“Maybe you just got tired of being thought of as a face or a body,” Sara suggested. “Maybe you needed to see somebody like Dillon to remember who Ashley Wilde really is.”
Ashley thought of the comfort she had felt just being with Dillon and knew at once that her sister was exactly right. It was more than just his appreciative glances, more than his loving touches. It was the fact that he had known her before she became famous, that he had cared for her even then. Dillon had been a godsend in more ways than one. He’d reminded her that there was more to life than rigid self-discipline and deprivation.
“You could be right,” she admitted.
“Right about what?” Dillon inquired from the doorway. He came in and rested a hand on her shoulder. “What are you women plotting in here?”
“Just deciding the future of the world,” Sara said blithely.
“Don’t believe her,” Jake chimed in. “These Wilde women are devious enough left to their own devices. Team the three of them up and a mere man doesn’t stand a chance.”
“I heard how she landed you,” Dillon told the other man. “Didn’t sound to me as if you put up too much of a struggle.”
“I rode a damned bronco for her,” Jake corrected indignantly, “after swearing I’d never get near another one.”
“You did that for the ranch, not me,” Sara reminded him.
Jake tilted her chin up and planted a noisy kiss on her lips. “It was always a package deal.” He glanced pointedly at Dillon. “They have very convenient memories, too.”
“So I’ve noticed,” Dillon said, his gaze fixed squarely on Ashley.
She blushed at that penetrating, intimate look. “I think we should go now,” she said.
“Now?” All three voices chimed in.
Then Dani added, “You haven’t even had dinner yet.”
“We haven’t?” Ashley asked vaguely, still meeting Dillon’s gaze.
“No, and I will be insulted if you don’t stay,” Dani insisted. Her mouth was set in a determined expression as she added, “Why, I haven’t even had a minute to chat with Dillon.”
Ashley murmured to the man in question. “You should have helped me out a minute ago. Now you’re just going to have to face the music.”
He grinned. “Oh, I think I can take anything your sister cares to dish out.”
Dani grinned at him and gave a nod of satisfaction. “Good. That’s settled, then. If everybody will take a dish into the dining room, I think we can eat.”
They’d barely settled down at the table when the doorbell rang. That was followed by an enthusiastic pounding.
“Maybe I’d better get it,” Jake said, glancing worriedly in the direction of the front door.
“No,” Dani said wryly. “Only one person makes that kind of arrogant commotion.”
“Daddy,” Ashley and Sara said as they, too, jumped up and headed for the door.
Sure enough, they found their father on the doorstep, scowling at the three of them.
“What’s this?” he demanded. “A family reunion and nobody thought to tell me?”
He hugged each of them exuberantly in turn, saving Ashley for last. His sharp gaze searched her face closely before he gave a nod of satisfaction.
“He’s being good to you, isn’t he?” he whispered in her ear. “If he’s not, just say the word, and I’ll bust his kneecaps with a crowbar.”
Ashley chuckled. “I don’t think that will be necessary,” she told her father. “I can handle Dillon.”
“Oh, can you now?” the very man in question asked from behind her.
By the time Ashley whirled around, he was clasping her father’s hand. “It’s good to see you, sir. I’m glad you got my message.”
Ashley looked from one to the other. Neither looked especially guilty, but that was no doubt because they both had arrogance to spare.
“What message?” she asked.
“I just suggested he might want to come home for a little visit,” Dillon said.
Ashley was lost. “Why?”
The two men shared a conspiratorial grin that set her teeth on edge.
“Because he was missing all the fun,” Dillon told her.
Ashley was certain there was more to it. So, too, were Dani and Sara, it appeared. They were staring at their father with blatant skepticism.
“What fun?” Dani asked.
“Why, the courtship of these two, of course,” their father admitted, hugging Ashley more tightly to one side and clasping Dillon’s shoulder with his free hand. “I wasn’t about to stay away just when it looked like things at home were going to get downright interesting. As impulsive as these two are, they’re liable to run off and get married without me there to give away the bride.”
“And what makes you think any courting is going on?” Ashley inquired. She stared at Dillon with a look that could have frozen garden vegetables to be kept for winter meals.
“Actually, it was you who gave me the notion,” her father said in a rush.
“Yeah, right,” Ashley commented, not believing the sly answer for a minute.
“It was,” he assured her a little too heartily. “The way you were tap-dancing around on the phone the other day was a dead giveaway. Got my curiosity up. When I heard from Dillon, it didn’t take me a minute to make up my mind.”
“And precisely what did Dillon have to say?” Ashley asked.
Dillon wisely avoided her gaze, but her father wasn’t the least bit daunted by her icy tone.
“Just that he had you securely on the hook and was about to reel you in,” Trent revealed with a spark of pure devilment in his eyes.
Dillon groaned. He was joined in that reaction by everyone in the foyer except Ashley. She simply plucked her car keys out of Dillon’s pocket and slammed out of the house, ignoring the denials he was shouting at her.
She didn’t stop fuming until she had the car in gear and was halfway down Main Street. Only then did she notice that a car was right on her tail.
When they reached the open road at the edge of town, the car drifted into the oncoming lane and pulled up beside her. She wasn’t surprised to see Dillon behind the wheel. Envisioning a head-on collision, she rolled down the window.
“Are you crazy?” she shouted. “Get out of that lane.”
“Not until you agree to pull off and talk to me.”
“When hell freezes over,” she said adamantly and stepped on the gas.
Dillon stayed right beside her, leaving her torn between panic and fury. They probably would have gone for miles that way on the thankfully deserted highway if a police siren hadn’t intervened. Ashley groaned as she glanced up and caught the flashing light in her rearview mirror.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” she muttered as she pulled to the side of the road.
Dillon fell into line right behind her. The sheriff parked behind him. He exited his car and strolled up the highway, shaking his head.
“Well, now, that didn’t take long, did it?” he bellowed to Dillon. “Tell me, is there something about Riverton that makes you think you’re above the law here?”
Ashley couldn’t hear Dillon’s response, so it was a huge surprise when the sheriff chuckled. He was still laughing when he backed off and headed toward Ashley’s car.
“Out of the car, Miss Wilde,” he ordered, his expression stern.
She returned his frosty look evenly. “Excuse me? Dillon didn’t have to get out of his car.”
His scowl deepened. “Are you questioning my authority?”
“No, of course not. What we were doing was stupid and dangerous. Ticket me, fine me, whatever.”
“Oh, I think I’ve come up with a better way to teach you a lesson, young lady.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. “He started it,” she pointed out. “He was the one driving in the wrong lane.”
“He says he was provoked. I believe him.”
Ashley stared, incredulous. “You believe him? A few hours ago you were prepared to lo
ck him up without any evidence of a crime at all. You were willing to do it just on general principle.”
He gave a curt nod. “Things change. Now march yourself back to his car and climb in.”
“I will not,” she said, and folded her arms across her middle in a defiant stance.
Dillon’s hoot of laughter shot her temper up another notch.
“I think I see the man’s problem,” the sheriff said. “Now are you going to get in the man’s car peacefully or am I going to have to take you into custody?”
She could just imagine the ruckus that would raise in town, especially with her father back to stir things up. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind about whose side he’d take.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, I’ll go,” she muttered, then poked a finger into his barrel chest. “But you’d better plan on retiring after this, because I swear I’ll run against you and beat your sorry butt.”
Sheriff Pratt chuckled at that. “It’d be worth risking my pension to see that. Now, go on and settle your differences with the man.”
She didn’t like his patronizing tone, but she bit her tongue. Besides, she wanted to save up all her fury for the man who’d gotten them into this mess. She climbed into what was apparently her father’s rental car. Naturally he’d handed over the keys to Dillon without a qualm. Men!
“Talk fast,” she said to him as she slammed the door. “Because when we get out of the sheriff’s sight, I intend to strangle you.”
He grinned. “Admit it, sweetheart. You haven’t had this much fun in years.”
“Being chased by a madman and nearly arrested by the sheriff is not my idea of fun,” she insisted in a deadly tone.
He glanced over, and his expression sobered. “You were never in any real danger,” he assured her. “We never even got above thirty.”
“Of course, I know that,” she said, waving off the explanation. “That’s beside the point.” She frowned at him. “What if someone had come around a turn at fifty, Dillon? Did you ever think of that? You could have been killed right in front of my eyes.” Even now, the possibility sent a shudder through her.
Shock spread across his face. “You were worried about me?”
“Well, of course, you idiot. I love you,” she blurted without thinking. “If you’d gone and gotten yourself splattered across the highway, what would I do then?”
He reached over and pulled her into his arms. “Sweetheart, there was never any chance of that. I would have seen the headlights of any oncoming cars. Besides, almost nobody uses this road.”
Ashley was still shaking. “It only takes one, just one.” She shivered at the thought of what could have happened. She placed a hand on either side of his face and made sure he was looking straight at her. “So help me, if you ever do anything that stupid again, you won’t have to worry about oncoming cars. I will kill you myself.”
“That will sort of spoil the courtship, don’t you think? Your father made that up, but I find I kind of like the idea.”
“There is no courtship,” she reminded him emphatically. “Not now and, after tonight, not ever.”
“You just said you love me,” he reminded her.
“A slip of the tongue, nothing more,” she insisted over the shouts in her head that for once she had been telling the truth.
“I don’t think so.”
She sank back against the seat and crossed her arms again. “Think whatever you like,” she said, “but it will be a cold day in hell before I ever say it again.”
Dillon merely grinned. “I can wait.”
Chapter Fourteen
It was a very short night, although it seemed like an eternity to Dillon. True to her word, Ashley had banished him to the cabin’s guest room. After one last haughty glance, she had vanished into the master suite. She didn’t seem to believe that a courtship had been Trent’s idea, not his.
Moments later, he’d heard water splashing into that provocative bathtub and envisioned her up to her chin in bubbles. He’d gotten so hard just thinking about it that he was almost tempted beyond endurance to break down the damned door to the suite. He figured he wouldn’t earn any points for that, though.
Instead, he paced. He paced the guest room. He paced the living room. And when that began to seem too claustrophobic, he went outside and paced around the cabin in the chilly night air, hoping either to wear himself out or at least to cool his overactive libido.
None of it worked, of course. None of it answered the only question that needed answering. Did Ashley love him enough to marry him?
By morning he was edgy and so grumpy that no one with a grain of sense would have come within a hundred yards of him. Naturally Ashley decided to torment him with a breezy kiss on the forehead and some cheerful little ditty that she hummed off-key until it almost drove him completely crazy.
Dillon watched her as he sipped his fourth cup of coffee in sullen silence.
“Are you about ready to leave?” she inquired, studying him over the rim of her cup.
“Leave?”
“We have to pick up Mrs. Fawcett in an hour. Eight sharp, isn’t that what you said?”
“Oh, hell,” Dillon muttered, wondering if the day could possibly get any worse. He wasn’t prepared to be subjected to the teacher’s knowing looks. Unfortunately, he had no choice. He had given her his word.
“It completely slipped my mind,” he confessed. “I’ll catch a quick shower and be ready to go in ten minutes.”
“I could go by myself. You look as if you didn’t get much sleep,” she said cheerfully.
“I got enough,” he lied and headed for the shower.
As he dressed, he thought of all the women he’d dated who’d been sweet or sexy or uncomplicated. Why couldn’t he have fallen for any one of them? Instead he’d had to go and get mixed up with a woman whose slightest glance tied him in knots, a woman so filled with sass and vinegar that he doubted he’d ever have a peaceful moment again.
They made the drive into Riverton in complete silence, while Dillon’s stomach churned acid at all the unspoken thoughts careening through him. Ashley kept her gaze fixed on the scenery until they reached the point where her car had been abandoned the night before.
“My car is gone,” she announced with a mix of incredulity and fury. “I knew I should never have left it there. Dammit, Dillon, this is all your fault.”
“Ash–” he began, but she was on a roll.
“I’m going to sue the sheriff.” She glowered at Dillon. “I think I’ll sue you while I’m at it.”
It was another five minutes before she finally wound down. When she paused long enough to haul in a deep breath, Dillon jumped in.
“May I say something now?”
“I suppose.”
“Your father picked up your car.”
She stared at him. “How the dickens did that happen?”
“The sheriff took the keys. I called your father. Add it up.”
“My father knows about what happened last night?” She winced at the thought of what he would make of that debacle and how enthusiastically he was likely to spread it around town. “Oh, geez, if he knows, then so do Sara and Dani, right?”
“Bingo.”
“Well, hell,” she muttered in disgust, “I might as well take out an ad in the weekly paper and tell the world that Dillon Ford has turned me into a stark raving lunatic.”
“An engagement announcement would be better,” he suggested impulsively, wondering exactly which one of them was the craziest. The idea of actually marrying her had to be the most outrageous, most daring scheme he’d ever come up with it. His body hummed in anticipation of success. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew they’d been inevitable. He just had to convince her of that.
“You wish,” she commented.
Her attitude only stiffened his resolve. “It’s going to happen, Ashley. You could save us both a lot of aggravation by accepting that now.”
“Why would I want to save you any
aggravation at all?”
“Because if you gave in on this one little point–”
“Getting engaged is a little point to you?”
“Compared to the rest of our lives, yes. Anyway, all I was trying to say was that once we’re married, you’d have the rest of your life to torment me at your leisure.”
She perked up somewhat at that, then sighed. “No, it would never work. I’d probably just lose interest after awhile.”
Dillon stared at her. “Lose interest in tormenting me?”
“No,” she said flatly. “In you, period.”
It was not a remark designed to cater to his ego. “You can’t be serious,” he said at once.
“It’s true,” she said, that defeated note in her voice.
“I think maybe you’d better explain.”
“Okay, I loved modeling more than anything, right? I hardly even kissed a boy in high school for fear someone would distract me from my goal. Well, now I’ve accomplished exactly what I set out to, and look at me. I can’t even lose a few pounds so I can keep my job.” She shrugged, then added sadly, “The same thing would probably happen with you.”
Dillon shook his head to clear the cobwebs and tried to follow her logic. Maybe he’d just been awake too long, but she wasn’t making any sense at all. Clearly, though, it all added up to her.
“Okay,” he began slowly. “Let me see if I have this straight. You loved modeling. You love me. You fell out of love with modeling, therefore you’re going to fall out of love with me.”
She scowled. “When you put it like that, it does sound ridiculous, but yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. I don’t seem to have any staying power.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Dillon began, then saw that she was dead serious. “Okay, sweetheart, let’s back up a minute. How long ago did you discover that you had feelings for me, maybe not love, but feelings?”
She hesitated. “In high school,” she admitted eventually. “But it was just a rebellion, I’m sure, and I wasn’t even very good at it. The only thing we ever shared was one dance. I never even had the gumption to kiss you.”
The Bridal Path: Ashley Page 16
