by Diana Palmer
Maxine’s chin began to wobble. “I refuse to believe that.”
“It’s the truth, Mother, and you have to face it. More than that, you have to accept it. Now if you didn’t already have osteoporosis, then maybe things would be different.”
“But what about my job?” Maxine wailed. “Worth has been so good to me, but he’ll hire someone permanently to take my place. He’ll have to, only I can’t bear that thought.”
“Mom, let’s not beat that dead horse again. Worth is not going to replace you.”
“Has he told you that?” Maxine’s tone held a bit of belligerence.
Molly hesitated. “No, he hasn’t.”
“So you don’t know what he has in mind.” Maxine’s voice broke.
“Oh, Mom, please, don’t worry. It’s going to be all right.” Molly caressed one of Maxine’s cheeks.
“He doesn’t know—” Again Maxine broke off.
“The whole story about your back,” Molly cut in. “Is that what you were about to say?”
Maxine merely nodded.
“Ah, so you told him what you wanted him to know, what you thought he wanted to hear.”
Maxine reached for a tissue out of the nearby box. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Look, Mom, it’s not as grim as you think.”
“That’s because it’s not you.” Maxine paused, then added quickly, “For which I’m grateful. I couldn’t stand it if it were you in this shape.”
“Yes, you could. You’d just come and take care of me like I’m going to do for you.”
“You can’t,” Maxine wailed again. “You have a child and a job. And your life. You can’t—”
“Shh,” Molly said softly. “Enough. I’m not going to give up my life, for pity’s sake. Just rest easy, I have a plan.”
“What?” Maxine’s tone was suspicious.
“I’ll tell you later.” Molly leaned over and kissed her mother on the cheek. “Right now, I’m going to send Trent back in here unless you want to go back to sleep.”
“Not on your life. I want to spend every moment I can with my grandson.”
“By the way, I spoke to Dr. Coleman.”
Maxine’s chin wobbled again.
“Hey, stop it. I’ll tell you about that later also. Meanwhile, keep your chin up, you hear? Everything’s going to work out.”
Maxine did her best to smile. “Send my boy back to me. I have plans that don’t include you.”
Molly smiled big, then sobered. “Don’t let him wear you out. He can, you know.”
“You let me worry about that.”
When Molly reached her room, she realized tears were running down her face. Brushing them aside, she forced a smile and opened the door. “Hey, kiddo, Granna’s waiting on you.”
Would there ever come a time when she wouldn’t react to him?
Yes, Molly told herself. As long as she didn’t see Worth, life would resume its normal course. Or would it? Almost five years had gone by and never a day passed she didn’t think of him. Residing in his house made a bad thing worse.
Right now she didn’t have a choice.
As if he realized he wasn’t alone, Worth swung around. When he saw who it was, his eyes widened, then a door seemed to slide over those eyes, blanking out his expression.
“Didn’t anyone ever tell you it was rude to sneak up on a person?”
Go to hell.
She didn’t say that, but oh, how she wanted to. To speak her mind in that manner, however, would only incite a verbal riot, and she didn’t want that. Too much was at stake. She merely wanted to talk to him in a civil manner.
“Sorry,” Molly finally said in a moderate tone.
“No, you’re not.”
She hadn’t meant to sneak up on him without warning. She just happened to walk by the door leading onto the porch and saw him there, a booted foot propped on one of the iron chairs. He seemed to have been staring into the waning sun, far in the distance, as though deep in thought.
Molly guessed she should have coughed, or done something to reveal her presence, only she hadn’t thought about it. She had just walked onto the porch and waited, seeing this as an opportunity she couldn’t pass up.
“Look, Worth, I don’t want to fight with you,” she said at last. She’d meant what she’d said, too, especially when she watched him set the empty beer bottle down on the table, making more noise than he should have, which spoke volumes about his mood.
She couldn’t let Worth see the effect he had on her. Not now. Not ever. And entering into another verbal skirmish with him would put the power in his hands, power that could end up destroying her and what she held dear. At all costs, she had to maintain her cool.
“Is that what we’re doing?”
“I don’t want to play word games with you, either.”
He jammed his hands into his pockets which pulled the fabric tighter across his privates. For a moment, her gaze lingered on the mound behind the zipper. Then realizing what she was doing, she jerked her head back up to his face, praying that he hadn’t noticed anything amiss.
If he had, he didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he continued to stare at her through those blank eyes.
“What do you want, then?”
“To take my mother’s place.”
His head bolted back at the same time he went slack-jawed. “As my housekeeper?”
“Yes,” Molly said with punch in her tone.
He pitched back his head and laughed. “Get real.”
“I’m serious, Worth,” she countered with an edge in her tone.
“So am I, and that’s not going to happen.”
“Why not?”
He smirked. “Come on, Molly, you know why not. You’re a nurse, and that’s what you need to be doing.”
“I can do both. I can take care of the house and my mother.”
“What about Trent?”
“I’ll put him in day care, and he’ll be just fine.”
“No.”
She ignored that terse rejection and went on, “My mother’s mind is her own worst enemy right now. She thinks you’re going to replace her.”
“That’s hogwash. She has a job here as long as she wants one. And I’ll tell her that.”
“I appreciate that, but I still want to take her place. I can take care of Mom, encourage her and she will see that my job as housekeeper is temporary. This way she won’t worry about someone permanently replacing her. She’ll know I’m only filling in. Not only that, but I’m good. I grew up helping her clean houses.”
Worth looked astounded. “Are you nuts? Besides, you don’t have to do that anymore.”
“I know I don’t have to. I want to.”
“Dammit, woman, you haven’t changed a bit.”
Molly raised her eyebrows. “Oh?”
“Yeah, you’re still as stubborn as a mule.”
She wanted to smile but didn’t. Instead she held her ground. “So are you.”
Worth cursed at the same time their eyes collided then held tighter than magnets.
Suddenly the oxygen in the air seemed to disappear, forcing Molly to struggle for her next breath. She could tell Worth was also affected as his face lost what little color it had left. And something else happened, too, though she couldn’t identify it.
What it hadn’t been was hostility. So had it been blatant desire? No. She’d been mistaken. He despised her and that wasn’t about to change. She didn’t want it to, either, she assured herself quickly, though the undertow of his sexy charisma was pulling on her.
Forcing her panic aside, Molly sucked in a deep breath and stared at him with an imploring expression.
“I’ll think about it,” Worth muttered on a sour note, cramming his hands further down in his pockets, which pulled his jeans even tighter across that area.
Molly averted her gaze and muttered, “Thank you.”
He laughed, but again without humor.
Feeling heat rush into her face, Mo
lly knew she should leave before insult was added to injury. She was about to do just that when his next words froze her in her tracks.
“Why did you run out on me?”
Five
She whipped back around and stared at him, feeling as though she were strangling. “What did you say?” she finally managed to asked.
“Don’t play the deaf ear thing on me.” Worth’s tone was low and rough. “It won’t work. You heard every word I said.”
“I used to admire your badass attitude,” Molly responded with fire. “In fact, I thought you were the stud of all studs because of it.”
His eyebrows shot up as though that shocked him.
“But now I know better.”
His features darkened. “Oh?”
“That attitude sucks big time.”
The look that crossed Worth’s face was chilling, and he took a step toward her, only to stop suddenly as though he were a puppet on a string and someone had jerked that string. She knew better. Worth was no one’s puppet and never had been. Then she recanted that thought. His parents apparently knew how to pull his strings and get away with it.
“You know I really don’t give a tinker’s damn what you think about me or my attitude.” Worth’s voice had grown rougher.
“Then why ask me that question?”
“Curiosity is the only thing I can figure,” he said in an acid tone, fingering an unruly strand of light hair that grazed his forehead.
Molly was suddenly tempted to reach out and push it back in place, something she had done on many occasions that long-ago summer. That sensual memory was so vivid she felt like a piece of broken glass was slicing through her heart.
“Your curiosity can go to hell. I’m not answering you.”
He smirked. “That’s because you don’t have a satisfactory explanation.”
“I have no intention of swimming through the muddy waters of the past. With your cynical judgment of me, I’d just be wasting my time anyway.”
No doubt she was on the defensive and probably sounded as cynical as he did, but she didn’t care. If she were going to survive and keep her secret from him and his parents, she had to best him at his own game, or at least match him.
Or she’d die in that muddy water.
“What’s wrong?” His eyes consumed her. “You look like something suddenly spooked you.”
Was that genuine concern she heard in his voice? Of course not. As before, her mind was playing tricks on her. He didn’t give a damn about her. He was too much into himself.
“I’m fine,” she bit out.
“Liar.”
Her head kicked back. “What do you want from me, Worth?”
“What if I said you?”
Molly shook her head, trying to recover from the effect those words spoken in that toe-curling, sexy drawl had on her.
“I wouldn’t believe you,” she finally whispered.
Those dark pools roamed over her while the blood pounded in her ears like a drum. Oh, God, this kind of craziness had to stop or she’d be like putty in his hands again and wouldn’t be good for any thing or any one. That was why she hadn’t wanted to see him again. She was too weak, too vulnerable where he was concerned. She only had to be in the same room with him and she almost went to pieces.
“You’re right, you shouldn’t believe me,” he said harshly and coldly, “because it’s not true.”
Molly sucked in her breath and tried to pretend that piece of glass hadn’t taken another chunk out of her heart.
“Maybe you’ll answer me this.”
Molly barely heard him as she was striving to hold onto her wits and dignity under his attack, knowing that she should turn around and walk away, that nothing good would ever evolve from this conversation.
Why bother? She no longer gave a damn, either.
She simply didn’t want to reconnect with that part of her life. Not only was it over and done with, it was way too painful to rehash, especially with him. What she and Worth had between them that summer was obviously dead, and to pull the past out of the dark into the daylight was futility at its highest degree.
“I have to go,” she said in a halting voice, refusing to look at him.
“Do you love him?”
Shock caused Molly to blink. “Who?”
“Your husband. That Bailey guy who fathered your child.”
Oh, dear Lord, if only she’d kept on going, hadn’t sought him out on the porch, then they wouldn’t be having this insane dialogue, making a bad situation worse.
“Yes,” she lied.
His gaze dropped to her left hand. “Are you still married? I don’t see a wedding ring.”
“We’re divorced.” She hated lying, but right now it seemed her only recourse. He was like the Energizer Bunny; he just kept on going, kept on asking questions that were, frankly, none of his business.
If she didn’t take charge, there might not be an end to his questioning. The more he knew, the more dangerous her presence became. And she was trapped. She couldn’t leave because of her mother.
So they had no alternative but to work through their animosity toward each other, so she could remain on the ranch, ideally as his housekeeper. Maybe getting it all out in the open now, once and for all, was best for both of them. Then they could move on with the day-to-day grind of their lives and be less apt to meddle in each other’s.
“I could ask you why you’re not married,” Molly blurted out of the blue, then was appalled. All she was doing was adding fuel to an already out-of-control fire. Would she ever learn to keep her mouth shut?
“Yeah, you could.”
Silence.
“So why aren’t you?” She paused. “I understand you’re still seeing Olivia. I thought she would’ve dragged you down the aisle by now.”
“Well, you thought wrong,” he declared flatly, glaring at her.
Good. She’d finally hit him where it hurt, as he’d done to her so many times. Then she felt badly. She was above playing these hurtful games. Exchanging barbs only made the situation worse.
“If I’m going to stay here and work—”
“I haven’t said you could do that yet,” Worth interrupted, narrowing his eyes on her.
“I’m not leaving, Worth. I can’t. My mother needs me.”
He shrugged. “When it comes down to it, I really don’t give a damn what you do.”
“As long as I … we stay out of your way,” she added, positive she had verbally expressed what he hadn’t.
“You got it.”
Ignoring the suppressed anger in his voice, she asked, “How about we call a truce? Do you think that’s possible?”
“Do you?” His eyes were brooding.
“I’m willing to try.”
He shrugged again, his eyes roaming over her, seeming to linger on his favorite spot—her breasts, which upped her heartbeat significantly.
“Whatever,” he said without enthusiasm.
Molly gritted her teeth, but swallowed her sharp comeback. “Good night, Worth.”
He didn’t respond.
“I hope you sleep well,” she added.
“Yeah, right,” he muttered tersely, then turned his back on her.
Feeling the cold night air close in on her, Molly went back into the warm house, only to reach her room and notice that she couldn’t seem to stop shaking.
“Hey, boss, what’s up?”
Instead of going back inside the house, Worth had made his way to the barn. He hadn’t expected to run into his foreman Art Downing, but then he shouldn’t have been surprised. Art never seemed to know when to go home. He loved his job, especially caring for and working with Worth’s stable of prime horseflesh. In fact, Worth had determined long ago that Art was more comfortable at the ranch than he was at home with his wife and kids.
Like him, maybe Art just wasn’t cut out for family life.
“I was about to ask the same thing,” Worth said.
Art lifted his massive shoulders tha
t matched the massive girth around his stomach, and grinned. “Just making sure these beauties are settled in for the night.”
All the while he talked, Art was busy rubbing one of the horse’s noses.
“They’re fine. Go on and get out of here.”
“I will as soon as I check one more thing.”
“And just what would that be?” Worth asked, glad to have something on his mind besides Molly who spelled trouble with capital letters.
“Making sure everything’s ready for tomorrow’s delivery.”
Worth had bought another stud horse last week and the targeted arrival was the following morning. “Who you kiddin’, man? You’ve had things ready since we bought him.”
“You’re right there.” Art grinned, then rubbed his belly. “I am gettin’ kind of hungry.”
“Then get your rear home. And don’t come back until it’s daylight, you hear?”
“Yes, sir.” Art tipped his hat then was gone.
Worth knew he might as well be talking to the air. His foreman would be here long before daylight, which made him more valuable to Worth than money could ever buy.
If he did as his parents wished and ran for political office, his time at the ranch would be limited. Thanks to Art, the ranch would continue to run smoothly.
After taking his own tour of the stables and rubbing all the horses and calling them by name, Worth made his way back to the house. Once there, he grabbed another beer out of the fridge, then headed to his suite. Glancing at his watch, he noticed he only had thirty minutes before he was due at Olivia’s. She didn’t like anyone to be late.
Dammit, he didn’t want to go, not to a dinner party. Hell, he’d just taken her to dinner the night before. However, he had made a commitment he couldn’t break, especially as the gathering was designed to introduce him as a possible candidate for the Texas Senate. Still, it was too formal an affair for him. He knew Olivia expected him to dress for the occasion, which meant a sports coat and slacks.
He hadn’t told her that wasn’t going to happen. He planned on showing up in jeans, a white shirt and a leather jacket. If she didn’t like it, that was her problem.
Instead of showering and changing his clothes, however, Worth plopped down on the side of the bed and guzzled half his beer. God, he was mentally tired, and he didn’t know why.