A Willing Wife

by Jackie Merritt

  “Good morning, Mama,” Maggie said brightly.

  Rosita looked up and smiled. “Well, you’re in a good mood this morning. Is Travis up, too?”

  “Not yet. Tell me what I can do to help.”

  And that was how the day began, with Maggie pretending a cheerfulness she was far from feeling and wondering uneasily if she could maintain that facade for hours and hours.

  Cruz and Savannah arrived around noon. Incredible aromas had filled the house, and Cruz’s first remark was, “Hey, it smells terrific in here. When do we eat?”

  After laughter, greetings and hugs, Cruz sat in the living room with Ruben—who had the TV turned to a football game—and with Travis, who was lying on the carpet playing with a toy truck. Savannah went to the kitchen to help. Rosita assigned her the task of setting the table with the good china, and Maggie did her best to contribute to the lighthearted conversation going on while the three women worked.

  In her heart Maggie was so downcast—and tense because Dallas should be coming along any minute—that she marveled at her own acting ability. Thus far no one had caught on to her true state of mind, thank God, and she laughed heartily over everything that was said that was even slightly funny.

  What she didn’t realize was that she was going overboard in the good-cheer department. Every so often Rosita would send her a perplexed glance, but Maggie was so determined to appear normal that she didn’t notice her mother’s curious glances.

  Then she heard Dallas in the living room, and she stiffened. But she immediately fell back into her role-playing and went to greet him along with Rosita and Savannah. As was Rosita’s way, she greeted him with a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. “We’re so glad you came,” she told him.

  Savannah smiled at him. “Yes, Dallas, we’re all very glad you could join us.”

  It was Maggie’s broad smile that threw Dallas. She had never smiled at him like that before. When she offered her hand, he took it and gave it an intimate little squeeze, thinking to himself that she had finally decided to let herself like him. Elated over what he considered a remarkable turnabout, Dallas held her hand until she pulled it back.

  Then he turned to Ruben. “Happy birthday, Ruben.”

  Maggie returned to the kitchen with a throbbing headache and a nervous stomach. She knew without the slightest doubt that her mother had noticed that ridiculous hand-holding at the front door, and probably everyone else had, as well. Once again Dallas had taken advantage of a situation, and she had been stupid enough to create one.

  How was she going to keep up this charade all day?

  Maggie was so relieved when the birthday cake had finally been cut and eaten that she told her mother and Savannah to join the men in the living room. “I’ll clean up, Mama. You and Savannah go and enjoy the rest of the day.”

  Savannah said, “Maggie, there’s an awful lot of cleaning up to do. Why should you do it all?”

  “Because I want to. Please, Savannah, join your husband and Papa, and enjoy yourself.”

  Savannah remained hesitant, and Rosita murmured quietly, “Yes, Savannah, you go and sit with Cruz. I’ll join you all in a minute.”

  “Well…all right,” Savannah said reluctantly, and left the kitchen.

  Maggie immediately turned to the sink and started rinsing plates for the dishwasher. She felt her mother’s eyes on her back and said in the most casual way she could manage, “Really, Mama, you worked very hard cooking a wonderful dinner. You deserve a few hours of relaxation.”

  “All right, Maggie, out with it,” Rosita said sternly. “You’ve been behaving strangely all day. I want to know what’s going on.”

  “Nothing’s going on,” Maggie said with a laugh, and forced herself to turn around and face her mother. “And I haven’t been behaving strangely. Goodness, why would you think such a thing?”

  “Because I know you, Maggie, and I can tell when something is bothering you. Are you upset because Dallas is here? I know you weren’t happy when I told you he was coming to dinner.”

  “Oh, I got over that, Mama.”

  “Did you really,” Rosita said musingly. It wasn’t a question; it was Rosita’s way of conveying doubt. After a moment she said, “You hardly ate any dinner. Did you think I wouldn’t notice? Maggie, if you can’t talk to me, who can you talk to?”

  “No one,” Maggie said quietly as her heart sank clear to her toes. Rarely did anyone pull the wool over her mother’s eyes, Maggie knew. But she couldn’t stop trying to do exactly that. Picturing herself telling anyone, especially her mother, the truth of her and Dallas’s relationship was a horrifying image. Besides, Maggie wasn’t all that sure of what the truth really was, other than that she had given in much too easily at the line shack.

  “Okay,” Maggie said. “I guess I am a bit overwrought. Time is going by so fast, Mama, and I’ve been thinking about how long I’ve been here.”

  “So?” Rosita said suspiciously. “Why would that concern you?”

  “Mama, I know that you and Papa want me and Travis to live here with you, and I know it’s going to upset you both when we leave, but it has to happen. I need my own home, and…and I need a job.”

  “For heaven’s sake,” Rosita exclaimed heatedly. “This is your home!”

  “No, Mama, it’s not. This is your home,” Maggie said gently.

  Rosita fell silent, but looked at her daughter for a long time. She finally said, “Your father and I are only trying to help you, Maggie. You’ve had a rough time of it, and we would both like to see you happy.”

  “I know you would, Mama.” Maggie smiled wistfully. “I’d like to see myself happy.”

  Rosita dropped her voice. “There’s a man in the next room who could make you happy, if you’d give him half a chance.”

  “I’m not looking for a man to make me happy!”

  “Well, maybe you should be,” Rosita said calmly. “Think about it. I’ll go and sit in the living room so you can think about it.”

  Groaning under her breath—she would never have the last word with her mother— Maggie tackled the stacks of dirty dishes.

  When the dishwasher was crammed full, Maggie started washing the pots and pans by hand. She worked slowly, because she dreaded the moment when there would be nothing left to do in the kitchen and she would have to join the others in the living room.

  She could pick up bits and pieces of conversation. The men seemed to be comparing the pros and cons of various breeds of horses, and Rosita and Savannah were chitchatting about everything from recipes to Ryan and Lily’s Bermuda trip. Occasionally Travis’s voice could be heard. Obviously everyone was lazily relaxed after the big meal, and enjoying themselves.

  Everyone but her, Maggie thought with a soulful sigh as she began scrubbing a huge roasting pan. If her family had the slightest inkling of just how far things had gone between her and Dallas, they would be sorely disappointed in her. She was disappointed—why wouldn’t they be?

  Dammit, why had Dallas accepted Ruben’s dinner invitation in the first place? What did Dallas think was going to happen between them now? Lord, he certainly wasn’t hoping for more lovemaking, was he?

  Maggie’s stomach sank. She had to get away from him before something else did happen. Calculating her funds, she mentally split them into rent and deposits for an apartment or small house in Houston. She had enough money for that, but then what would she do for food and other essentials while she looked for a job? If it was just herself she might get by, but she couldn’t let Travis go hungry, nor could she leave him alone while she job-hunted, which meant that she had to factor in the cost of an after-school baby-sitter. No, there was no way around it; she simply did not have enough money to cover it all.

  Maggie was so busy thinking in painful circles and furiously scrubbing the roaster that she nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Dallas say, “You’re working awfully hard in here.” He leaned his hip against the counter next to the sink so he could see her face, and he was smiling!
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  He thinks because I said a decent “hello” when he arrived that I’m fair game again! Maggie held back the sharp retort on the tip of her tongue, and, just to keep peace in the house, managed a smile of her own, although it was a weak effort at best.

  “Someone had to do it,” she said rather frostily.

  Although Dallas noticed the chill in her voice, his smile never wavered. “I was thinking of taking a walk to burn off some of the calories from that huge meal. How about going with me?”

  “Uh…” Now there was an intelligent response, Maggie thought disgustedly. She lifted her chin. “I really shouldn’t.”

  “Why not?”

  She took a breath. “I should spend the rest of the day with my family. With Papa. It is his birthday, you know.”

  “I’m sure Ruben won’t mind if you’re gone for an hour or so. Come on, grab a sweater or light jacket and take a walk with me.”

  Maggie frowned uneasily. How was she going to get out of this gracefully? If her family wasn’t in the next room, she wouldn’t concern herself with “graceful.” She would tell Dallas in no uncertain terms that her plans for the remainder of the day did not include spending time alone with him. She might even raise her voice and ask him where in hell he got his nerve.

  Searching her brain for a sensible refusal that would keep her from shrieking at him, she fell back on the promise he’d made to her in the line shack. “You said you would give me some time.” The roaster was clean, she realized, and she rinsed the soap from it under the faucet and laid it facedown on the dish drainer to dry.

  “Which I’ve done,” Dallas said calmly.

  Maggie dried her hands on a paper towel and then dropped it into the trash container under the sink. She reached for the bottle of lotion on the counter. “I was talking about a lot more time than a week,” she said, keeping her voice down so no one in the living room would be able to hear this unnerving discussion. She would bet anything that her mother had her ear cocked, hoping to hear signs of a big romance blossoming in her kitchen.

  “More time than a week,” Dallas repeated thoughtfully. “Did you mean a month? A year? Maggie, time is a precious commodity, and each day that passes is gone forever.”

  Maggie couldn’t hold back a sarcastic retort. “Thank you for telling me that. It’s something I never would have figured out for myself.”

  “Sorry if I sounded patronizing. I didn’t mean to. I guess what I was trying to say is that people waste a lot more time than they should.”

  Maggie couldn’t disagree with that remark— God knew how the passage of time was affecting her!—even though she knew that Dallas was not referring to her homeless, jobless predicament. In fact, unless someone in her family had told him about her dire financial straits, which she doubted, Dallas couldn’t possibly know anything about her situation beyond the fact that she had come home. Didn’t he ever wonder why she’d come home? More to the point, didn’t he wonder why she was staying so long? Surely he couldn’t think—as her parents insisted on believing—that she intended to live here permanently.

  But wait a minute. Hadn’t she mentioned that she was here on a temporary basis the very first time they had talked? Maggie tried to remember that conversation, and decided that if she had said temporarily to Dallas, then it hadn’t sunk in. Maybe she should say it again, and do it in such a way that she was positive he got the message this time. Learning that she was going to leave at the first opportunity just might diminish his determination to further their relationship. Their affair, Maggie amended with a strong sense of resentment.

  “Okay, fine,” she said coolly. “I’ll take a walk with you.”

  “Even though it worries you.” Dallas sighed quietly. He’d thought Maggie’s big smile when he’d arrived had meant something. Apparently not. But he knew exactly how to ease her concern about being alone with him. “Maggie, Travis can go with us. That should prove to you that I have nothing in mind but a pleasant walk together.”

  Maggie was taken aback. “You really wouldn’t care if Travis went with us?” That certainly would preclude any nonsense from Dallas, all right.

  “Not at all,” Dallas said firmly.

  Maggie’s mind raced. With Travis along, would she be able to talk freely about her plans to leave the ranch the very minute that departure was feasible? On the other hand, Travis didn’t just walk during a stroll. He ran this way and that, picking up and flinging rocks, running ahead, or stopping to inspect an anthill or anything else that caught his eye. And it wouldn’t take long for her to tell Dallas the facts of her life—probably no more than a couple of minutes.

  “All right,” she said. “I’ll go and get jackets for Travis and me.” She left Dallas alone in the kitchen and hurried to her son’s bedroom, then her own. Actually, she reasoned, taking a walk would be better than sitting in the living room with everyone hanging on her and Dallas’s every word and gesture. By now Rosita had probably hinted to Cruz and Savannah—or even told them outright—about her hope of a romance developing between Dallas and Maggie.

  Carrying the two jackets, Maggie returned to the kitchen. Dallas smiled and followed her to the living room. Instantly Maggie saw Travis sleeping on the sofa, and she stopped in her tracks.

  Rosita held a finger to her lips. “Speak quietly. He just fell asleep a few minutes ago, and we shouldn’t wake him.” Her gaze fell on the jackets Maggie was holding, and she smiled brightly. “Are you going somewhere?”

  “For a walk,” Dallas said.

  “Wonderful! I hope you have a nice time. Maggie, give me Travis’s jacket. I’ll put it away.”

  Maggie experienced a sudden desire to cancel the walk, but decided that doing so now would only make her look foolish. Dammit, why did everything work out to Dallas’s benefit? Now he would be able to say anything he wanted to her, or to try anything. But the worst part of being alone with him was that she didn’t trust herself any more than she trusted him.

  Ten

  Once outside and walking, Maggie was glad she’d agreed to accompany Dallas, whatever his motive. The big storm had ushered in a weather change; there’d been a definite chill in the air ever since. But after the warmth of the kitchen, the cooler temperature felt good to Maggie, and she breathed deeply of the revitalizing fresh air. Dallas headed down the Perez driveway, and since Maggie didn’t care in which direction they walked, she kept stride.

  It surprised her that Dallas didn’t immediately strike up a conversation, and, in fact, seemed content to merely walk along beside her. But Dallas’s silence gave her the time to think of how best to introduce the topic of her pending departure. Just say it and get it over with. Of course that was what she should do, she thought. So why did she suddenly feel as though it was a subject that should be tactfully broached? Did she care how he might take her news?

  And then, for some reason, she remembered that he hadn’t only saved her life; it was quite likely that he’d saved Travis’s that first day. At the very least he had prevented possible injury for each of them. Of course both incidents had been purely accidental. That was to say, Dallas’s Johnny-on-the-spot rescues certainly hadn’t been planned. It had been pure chance that he’d happened along when Travis climbed to the top rail of the corral fence, and then again when she’d been on foot during the worst electrical storm of the year.

  Oh, it was all so confusing, Maggie thought unhappily. The gratitude she felt for Dallas’s having saved her son from what could have been a disastrous fall, and then for his generous disregard for his own safety to get her under cover during the storm was all mixed up with regret that she’d made love with Dallas. Why wouldn’t he believe that her response that day had been the start of an affair between them? Yes, she’d tried to rectify the damage afterward by doing some fast talking, but babbling about needing time to sort through her feelings had really been nothing more than a ruse to keep him from catching on to just how mortified she’d been by her own behavior.

  And now she was involved—
with a Fortune! It really didn’t seem possible. Sneaking a quick glance at Dallas, Maggie’s spirits dropped another notch. It hurt terribly to realize that if he wasn’t a Fortune and one of the wealthiest men in Texas she just might be thrilled with their involvement. If he were an ordinary man she might even be thinking of a future together.

  But there was nothing ordinary about Dallas. Not only was he rich beyond belief, but he was a member of a family that wielded enormous power in the state, and he was also the most handsome man she’d ever known. He had everything going for him—why on earth had he even noticed her? To take you to bed, you ninny! And you let it happen. Not only that, but you’d like it to happen again.

  It was the painful truth. That almost constant ache in the pit of her stomach could not be construed as anything but what it was: desire for a man she could never have. Her, Maggie Perez, join the Fortune clan? What a laugh that idea was. She would never fit in. She wouldn’t even know how to try to fit in.

  Sighing to herself, she sent Dallas another glance. This time she took note of his clothes—great-looking westerncut pants and shirt—and frowned. “Aren’t you chilly? Where’s your jacket?”

  “I didn’t bring one with me. Since I drove over, I didn’t think I would need one. It is a little chilly, all right. Maybe we should detour to my house so I can pick one up.”

  “Fine,” Maggie agreed. It still didn’t matter to her where their walk took them. She made up her mind. Right after Dallas picked up his jacket, she would tell him how determined she was to leave the ranch and get back to her own life. He really had no choice but to accept her plans, so it was silly of her to even wonder how he might take hearing about them.

  Dallas interrupted her thoughts. “I’d like to repay your parents for inviting me to dinner today,” he said. “Do you have any suggestions as to how I could do that?”