Worth The Price (Hart's Fall, Montana) (23 page)

“Nope. Pro’lly won’t back for a while, too. Want me to tell him you stopped by?”

“No!” She regained her composure and spoke softer. “That is, there’s no need for you to do that. I just…” She let out a frustrated sigh.
Oh my God, what am I doing?
“This was a mistake, Clint. I shouldn’t have come here. Please don’t say a word to him.”

“This is your home, Miss Danika. I reckon you ain’t got a thing to be sorry about.”

She looked over at the house she had shared with Brandon for three wonderful months. “It was never my home.” The ranch hand appeared unconvinced. Sensing he would try to convince her otherwise, she waved goodbye and ran.

She wasted no time in returning to the main road, all the while blaming her excursion to the ranch on a bout of temporary insanity. She glanced at the ring on her finger as a wave of tremendous sadness and regret washed over her. So many promises for her and Brandon were made with that ring. Sooner or later she would have to take it off and face the reality that not all promises were meant to endure.

“My wife was here?” Brandon asked, trying to stay cool.

“That’s what I said. She hightailed it outta here a few minutes ago.”

“Did she swear you to secrecy, not to inform me?”

“Might have. Brain’s foggy sometimes.”

He exhaled and tried to calm the dozen or so thoughts racing through his mind. “What precisely did she say to you?”

“She was quiet. I wasn’t the one she wanted to see.” Cocking his head to the side, Clint gave him a peculiar look. “Say, Bran. Ain’t you thinking even a tiny bit this thing’s getting outta your control? Come next year, when you got yourself that baby crawling around, are you and the missus gonna keep running around seeing who can outrun the other longest. Not a lick of sense in it, if you ask me.”

“I didn’t ask you anything, now did I?” Brandon snapped.

Clint kept on grinning, unperturbed by Brandon’s outburst. Of course he wasn’t, Brandon thought in self-disgust. His foreman and all the ranch hands had become used to his temper and increasingly low tolerance for even the most innocent of mistakes. Two days ago he’d almost fired one of his workers because the young man had forgotten to return a few pieces of equipment to the tack room.

“Listen, Clint. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that,” Brandon relented. He was becoming unrecognizable to himself and didn’t want to be the type of person his workers despised. Hell, he had enough self-disgust to last a lifetime.

“Don’t worry, Bran. I don’t take what you say to heart. The rest of the guys. I ain’t gonna lie to you. They’re grumbling. Can’t tell you how much longer they’re fixing to hold out before moving on.”

Brandon managed a nod. He’d figure out a way to fix the problems with his workers. Danika, on the other hand… His shoulders tensed. Why hadn’t he left Hart’s ranch ten minutes earlier? With her on the ranch, on his turf, he might have been able to convince her to go for a ride with him on Acer, soften her up a bit and remind her of what they’d had. The memories they shared. Maybe he could even have played on her mind with guilt to show her what their child would miss out on by not living on the Bar S with both parents. At this point he wasn’t above using such underhanded tactics.

Running a hand along the beard he’d regrown in her absence, Brandon shook his head. He wasn’t thinking straight. She would see right through him. Also, he was discounting a very important factor in the possible explanation for her need to see him in person. His mind spun into frenzy. He planted his back against the wall as a wave of nausea roiled through him at the thought of Danika filing for a divorce.

He gulped in a breath. “I have to do something,” he whispered to himself. He ran a finger along his beard again, noting the scruffiness. God in Heaven, he must resemble someone who had just crawled out a cave and was viewing civilization for the first time. It was a blessing in disguise she hadn’t seen him.

“The beard or the missus?”

“Both.” He thought back to the invitation he had received two weeks ago. After tossing it onto the kitchen table, he hadn’t given it a further thought, assuming it was sent out of courtesy without anyone expecting or wanting him to show up. Plus, he had never been to a fancy party before and had no interest in doing so. Until now. Danika had a vested interest in the homeless shelter. Naturally she would be there. Yes. A party was the safest way to be close to her, where the likelihood of talks turning to divorce would be lessened, and remain that way after he’d wormed his way back into her heart.

Worth the Price

“Can you believe we pulled it off?”

Danika pivoted toward the voice. She had a virgin strawberry daiquiri in hand that she’d been nursing for the past fifteen minutes. Disappointment had already made itself a home within her in at the sound of the feminine voice, devoid of a gruff Irish lilt. Dragging her gaze away from the entryway, Danika curved her lips upward into a smile for her boss.

“It was amazing, wasn’t it?” Yesterday the Hart’s Fall Shelter had opened its doors for the first time and she was saddened but delighted to see there were a few men and women, some with small children in tow lined up at the door, seeking aid.

“I’m just happy those families have a safe place to sleep at nights.”

“Definitely.” Beth Ann paused for a moment, inspecting her. “What about you, Dani? How have you been sleeping at nights?”

Danika laughed and patted her growing stomach. “You mean now that the baby’s discovered how to do backflips?”

“No. That’s not what I meant. I stopped by Evelyn’s place last week. She told me she hadn’t seen you in a while, not since you’ve moved out of her rented room upstairs. She thought I was saddling you with too much work, that I needed to ease up on you since you’re pregnant and dealing with being single again.”

“I’m…I’m not single. I’m still married.”

“I’m sorry,” Beth Ann said. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. Evelyn assumed I knew, just in case you were wondering.”

Danika calmed her nerves. She knew her friend would never betray her trust on purpose. “It’s fine. I am still married, though. It’s just that Brandon and I have separated. We’ve been living apart for quite awhile.”

Beth Ann’s eyes drifted to her stomach. Danika knew what she was thinking. “No. The pregnancy isn’t the reason we’re estranged. My husband and I don’t see eye to eye on a number of important issues.” She lifted a shoulder and tried to appear casual. There was no use pretending her marriage could be salvaged. She glanced around the room. She hadn’t seen Brandon in almost a month and it didn’t seem to her, that he was bothered at all by their lack of contact and communication.

“I wish I had known sooner.” A flush crept up Beth Ann cheeks. “I wouldn’t have said anything to you about finding Brandon. Ah, what was the word I used?”

“Dashing,” Danika provided, her lips twitching in humor at Beth Ann’s discomfort.

“Ah, yes.” She slid an arm around Danika’s shoulder. “I was spewing out of the wrong end that day.”

Danika grinned. “It’s all right. Although dashing isn’t exactly a word I’d use to describe Brandon.”

“Which word
would
you use?”

The breath left her body within an instant. That was definitely not a feminine tone. Beth Ann’s arm left her shoulders. She watched the other woman give a brief nod to Brandon before scurrying off to the other side of the dining hall.

Squeezing her eyes shut to regain her composure and calm the frantic slamming of her heart against her ribcage, she faced the husband she hadn’t seen in weeks.

“Why are you here?” Stupid, stupid question, she admonished herself a second later.

He was standing so close to her, the scent of his aftershave and the hint of mint on his breath awoke her senses.

“I was invited.” His brows arched. “Was I wrong in coming tonight,
Cailín
?”

“Don’t call me that,” she muttered. “In fact, if you have anything to say to me at all, Brandon, soon you’ll be able to address me again as Danika Prescott.”
Take that, Mr. Can’t-Be-Bothered-To-Know-If-Your-Wife and Baby-Are-Okay
.

“That’s not possible.”

“Why isn’t it?” she snapped, infuriated by his coolness. “Is it some sort of ego trip for you to have a woman going around using your last name, to show that she once belonged to the almighty Brandon Sharpe?”

He appeared bemused. “Only if that woman is you.”

Danika rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink. “Whatever, Brandon.” She looked him up and down. Grudgingly, she had to admire how handsome he looked in the dark gray tuxedo. For a moment the word dashing almost came to mind. If she weren’t so happy and frustrated at the same time to see him, she would have laughed. “I knew there was a chance you would be here and I still came. Obviously that means I don’t plan on ruining my night by arguing with you. I hope you’ll extend the same courtesy to me. If not for me, then I’m sure you’ll think about the stress you might be putting on your
unborn child.
” She waved a hand at her stomach bulging from beneath the empire waistline of her one-shoulder pink chiffon dress. “You do remember we made a child together, don’t you?”

“How could I forget?”

“Hmm. I don’t know. I haven’t heard a single word from you in a long time. A girl might start to get ideas.”

A scarlet flush traveled up his jawline. “I thought you wanted me to stay away from you.” His leg shifted, making her wonder if his display of coolness was about to unravel. “You said you needed your time. I was giving you exactly that.”

She wanted to chastise him further, but decided against it. She
had
insisted he do just that. “In any case. I’m doing fine and the baby is healthy if it matters to you. I have to wait a few more weeks to find out the gender.”

His head jerked as he slid a hand inside his pocket. A gesture she recognized whenever he was uncomfortable. “And Pres…Your father. How is he doing after the heart attack?”

Danika stiffened. “He’s doing as well as can be expected despite the circumstances. Not sure what else you wanted or expected to hear.” She eyed him closely, watching the sudden clenching of his jaw as if he was restraining himself from saying anything nasty.

“Are you okay?” she asked, concerned by his odd behavior.

His eyes had left her, focused instead above her head and onto the dance floor. Her first thought was that he had brought a date and didn’t wish to keep her waiting.

She planned to ask just that when he peered down at her, his eyes dull “Do you want to go outside?”

She wanted to sink to the floor. Brandon wanted her to go outside so he could be with his mystery woman. Her eyes shuffled over the dancing couples, hoping to get a glimpse of the female.

“Why do you want me to leave? So you can be with whomever you brought here?”

His face brightened to a startling shade of crimson. “Not by yourself,” he said in a tone so quiet, she almost had to strain her ears to hear. “I meant, outside with me. Do you want to go outside with me? I came alone, Danika
.
I’m always alone.”

“Oh.” Now she really wanted to sink through the floor for her ridiculous and petty outburst. “Sure,” she replied casually. She refused to assign a meaning to his invitation.

He guided her through a door that led to a circular opening, which meandered into a sprawling courtyard. Vintage carriage lamps were hung from the four marble poles. Warm golden light illuminated behind the vines of ivy, lacing and embracing the poles.

“Have you been here before? How did you know this courtyard was here?”

His massive chest rose and fell on a sigh. “There’s another dining hall like this one in Billings. Same company owns it. It was a long time ago, shortly after I left Ireland. I worked there, cleaning up after parties. I figured they were designed the same.”

“Oh.”

Intense blue eyes focused in on her. “Is that all you can say to me‌—‌oh?”

She crossed a protective arm around her middle. “Why did you bring me out here, Brandon? What could you possibly have to say to me that you couldn’t say inside the hall?”