“You must know Nate, too,” Dillon teased.
“I have taste buds,” Millie said with a laugh. “They work. If you want to go to dinner, go to Yvonne’s.”
“Thank you. I fully intend to, but since even Yvonne’s doesn’t appear to have the panache I was shooting for, I was afraid my gift would fall short.”
Colleen wanted to tell him that she didn’t need a gift, but since he hadn’t said anything about the gift being for her, she couldn’t very well do that.
“Fortunately, Nate and Yvonne and I made some special arrangements. Millie, do you think you can watch my little guy here for a few hours?”
Julie and Gretchen were already starting to whisper, loud enough to hear. Special arrangements. What could those be? But Millie just smiled. “Yvonne is a good friend of mine,” she said. “And of course I’ll watch the baby. He and I are book buddies. We love reading stories. Besides, I want to make sure this special event takes place, too.”
Now Colleen was getting flustered. “I don’t like surprises,” she reminded Dillon.
“I know. But this is a good surprise. I hope.” Millie took Toby, and Dillon reached into the bag. Inside was an envelope, an ivory silk scarf and a bracelet. The bracelet consisted of gorgeous bits of garnet glass set in gold. A solitary golden heart was centered between the glass and golden chain.
“I asked Nate for the best piece of jewelry he had and he showed me this. I…at first it seemed wrong to give you something you had made yourself, but the longer I looked at it the more right it felt. You have so many of your works here, but only one piece of jewelry.” He indicated the solitary bit of green glass on the black satin cord around her neck.
“I keep it to remember who I am and what I need to do and to forget,” she said, fingering the delicate bracelet. “But this…it was my favorite, too. Too fragile to wear on a ranch. Nate paid me well for it.”
“I hope you’ll allow me to return it to you and accept the scarf. You’ll have a place to wear the bracelet, since we won’t be on the ranch tonight if you agree to accept my invitation.”
He nodded toward the envelope and she opened it with clumsy fingers. “‘Mr. Dillon Farraday requests the company of Ms. Colleen Applegate at table six at Yvonne’s dining emporium at seven o’clock tonight. Dress is semiformal.’”
Colleen’s skin felt suddenly tight. Her limbs felt heavy. This sounded too much like a date. But it wasn’t a date. She knew that. “Just two friends having dinner, right?” she asked.
He smiled and tilted his head. “I hope you consider me a friend. You’ve done me a major favor. Many favors.”
Gretchen’s eyebrows rose and Colleen glared at her. “He’s talking about Toby,” she said.
“I’m talking about Toby,” he agreed. “Colleen has mothered him and taught me. But she’s also a pretty good kisser,” he told Gretchen, who hooted.
“Hmm, telling my secrets?” Colleen asked, trying to keep from blushing. “I haven’t said yes yet.”
“Say yes,” he said. “I want you to have a night on the town. Yvonne is making something amazing, I’ve been told.”
“At her dining emporium, too,” Millie added. “I’ll have to ask her about that name. Usually she’s just plain old Yvonne’s or at best Yvonne’s diner.”
“Tonight’s different,” Dillon said. He waited.
“I can’t disappoint Yvonne,” Colleen said softly. “Besides, you’ve piqued my curiosity. I want to see the difference between a dining emporium and a diner.”
“Oh, and there’ll be entertainment, too,” he promised. “I’ll pick you up here in an hour, all right?” Then he winked at her and left the room.
“Entertainment? I wonder what that could be,” Julie said. “Yvonne’s never had entertainment before.”
“I don’t know, but I hope he kisses you again,” Gretchen said. “He made you blush. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone fluster you enough to make you blush. It looks as if it agrees with you.”
CHAPTER TEN
DILLON felt like a kid going on his first date…which was ridiculous. He’d dated many women over the years. He might not be good at making a success of emotional relationships, but he had never had a problem getting things off the ground. The only problem here was that with Colleen there was no chance of even the beginnings of a relationship. He had to be careful and keep his desire in check because he could hurt her if this thing between them began to take flight. So, that couldn’t happen. He couldn’t let himself lose control.
And it wasn’t just Colleen who was at risk, either. Already he knew that he wasn’t leaving Bright Creek intact. He was going to miss Colleen like crazy when this was over, from that bossy brave way she had of crossing her arms and confronting things that scared her to the way she threw herself into kissing and then in the next minute told him that they couldn’t do it anymore.
Colleen was an original, but he had it on good authority that she had never been taken seriously as a woman in Bright Creek. She had always just been one of the guys.
Not tonight. It would be different tonight, and Dillon hoped she wouldn’t be embarrassed or self-conscious.
He moved into the living room. And stopped. And just…looked.
She was wearing a red dress. He’d never seen her in a dress. And her hair waved around her shoulders. She looked…beautiful. Stunningly so in a way a more petite, less curvaceous woman couldn’t. But really, Dillon thought, it had always been what came from inside that made Colleen truly beautiful. Who and what she was, was written in her eyes, in her smile, in the way she stood and moved. But tonight…
“I like that,” he said, when what he wanted to say was “I like you.” On another day he would have, but tonight this felt too personal. She had wanted things merely to be friendly. So did he. “I see you’re still wearing your red cowgirl boots.”
“I didn’t have any dress shoes that fit and no one else wears the same size I do.”
He smiled. “Looks good, though.”
She laughed. “Nice save,” she told him. “Julie complained that if I ever got married, I’d probably wear these under my wedding dress. They’re not her favorites. To me, they look okay…sort of, but I wouldn’t go further than that.”
“That’s because you’re not a man looking at an attractive woman.”
“That’s because I’m honest. I just hope no one laughs when I walk into the restaurant. Maybe no one will recognize me with makeup and a dress on.”
Oh, they would recognize her all right, and if there were any men there who had thought of her as one of the guys, they were going to be in for a shock, Dillon thought. He held out his hand. She placed her slender fingers in his. He allowed himself to enjoy her touch for just a minute while they moved outside to the car before he held the door open for her. “Better put the scarf on,” he told her.
“Is that what that was for?” she asked. “I thought I was supposed to wear it around my neck or my shoulders or something.”
“You could do that, too, but you’ll need it for your hair right now.”
She did as he asked, and by the time they pulled up in front of Yvonne’s and got out of the car Colleen was nodding. “That was so amazing,” she said, gesturing toward his car. “I thought you were kidding about the scarf. The way that thing moves so fast, the wind in my hair…it was incredible.”
“Don’t tell Harve you already rode in the Ferrari,” Dillon teased her. “He’ll turn green.”
She laughed as she and Dillon walked the few steps to Yvonne’s and Dillon opened the door. “Oh, my,” Colleen said as they walked inside.
Oh, my was right. He’d stopped in this afternoon, and he had to admit that the woman had taken the money he’d given her and worked a small miracle in a few hours. There wasn’t much that could be done about the booths, but Yvonne had covered every table in cloths the color of fine merlot. She’d put wine-colored shades on the wall light fixtures and left the overheads off altogether. White candles burned on eve
ry table, and soft music was playing in the background. A few people sat in the booths looking shell-shocked and confused.
Yvonne came out of the back as if on cue, holding menus that could only have been run off today. They didn’t look anything like the ones Dillon had seen earlier. Yvonne herself had undergone a change from her customary pale blue uniform with white apron to a tasteful black dress and heels. “Mr. Farraday. Colleen,” she said. “Please follow me. Your table is ready.”
She led them to a table in a corner, the only table in the room, one that had obviously come from somewhere else. Dillon couldn’t remember what had sat in this space this afternoon—a dessert display case, he thought—but this square table set with china and crystal and roses had definitely not been here.
“It’s so beautiful, Yvonne,” Colleen said, touching the woman’s hand.
“You exceeded my expectations,” Dillon agreed. “This is just what I had in mind.”
“I may be small town, but I’m not small-minded,” Yvonne said with a smile. “I know what a romantic dinner should be like.”
For a second Colleen looked frantic and distressed, but Dillon touched her arm. “It’s okay. I understand that you don’t want there to be anything romantic between us,” he said. “I’m not your type. But for tonight let me pretend,” he said.
As he said it, he turned slightly, drawing Colleen with him. In a booth to their right, a group of men sat, staring. He recognized at least one of them from that day at the ranch when Colleen had blocked the exit. “Evening, men,” he said. “I assume by the way you’re looking at her that you all know Colleen.”
At his words, they gave Colleen a once-over. And then they looked again.
“Whoa, Colleen, I…man, I just saw you at the ranch a week ago, but I wouldn’t have recognized you tonight. You look…heck, you look hot. Hotter than Lisa Breckinridge. I mean Farraday,” he said, nodding toward Dillon. “No disrespect to your ex-wife,” he told Dillon.
Dillon shrugged. “I don’t care about Lisa. Just so you know that Colleen is here with me tonight.”
Colleen turned to the man. “But I’ll still remember that you pushed me down in the mud once, Rob,” she told him. “And you laughed at me and never said you were sorry.”
The man’s face turned red. “Well, I am sorry. I was young and stupid back then. And you…you were…”
“Felix Bamrow’s ugly stepdaughter? That was what you called me.”
“I know I did. I was sorry right afterward. You looked like you were going to cry.”
“And then I kicked you in the shins, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, you did. I deserved it, too. You want to kick me again? Or call me Harve Enson’s ugly son? I’ll stand still and let you.”
Suddenly Colleen shook her head and gave the man a small smile. Dillon felt as if he had been kicked in the stomach the way she was looking at that guy. “I was never good at name calling and I don’t kick men too much anymore.”
“Do you let them apologize years after the fact?”
“Is it just because I’m wearing this dress? Would you have apologized if I’d been wearing my jeans?”
The man hesitated. “I don’t know how to answer that. I don’t exactly know, Colleen. You look pretty tonight but you still scare me when you’re dressed for ranching. You always look as if you hate men, as if you’d welcome the chance to kick a guy or two.”
“Maybe I haven’t met too many guys who didn’t deserve it.”
The man nodded. “That’s fair. I knew that your stepfather and stepbrother were jerks, and obviously, so were the rest of us.” He motioned to the other men at the table, who hadn’t said anything but were looking uncomfortable. Then he went back to his meal, but he didn’t look too happy.
Dillon silently led Colleen to their table and pulled out her chair. After they were seated at right angles to each other, she leaned to the side and whispered in his ear, “Why did you do that?”
He shook his head, not knowing how to answer. “Do what?”
“Phrase things so that it sounded as if I was some woman you were pursuing. You did it so that those men would pay attention, didn’t you?”
“Well, it makes me mad that, up until now, they haven’t been able to see what’s clear to me. Still, I probably should have consulted with you before I did that. You might not have approved.”
“It could have ended pretty ugly,” she said. “Rob or one of the others could have said something nasty.”
“I didn’t think any man could be so big an idiot that he would insult a gorgeous woman.”
She frowned. “Rob Enson never thought I was gorgeous.”
“That’s because he’s blind. The truth is that you’re gorgeous no matter what you’re wearing. The fact that he doesn’t see it when you’re dressed for ranching just proves he’s shortsighted, but believe me, Colleen, no one’s so shortsighted and ignorant that they could miss your appeal dressed as you are tonight.”
“But you didn’t know that when you arranged this, did you?” she asked.
“I imagined what you would look like,” he admitted, his voice deepening. Their voices were low so no one could hear, but his tone was such that a few heads turned when he made this comment. He knew he probably looked smitten. Frankly, he didn’t care right now, because Colleen was looking at him with those clear, trusting eyes and she was smiling.
“Lisa was so stupid,” she said. “While you were away, she must have forgotten how you say such pretty things. She always did need to hear those kinds of compliments.”
And Colleen hadn’t. She wasn’t used to them.
“Colleen, I’m warning you, if you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to kiss you right here in front of the whole town.”
“Well, that would be something else they haven’t seen,” she mused. “Me kissing someone.”
Dillon growled.
Colleen reached out and touched his hand soothingly.
“Colleen, this is supposed to be your night. I wanted you to have the chance to be the queen for once. You get to shine tonight. You’re not supposed to be worrying about my reaction.”
“The queen? You darn silly man,” she said, and when he looked at her, there were tears on her lashes. “You wanted me to have what Lisa had all these years.”
“No, I wanted you to have more than Lisa had. Lisa is an illusion, an actress. You’re the real deal. People need to see that. You deserve your due.”
And then she laughed. Yvonne brought out the special meal she had prepared and Colleen turned to her. “Yvonne, this man is amazing. He did all of this to thank me just for babysitting that cute little baby of his. Isn’t he something?”
Yvonne looked at Dillon. “I’m not arguing, Colleen. When he came in here today, I had to fan myself, he looks so good in jeans. Then I found out that he had this all planned for you. If I didn’t like you so much we’d have to have a hair-pulling contest over him. As it is, I’m just glad it’s you he’s doing this for. You’re the best. Enjoy the meal and the entertainment.”
Colleen wondered what entertainment Yvonne was talking about. Wasn’t having Rob Enson all but beg her to forgive him for his crimes entertainment enough?
Yeah, she was going to have to accept his apology before he left here tonight. It just wasn’t in her to turn down a request from someone who seemed genuinely repentant. But she knew that none of that would ever have happened if not for Dillon.
She was more than entertained. She was enthralled. Too enthralled. Every time Dillon leaned over and whispered something to her, she wanted to turn so that their lips met. She wanted to wrap her arms around his neck. And it wasn’t that he looked so amazingly handsome in his white shirt and black pants that did nothing to hide his tanned throat or the muscles in his thighs. It was Dillon himself, his very essence. The man was just dangerous. She was going to have to pull away or she would go up in a fireball now and be nothing but cinders when he left.
“There we go,” Dillon was say
ing. “Those guys are good.”
Colleen looked behind her to see that a trio of musicians had set up in the back of the restaurant. They were playing soft, slow tunes. Dreamy stuff.
“Dance with me,” Dillon said and he drew her up with him.
“I don’t know how.” Suddenly, she was nervous. “I’ll look like an idiot.”
“I won’t let that happen. I’ll do all the work. You just shuffle along until you can follow my movements. I promise to keep it simple. And if all else fails, we can always resort to the standby slow dance. Just swaying together.”
Oh no. Not that. That would be where she was held up against Dillon’s chest, her arms draped around his neck and every cell in her body tight with desire. There was no way she could hide her reactions to Dillon from this crowd in that kind of a situation.
In the end, she didn’t have to. Despite the wound that she knew still pained him, Dillon was a superb dancer and he led her through the steps with such ease that she didn’t even feel as if she was learning.
In what seemed like mere seconds the dance had ended. She was staring up at Dillon and she knew that her eyes had to be glowing with naked desire.
“Mind if I cut in?” It was Rob, and Colleen blinked. For half a second Dillon looked irritated. No doubt because he remembered what had transpired between her and Rob earlier. He wouldn’t let anyone crowd her if she didn’t want it. She knew that. But Dillon couldn’t afford to mix it up with anyone. The restaurant had filled by now as news of Yvonne’s coup spread, and there were probably eyes and ears in this room looking and listening. There would be reports made to Lisa.
“All right, I forgive you, Rob,” she said. “Since you seem sincere in your apology, and since you’re Harve’s son and I like him. You just keep in mind that I’m not a very good dancer. No snickering or name calling.”
“I don’t do that stuff anymore,” Rob said. “And I’m not such a good dancer myself.”
Colleen tried to concentrate on the man she was dancing with. She didn’t want anyone to notice that her gaze followed Dillon as he walked away, but it was almost impossible for her not to glance his way now and then as the dance progressed. To her dismay, she saw that Bill Winters, Lisa’s spy, the man Dillon had told her not to worry about, had come into the restaurant. He was standing in front of Dillon, gesticulating wildly, his hands in tight fists.
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