скачать книгу бесплатно
âThis is going to sound odd,â he said. How did a guy get around to telling a woman something that amounted to the lamest excuse in the world? Why would she even believe him?
But what else was he going to say?
He was still holding her necklace. âIâd really like your help in ⦠Well, first off, I need to know when we â¦â
âDid it? Youâve got to be kidding me.â
All right. That was one way of getting over the awkwardness. She was just as forthright as his brothers.
âI wish I were kidding,â he said. âI had some business at the Hervy Ranch about a half hour away in Julyââ
âI know. You were dealing with livestock. You told me that right before you talked me into â¦â
She pressed her lips together, color rising in her cheeks. A buzz skimmed his belly at just the mention of what had gone on between them, even though this wasnât the time or place for it.
The important thing was that heâd done more than just had sex with her. She was someone heâd talked to around the time of his accident, although he didnât know how long they had chatted before getting to the bedroom. If she could just give him more details about their time together, maybe that would kick-start his brain and he could piece together more of what had happened before and just after the accident.
She shot him a slanted look. âWhy the hell wouldnât you know when we â¦â She lowered her voice, glancing around. Discovering that the lobby had emptied, she added, âWere together?â
Here it went.
âWhen I left St. Valentine,â he said, âI got in an accident on the way to my appointment. Enough of one to send me in an ambulance to the hospital.â
She raised her eyebrows. On her face he saw shock ⦠until her gaze softened for a vulnerable moment.
âAn accident?â she asked.
âThatâs right. And afterward I didnât remember where I was, who I was ⦠My brothers and mom were there to help me put things together. Most things, anyway. Iâve got holes right where a lot of my memory used to be.â
She just kept watching him, her gaze finally going from soft and gray to unreadable and cool.
Then she laughed softly, and it wasnât a funny laugh. Her gaze was sad now.
âThis is a joke, right?â she asked.
âNo.â What kind of psychotic would approach her again just to lay a line like this on her?
âWhatever it is, itâs not funny at all.â
Conn started to assure her that he was deadly serious, but she had already abandoned her stack of papers and rounded the desk corner, her body fully revealed now.
As he laid eyes on her slightly swelling stomach pressing against her skirt, he froze, unable to follow her.
Rita Niles never looked back at him. She just blindly headed for the hallway, then the closed door to the tearoom, hoping he wouldnât see where sheâd gone.
Conn Flannigan, the man sheâd put so much hope in, even after one night. Dumbly, naively, regretfully.
She calmly opened the door, but as soon as she was in the empty kitchen, she leaned on a stainless-steel counter, dizzy, her pulse so loud in her ears, so wild in her chest, that she almost slumped to the floor.
But not quite, because sheâd promised herself that nobody was ever going to do this to her again. Not after what her ex-fiancé, Kevin, had done to her. And definitely not after sheâd dropped her guard during a wonderful night of seduction with this cowboy, finally believing that sheâd been wrong about love all these years.
She rubbed the curve of her belly, fighting the tears.
Conn Flannigan.
When sheâd seen him in the lobby today, itâd shocked her right down to her toes, her body tingling in places that shouldâve been smart enough to go numb after she thought sheâd been left high and dry by him. But, with him standing there, with his thick, black hair that curled up at the ends, with his shining blue eyes, with every inch of lean, tall cowboy in a Western shirt, jeans and boots, sheâd come alive in very dangerous ways.
And it was happening now, too, as that night filtered back to her.
Sheâd been sitting in the Queen of Hearts Saloon, resigned to hours of drudge work ahead of her at the hotel. Sheâd been in threadbare jeans, an untucked blouse, with her hair pulled back in a haphazard ponytail, yet when heâd walked in, she was the only one heâd looked at.
And that look ⦠Even now, she shivered from the intensity of what itâd done to herâbreathing fire under and over her skin, sizzling through her until it consumed every inch. She couldâve even sworn that time had stopped for both of them, couldâve sworn that every one of his cells was vibrating just as hard as hers were.
If she had the capacity to believe in love at first sight, she might have said that she fell in love with him then and there. Maybe, in those first few crazy moments sheâd gotten the closest to love she would ever get again.
Heâd ambled right over, offering to buy Rita dinner, sweet-talking her until her knees went to jelly. Sheâd never clicked so quickly with anyone, flirted so easily, not even with Kevin, whoâd taken the slow route with her during days of high school dances and after-graduation dates. But Conn?
That nightâthat damned magic nightâitâd felt as if Conn had been the man she shouldâve held out for all along.
Heâd walked her back to the hotel, and much to her surprise, sheâd found herself forgetting every lesson sheâd learned. Her body overtaking her mind, sheâd invited him in, first to the lobby. Then, when sheâd resigned herself to ditching her all-night work shift, sheâd clandestinely invited him to an empty room a floor below her own quarters in the hotel.
Sheâd been lost in him so deeply that sheâd thought â¦
Well, sheâd thought that things could be different this time. Thought that sheâd somehow wonderfully crossed a line sheâd drawn years ago after Kevin had left her and their daughter.
Itâd been that good with Conn, and that was why she hated himâbecause heâd seemed to be the answer for her. Because heâd made her body and soul agonize for so many nights afterward.
Now, Rita rested her hand on the baby growing inside of her. Ridiculous. Sheâd been ridiculous to think that one night might change everything, especially for a person whoâd spent a long while shuttering herself away, slat by slat, until she looked at the world only through the cracks.
But â¦
For one night, it really had been that good.
He hadnât checked in to the hotel, so sheâd never gotten his contact information. Besides, heâd told her he was going to be back, so she hadnât asked for a phone number, an address. Heâd taken her necklace in a playful moment, saying he would return it to her that night when he returned for more, almost as if it were a vow.
Sheâd believed in him.
Believed and been abandoned.
But, she thought, heâd had amnesia.
She started to laughâa crazy, cracked-at-the-edges laugh that trailed into the threat of more tears as she leaned her head down on her arms, which still rested on the kitchen counter.
Amnesia. How stupid did he think she was?
As she stifled another sob, doubt crept into her. What if â¦
No. Amnesia was so far out of the question that she shouldnât believe it.
Still, the doubts stayed with her, even as she heard footsteps outside the kitchen door. She put on her âboss face,â straightening up, swiping at her cheeks and finding a few stray tears, then walked toward the entrance to the tea room, just as Margery Wilmore busted through the hallway door.
She had a plump chest and was motherly and gray-haired. âHowâs my Rita doing?â
âRight as rain.â Rita glanced at her watch. âTea prep already?â
âLike clockwork.â The older woman sent Rita a concerned look. âYou okay, honey?â
Rita nodded. Margery was a carryover from the days when Ritaâs mom used to run the hotel, back before she and Dad had passed on. When Rita had taken over at the age of twenty-three, Margery had âkindlyâ tried to offer all kinds of advice, even though Rita had been working at the hotel since she was old enough to carry out orders, raised to take over operations one day. Now, ten years later, Margery still hovered, casting a suspicious eye at Ritaâs tummy when sheâd started showing recently.
But didnât everyone hover in their own ways? After Kevin, Rita had sort of become St. Valentineâs pet project. The town screwup whoâd been saving up to go to college for years after graduationâand wouldnât you know it? Sheâd actually earned a business scholarship but had given it up when sheâd gotten preggers.
A pregnancy had been out of character for her, the straight-? student. And, even more off-putting to a lot of folks around here, after Kevin had left her and she had proudly set out to be a single parent, she had refused interference or unwanted advice from everyone who âknew betterâ in a town where traditional family values ruled.
Now, she was going for another round of out-of-wedlock parenthood.
âYouâre running yourself ragged,â Margery said, resting a hand on Ritaâs cheek to test her temperature.
Rita deftly shied away. âIâm just fine.â
The older woman clucked her tongue. âYou and your stubbornness. Someday itâs all going to catch up to you, especially raising Kristy alone.â
Thatâs rightâMargery knew best. How could Rita have forgotten?
Her cell phone rang, and gratefully, she went into the empty hallway and answered, not caring who was on the other end. When she heard the voice of her best friend, Violet, she almost cheered.
Too bad Viâs actual words didnât have the same effect on her.
âIs it true?â she asked.
Rita wouldnât play dumb. âYou already heard?â
âSmall town. Grapevine. Newspaper reporter. Go figure.â
Gossip traveled at the speed of light in St. Valentine, but it wasnât as if Rita had never been its subject before.
âHe just showed up, Vi. Out of nowhere.â
âWant to talk about it over some lunch?â
They agreed to meet in ten minutes at the Queen of Hearts Saloon, which belonged to Viâs family. Rita went to the lobby, taking care to scan it before she entered.
No sign of the cowboy.
Relievedâwas that the word she was looking for?âshe crossed the lobby, telling her desk clerk that she was going on lunch break, then feeling the girlâs eyes on her. And why not, when Janelle had probably seen Conn Flannigan in here with the necklace and heard some of their conversation while sheâd been straightening the brochures?
Head held high, Rita tried her best not to feel like the town screwup once again as she left the hotel, wondering if Conn Flannigan was outside.
Wondering if she was going to be able to avoid telling him just who the father of her unborn baby was.
Chapter Two
âI wish heâd just stayed away,â Rita told Vi as she sat across from her at the Queen of Hearts in an out-of-the-way corner booth where the low-volume country songs on the jukebox were even more muted. The wagon wheel light fixtures hovered overhead, and a bunch of regulars ate burgers and drank beer at the bar, surrounded by sepia-hued pictures of the town during its early days.
âIt sounds to me like he really does have amnesia.â Viâs brown eyes reflected sympathy. Even though she was on lunch break from the small-town-reporterâs desk, she had an iPad next to her, ready to catch any breaking news should it come their way. âItâd be a good reason for him to come back here, retracing his steps before his accident. And heâd have no idea how ticked off youâd be. Besides, who goes around telling stories like that unless theyâre true?â
Rita hadnât touched her chefâs salad yet, but Vi was munching away on her fries. Sheâd been there for the morning after when Rita had still been on cloud nine after her night with Conn. But Vi had also seen the aftermath and how itâd decimated a newfound confidence for Rita that had lasted less than twenty-four hours before sheâd felt the shame of supposedly being lied to and left behind once again.
âSo whatâre you going to do?â Vi asked, dipping a fry in catsup.
âWhat can I do?â Rita jabbed at a piece of ham with her fork. âI shouldnât have done anything in the first placeâexcept for running straight out of here when he bellied up to my table that night. I shouldâve knownââ
âHey, you couldnât have known.â As Vi leaned forward to rest a hand over Ritaâs free one, her shoulder-length, dark red hair swung forward. âYou were ready to move on after years of hating yourself for what happened with Kevin.â
âYou werenât happy when I told you about Conn after our ⦠night.â
âI was being protective. But now thereâs a baby involved, and that changes everything.â
Rita cradled her slightly curved tummy with her free hand. âThat night, I shouldâve just thought more about what it felt like when Kevin left. That wouldâve stopped me from giving in to Conn.â
But she hadnât been able to think about anything or anyone ⦠except for the cowboy at her table, his eyes sparkling with fun, drawing her into their depths with âwhy not?â allure.
But, as sheâd waited for him the day and night afterward, sheâd found out âwhy not.â The minutes had ticked by to one hour ⦠two ⦠then to midnight. And still no Conn. The next morning had come, then passed, then the next and the next.
By that time, she knew sheâd been had, and sheâd closed up her heart tighter than ever, knowing that she was the only one she could depend on.
And then sheâd missed her period, although Rita couldnât and wouldnât regret getting pregnant.
Maybe that was what life had in store for her. Always a great mother to the children she loved more than anything, but never a wife.
âYou know what the most embarrassing part is?â Rita finally asked.
Violet swallowed her bite of burger. âWhat?â
A wounded laugh escaped. âThere was something that kept needling at me, telling me that there was a really good reason he didnât come back.â
âAnd there ended up being a good reason. Doesnât it make you feel better to know that he didnât reject you? That it had everything to do with circumstances beyond his control?â
Vi was wearing one of those looks filled with optimism. And why shouldnât she? This weekend, she was going to marry millionaire Davis Jackson, her star-crossed lover from high school. They had been run through the gauntlet after Vi had come back to town after having lost her job on a city newspaper and returned to St. Valentine to lick her wounds. Davis had always loved herâthe girl from the wrong side of the tracksâbut Vi hadnât been sure he was pursuing her again because of that or to get payback for how she had broken his heart. Now, though, everything was wedding marches and roses for her.
No, Rita didnât feel nearly as positive as Vi.
âIâm just considering myself lucky to have escaped this one,â she said. âConn is my cautionary tale.â
âFor what could happen if you should ever let your guard down again and someone crushes you for real. I get it, Rita.â
âI mean, he didnât return to St. Valentine to request my forgiveness or to sweep me off my feet again, right? And if he saw my stomach, he probably flipped.â
âYou donât know if he saw it?â