“Idiot,” she muttered, snapping open a pod and slipping the peas into the bowl in her lap.
She wasn't just angry. She was furious, and at herself. She had been, for weeks.
She blew a strand of hair out of her eyes and picked up another pea pod.
Oh, she'd wasted some time on stupidity, crying over losing David, but that hadn't lasted long. Why would it? You couldn't lose what you'd never had, and she had never “had” David. Why would she have wanted to have him? What had she seen in him, anyway? He was a liar, a cheat, and a scoundrel, just like all the rest of them.
“Avery incarnate,” she mumbled, and slammed the peas into the bowl.
To think she'd imagined herself in love with such a rat. To think she'd wanted to marry him. To think she'd slept with himâ¦
Except, she hadn't slept with him. She'd made love with him, and yes, there was a difference. A wonderful difference. Otherwise she'd never have felt the things she'd felt, never have died and been reborn in his arms.
“Nonsense,” she said briskly.
And it
was
nonsense. She'd been vulnerable, that was all. David had come along when she was having a difficult time. He'd shown her what she'd thought was kindness, but it had turned out to be nothing but a scheme to get her into his bed.
It was hard to believe any man would go to such lengths just to seduce a woman, especially a man like David. Stephanie's throat constricted. She'd been so sure it was all real. The kindness. The decency. The concern.
The love. Oh, David's love. His kisses and caresses. His whispered promises. His tenderness.
Stephanie gave herself a little shake.
“Stop it,” she said sternly.
The lies, for that was what they'd been, were all behind her. David was the past. The future⦠well, she wasn't sure just what the future was, but it was shaping up. She smiled and brushed her hand over her eyes. Things were definitely going to get better. Paul, for one. He
was
better. New medications had made a big improvement. And a day after she'd pleaded with Rest Haven's management board, explained how desperate she was, they'd come up with an incredible proposal. They'd halve the cost of Paul's care, if she'd agree to replace the administrative assistant to the manager, when she retired in two weeks.
So now, here she was, spending a quiet time at the old family homestead before beginning her new job. Yes, life was good. It was fine. It wasâ¦
Oh, God, it was a mess, because David, damn him, had broken her heart. Who was she kidding? She hated him. Despised him. But that didn't keep her from dreaming about him, from longing for the comfort of his armsâ
“Scarlett?”
The bowl tumbled from her lap and Stephanie shot to her feet. She spun around, her hand to her breast, knowing,
knowing
, that she had to be imagining the sound of David's voiceâ¦
But she wasn't.
“David,” she whispered, and her heart kicked against her ribs.
He stood no more than twenty feet away, not moving, not talking, just looking at her. What was he doing here? How had he found her?
What did he want?
“You,” he said, and she knew she must have spoken the last question aloud.
Her heart did another little tumble. Don't, she told herself. Oh, Steffie, don't. He's lying. He must be lying. And even if he isn't, you know what he believes. What he thinksâ¦
“I love you, Scarlett.”
Her mouth began to tremble. “No,” she said, and shook her head. Her hands were trembling, too, and she stuck them deep into the pockets of her old jeans. “Please, don't say that.”
“I don't deserve another chance,” he said as he started slowly toward her. “I know that. I failed you, sweetheart. When you needed me the most, I wasn't there.”
“No.” Stephanie shook her head again. “Don't, David. I can'tâI can't bear it.”
“I didn't trust you. I knew it, and I told myself that was fine, that a man had to be a fool to trust a woman.” He stopped at the foot of the porch steps and looked into her eyes. They were shining with tears and he resisted the desire to reach out, pull her down into his arms and kiss the tears away. “I love you,” he said again. “I want you to be my wife.”
Stephanie took a step back. “This isn't fair,” she whispered. “To say these things andâand not mean them⦔
He smiled. “I'm a lawyer, Scarlett. Would a lawyer tell a lie?”
“Isn't that what they do?” she said, her head lifting with defiance.
David sighed. “Well, yeah. Sometimes, I guess, but only by omission.”
“
You
lied. And not by omission. You know you did.”
He climbed the steps slowly, watching as she backed away from him, drinking in her beauty and the sweetness of her face, his heart suddenly blazing with hope because he knew, he
knew
, that she loved him just as much as he loved her.
“You're right,” he said softly. Her shoulders hit the wall of the little clapboard house that looked strangely like the one he'd grown up in, and he smiled again, knowing she couldn't get away from him now, that he'd never let her get away from him again. “I did lie,” he said, reaching out to touch her hair. “That's what I've come here to tell you.”
“Don'tâdon't do that,” she said, trying to pull away from him. He wouldn't let her. He just came closer, until she had to tilt her head to look up into his eyes, those wonderfully blue eyes. “What do you mean, that's why you've come here?”
He stroked his hand over her hair, along her cheek. He cupped her shoulders with his palms and drew her unyielding body toward his.
“I came to tell you that I lied about everything, Scarlett.” He put his hands into her hair and lifted her face to him. “About not meaning it, when I proposed marriage.”
“It doesn't matter,” she said stiffly. “I wouldn't haveâI never wanted toâplease, David. Don't do that.”
He did it, anyway; he bent his head and brushed his mouth gently over hers. Stephanie held still. She didn't breathe. She wouldn't let him know what was happening to her, what his touch was doing to herâ¦
A sob burst from her throat.
“Damn you,” she whispered. “You broke my heart, David. Wasn't that enough? Have you come here to do it again?”
“I came here to tell you that I love you,” he said, “that I've always loved youâ¦and to beg your forgiveness.”
Stephanie looked up at him, her eyes wide.
“I love you, Scarlett. That's why I came up with that whole crazy scheme about why we should marry. I was too afraid to tell you the truth.”
“Afraid? Of what?”
“Of getting hurt. Of you saying you didn't love me.”
“Oh, David.” Stephanie smiled through her tears. “I love you with all my heart. Butâbut that nightâthe things you said⦔
David kissed her. “Lies,” he whispered, brushing the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. “I saw you with another man and I went crazy with jealousy.”
“It was Paul. My brother.”
“I know that now.”
“He's been sick for years, David, ever since he hit his head, a long time ago. I know I should have taken you to meet him. I wanted to, but Paul hadâ”
David kissed her again. holding her closely in his arms, so that she could feel the accelerated beat of his heart.
“You don't have to explain. I know everything, Scarlett, including what a fool I was, and if you let me, I'll spend the rest of my life proving how much I adore you. Will you marry me?”
Stephanie wrapped her arms around David's neck. “Yes,” she said, her eyes shining, and David lifted her into his arms and carried her away from Willingham Corners forever.
* * *
They were married on the ranch, in Wyoming, on a gloriously warm and bright Sunday afternoon, two months later.
It would have been sooner, but it had taken time for David to arrange for Paul's admittance to a San Francisco clinic where remarkable progress was being made with injuries such as his.
“Anything you want to bet,” David said softly to his bride on the morning of their wedding, “Paul will be well enough to celebrate our first anniversary with us here, on the Bar C.”
Stephanie smiled, leaned up and kissed his cheek. She had no doubt it would happen, just the way David said. David always told the truth, and she trusted him with all her heart.
The wedding was small but perfect. All the guests said so, even Mary Russell, when she could stop weeping long enough to talk.
“You're being silly,” Jack whispered to his wife, but he was smiling when he said it, and thinking what a lucky man he was to have her.
Annie couldn't come, but Stephanie promised to send pictures.
“You'll be a beautiful bride,” Annie had promised, and everyone agreed that she was.
She wore a long, full gown of white silk with tiny silver flowers trimming the bodice, and carried a bouquet of baby's breath and tiny white and purple orchids. David wore a Western-cut tuxedo and black leather boots, and all the women sighed and said there'd never been a more handsome groom.
And when the day ended, and all the guests had left, he lifted Stephanie before him onto the saddle of his horse, just as she was, in all her bridal finery, and they rode up into the mountains, to watch the sun go down.
David turned her face up to his. “I love you, Scarlett.”
Stephanie smiled radiantly. “I love you, too, my beloved husband,” she murmured.
David kissed his bride. At long last, he was truly home.
* * * * *
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