacy’s eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat or two. “I had no idea I would have to do any of that.”
“You’re definitely a star witness, but if they’re smart… or rather, they get a smart attorney to talk some sense into them… they’ll plead guilty and let a judge sentence them. That rarely happens, but there’s always a chance. Either my office or Ranger McKenna will stay in touch with you and let you know how things progress.”
“Thank you. I’ll hope for the best.” She shook his hand again and ex
ited the office.
The receptionist nodded her head at her as she left. Stacy’s steps were slow. Part of her hesitation was the fact she would soon have to face Davis again. Things had been so uncomplicated just a couple of days ago. What a fine mess they were in now.
“It’s better to smile than frown.” Ned’s statement broke into her thoughts as she exited the building and made her way down the sidewalk away from the courthouse. The pair of old-timers were watching her.
“Yep, it takes fewer muscles, or so I read.” Murph had to add that bit of wisdom. “Have a seat. We’ve kept your place for you.” He nodded to the vacant seat.
That did bring a smile back to her face. Their kindness was almost her undoing. Stacy sucked up the miserable way she was feeling and was determined to keep a smile on her face… if not in her eyes. It wouldn’t hurt Davis to wait a little longer… and this would postpone the long ride they would share back to the city. She also realized this might be her last visit to this town and the last with these two kindly gentlemen. The thought only saddened her more.
“You knew I’d be back?” Stacy ventured, after taking her reserved seat.
“We hoped you would. And it’s something… now that you’re a celebrity and all. People will be wondering how we got so lucky to know you.”
Not these two also. She had really about had it with people thinking she had done something extraordinary.
“I’ll sit here only if you two don’t talk about that. I’m really tired of people thinking I did so much. Anyone would have done the same thing.”
