The Cowboy and the Princess

by Myrna Mackenzie

  Suddenly he wanted her to himself. “Talk will have to wait for later. Do you dance?” Owen asked Delfyne suddenly.

  She blinked.

  “Yeah, that was probably a stupid question,” Owen agreed. “You dance, of course. Maybe a better question is, would you dance with me now?” He gestured toward a small dance floor at the opposite side of the room.

  “I—I love to dance,” she stammered, “but there’s no music.”

  Owen didn’t care. He didn’t want to wait any longer. His simple plan to take Delfyne out had backfired, and now there were hurt feelings and a room full of curious onlookers. Nate was closing in, and Owen finally saw Nancy sitting at the bar. Even though she was here with a cowboy Owen didn’t know, she had a look in her eye that could mean only one thing. Any minute now, she would swoop in and when she did…well, Nancy liked to ask a lot of questions. As a woman who had been lied to a lot by her ex-husband, she prided herself on being able to sense when a person was lying. Why take chances about her discovering “the rest of the story” about Delfyne?

  Besides, he wasn’t in the mood for any more explanations, and he had learned long ago that Nancy demanded a lot more of those close to her than he felt comfortable providing. She was a friend. At one time she had been more than a friend, but she didn’t believe in boundaries or privacy or closed doors and he had far too many closed doors to please her. That hadn’t stopped her from trying to pick the lock to his most private thoughts. Delfyne, with her open ways and sudden need to spill her guts for fear of hurting someone’s feelings, would be a prime target for Nancy’s inquisitiveness.

  Moreover, he just plain old didn’t want to fend off any more men ogling Delfyne and he didn’t want to have to go through the motions of calling her his “guest” again. Truth to tell, he was beginning to dislike the word guest almost as much as he disliked the word maid.

  “Jukebox,” he explained. He took Delfyne’s hand and started leading her toward the dance floor. He tossed Angus some change. “Play something slow,” he said.

  Not because he wanted to hold Delfyne in his arms, he told himself, but because he was pretty sure she wouldn’t know any country steps, and country was pretty much all that the Hall had.

  The waltzlike tune Angus picked wasn’t exactly what Owen had in mind, but it made it easy to swirl Delfyne into the dance and into his arms. Just as he predicted, she was an accomplished dancer. A ballerina. A complete and true princess, born to the role.

  And he was a liar of a man who was pretending she was simply his guest while wishing he could pull her closer. He was dancing with her in front of a whole crowd who knew darn well he was a man who no longer believed in tomorrow or forever. And Delfyne was a woman whose tomorrows were already claimed.

  This dance had just been an impulse, an escape, but as he looked down into her eyes, her expression grew soft and warm.

  “Your friends are really concerned for you,” she said. “They look out for you. That says something good about you.”

  “They just want to meet you.”

  “Well, that’s okay. A new face is always interesting, but this interest in how you and I are matched up is more than you think. I heard some people whispering. They said that they didn’t want you to get mixed up with an interloper and outsider again. It was clear that they thought you’d been treated unfairly.”

  He shook his head. “They’re just speculating. They don’t know the whole truth about what went on with Faye. I do.”

  He pulled her closer and felt her nod. “Well, you may be right,” she said. “Things aren’t always as they seem to the outside world, are they?”

  How very right she was. Right now everyone saw her as a stranger who had some peculiar habits. They saw her as another woman who could bewitch him again and leave him raw and wounded when she finally left. As she would.

  But they didn’t know the half of it. And maybe neither did he.

  Delfyne didn’t know whether to be amused or alarmed at the way she felt both comfortable and yet excited at the feel of Owen’s arms around her. She finally settled on alarm. It would be wrong and stupid for her to get used to having Owen’s arms around her, to start longing for his touch. But she knew he had his reasons for keeping her on the dance floor, so when the song ended, she held out her hand.

  “May I choose the next one?”

  He gave her some coins with a smile that turned his eyes sexy and warm. “The music is mostly country.”

  “But good music is good music.”

  She motioned for him to follow her to the jukebox, but his presence behind her was disarming. His warmth was so close, the scent of him made her dizzy and when he spoke, he bent toward her, his lips just a whisper away from her ear, his body almost enfolding her.

  Faintness threatened.

  “Do you need help?” he asked her.

  Oh yes, she definitely needed help. But if she asked for it, he might come closer still. She might make a total fool of herself in front of this whole crowd. Without looking, she pressed some buttons. Within seconds, loud, fast music flowed from the machine.

  Delfyne didn’t know the tune, but it had a driving rhythm. “Come on. I like this,” she said, pulling Owen to the dance floor and starting to move to the music.

  To her consternation, he didn’t budge an inch.

  “Owen?”

  “I’m not really much of a dancer, at least not freestyle,” he told her.

  “Well then, we don’t have to dance freestyle. You show me what to do Montana-style. Or we can just pretend this is a waltz and dance really fast. We can turn it into a polka or a jitterbug or even a rhumba.” She laughed and grabbed his hand, twirling and curtsying.

  He grinned and shook his head and swept her into a dance that was a combination of various styles. A few people laughed but some joined them on the dance floor and tried to imitate their moves.

  When the song was over and everyone was breathing hard, Delfyne smiled up at Owen. “Excuse me,” a feminine voice said. Delfyne looked over her shoulder to see the woman whose slightly angry and unhappy eyes told Delfyne that she must be Nancy. She had a man who looked to be in his mid-twenties in tow.

  “Sorry for interrupting,” the woman said, even though she didn’t sound sorry at all. “I would have waited until Owen brought you over, but I could see he wasn’t going to do that. Don’t deny it,” Nancy said to Owen.

  He shook his head. “I wasn’t going to. You were occupied and so was I. Delfyne, this is Nancy, a friend. Delfyne is—”

  “I know. A house guest. You know her brother. She likes to play pretend, especially the maid game, and every man in this room is drooling over her. Do I have that right?”

  “Just about,” Owen conceded with a smile.

  “Well, he could have introduced us earlier. I don’t bite,” Nancy told Delfyne.

  Delfyne couldn’t help liking the woman’s frank ways even though Nancy had been looking daggers at her a minute ago. Not a surprise. Every time Nancy looked at Owen, longing filled her eyes.

  “You know I’m not one to make announcements,” Owen chided gently. “I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.”

  The air seemed to go out of Nancy. “I know.” She sighed. “And you didn’t hurt my feelings exactly. I just like to be the center of attention. You know that. But, Delfyne,” she said, turning away from Owen and toward Delfyne. “I have to warn you. Be careful with this man. He’s unfailingly honest and frank. If he tells you something is so, believe him. That was the problem with Owen and me. I told him I wasn’t interested in long-term relationships. He said he wasn’t interested in long-term relationships. But only one of us meant it.”

  Owen shifted uncomfortably. “Nancy, I—”

  “I know. I speak my mind too much,” she said, and Delfyne couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. “But hey,” Nancy continued. “Here’s my new man, Pete. He’s very cute and hot even though he’s pretty much a puppy.”

  “Hey!” Pete objected, but already Nanc
y was rushing on, turning her attention back to Delfyne. “I really love that dress and the way you’ve made up your eyes. There’s something so…I don’t know…truly exotic about you. Unusual name, too. Do you have a social networking page on the Internet?”

  “Excuse me?” Delfyne said, and something about the way Nancy was looking at her gave her pause. Nancy might be friendly, but she also clearly had more than a casual interest in Owen. Finding out more about the woman who was living at his house right now might be a real priority.

  “You know, My Space, Facebook…your own Web place.”

  “I’m sorry, no,” Delfyne answered, but, of course, there was plenty of other information about her on the Internet. Photos. Articles. And her name was unusual.

  Owen was obviously thinking the same thing. “Pete, you look really thirsty. Why don’t you go buy yourself and Nancy a drink and just put it on my tab.”

  The young man stared at Owen in confusion for a second, but then he shrugged and veered off toward the bar.

  Owen looked down at the red-haired woman he obviously had a past with, his expression grim and serious. “You’ve always been a very good friend, Nance. Don’t change your ways now. Don’t stop being a friend.”

  “Is that a request?” she asked.

  “You can view that however you want to. The point is—and I know you already know this—I take my responsibilities seriously. Having one of my guests treated shabbily wouldn’t sit well with me at all.”

  Nancy frowned. “Are you threatening me, Owen?”

  He laughed at that. “What would I threaten you with?”

  “Good point,” she answered. “So, if I turned out to be my usual nosy self toward Delfyne here?”

  “I would be extremely disappointed in you. No matter what our differences have been, I have always viewed you as a friend.”

  The woman uttered a swear word that Delfyne had seldom heard. “Damn you, Owen. I hate it when you use the word disappointed. You know I hate it. But, all right. I’m sure you realize that you’ve only intrigued me more with your disappointment, but I’ll stay out of your business. For now at least.”

  She sighed and turned to Delfyne, looking anything but happy. “He really must like you a lot.”

  Delfyne shrugged. “It’s just a big-brother kind of thing.” And a lot of it was, she hated to remind herself. “He would do the same for the sister of any of his friends.”

  “Sounds like you know him almost as well as I do.”

  But she didn’t, Delfyne knew. Looking up at Owen’s long, lean form and noting the affectionate smile he gave Nancy, Delfyne envied the woman her familiarity with him. She’d never had this kind of easy closeness with a man. All her experiences had been either familial or…ones she didn’t want to remember or think about.

  “I owe you, Nance,” Owen said in that husky, gravelly voice that made Delfyne want to lean close.

  Nancy laughed. “You don’t owe me a thing, but I know that next week a few of my favorite charities will contact me telling me that they’ve received sizable donations in my name.” She blew out a breath that lifted her bangs, then smiled. “You absolutely do not have to do that, Owen Michaels, but I’ll accept it, anyway.

  “Well, I guess I’d better go before the gossips really start wondering what we’re talking about and even I won’t be able to stop them. It was nice meeting you, Delfyne, whoever you are,” she said softly. She took two steps toward Pete, then turned back. “Delfyne, I just have to say one more thing. Watch out for Owen, girl. He’ll break your heart without meaning or wanting to. You just can’t tie a man like him down, and you can’t have a lot of other things a woman like you probably wants,” she ended lamely with a small wave.

  Owen frowned, and when Delfyne touched his sleeve she could feel the tension in his muscles. But she didn’t ask any questions, even though she wanted to.

  “Nancy wants babies,” he said simply. “In the worst way. She should have them, too, but my friendship with her kept other men at bay. The right kind of men. Maybe Pete can finally give her what she needs.”

  “You feel guilty,” Delfyne said softly. “Because she waited for you and expected more than you could give.”

  He looked at her. “Any man would feel guilty.”

  But Delfyne knew it wasn’t so. “Did you encourage her?”

  “No, of course not, but I didn’t shun her, either.”

  “You wouldn’t. Not if you were friends. Did you tell her what she could and couldn’t expect?”

  “I’m not a complete jerk,” he said.

  Delfyne couldn’t help herself then. She reached up and touched his jaw. “I think you were honest with her. She said that you were. In which case…you can’t be responsible for her pain. She doesn’t seem like a woman who would let a man take credit for what she should take credit for.”

  “You’re a very perceptive woman. Does that go with the package?”

  She knew what he meant. “Of course. It’s required of my kind.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “I suspect that you’re one of a kind.”

  Delfyne’s heart swelled. She was almost grateful that Angus and some more of Owen’s friends appeared at that time and started talking to him. She needed a moment to compose herself, to try to remember who and what she was and who and what he was. And that there was no common ground. Not really.

  But she had no time to dwell on that. Nancy’s visit seemed to have broken the ice, and for the next hour people came up and introduced themselves. They talked business with Owen, and some of them appeared to be begging monetary favors. He asked them questions about their feelings regarding the wood products company, whether it was something they wanted or needed and how he could help them. And all of them looked at Delfyne with unrepentant curiosity.

  She explained her charade to Molly and Martin, offering her apologies and telling Molly as much of the truth about her situation as she could. As she and Molly bonded on the dance floor, the easy way the woman accepted her explanation nearly brought tears to Delfyne’s eyes. She hoped Molly wouldn’t be hurt if the whole truth ever came out.

  Some of the men asked Delfyne to dance, and at one point, she and Molly corralled everyone and got a conga line going, which made Owen roll his eyes. Still, as if Owen and Nancy had sworn them to secrecy, no one delved too deeply into the personal beyond mentioning Delfyne’s maid charade.

  “Heck that must have been kind of fun. Sort of like Halloween in the off season,” one woman said.

  “Exactly,” Delfyne exclaimed and barely stopped herself from explaining that she had never actually experienced an American Halloween. That would only have elicited questions she couldn’t answer without saying too much.

  “I love playing dress-up,” another woman cut in. “Even though some people think it’s rather juvenile. I know. Let’s have a costume party next Halloween. Maybe we could even get Owen to wear something yummy. Like a gladiator costume or something. I’ll bet he looks real good without his shirt on.”

  “Hmm, there’s a thought,” Delfyne said with a smile, turning around to look for him and finding him not three feet away. She reached out and tugged on his arm, snagging his attention. “Do you look good without your shirt on?”

  Owen blinked, then gave her a simmering look that curled her toes and sent heat spiraling through her body, but told her she was treading on thin ice. “I don’t know what all of you have been talking about, but don’t encourage her,” he told the women, who simply laughed.

  “Let’s plan something,” they told her.

  “That would be fun,” Delfyne agreed as she bade her good-nights. But of course, there was no point in planning anything. She would be gone long before October. Everything here—life, the ranch and Owen—would go on without her. It would be as if she’d never been here at all.

  Now was the time to make memories. It was the only time.

  CHAPTER NINE

  OWEN breathed a sigh of relief when he finally got Delfyne outside. Despit
e the fact that his friends had been friendly and polite, he knew that a lot of them were more than curious about Delfyne.

  Even if she was dying to know every gritty detail there was to know about Delfyne, Nancy would stand by her word and corral her curiosity, at least until Delfyne’s visit was over. He couldn’t be so sure about other people, and much as he’d like to threaten to split some heads he couldn’t do that. It would only intrigue people more.

  “I probably shouldn’t have brought you out tonight,” he told her. “I bet at least half a dozen people are already looking you up on Google.”

  She turned to face him. “I know, but we didn’t tell anyone anything other than my first name, and this night was so worth the risk of exposure. I had fun.”

  “I can’t believe you got Doug Spears to pretend he was a karaoke singer. He’s going to wake up in the morning totally red-faced once the beer wears off.”

  She punched him. “He is not. He was good!”

  Owen laughed. “He was, but that you actually talked him into it…Doug is about the shyest man I know. I can half see why Andreus was so worried about you.”

  Delfyne was suddenly quiet. She looked away.

  “That wasn’t a complaint or a criticism,” he said gently.

  “I know, but—” She sighed. “Sometimes, Andreus is right. I do go too far at times. I confused Molly and probably hurt her feelings and I really have to work on curbing my tendency to jump in without thinking. In my world, being watchful and careful is part of life. It’s necessary.”

  And because she knew her world and its requirements, he had to assume she might be right. He hated to think that life would judge her unfairly. For half a moment he thought of the prince she was to marry and hoped the guy wouldn’t criticize her or try to tame her spirit too much. Anger at the thought boiled up in Owen, but he didn’t have the right to feel that way, to feel any way at all where she was concerned. With difficulty, he fought his anger and set it aside.