Luck Be A Lady (Destiny Bay Romances-The Ranchers Book 5) (19 page)

“Yes,” she said, curling into his arms. “I know
what you mean.” These people were, after all, just
echoing the way she’d felt until very recently. She’d
been prejudiced against Cody’s way of life just be
cause it wasn’t like hers. Now all her assumptions were
being tossed out the window. She felt free—free as a butterfly, free as a bird—ready for almost anything.

It didn’t take long for the parents to come to a de
cision. The threat of having to coach their children on
their own was probably the deciding factor, Kelly
thought cynically.

“Okay. We’ll accept the uniforms,” Glenn said
grudgingly when they came back.

“Why, how kind of you!” Kelly said with false
sweetness.

Cody pressed her arm. “That’s great,” he said. “Go
on, girls. Get dressed.”

The cheers from the girls filled the field. Kelly laughed, looking at Cody, loving him. The sun really
was
brighter, she decided. It had been since the day Cody
had come into her life.

               
***
                             
***
                     
***

How was it possible that it could get better every
time? Kelly lay back against her pillow, trying to catch
her breath. Her eyes were closed. She wasn’t sure that
anyone should be allowed to feel the sort of ecstasy she
just had and survive.

It was later that same night. Tammy and Heather were at the movies. Kelly and Cody were in Kelly’s bed.

“I can’t ever seem to get enough of you,” Cody was
muttering from where he lay at her side. “You give so
much, and yet there’s always more…”

His voice trailed off. She made a suitably respon
sive noise and sighed a deep, heartfelt sigh.

“Do you like it?” he asked her suddenly.

Her eyes flew open in shock at his question.
“What?” she asked suspiciously, squinting to look at
him.

“The way we are together.”

She chortled with a choking laugh and closed her
eyes again. “Of course. Can’t you tell?”

His hand felt cool on the overheated skin of her
stomach. “Is it as good... as it used to be?”

His tone chilled her. She kept her eyes closed. She knew what he meant. He deserved to know the truth, yet she didn’t want to talk about it. The past still hurt.

“You mean with my husband?” she said bluntly.

“That’s what I mean.”

Kelly opened her eyes and turned to look him in the
face. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll tell you how it used
to be with Tim, and then you can tell me how I compare with every woman you’ve ever slept with.”

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward him.
“Don’t be an idiot,” he growled, his face hard with
anger. “Those other women mean nothing to me. But
you were married to Tim.”

Her own anger faded as she searched his face. Did
he really mean that? Was she any different from the
others?

“Cody,” she said, dropping her gaze. “It was never
good with Tim.”

The silence between them was deafening. “What do
you mean?” he asked at last.

“I think in his own way, he loved me. But he didn’t know how to show it. His every waking moment was consumed with his career, his fame, and how to get more of it. He hardly noticed when Tammy was born.”
She looked at him. “You’ve been better with Tammy
than he ever was, in just the short time you’ve known
her.”

Cody shook his head slowly. "I’ve had this image in my mind,” he said slowly. “From the first. I thought
you and Tim were the perfect couple. That your life
was just the way a life ought to be.”

That I could never
compare to that
, he added to himself.

Her smile was bittersweet. “It was an existence, not a life.”
It was living together, not loving
, she wanted to add, but didn’t dare.
Not loving like what I feel for
you.

His fingers tightened on her wrist. “When he died—“

“I was horrified, sad that such a vital life had to
end,” she interrupted quickly. “But for myself, I couldn’t really mourn.”

Cody pulled her to him and kissed her long and
hard. There was a feeling growing inside that scared
the hell out of him. He didn’t want to face what it was.
He only knew it involved Kelly, and that for the mo
ment, he couldn’t foresee any circumstances under
which he could ever let her go again.

***
                 
***
                   
***
           
****

“Well, it’s too bad that those people had to act that way,” Sadie said a couple of days later at work, when Kelly told her about what had happened with the uniforms. “But I’ve got to tell you, honey, they were right about one thing. Gamblers are the scum of the earth.”

“Oh, Sadie!”

“They might have been reacting from fear and ignorance, but honey, I can speak from a wealth of ex
perience. Stay away from gamblers.”

Kelly rose slowly from where she’d been filling out
an inventory sheet, and walked over to the counter
where Sadie was writing checks to cover the month’s
supplies. She stopped, leaned down right in front of her boss and said, “All right, Sadie. Spill the beans.”

Sadie’s pale blue eyes blinked at her in surprise.

“Let’s have it,” Kelly demanded with mock stern
ness. “In every gory detail. Tell me about what happened between you and Monty Cross.”

Sadie’s gaze wavered. “Why, what makes you
think—?”

Kelly shook her head firmly. “Don’t try to weasel
your way out,” she warned. Reaching out, she
touched her friend affectionately on the shoulder.
“Come on, Sadie. Whenever his name comes up, you turn thirty shades of red. And when he was in here the
other day, he did the same.”

Sadie’s eyes flashed. “Oh he did, did he?” she
snapped. “I’d have to see it to believe it.”

Kelly leaned forward on her elbows. “Believe it,” she said dryly. “But for now, just tell me what hap
pened.”

Sadie put down her pen and began to stack her pa
pers silently. Kelly watched her for a moment, not sure
if she’d offended her. But once the papers were neatly assembled, Sadie stared out the window at the palm trees blowing in the wind and began to tell her story.

“You know that I used to dance in the chorus in the
dinner shows. My last and best job was at the Marquis. Monty Cross was the boss, owner, head gambler, everything.” She shook her head and her face
began to relax as she let herself remember. “We were
all in love with him,” she said softly. “You should
have seen him. Dark hair, flashing eyes. And when he
smiled...” Sadie sighed, rolling her eyes.

“He would come down and watch us rehearse every
day, sitting back at a table and throwing out com
ments. Jokes.” She shook her head. “I was crazy
about him, and in my insanity I thought most of the
comments and jokes were directed at me. I thought he was looking at me most of the time, and I would say things back, stop by his table and flirt.” She shrugged.
“He seemed to like it.”

“Of course he did.”

“Oh sure.” She winced at the memories. “But he
didn’t ask me out. They said he was shy. They said he
didn’t want to date girls in his own show. And all the
while I yearned for him.” She sighed. “And usually
being of a practical state of mind, I decided to do
something about it. I wrote him a letter. A love letter.”

Kelly drew in a sharp breath, and then she waited, afraid of what was coming next. Sadie was braver than she could have
been.

“I snuck up to his room. I was going to knock on his door and hand it to him personally, but I lost my
nerve at the last moment. So I slipped it under the
 
door, hoping he would read it later that evening when he was all alone, and I started to run away. But before
I got halfway down the hall, the door opened. And
there was Delilah—“ even after all these years, Sa
die’s rage at the woman was obvious “—the star of
our show, in a dressing gown. A dressing gown, right there in the middle of the afternoon, in his room! She
said, ‘Oh, Sadie, is this letter from you?’ and picked
it up. ‘Hey, Monty,’ I heard her call into the room.
‘Guess what? Sadie’s written you a letter.’” Sadie
closed her eyes. “I ran like hell, grabbed my things and never went back. But to this day, sometimes when I get
really run down, I’ll dream about them reading the
letter together on his bed, and laughing their heads off. And I want to die all over again.” She tossed her head.
“So now you know. Satisfied?”

Kelly shook her head. “No. That was years ago.
What’s happened since then?”

“Nothing.” Sadie took up her pen and opened the
checkbook. “Not a darn thing. I got out of show
business, started this nursery and I’ve been perfectly
happy. Which I will continue to be if only Monty will
leave me alone.”

“But he wants to see you. He was crazy to see you the other night when you were hiding in the storage
room.”

“Oh sure! It took him twenty-five years to decide to find me. Big deal! Now that he needs advice on his
orchids.”

“But Sadie—“

“No more about it. I told you what you want to
know. Now you do me a favor and forget you ever
heard his name.”

“Sadie.” Kelly sighed and rose from the counter.
“All right. For now, anyway.”

Sadie sniffed. “And do yourself a favor and go get
married to that nice Glenn Waxman.”

“Nope.” Kelly shook her head firmly.

Sadie stared at her. “What do you mean, ‘nope’?”

A dreamy smile drifted over Kelly’s face. “Cody has
invited me to a big private party at the Marquis to
morrow night.”

Sadie groaned. “That gambler? Don’t be nuts, girl.
Drop him like a hot potato.”

Kelly’s smile kept growing. “Too late,” she said
softly.

“Oh, brother.”

Kelly hesitated. “My only problem now is what to wear,” she said as she started back to finish her task. “I told you how dowdy I felt the last time I was at the
casino. I want to look right this time. What do you
think? I don’t have anything really fancy that fits right
now—“

“You may not,” Sadie broke in. “But I do.”

“What? You?”

“Sure. I’ve got a closet full of costumes from my dancing days. They would have been out of fashion
five years ago, but today they look like the latest thing.
You come over tomorrow afternoon and I’ll fix you
up.”

Kelly smiled at her, bemused. “But you don’t even
want me to go out with Cody.”

Sadie waved that away. “Of course I don’t. But if you’re going to be stupid, you might as well do it in style. Come over and we’ll do a complete makeover,
okay? A new you, just for the party.”

A new her. It was what she needed. “That would be
wonderful.”

Kelly wished she could get Sadie to the party as well.
If only she and Monty could be thrown together somehow. But Sadie was adamantly against it. For now, she’d let that idea slide.

She turned her mind back to Cody and the casino party. She’d decided to go the moment he’d told her about it. He’d spent so much time in her world, tried
so hard to make it work. She owed him an attempt to understand his world now. And that was exactly what
she was planning to do.

Chapter Nine

Cody stood back and watched Kelly for a moment as
she mingled with the people around the roulette wheel.
He had to look twice to make sure it was really her.

She was gorgeous. Stunning. When he’d gone to Sadie’s to pick her up, she’d bowled him over. He’d
been surprised, intrigued, proud. She’d beamed at the
way he’d stammered over her. Her own mother couldn’t have recognized her.

The dress she wore was form-fitting, strapless, an
kle-length, sequined velvet with a dropped waist and
a satin sash. Her hair was piled in elaborate coils about
her head, leaving long, wispy curls to frame her face. And who would have guessed a high-fashion model
lurked beneath those freckles and that turned-up
nose? The makeup brought out her high cheekbones,
the drama of her large eyes, the dignity in the set of her
head. She was like a different woman.

As he watched, Monty came up and said some
thing to her. Kelly’s head went back and she laughed. Every man in the place looked at her admiringly.

She seemed to outshine every other woman in the room
, Cody mused. And the women here were some of
the best money could buy.