White Pines Summer

by Sherryl Woods

  “It’s a party in Lizzy’s honor,” Cody protested. “You have to be there.”

  Clinging stubbornly to his pride and his resolve to let her go once more—this time for good—Hank shook his head. “No law says I have to go.”

  “What about the fact that you’ll be insulting Lizzy and my father if you stay home?”

  “That’s an exaggeration, and you know it. I doubt your sister is any more anxious to see me than I am to see her. She’s not overjoyed with me at the moment,” he said in what he considered to be a massive understatement. “She thinks I’m being bullheaded and downright mean, instead of levelheaded and sensible. Lizzy’s not the kind of woman who’d want rejection rubbed in her face.”

  He kept his gaze pinned on Cody, who was beginning to look vaguely uncomfortable at being caught in the middle. “As for your father,” Hank continued, “Harlan will get over it. He’s described me as antisocial on more than one occasion, when I’ve turned down his invitations. A family dinner is one thing, but this party is showing all the signs of turning into one of those famous Adams barbecues for the rich and powerful.”

  “He’s kept the guest list down to a couple of dozen. I swear it. He’s really counting on you being there. Besides, the whole reason for this party...” Cody said, then winced at the clear implication. “Forget I said that.”

  Hank’s gaze narrowed. “Okay, Cody, what is your daddy up to now?” he asked, as if he didn’t know. More matchmaking, most likely. It was Harlan’s favorite pastime. Hank wondered, though, if Cody would admit it. He’d always trusted the older man to be straight with him and, when it came to matters of ranching, he was. When it came to family, though, Cody’s loyalty was elsewhere.

  “Nothing,” Cody said, though he couldn’t meet Hank’s gaze when he said it. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

  “The words are out now. You can’t take them back. If Harlan is up to no good, then that’s all the more reason for me to stay as far away from White Pines tonight as possible. Nothing good can come of this, Cody. Trust me. There was only one thing to do under these circumstances, and I’ve done it.”

  Cody regarded him slyly. “Lizzy’s going back to school in two days. Will you be able to live with yourself if you don’t get one last look at her to tide you over till summer?”

  “You know, Cody, I would think a big brother would want to keep a man like me as far away from his baby sister as possible.”

  “Why? No man I know would be a better match for her. You’re levelheaded where she’s impetuous. She’ll be the kind of mother who’ll inspire spirited antics. You’ll be a terrific, rock-solid father. And you’ll give her the moon, if she asks for it. What you’re trying to do by staying away from her right now proves that. You’re a good man, Hank. The best. Lizzy couldn’t do better.”

  “Thanks for the glowing praise, but right now what Lizzy needs is a mentor in the medical profession, not a husband who’ll tie her down.”

  “Shouldn’t you give her the chance to decide that for herself?”

  “Not when the deciding will just tear her apart,” Hank insisted. “Look, Cody, I know she cares about me. Maybe she even fancies herself in love with me, but that doesn’t mean she’s ready to get married or even to make the choice.”

  “Why the hell does it have to be a choice?” Cody retorted impatiently.

  “Because Miami’s a long way away.”

  “So what? She doesn’t have to stay in Miami. She can come back to Texas and go to medical school here. That’ll be close enough to make commuting feasible.”

  “She chose Miami in the first place just because it was far away. She needs to make her own mark on the world, away from the Adams influence.”

  “Okay, fine. Jordan has his own damned jet. You can commute to Miami.”

  The same desperate idea had come to Hank in the middle of the night, but he’d resisted it then and he intended to resist it now. “How many days do you get to take off in ranching? Besides, that’s not my idea of marriage,” he told Cody. “I doubt it’s hers, either. Maybe it would work for a few months, even a year, but Lizzy’s years away from setting up a medical practice. Until then, she needs her freedom.”

  “It doesn’t sound to me like it’s her freedom that matters. Sounds more like you being set in your ways. What’s wrong with being flexible, maybe even a little imaginative, if it gets you what you want?” Cody’s gaze narrowed. “Or don’t you want Lizzy enough to even try?”

  Hank turned away. “You don’t know anything about what I feel,” he muttered.

  “Then tell me,” Cody argued, sounding combative. “Tell me why my sister was good enough to sleep with, but not good enough to fight for. And don’t try denying the two of you have been sleeping together, because I’m not that dumb. She’s not creeping into the house at dawn because you two have been off somewhere picking daises in the moonlight.”

  Hank turned back slowly. “That’s what this is really about, isn’t it? It sticks in your craw that she and I slept together, even though you practically dared me to see if I could get her into bed.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of bills. He peeled off some twenties and pushed them toward Cody. “You won. Satisfied?”

  “Hell, no, I’m not satisfied,” Cody said, shoving aside the money. “Far from it.”

  “Tough. She’s a grown woman, Cody. It was her decision to make.”

  Cody raked his fingers through his hair. “Dammit, I know that. I don’t much like it, but I know it. She’d brain me with a skillet if I said otherwise or if I punched you out the way I’m tempted to.”

  “Well, then, can’t you just leave it be?” Once more he held out the money. “Here, take it. You won it fair and square. Lizzy didn’t tell me to take a hike, the way I predicted she would. God knows, we’d probably both be better off if she had.”

  Cody ignored the hundred dollars and shook his head. “Forget the damned bet.” His expression turned sympathetic. “Can I offer a word of advice?”

  “Can I stop you?”

  “Once upon a time, I took off and hid out, instead of asking the questions I should have asked and demanding straight answers. I’ll regret that till the day I die. It cost me a year of my daughter’s life, because I didn’t even know Melissa was pregnant with Sharon Lynn when I ran.”

  He gave Hank a beseeching look. “Just come to the party tonight. Talk things through with Lizzy, see if you can’t work things out. That’s all I ask. What will it be, a couple of hours of your time? Is that so much to ask when your whole future’s at stake?”

  If that’s all it were, no, Hank thought. But it wasn’t the time that mattered. It was what seeing Lizzy again was likely to do to his resolve.

  “Lizzy and I aren’t known for our long-winded, introspective conversations,” Hank said.

  “You’ll be in the midst of a whole throng of people,” Cody countered with a wry expression. “There won’t be much you can do besides talk.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Hank promised. “But don’t count on anything.”

  Cody grinned. “It’s not me who’s counting on you. It’s Daddy and Lizzy. If I were you, I wouldn’t want to risk riling either one of them.”

  Thinking of some of the wicked things Lizzy had done to show her displeasure with him in the past, Hank had to agree. He figured he still had a few hours to weigh that prospect against the danger of seeing Lizzy one last time.

  * * *

  White Pines was crawling with eligible bachelors. Lizzy walked through the downstairs rooms and counted them. There were at least a dozen. Aside from family, it seemed that single males were the only guests. Some were from the state capital. She recognized them as up-and-coming legislators. There were a handful of ranchers from around the state, an oilman pal of Jordan’s and a couple of lobbyists from Washington she suspected had been added to the guest list by her coop
erative older sister. Jenny had traveled in some powerful circles before she’d decided to come home and teach school.

  All in all, her father had outdone himself, she thought with amusement, then sighed.

  Only one man was missing, the only one who mattered. Hank couldn’t very well be jealous if he never even saw the competition.

  “He’ll be here,” Sharon Lynn promised, arriving at her side and giving her hand a quick squeeze. “I know Daddy had a talk with him this afternoon.”

  Lizzy frowned. “Cody talked to Hank?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Sharon Lynn said. “Kyle and I went riding up on the ridge around lunchtime. We could hear Daddy shouting all the way up there.”

  “Could you hear what they said?” Lizzy asked, even though it was downright embarrassing to be so pitifully eager for information about Hank’s state of mind.

  “Not really.”

  Her spirits sank. “Then you don’t know if Hank agreed to come tonight or not?”

  “No,” Sharon Lynn conceded with obvious reluctance.

  “Then this whole party is a total waste.”

  “Not necessarily,” Sharon Lynn said. “You could check out the alternatives. Granddaddy has provided a veritable smorgasbord of men for you to choose from. It seems like a shame to waste them. Maybe one of them will be able to take your mind off of Hank.”

  Lizzy shot her a disgusted look. “Would a total stranger be able to take your mind off Kyle if the two of you were having problems?”

  “I suppose not,” Sharon Lynn conceded. Her expression brightened. “But if Hank decides to put in an appearance, wouldn’t it be better if he walked in and found you engrossed in conversation with some handsome, sexy man, rather than sulking in a corner? Besides, you can’t let that dress go to waste. Every male in the room—except Kyle, of course—is practically drooling over you. There’s music on the patio. Why not find yourself a partner and go enjoy it?”

  Just then, glancing through the French doors, Lizzy could have sworn she’d caught a glimpse of Hank outside in the shadows at the edge of the patio. Her heart lurched. Sharon Lynn’s idea began to make a whole lot more sense.

  “You know,” she said, suddenly more agreeable, “maybe I will go try to persuade one of these men to dance, if you’ll have a chat with the band and see if they’ll play something nice and slow.”

  Sharon Lynn regarded her quizzically. “Slow? What are you up to?”

  “Never mind. Will you do it?”

  “Of course.”

  Lizzy turned back toward the living room and surveyed the available men. She picked out the tallest, sexiest one there, who also happened to be the oil tycoon. Now, there was a combination that ought to get Hank’s attention, as long as he never figured out just how sleazy the man was or how much she disliked him.

  She strolled across the room, thoroughly aware of the fact that every male gaze was on her, looked up into Brian Lane’s black-as-coal eyes and smiled. “Care to dance?” she asked.

  “I’d be honored,” he said at once.

  He tucked her hand through the crook of his arm and led the way outside. Lizzy didn’t miss the triumphant expression on his face as he walked off with the evening’s grand prize—her. She would have made him pay for that look, if he hadn’t been the perfect choice for the little game she had in mind to torment Hank.

  Brian Lane was just over thirty and heir to a family fortune. A lot of women would have keeled over under the heat of those dark, mysterious, hooded looks he’d perfected. Lizzy had met him at Jordan’s on several occasions in the past. She knew how quickly that heated gaze could turn coldly assessing. For all his polite social skills and oodles of money and privilege, Brian Lane was not a very nice man, which was why she’d always declined his invitations to dinner.

  But he was exactly the predatory sort of male that drove other men into possessive rages. Even her cool-as-a-cucumber big brother seemed to get a little nervous when Brian began paying a little too much attention to her sister-in-law.

  On the patio with the music suddenly and oh-so-conveniently turning slow, he drew Lizzy into his arms just a little too tightly. He would have paid for that, too, had it not suited her purposes. She wondered, as he moved to the music’s provocative rhythm, if he had any idea that instead of being swept away by the feel of him, she was busily searching the shadows for a glimpse of another man. She doubted it. Brian was not prone to self-doubts.

  “I always knew one day you’d come around,” he murmured against her ear.

  Lizzy stumbled. “Excuse me?”

  “You’ve been playing hard-to-get since the first time we met at your brother’s house,” he said. “I figured it couldn’t last too much longer. There’s always been a chemistry between us. I’ve sensed it. I know you must have, too.”

  If he’d been serious, Lizzy would have been nervous, but she’d heard him use the exact same line too many times. She found it laughable but, wisely, she fought that particular reaction. For the moment, she needed him to play the role of ardent suitor.

  Brian seemed to take her silence for assent, because he increased the pressure on her back, forcing her even more tightly against him. She felt the first twinge of panic when she realized that he was fully aroused. The second twinge came when he tried to waltz her into the shadows, away from the other dancers.

  Well, hell, Lizzy thought. She had not started this game to cause a scene, but Brian was rapidly changing the rules. Just when she was about to chill his amorous intentions with a well-placed and savage kick, the gap between them suddenly widened and Hank moved smoothly in between. No man had ever cut in on another with such tactical precision or such an expression of grim determination.

  Hank gave the other man a smile edged with ice. “Thanks for looking after the lady,” Hank said in a chilly tone that wasn’t nearly as grateful as the words implied. “But I’m here now.”

  Brian opened his mouth to protest, but Hank’s steady, lethal gaze seemed to change his mind. He glanced at Lizzy instead.

  “We’ll catch up with each other another time.”

  “I doubt it,” Hank said, making it clear that the other man shouldn’t even try.

  Brian shrugged finally and walked away, but it was clear from his expression that Hank had just made an enemy. Even so, Lizzy felt relief shimmer through her. Not that she intended to let Hank catch so much as a glimmer of it. She intended to see him suffer for the heartache he’d put her through the past few days.

  “Was that some sort of macho ritual I just witnessed?” she inquired lightly, as if she found the study of such behavior fascinating in a purely academic way.

  Hank gave her a wry look. “That was me saving you from getting mauled by that creep. Who the hell was he anyway?”

  “A business associate of Jordan’s.”

  “Jordan ought to choose his friends more carefully.”

  “I didn’t say they were friends,” she began, then shrugged. “Never mind. Did you even stop to consider that maybe I wanted to get mauled?”

  His response to that was a hard, silent stare. Lizzy winced and gave up the game. “Okay, maybe I am grateful that you turned up when you did.”

  He shook his head. “Something tells me you were counting on it. What I can’t figure is how you even knew I was around. I haven’t even set foot on the patio until now, much less been inside.”

  “I guess I must have a sixth sense about it when you’re around.” She grinned at him. “Or maybe you’re just not as good at sneaking around and hiding in the bushes as you thought you were.”

  His cheeks flamed with color. “You saw me?”

  “Sure did.”

  “Then that whole scene was deliberately staged for my benefit?”

  “I never said that.”

  “You didn’t have to.” He regarded her with amusement. “Give it up, Lizzy. You were
trying to make me jealous. That’s what this whole charade of a party is about. Your daddy didn’t even make a pretense of it being anything else. There’s not another single woman here. All those men were meant to be prospective competition for me.”

  “Okay,” she said cheerfully. “Since it worked, I suppose I can admit it. Not that I planned it, of course. This was Daddy’s doing.”

  “I’m sure,” he agreed. Then he added softly, “It doesn’t change anything.”

  She refused to accept that. “Of course it does,” she insisted. “It proves that you can’t just turn your back on me, after all.”

  “I wasn’t turning my back on you,” he said wearily. “I was trying to let you go.” He studied her intently. “That’s still the plan, Lizzy. What just happened doesn’t change that.”

  He tucked a finger under her chin and forced her head up. “If you’ll tell the truth, you wouldn’t want it any other way, either. You have to go back, darlin’. You know you do.”

  Tears welled up, but she fought them. “Can’t we at least have the next couple of days, then? Please.” She waited through the longest silence of her life, then added, “That’s as much begging as I’m ever going to do, Hank Robbins, so what is it? Yes or no?”

  She saw the torment on his face and the indecision. Finally he sighed. “Yes,” he whispered against her cheek. “We’ll steal every second that we’ve got left.”

  “Can we leave, then?”

  “You’re the guest of honor,” he noted. “It wouldn’t be polite.”

  She’d never regretted her ingrained sense of duty more. “I suppose.”

  Hank grinned. “Now that the party’s served its purpose, you’re bored with it, aren’t you?”

  “I was bored with it before. Now that you’re here, I suppose I can make the best of it.” She looked up into his eyes. “Hold me a little tighter, cowboy, and let’s pretend we’re at your place, all alone.”

  “Oh, no, you don’t,” he protested, keeping her at arm’s length. “Cody’s already put me on notice where you’re concerned. If I try that right here in plain view, I’ll have a whole passel of shotguns aimed straight at my belly. You and I would be standing at an altar before we could blink.”