by Debra Holt
“This ring has been in our family for generations. The tradition is that it is given by the oldest male to his fiancé and then, upon the marriage, it goes back in the vault… for special occasions and until the next male in succession is ready to propose to the next Harrington bride. I’m sure you can enjoy the continuity and history of such a family heirloom. Please wear it this evening and people will be awed when we arrive with you on my arm and this on your hand.”
“No.” Stacy finally found her voice… and one word came out.
It hung in the air to be restated or rebutted. But it stood. There was silence, thick and unpleasant. It wasn’t in her nature to be cruel. Not even Donnie deserved such a dismissal.
“Look, Donnie, I mean to say—” she began, but he finished for her.
“I have just completely bowled you over this evening. Forgive me for being so impetuous. But when my parents agreed that this might be a most opportune time for us all, I just couldn’t wait. Especially if we want to plan a big summer wedding.”
Stacy saw things much more clearly after he spoke those words. Timing was everything in politics. Donnie needed to settle down and marry and she had evidently passed muster as a viable candidate. She supposed she should be pleased and humbled. But not really. She would not be participating in a political marriage or any other marriage if love and passion had no part in it.
“I can’t accept that ring, Donnie. And I don’t think we have—”
“Don’t accept it now.” He slid the box back into his pocket. His smile was warm and understanding and all “Donnie smoothness”. “I have pushed too far, too fast. I have rendered the proposal and it is on the table for discussion. We’ll talk about this later. We can’t keep everyone waiting to get to the ball. Let’s just enjoy this evening together. We’ll revisit the issue tomorrow over brunch.”
The subject was quickly dropped much to Stacy’s surprise. However, she was grateful for the reprieve. But before tomorrow, she would have to make Donnie understand… there would be no future for them together. Why had her life become so complicated?
*
The lights spilled from the ballroom, across the terraces, and to the lawns beyond. Music drifted along on the night breeze from the orchestra on the dais. Stacy stepped out of the crowded room to catch her breath. She had been inundated with people around her since their arrival at the ball almost two hours before.
She had never realized how stilted the conversation was at these affairs. It always centered on politics, money, and power… on the people who had those things and the ones who sought them. She was bored to tears. Plus, her head was beginning to throb… due in large part to the surprise proposal Donnie had sprung upon her earlier in the evening. She contemplated taking a taxi home early.
“There you are. I’ve been searching high and low for you. Why are you hiding out here in the dark?” Donnie’s voice carried across the night.
Stacy stifled the reflex to cringe at the sound of his voice and the way her head reacted to it. She turned toward him with a smile fixed to her face.
He came up and slid an arm around her waist. “Have I told you lately that you are the most beautiful woman at this ball tonight? Which means I’m the envy of every man here.” Trust Donnie to turn a compliment for someone else into one for himself, as well.
Stacy couldn’t help but notice throughout the evening that, more and more, she found herself looking at the man beside her with a new set of eyes. Was his smile always so brittle? Did it ever meet his eyes? Since her return from McKenna Springs, many things had taken on a different look in the light of day. While Stacy had placed Davis in the past… and tried to keep him there, it was abundantly clear Donnie was not her future. That was a truth that came with stark clarity.
“I just needed some fresh air. The ballroom is a bit stifling this evening. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you where I was going.”
“I came to find you because Father wants us to pose with him and the governor. The photos will be in the private salon. Come along. Your blue gown will look fabulous in that room. You look regal as any princess. And that makes me your prince.”
“Wait,” she spoke up, not allowing herself to be drawn back into the ballroom. She needed to know the truth and she had no idea how to go about finding it. “We really haven’t had much time to talk lately…just you and me. You’ve been so busy and so have I.”
His fine brow knitted in surprise and confusion. Yet he stepped back to stand beside her. “Is everything all right? What is it that you think we need to talk about?”
“It’s nothing major. It’s just that if you ask someone to marry you then, naturally, there are areas of their lives that you might have questions about… curiosity… that sort of thing. You have to admit I know very little about the plans you have for your future. That sort of thing is important for a potential fiancé to know… don’t you think?”
He evidently thought so because the frown smoothed from his brow and he regarded her with a benign smile one might bestow on a simple creature that needed to bask in the glow of great knowledge. Her writer’s mind was really at work on that one and it grated on her nerves, but she kept her smile in place and allowed him to warm to his favorite subject… himself.
“Of course, I should have been more thoughtful. You need not worry about a secure future with the Harringtons, sweetheart. Father retires after the next session and it’s known… in the inner circles, of course… that I’ll be the chosen one for his seat.”
“How can you know that already? Surely the voters have to—”
He cut her off with a shake of his head. “The voters have nothing to do with it. You’ve been up in that tower too long. Elections are decided by the people who wield the most influence—that equates to money and powerful friends. We have both.”
“I see. Would those friends be the ones from Houston? The ones you are always talking to and meeting with?”
“Well, yes they are,” he replied, taking a moment to really look at her. “You’ve been observant.”
Was he getting too curious about her questions? She turned up the smile wattage. “I’m a writer, remember? I observe people around me.”
“I need to remember that. But trust me when I say that you won’t need to be a writer for much longer once we’re married. The Harrington fortunes will triple in the not too distant future.”
“Why is that?”
“Father will be named to the CEO position of the Excalibur Group. Those same people have enough politicians and officials in their pockets to ensure my election to his office where, naturally, I’ll continue to make certain that legislation beneficial to our special friends goes in the right direction. When I decide I’ve had enough of politics, then there will be a seven-figure salary waiting for me at one of their companies also. See, my dear, you have chosen the right man to marry. The world will literally be ours for the taking.”
His words chilled her insides and a shiver went down her back. The truth came to her in a blinding flash. She had never really known the man standing before her. She hadn’t looked past the smooth lines and the polished exterior to notice there was nothing beneath it all except a dark soul.
“You’ve chill bumps on your beautiful skin.” Donnie noted. “Let’s get you back inside where it’s warmer and we’ve kept people waiting on us.”
They stepped through the doors of the ballroom just as a dreamy waltz was beginning… “Moon River”. The song had always been one of Stacy’s favorites. It sounded much too sad at the moment.
“I believe this is our dance.” The deep voice halted her footsteps.
Stacy whirled around to find the man who spoke. Davis McKenna stood directly behind her. At least, she thought it was him. It took her a moment or two to reconcile her memory of him with the man standing before her. Gone were the hat, the badge, and the gun. For the occasion, he was dressed in an expensively cut black tuxedo, with onyx studs and gold cuff links that flashed as the lights from the chan
deliers above caught them. He could have been a CEO of a Fortune 500 company dressed as he was. There was only one hint of the man he was… a pair of black dress boots was his concession to his roots… except on him, it made the outfit perfect.
“Shall we?” His voice brought her back to the present. His hand was held out to her… waiting.
“I beg your pardon, but we have other plans with the governor,” Donnie spoke up, his expression definitely letting Stacy know he was not pleased with the interruption of his plans.
“They can wait, Donnie,” Stacy spoke suddenly, as she placed her hand into Davis’s.
The touch had not lost its electrifying zap. His arm went around her waist and he drew them into the steps of the waltz. She had no idea he could dance, but he was amazing. She shouldn’t have been surprised. This was a man who never ceased to amaze. Only the most important thing in her mind now was the simple fact that he was there. He came. She realized just how much she had missed the feel of his arms about her. And her heart was racing again and her pulses tapped in staccato with the music. She felt alive for the first time in weeks.
“I think your Donnie isn’t very happy right now by the look on his face.” He observed as he guided them around the room.
The fact that Davis McKenna was here and she was in his arms again was all that mattered at the moment and Donnie had all but been forgotten. Stacy finally calmed her pulses enough to respond in a coherent manner.
“He isn’t my Donnie. He never was and he never will be.”
Her words brought a satisfied smile from the man leading her around the dance floor. The blue eyes flashed their gleam of pleasure. “That’s too bad… for him.”
She couldn’t think of the words she wanted to say. There were so many in a jumble in her mind. His blue gaze was just so welcome to be able to see again. Her heart wasn’t sad anymore.
“My appearance seems to have left you a little speechless. This is an appropriate song for our first dance. You took your pen name from a Hepburn film and this is from one of her other films also.” He noted the look on her face. “Surprised I know that?” His sapphire blue gaze took in every nuance of her face… their ink dark depths sending remembered quivers along her pulses.
“Nicely surprised.”
“I bet you didn’t think I knew how to dance either?”
“I just never really thought about it, but it’s very nice to find a man who knows how to waltz.”
“And no doubt you’re surprised that I can look like the rest of the men in your life… and not just a cowboy.”
“Yes… no… I mean… why are you here, Davis?” It was time to cut to the heart of the matter.
She needed an answer to that question.
His gaze turned thoughtful for a moment. His reply was quite simple. “This is where you are.” The slow smile that curved his mouth made her knees forget what they were doing and a slight bobble in their steps brought a gleam to his eyes as he noted her reaction. His hands tightened their hold.
He maneuvered them toward one of the open doorways and they were soon outside on one of the smaller patios… alone. They stopped dancing, but he did not let go of her hand. Stacy didn’t move to take it from him. Her breathing was becoming less manageable under his intent gaze.
Davis’s eyes took in the royal blue gown with its beaded, strapless top and the full chiffon skirt. The diamond studs sparkled in her ears and a fair amount of creamy skin was left bare with her hair piled on top of her head and secured by a sparkling barrette.
“You look like a sparkling Cinderella at the fancy dress ball. And every inch the city girl you want to be.”
“Is that an indictment of some sort?”
“No, it’s just an observation,” he replied and then went on to explain how he came to be there. “I was preparing the security for this event and saw the guest list. I figured if you weren’t finding your way back to McKenna Springs, then I needed to find my way here. It’s time to lay my cards on the table. So, what do you think? Do I fit into your world any better now?”
Stacy wasn’t sure how she should respond to that. All of a sudden, she felt torn. She remained quiet, her thoughts in a jumbled mess.
“I was hoping for a resounding yes… in case you need help with your reply.”
Her eyes were solemn as she gazed up at the man in front of her. She knew what she needed to say. The truth.
“This isn’t you,” she said finally with a slow shake of her head. “This is you pretending to be someone you aren’t… not really.”
“People can change, they can adapt.”
“But not you. You might change your wardrobe but what’s inside stays the same. You’ll always be Davis McKenna from McKenna Springs… with a cowboy heart and a ranger badge.”
He slowly released her hand. The dark intensity flared in his eyes. “Always a cowboy in your eyes… and, therefore, not someone you want in your life.”
“There you are, Stacy! We’re keeping the governor waiting. Come back to where you belong.” Donnie’s entrance could not have been more ill-timed.
And his words were all wrong. They punctuated the moment and Davis withdrew from her, his eyes shuttered. An air of finality settled around them.
“It’s time for us all to go back where we belong.” He left her standing beside Donnie.
He did not look back.
Chapter Fourteen
Pleading a headache had not been far from the truth. The low throbbing that had begun with the proposal went into full-blown pulsating pain after Davis walked away from her. Stacy had asked Donnie to take her home not even a half hour after the confrontation with Davis. She just couldn’t take any more polite conversation in the crowded ballroom. Donnie had been less than pleased with the turn of events. And he was about to be even more displeased when they arrived at her building. He walked with her to the elevator but she had made it known that she did not need him to go any further.
“It was a lovely evening, Donnie. I appreciate you bringing me home. I won’t keep you from getting back to the party.”
Donnie would have had to be blind to have not noted the change in her with the advent of the tall man’s arrival in the ballroom. He also wasn’t blind to the strained expression evident in her eyes as she tried to smile at him.
“So, what gives, Stacy? Who was that man you danced with? Is he the reason you had to come home earlier than usual? He obviously upset you.”
Stacy looked at Donnie for a few moments. She decided it was useless to prolong the inevitable. The words would not be any easier to say tomorrow.
“He was just an acquaintance. But I think you do deserve to know Donnie I have concluded something about our relationship… yours and mine.”
“So, you’ve decided that you’re going to realize it’s time to let things come to their natural culmination and marry me.” His smile was smugly triumphant. “If I had known, I would have brought along the ring and not left it in the safe at my parent’s home.”
She was astonished at how his mind worked. “No, Donnie,” she said, eluding his grasp. “You misunderstand. I won’t be wearing the ring. I won’t be marrying you. I think we both know that it takes a lot more feelings between two people to make a marriage work. I know I do. We never had that depth of emotion. We aren’t in love with each other.”
He acted as though she had spoken in a foreign tongue. A frown marred his forehead. “You aren’t feeling well, Stacy. Let’s just talk tomorrow. We can have lunch at the club and everything will look better after you’ve had some rest. You’re worn out from finishing that manuscript. Perhaps you might be coming down with something. Things will all be better tomorrow.”
Stacy didn’t care for his attitude as if she were a child that needed to be cajoled. “I am perfectly fine, Donnie. My answer will still be the same tomorrow and the day after that. I don’t love you and I won’t marry you. It’s wrong to prolong this relationship. I hope we can part as friends. I do wish you only the best.”
Donnie opened his mouth to say something but suddenly thought better of it. That he was upset… angry even… was evident. There was a look in his eyes that she had never seen before and would not have wanted to explore a relationship with him, if she had. It was because his plans had been thwarted and his ego had been miffed. It wasn’t because he was losing a woman he loved. There were no illusions about that.
“Then, if that’s what you want, Stacy, I do hope you know what you’re doing. Any woman would jump at the opportunity to become part of the Harrington dynasty. Call me when you change your mind. I might or might not still be interested.” Donnie left her there, striding away with stiff anger in his steps across the lobby and through the door the valet held open for him.
Two men in one night had walked away from her. That stark thought came to her as she sat alone in her condo later that evening. Gone was the ball gown. Dressed in her nightgown and with her well-worn comfy robe wrapped around her, Stacy sat on the sofa with feet tucked under her, a comforting glass of milk next to her on the side table.
A lightning storm had moved in from the southwest and she watched the display outside the tall glass windows. Rain began to pelt the patio a few minutes later. The night matched her mood. She reached out and drew the soft quilt from the back of the couch and fitted it more snugly around her. The sight of the colorful material took her back to the day she purchased it from the little shop in McKenna Springs. That was before so many things changed in her life. It was a comforting reminder of better days. Its bright colors had cheered the ivory tones of the room.
Donnie had been sent away. And she really felt nothing about that other than it was a sad fact that it had been a relationship that really never had a future anyway. It had just become a comfortable habit… never threatening to be anything more… at least in her estimation. And what he had said to her about his family’s involvement with the group of people she knew to be under investigation by law enforcement had made her even sicker to her stomach and angry she had been so naïve.