Denim and Diamonds (5 page)

“I've heard it's a nice place,” Letty said mildly.

Lonny did not consider that worthy of comment, and Letty couldn't help smiling.

His bathwater was running when he returned several minutes later, his shirt unbuttoned. “What about you, Letty?”

“What do you mean?” she asked absently, lifting the laundry basket onto the table. The fresh, clean scent of sun-dried towels made the extra effort of hanging them on the line worth it.

“What are you doing tonight?”

“Nothing much.” She planned to do what she did every Saturday night. Watch a little television, polish her nails and read.

Her brother pulled out a chair, turned it around and straddled it. “From the minute you got home, you've been talking about marrying me off. That's the reason you invited that Brandon woman over for dinner. You admitted it yourself.”

“A mistake that won't be repeated,” she assured him, fluffing a thick towel.

“But you said I need a woman.”

“A
wife,
Lonny. There's a difference.”

“I've been thinking about what you said, and you might be right. But what about you?”

Letty found the task of folding bath towels vitally important. “I don't understand.”

“When are you going to get married?”

Never,
her mind flashed spontaneously.

“Letty?”

She shrugged, preferring to avoid the issue and knowing it was impossible. “Someday…maybe.”

“You're not getting any younger.”

Letty supposed she had that coming. Lonny's words were an echo of her own earlier ones to him. Now she was paying the penalty for her miserable attempt at matchmaking. However, giving Lonny a few pat answers wasn't going to work, anymore than it had worked with her. “Frankly, I'm not sure I'll ever marry,” she murmured, keeping her gaze lowered.

“Did…Cricket's father hurt you that much?”

Purposely she glanced behind her and asked stiffly, “Isn't your bathwater going to run over?”

“I doubt it. Answer me, Letty.”

“I have no intention of discussing what happened with Jason. It's in the past and best forgotten.”

Lonny was silent for a moment. “You're so different now. I'm your brother—I care about you—and it bothers me to see you like this. No man is worth this kind of pain.”

“Lonny, please.” She held the towels against her stomach. “If I'm different it isn't because of what happened between me and Jason. It's…other things.”

“What other things?” Lonny asked, his eyes filled with concern.

That was one question Letty couldn't answer. At least not yet. So she sidestepped it. “Jason taught me an extremely valuable lesson. Oh, it was painful at the time, don't misunderstand me, but he gave me Cricket, and she's my joy. I can only be grateful to Jason for my daughter.”

“But don't you hate him for the way he deceived you and then deserted you?”

“No,” she admitted reluctantly, uncertain her brother would understand. “Not anymore. What possible good would that do?”

Apparently absorbed in thought, Lonny rubbed his hand along the back of his neck. Finally he said, “I don't know; I suppose I want him to suffer for what he put you through. Some guy I've never even seen got you pregnant and walked away from you when you needed him most. It disgusts me to see him get off scot-free after the way he treated you.”

Unexpected tears pooled in Letty's eyes at the protectiveness she saw in her brother. She blinked them away, and when she could speak evenly again, she murmured, “If there's anything I learned in all those years away from home, it's that there's an order to life. Eventually everything rights itself. I don't need revenge, because sooner or later, as the old adage says, what goes around comes around.”

“How can you be so calm about it, though?”

“Take your bath, Lonny,” she said with a quick laugh. She shoved a freshly folded towel at him. “You're driving me crazy. And you say
Cricket
asks a lot of questions.”

Chase arrived a couple of hours later, stepping gingerly into the kitchen. He completely avoided looking at or speaking to Letty, who was busy preparing her and Cricket's dinner. He walked past Letty but was waylaid by Cricket, who was coloring in her book at the dining room table.

Chase seemed somewhat short with the child, Letty noted, but Cricket had a minimum of ten important questions Chase needed to answer regarding Firepower. The five-year-old didn't seem to mind that Chase was a little abrupt. Apparently her hero could do no wrong.

Soon enough Lonny appeared. He opened a can of beer, and Letty listened to her brother relate his hair-raising encounter with “the Fuller woman” at the stop sign in town as if he were lucky to have escaped with his life.

The two men were in the living room while Letty stayed in the kitchen. Chase obviously wanted to keep his distance, and that was just as well. He'd gone out of his way to irritate her lately, and she'd tolerated about all she could. Doing battle with Chase now would only deplete her energy. She'd tried to square things with him once, and he'd made his feelings abundantly clear. For now, Letty could do nothing but accept the situation.

“Where do you think we should eat?” Lonny asked, coming into the kitchen to deposit his empty beer can.

“Billy's Steak House?” Chase called out from the living room. “I'm in the mood for a thick sirloin.”

Letty remembered that Chase had always liked his meat rare.

“How about going to the tavern afterward?” Lonny suggested. “Let's see if there's any action to be had.”

Letty didn't hear the response, but whatever it was caused the two men to laugh like a couple of rambunctious teenagers. Amused, Letty smiled faintly and placed the cookie sheet with frozen fish sticks in the oven.

It wasn't until later, while Letty was clearing away the dinner dishes, that the impact of their conversation really hit her. The “action” they were looking for at the Roundup Tavern involved women….Although she wouldn't admit it to Lonny—and he'd never admit it himself—she suspected he might be hoping Joy Fuller would show up.

But Chase—what woman was
he
looking for? Would anyone do, so long as she wasn't Letty? Would their encounter go beyond a few dances and a few drinks?

Her lips pursed, Letty marched into the living room and threw herself down on the overstuffed chair. Cricket was playing with her dolls on the carpet and Letty pushed the buttons on the remote control with a vengeance. Unable to watch the sitcom she usually enjoyed, she turned off the set and placed a hand over her face. Closing her eyes was a mistake.

Instantly she imagined Chase in the arms of a beautiful woman, a sexy one, moving suggestively against him.

“Oh, no,” Letty cried, bolting upright.

“Mommy?”

Letty's pulse started to roar in her ears, drowning out reason. She looked at Cricket, playing so contentedly, and announced curtly, “It's time for bed.”

“Already?”

“Yes….Remember, we have church in the morning,” she said.

“Will Chase be there?”

“I…I don't know.” If he was, she'd…she'd ignore him, the way he'd ignored her.

Several hours later, Cricket was in bed asleep and Letty lay in her own bed, staring sightlessly into the dark. Her fury, irrational though it might be, multiplied with every passing minute. When she could stand it no longer, Letty hurried down the stairs and sat in the living room without turning on any lights.

She wasn't there long before she heard a vehicle coming up the drive. The back door opened and the two men stumbled into the house.

“Shhhh,” she heard Chase whisper loudly, “you'll wake Letty.”

“God forbid.” Lonny's slurred words were followed by a husky laugh.

“You needn't worry, I'm already awake,” Letty said righteously as she stood in the doorway from the dining room into the kitchen. She flipped on the light and took one look at her brother, who was leaning heavily against Chase, one arm draped across his neighbor's neck, and snapped, “You're drunk.”

Lonny stabbed a finger in her direction. “Nothing gets past you, does it?”

“I'll get him upstairs for you,” Chase said, half dragging Lonny across the kitchen.

Lonny's mood was jovial and he attempted to sing some ditty off-key, the words barely recognizable. Chase shushed him a second time, reminding him that Cricket was asleep even if Letty wasn't, but his warning went unheeded.

Letty led the way, trudging up the stairs, arms folded. She threw open Lonny's bedroom door and turned on the light.

Once inside, Lonny stumbled and fell across the bed, glaring up at the ceiling. Letty moved into the room and, with some effort, removed his boots.

Chase got a quilt from the closet and unfolded it across his friend. “He'll probably sleep for the rest of the night.”

“I'm sure he will,” Letty said tightly. She left Lonny's bedroom and hurried down the stairs. She was pacing the kitchen when Chase joined her.

“What's the matter with you?” he asked, frowning.

“How dare you bring my brother home in that condition!” she demanded, turning on him.

“You wanted me to leave him in town? Drunk?”

If he'd revealed the slightest amount of guilt or contrition, Letty might have been able to let him go without another word. But he stood in front of her, and all she could see was the imagined woman in that bar. The one he'd danced with…and kissed and—

Fury surged up inside her, blocking out sanity. All week he'd been baiting her, wanting to hurt her for the pain she'd caused him. Tonight he'd succeeded.

“I hate you,” she sobbed, lunging at him.

He grabbed her wrists and held them at her sides. “Letty, what's gotten into you?”

She squirmed and twisted in his arms, frantically trying to free herself, but she was trapped.

“Letty?”

She looked up at him, her face streaked with tears she didn't care to explain, her shoulders heaving with emotion.

“You're angry because Lonny's drunk?” he whispered.

“No,” she cried, struggling again. “You went to that bar. You think I don't know what you did, but—”

“
What
are you talking about?”

“You went to the Roundup to…to pick up some woman!”

Chase frowned, then shook his head. “Letty, no!”

“Don't lie to me…don't!”

“Oh, Letty,” he murmured. Then he leaned down to settle his mouth over hers.

The last thing Letty wanted at that moment was his touch or his kiss. She meant to brace her hands against his chest and use her strength to push him away. Instead, her hands inched upward until she was clasping his shoulders. The anger that had consumed her seconds before was dissolving in a firestorm of desire, bringing to life a part of her that had lain dormant from the moment she'd left Chase Brown's arms nine years before.

Chase kissed her again and again while his hands roved up and down the curve of her spine as though he couldn't get enough of her.

His touch began to soothe the pain and disappointment that had come into her life in their long years apart. She was completely vulnerable to him in that moment. She
wanted
him.

And Chase wanted her.

“Letty…”

Whatever he'd intended to say was lost when his mouth covered hers with a hungry groan. Letty's lips parted in eager response.

She'd been back in Red Springs for several weeks, but she wasn't truly home until Chase had taken her in his arms and kissed her. Now that she was with him, a peace settled over her. Whatever lay before her, life or death, she was ready, suffused with the serenity his embrace offered. Returning to this small town and the Bar E were only a tiny part of what made it so important to come home for her surgery. Her love for Chase had been the real draw; it was what had pulled her back, and for the first time she was willing to acknowledge it.

Letty burrowed her fingers into his hair, her eyes shut, her head thrown back. Neither she nor Chase spoke. They held on to each other as though they were afraid to let go.

A sigh eased from Letty as Chase lifted his head and tenderly kissed her lips. He brought her even closer and deepened his probing kiss until Letty was sure her knees were about to buckle. Then his mouth abandoned hers to explore the hollow of her throat.

Tears welled in her eyes, then ran unheeded down her cheeks. Chase pressed endless kisses over her face until she forgot everything but the love she'd stored in her heart for him.

When she was certain nothing could bring her any more pleasure than his kiss, he lowered his hand to her breast—

“Mommy!”

Cricket's voice, coming from the top of the stairs, penetrated the fog of Letty's desire. Chase apparently hadn't heard her, and Letty had to murmur a protest and gently push him aside.

“Yes, darling, what's wrong?” Her voice sounded weak even to her own ears as she responded to her daughter.

Chase stumbled back and raised a hand to his face, as if he'd been suddenly awakened from a dream. Letty longed to go to him, but she couldn't.

“Uncle Lonny keeps singing and he woke me up!” Cricket cried.

“I'll be right there.” Letty prayed Chase understood that she couldn't ignore her daughter.

“Mommy!” Cricket called more loudly. “Please hurry. Uncle Lonny sings terrible!”

“Just a minute.” She retied her robe, her hands shaking. “Chase—”

“This isn't the time to do any talking,” he said gruffly.

“But there's so much we need to discuss.” She whisked the curls away from her face. “Don't you think so?”

“Not now.”

“But—”

“Go take care of Cricket,” he said and turned away.

Letty's heart was heavy as she started for the stairs. A dim light illuminated the top where Cricket was standing, fingers plugging her ears.

In the background, Letty heard her brother's drunken rendition of “Puff, the Magic Dragon.” Another noise blended with the first as Chase opened the kitchen door and walked out of the house.

The next morning, Letty moved around downstairs as quietly as possible in an effort not to wake her brother. From everything she'd seen of him the night before, Lonny was going to have one heck of a hangover.

The coffee was perking merrily in the kitchen as Letty brushed Cricket's long hair while the child stood patiently in the bathroom.

“Was Uncle Lonny sick last night?” Cricket asked.

“I don't think so.” Letty couldn't remember hearing him get out of bed during the night.

“He sounded sick when he was singing.”

“I suppose he did at that,” Letty murmured. “Or sickly, anyway.” She finished tying the bright red ribbons in Cricket's hair and returned to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. To her astonishment, Lonny was sitting at the table, neatly dressed in a suit and tie.

“Lonny!”

“Morning,” he greeted her.

Although his eyes were somewhat bloodshot, Lonny didn't look bad. In fact, he acted as though he'd gone sedately to bed at nine or ten o'clock.

Letty eyed him warily, unsure what to make of him. Only a few hours earlier he'd been decidedly drunk—but maybe not as drunk as she'd assumed. And Chase hadn't seemed inebriated at all.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, studying him carefully.

“Wonderful.”

Obviously his escapades of the night before hadn't done him any harm. Unexpectedly he stood, then reached for his Bible, wiping the dust off the leather binding.

“Well, are you two coming to church with me or not?” he asked.

Letty was so shocked it took her a moment to respond. “Yes,…of course.”

It wasn't until they'd pulled into the church parking lot that Letty understood her brother's newly formed desire for religion. He was attending the morning service not because of any real longing to worship. He'd come hoping to see Joy Fuller again. The thought surprised Letty as much as it pleased her. Red Springs' second-grade teacher had managed to reignite her brother's interest. That made Letty smile. From the little Letty knew of the church organist, Joy would never fit Lonny's definition of the dutiful wife.

The congregation had begun to file through the wide doors. “I want to sit near the front,” Lonny told Letty, looking around.

“If you don't mind, I'd prefer to sit near the back,” Letty said. “In case Cricket gets restless.”

“She'll be good today, won't you, cupcake?”

The child nodded, clearly eager for her uncle's approval. Lonny took her small hand in his and, disregarding Letty's wishes, marched up the center aisle.

Groaning inwardly, Letty followed her brother. At least his choice of seats gave Letty the opportunity to scan the church for any sign of Chase. Her quick survey told her he'd decided against attending services this morning, which was a relief.

Letty had been dreading their next encounter, yet at the same time she was eager to talk to him again. She felt both frightened and excited by their rekindled desire for each other. But he'd left her so brusquely the night before that she wasn't sure what to expect. So much would depend on his reaction to her. Then she'd know what he was feeling—if he regretted kissing her or if he felt the same excitement she did.

Organ music resounded through the church, and once they were settled in their pew, Letty picked up a hymnal. Lonny sang in his loudest voice, staring intently at Joy as she played the organ. Letty resisted the urge to remind him that his behavior bordered on rude.

When Joy faltered over a couple of notes, Lonny smiled with smug satisfaction. Letty moaned inwardly. So
this
was her brother's game!

“Mommy,” Cricket whispered, standing backward on the pew and looking at the crowd. “Chase is here.”

Letty's grip on the hymnal tightened. “That's nice, sweetheart.”

“Can I go sit with him?”

“Not now.”

“Later?”

“No.”

“How come?”

“Cricket,” Letty pleaded. “Sit down and be quiet.”

“But I like Chase and I want to sit with him.”

“Maybe next week,” she said in a low voice.

“Can I ask him after the pastor's done talking at everybody?”

Letty nodded, willing to agree to just about anything by then. The next time her brother insisted on sitting in the front pew, he would do so alone.

No worship service had ever seemed to take longer. Cricket fidgeted during the entire hour, eager to run and talk to Chase. Lonny wasn't much better. He continued to stare at Joy and did everything but make faces at her to distract the poor woman. Before the service was half over, Letty felt like giving him a good, hard shake. Even as a young girl, she'd never seen her older brother behave more childishly. The only reason he'd come to church was to make poor Joy as uncomfortable as he possibly could.

By the time Letty was outside the church, Cricket had already found Chase. From his stiff posture, Letty knew he'd planned on escaping without talking to her, and the last thing he'd wanted was to be confronted by Cricket. Letty's heart swelled with fresh pain. So this was how he felt.

He regretted everything.

Letty hastened to her daughter's side and took her small hand. “Uncle Lonny's waiting for us at the truck,” she said, her eyes skirting Chase.

“But I haven't asked Chase if I can sit with him next week.”

“I'm sure he has other friends he'd prefer to sit with,” Letty answered, hiding her impatience.

“I can answer for myself.” Chase's voice was clipped and unfriendly. “As it happens, Cricket, I think your mother's right. It would be best if you sat with her in church.”

“Can't you sit in the same row as us?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Chase didn't say anything for an awkward moment, but when he did, he looked past Letty. “Because I'd rather not.”

“Okay,” Cricket said, apparently accepting that without a problem.

“It's time to go,” Letty said tersely. Only a few hours earlier, Chase had held her in his arms, kissed her and loved her with a gentleness that had fired her senses back to life. And in the light of a new day, he'd told her as plainly as if he'd shouted it from the church steps that it had all been a mistake, that nothing had changed and he didn't want anything to do with her.

After all the hurt she'd suffered in California, Letty thought she was immune to this kind of pain. In the span of a few minutes, Chase had taught her otherwise.

Cricket raced ahead of Letty to Lonny's truck and climbed inside. For his part, her brother seemed to be taking his time about getting back to the ranch. He talked to a couple of men, then finally joined Cricket and Letty.

“We're ready anytime you are,” Letty said from inside the truck.

“In a minute,” he returned absently, glancing around before he got in.

Letty realized Lonny was waiting for Joy to make an appearance. The parking lot was nearly deserted now. There were only three other cars left, and Lonny had parked next to one of them, a PT Cruiser. Letty had no trouble figuring out that it belonged to Joy.

Lonny was sitting in the truck with the window down, his elbow resting on the frame, apparently content to laze away in the sunshine while he waited.

“Lonny?” Letty pressed. “Can we please go?” After the way he'd behaved in church, Letty had every intention of having a serious discussion with her brother, but she preferred to do it when Cricket wasn't around to listen. She'd also prefer not to witness another embarrassing skirmish between him and Joy Fuller.

“It'll only be another minute.”

He was right; the church door opened and Joy came out. She hesitated when she saw Lonny's pickup beside her car.

“What are you going to say to her?” Letty whispered angrily.

“Oh, nothing much,” Lonny murmured back, clearly distracted. When Joy approached her car, Lonny got out of the pickup and leaned indolently against the side, bracing one foot on the fender.

“I wouldn't do that if I were you,” Joy said scathingly.

She was nearly as tall as Lonny, her dark hair styled so it fell in waves around her face. Her cheeks were a rosy hue, and Letty couldn't help wondering if confronting Lonny again was why they were so flushed.

“Do what?” Lonny demanded.

“Put your foot on that truck. You might damage your priceless antique.”

“I'll have you know this truck isn't even ten years old!”

Joy feigned shock, opening her eyes wide while she held her hand against her chest. “Is that so? I could've sworn you claimed otherwise only yesterday. But, then, it seems you have a problem keeping your facts straight.”

“You were impossible to talk to yesterday, and I can see today isn't going to be any better.”

“Impossible?” Joy echoed. “Me?
You
were the one jumping up and down and acting like an idiot.”

“Me?” Lonny tilted back his head and forced a loud laugh. “That's a good one.”

Joy ignored him and continued to her car.

Lonny dropped his foot and yanked open the truck door. “I thought we might be able to settle our differences, but you're being completely unreasonable.”

“Perhaps I am, but at least I don't throw temper tantrums in the middle of the street.”

“Yeah, but
I
know how to drive.”

“Based on
what?
Taking that…that unsafe rattletrap on a public road should be an indictable offense!”

“Rattletrap?
Unsafe?
” Lonny slapped his hat against his thigh. “Just who do you think you are, talking to me like that?”

“If you don't like the way I talk, Mr. Rodeo Star, then stay away from me.”

“It'll be my pleasure.”

Suddenly, Lonny couldn't seem to get out of the parking lot fast enough. He gripped the steering wheel as if he were driving in the Indy 500.

“Lonny,” Letty ordered, “slow down.”

When he reached the end of the street, he drove off as if the very fires of hell were licking at his heels.

“Lonny!” Letty cried a second time. If he continued to drive in this manner, she'd walk home. “You're driving like a maniac. Stop the truck this minute!”

“Didn't I tell you that woman's a living, breathing menace?” he snapped, but he reduced his speed. To his credit, he looked surprised by how fast he'd been traveling. “I swear she drives me over the edge.”

“Then do as she says and stay away from her,” Letty advised, shaking her head in wonder. But she doubted he would.

He ignored her comment. “Did you see the way she laid into me?”

“Lonny, you provoked her.”