by Sophie Oak
* * * *
The air conditioner hummed to life, blowing cold air into the hallway of the church. Valerie Bay was grateful for the chilly air. It was hot outside. That cool breeze was the only thing she was grateful for today.
“Well, I never. I swear this town is going straight to the d-e-v-i-l.” Audrey Miller always spelled out the devil’s name because to actually say it was to invite him in. Her friend Miranda Knight shook her head in agreement.
Idiots. Valerie was surrounded by them. She was in a church full of them, but she couldn’t run away. Her stupid bitch sister had already pulled the vanishing act for the day. She needed a drink, but she wasn’t going to find that in the Willow Fork Methodist Church.
Audrey Miller shook her finger Valerie’s way. She was dressed in her very best ankle-length cotton skirt and button-up shirt. It was, of course, buttoned all the way to the top, as though she was worried anyone would want to catch a glimpse of those old boobs. Her thin lips pressed together. “Your poor mother would just die, if the good Lord hadn’t already called her home.”
While Val couldn’t stand the old woman, she was on the church’s social board. Audrey Miller had power in Willow Fork. Val forced herself to nod. “You’re right. It’s the only thing to explain my sister’s actions, Mrs. Miller. The d-e-v-i-l must have gotten to Dani.”
Something had gotten to her. She’d started walking down the aisle, looking like a fat cow in white satin, then her face had gone as white as her dress, and she turned and ran. Jimbo had looked surprised, but that queer of hers had been the one to take off after her. He’d made an even bigger scene than Dani. Finn had screeched her name all up and down Main Street until Dani had hopped into someone’s car and it had driven off. God only knew where she was now. If she had any sense at all, she would get herself murdered and spare them all the shame of having to see her again.
“And she must have been planning it.” Hillary Glass’s voice was grating on Val’s last nerve. The terror with a walker wrinkled her nose in obvious distaste. “She had a car waiting for her and everything.”
Val checked her instinct to flee. The elderly were circling like judgmental sharks sensing blood. Val moved back from Hillary Glass. Many a toe had suffered damage from the old biddy’s walker, and Val was pretty sure they weren’t all accidents. “I don’t think she planned it.”
“Poor Jimbo’s momma is crying in the bathroom.” Miranda Knight had strangely bright blonde hair for a woman her age. It formed an old style beehive and might weigh more than the woman herself. She was cadaverously thin. “Leah says she should have known the lord was trying to send her a message by allowing the engagement party to be ruined by That Woman deciding to have her child right there in the community center. It was scandalous.”
Val nodded, eager to pile on Abigail Barnes. They never said her name out loud, either. She was simply That Woman. They claimed Abby Barnes had killed Ruby Echols. Any woman who could take on that nasty old witch and come out on top was a woman Val didn’t want to cross. Not that she would mention that to this group. Hating Abby Barnes was practically a religion to these women. “I tried to convince Dani she shouldn’t invite That Woman, but she never listens to me.”
And she damn well should. She’d been left to pick up Dani’s mess. At least she had some sense. She’d moved everyone into the reception hall where the gossip had started to flow thicker than molasses in winter. The older people were all discussing Satan, and by Satan, they really meant Jack Barnes. The rancher and his wife and whatever the hell Sam Fleetwood was were the subject of most of the gossip around town. When Dani had gone to work for Abby Barnes, everyone had said it was only a matter of time before she got pulled into whatever crazy sex things went on at that ranch. Val had tried to talk Dani out of it, but she was adamant about working in the clinic. Now look what had happened. That fat cow had walked out on the only man who ever gave her a second glance.
“You poor thing.” Audrey Miller patted her shoulder. “You’ve had to put up with so much.”
Val felt herself flush as shame flooded her body. She prayed no one noticed. She hated to be the object of their pity.
“First your father up and runs away,” Audrey continued.
“If that was her father. You just can’t know with that type.” Hillary said it to Miranda, but Val didn’t miss the jibe. There was nothing to do but take it.
“Then your mother dies, and you have to depend on Danielle. We all know she doesn’t make the best choices when it comes to friends.”
Just like clockwork, the doors opened, and Finn Taylor walked through looking like a zombie. His face was slack, and he sort of stumbled through, not paying any attention to the people around him. He disappeared behind the door to the bridal room.
“It’s just wrong.” Hillary shook her head as she stared at the door Finn Taylor had closed.
Val mumbled something about getting a glass of water and fled. She avoided the reception hall, needing a moment. She turned down a quiet hall that led to the Sunday school rooms.
Val glanced at herself in the reflective glass of the trophy case. The Methodists regularly trounced the Presbyterians in softball and had the trophies to prove it. Damn, she looked good. She had picked out the bridesmaid dresses herself. The pink brought out her delicate skin, and the sheath emphasized her slender figure. She could still fit into her old cheerleader uniform. Not many people could say that. Certainly not Dani, though Dani had already been portly in high school. Damn her. Val had worked her ass off to make sure this was a great social event. She was going to use this as a stepping stone. She wasn’t going to be one of those trashy Bay girls anymore. The Smart family might not be the cream of the crop, but they were a definite move in the right direction. They owned their own land and attended the right church. They didn’t live in a rundown old house and scrape for every penny the way the Bays had.
She was grateful to her sister for sticking around after their mom died. She really was. Dani had put her through college. It was the sensible thing to do, she told herself. She was the one with potential. She was the one who made good choices. By the time she was in junior high, Val had already eclipsed her older sister in every way that mattered. Dani might have been a straight A student, but that wasn’t what counted, not really. What counted was how well you fit in. Val had ruled the school with an iron fist. She’d been the Queen Bee.
She was going to be that again. Marrying her sister off had been the first step. Then all she had to do was get Dani to sell her half of the land they inherited. How the hell was she going to do that if Dani didn’t leave? She was on a timetable. Sooner or later the mayor was going to announce the development of that land, and then Dani would get half of the six figures their pitiful piece of Willow Fork was going to go for. The only reason John Hartley hadn’t announced the development yet was the fact that Val would cut him off. She couldn’t keep him on her sexual string forever.
“You got any idea where Dani went?”
Val spun around. Jimbo Smart stood behind her in his tuxedo jacket and black denims. She hadn’t been able to convince him to wear the trousers. Apparently only fags wore trousers. Jimbo might be all right in the sack, but he was a dumbass everywhere else. It briefly ran through Val’s mind that maybe her sister had found out she was screwing Jimbo. She decided the only way to deal with the situation was to power through. “None whatsoever. You want to tell me what you did?”
That was the way to do it. Put the blame on everyone but yourself. It worked almost every time. Sure enough, the dumbass mechanic reddened.
“I didn’t do nothing, Val. Hell, I ain’t even talked to her in a couple of days except at the rehearsal dinner. I did exactly what you told me to and laid low.” His boots moved restlessly across the floor. He kept his voice very quiet. “I let Momma handle her. I have no damn idea why she did that. She seemed just fine last night. She spent all her time with Finn, but she seemed happy.”
Finn. Damn him. Finn was the cause o
f all this chaos, Val just knew it. Dani had been fine right up to the minute Finn drove into town and got out of his fancy car. It was pathetic. Val wasn’t stupid. She knew her sister was in love with a man who would never return it, not the way a woman needed to be loved. Jimbo would have given Dani kids and a house to keep and some sort of place in the community, besides her current place of pathetic doormat old maid. Now Dani was going to be the crazy, pathetic doormat old maid. And Val was her sister, painted with the same damn brush.
“Obviously she wasn’t happy, or she would still be here getting ready to toast her new marriage.”
Jimbo shrugged out of his tuxedo coat. “Maybe it’s for the best. She’s a nice enough girl and all, but she’s pretty damn cold in the sack.” He winked at Val. “Not like you, sweet thing.”
She rolled her eyes. “Not here. Will you try to look like a sad groom?”
He leaned against the faded paneling beside the trophy case. “I’m not really. Look, Val, my momma told me I had to get married. Dani was sweet, but she sucks in bed. I don’t get it. She’s got a rocking body. Anyway, she doesn’t want to get married. Fine. I’ll find someone else. You’re available, right?”
Val’s stomach twisted in revulsion. As much as she enjoyed Jimbo, she was never going to be the wife of a mechanic. Now, the wife of a politician, that she might be able to handle. But John Hartley was never going to leave his middle-aged wife for a retail clerk. She had to bring in some cash of her own. And that meant getting rid of her sister. One way or another.
Val turned on her stilettos, not bothering to answer the redneck who couldn’t even get someone like Dani to marry him. It had all gone to hell. She strode into the reception hall, determined to figure out a way out of the mess her sister had left her with.
Chapter Four
Dani sat on the sofa and looked between the two men who were carefully studying her. She decided she’d been more comfortable with her boss’s husband when he had a baby attached to his chest. He’d seemed far less dangerous with a toothless infant dangling in front of him. Now little Josh and Olivia had been put down for naps, and she was the object of both men’s attention. She tried hard not to feel like an insect they had carefully pinned and made ready for dissection. Jack Barnes and Julian Lodge seemed perfectly comfortable with the silence that hung heavy in the air.
“Thanks for the clothes.” She had to say something. She smoothed down the cotton T-shirt Jack had found for her. The jeans were slightly too big, but a belt had taken care of that. She glanced at the clock, wondering if there was any way she could get out of here before her boss came home. Abby Barnes was away this afternoon attending a wedding. Her wedding. But where was she going to go? A part of her wished she was still in that car with Julian, just driving. She hadn’t had to face reality while she was in that car. Well, she had to face it now. She wasn’t some dreamy-eyed teen. She had to take her medicine. She would have loved a day or two to sort things out, but she wasn’t going to get it. “If I could just use a phone, I’ll get out of your hair.”
“Who do you intend to call, little one?”
Dani sat up straighter. God, couldn’t the man ask a simple question without the words going straight to her crotch? And why did he have to call her little one? She obviously wasn’t little. Val was the slender one. Maybe he wasn’t as nice as she thought he was. He wouldn’t be the first person to make fun of her. She crossed her legs and gathered her last shred of dignity. She should never have gotten in the car with him. She shouldn’t have run in the first place, but getting into a stranger’s car was ludicrous. If she couldn’t handle Jimbo Smart, she had no idea how she was supposed to hold her own with Julian Lodge. Perhaps it was time to grow a backbone. “That is none of your business, Mr. Lodge.”
One elegant eyebrow arched, and the room seemed to get cold.
“Sir.” So much for a backbone.
Jack Barnes laughed sharply. “Well, that was inevitable.”
Julian slid a glance Jack’s way. “Any possibility there’s someone I can pass her off to?”
Jack shook his head, crossing his booted foot casually over his knee. He made the leather chair he sat on seem like a throne. “Here? Not a chance. And it’s worse than you think. If she really ran out on her wedding, those old biddies in town will make life hell on her. They can’t take her job, but they can isolate her. Do you know what that will do to her?”
“If this is what being a part of the community has done for her, then perhaps she should try isolation,” Julian murmured. “Any chance you need a fourth?”
Emerald green eyes rolled. “Yeah, I’ll get right on that. Let’s just say I would like to keep all of my man parts in their current position. If you don’t want her, call Leo. Hell, look at her. Just walk her into The Club, and you’ll have to beat the Doms off her.”
Dani had no idea what they were talking about. She didn’t know a Leo or a man named Dom. Anger started to build in her gut. She was used to people talking about her behind her back, but at least they didn’t do it while she was sitting right in front of them. There was such a thing as common courtesy.
A slow smile spread across Jack Barnes’s face. “You don’t like that idea, do you, Julian?”
“I didn’t say that.” He sounded like he was gritting his teeth.
“You didn’t have to. Fine. I’ll call Leo myself. He’s been looking for a permanent sub for awhile now. It will be my pleasure to get him down here. Maybe once he takes a look at her, he can forget about Abby. I swear I’m going to kick his ass one of these days.”
“Don’t you call him, Jackson. She’s my problem, and I’ll take care of her.”
The words hit her like an out-of-control train, slamming into her, making her sick with shame. Problem? She was starting to process his words, though they didn’t all make sense. Julian Lodge thought she was a burden and was trying to foist her off on someone else. She wasn’t a burden. She never had been. She’d always been the one to take the load off someone else. She was the one who never complained and never argued. Until she’d run out of that church, she’d never caused a single scandal, with the exception of being friends with Finn. Dani had given up her whole future to take care of a sick mother and put her little sister through school. She did not deserve their scorn. She stood, sick to death of people who didn’t value her.
“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here. If you won’t let me use your phone, then I’ll just walk, but I won’t stand here while you two jerks make fun of me. I don’t know about this guy.” She gestured to Julian, whose face had gone stony cold. “But I thought better of you, Mr. Barnes. I didn’t think you were the type to kick a person when she was down. I guess I was wrong. Please tell Abby that I won’t be in to the clinic anymore. I’ll find something else.”
God, she’d just quit her job. She loved her job. It was the one bright spot in her dreary life. Why had she done that? But there was no backing down now. She turned to leave. She would mail Abby her clothes later. Right now, it was a long walk back to town.
“Danielle!”
Julian’s sharp bark caused her to stop in her tracks. She turned almost unwillingly.
He hadn’t moved from the couch, but she felt the will pouring off his body. “You will come back in this room, and you will stop behaving like a brat.”
She felt her eyes widen. No one had ever called her that. “Brat? You’re the one acting like a bully, Sir. I mean Mr. Lodge.” She had to stop calling him that.
He moved gracefully off the couch, stalking to her. He towered over her, six foot four inches of pure intimidation. He invaded her space, and her heart started to thud in an unfamiliar rhythm. “You were right the first time, Danielle. You will apologize to Jackson, and then we’re going to have a private talk.”
The front door opened suddenly.
“Damn, Jack, you missed a hell of a show. Dani finally got a lick of sense and motored herself right out of that church. It was the best show this town has seen in a long tim
e.” Sam Fleetwood strode into the living room with a broad smile on his handsome face.
The wife he shared with Jack followed behind, though she was frowning. “We need to find her, Jack. She’s in trouble.”
Jack simply pointed.
Abby sighed. “Thank God. You scared us, Dani. Not that I don’t absolutely support your decision to not marry that man, but you shouldn’t have run away. You got into some stranger’s car. Anything could have happened to you.”
Abby’s eyes moved between Dani and Julian, who, despite the addition of two new audience members, hadn’t once moved those cold eyes off her. Dani wanted to run, but she’d done enough of that for one day.
“Jack, what’s going on?” Abby put a hand on Jack’s arm, concern plain on her face. She started to walk toward Dani, but Jack held her back.
Sam threw his head back and laughed. “Can’t you tell, baby? Damn, Dani, of all the cars in the world you could have hopped into, you got into Julian Lodge’s. That man is a sub magnet. I’ve always said it.”
Julian growled just a little. “Your sarcasm is duly noted, Samuel. Now, may I have a moment alone with Danielle?”
“Are you sure about this?” Jack was holding Abby’s hand. He sent Sam a look that had the blond man getting very serious all of a sudden. “If you aren’t, then I’ll take care of her. I can get her a job in another town and see that she’s all right.”
“Why does she need a new job?” Abby asked, her voice rising.
That scenario didn’t seem to satisfy Julian. “She doesn’t need a new job. She needs a new life. If you simply move her somewhere new, she’ll get in trouble again because she is untrained.”
“I’m not a dog, you jerk!” Her fists were clenched at her sides. Humiliation washed through her.
