“He was stubborn and determined and proud,” she countered. “Yet he would do anything in the world for those he loved. Remember when he came to you after our first son was born? He did that for me. You’ve no idea what it cost him.”
Max winced. “I remember that day,” he admitted. “And I remember how I treated him.”
“You said unforgivable things,” Amanda said, the old hurt bubbling up. “You talked about my baby as if he didn’t matter, as if he were trash—when it’s Maxwell blood flowing through his veins, the same as it is through yours and mine!”
Max sank back into his rocker. “That was the most shameful moment of my life,” he said sorrowfully. “I wanted to take back the words as soon as they were out of my mouth, but I couldn’t. I wanted to ask that boy for his forgiveness, but I couldn’t do that, either.”
Amanda heard real regret in his voice and it bewildered her. “Why couldn’t you?”
“Because I was embarrassed that a man I’d treated so abominably had come here to make amends, when it should have been the other way around. On that day, I knew that Bobby O’Leary was a better man than I’d ever acknowledged—a better man than I was—and it shamed me.”
“So you let those awful words stand, you deepened the rift between us, all because you were embarrassed?” she asked in disbelief.
“That stubborn Maxwell pride,” he said, as if it explained everything. “It’s a trait you share, darlin’ girl, so you should understand it. Once I’d headed down that road, I didn’t know how to turn around.”
Amanda couldn’t entirely deny that she was guilty of the same sin, but she saw now what a waste it was to let pride determine the outcome of some things. Caleb had seen that, though. He’d encouraged her to put pride aside to come here one more time. It remained to be seen if it had been worth it.
She met her father’s gaze. “Maybe it’s time to bury that particular trait. Seems to me it’s already cost us too much. Maybe there’s still time to make sure it doesn’t condemn the next generation to repeating our mistakes.”
“I wish now that I’d learned that lesson at your age,” Max said. “What’s it say in the Bible? Pride goeth before a fall?”
Amanda regarded him with astonishment. “You’re quoting the Bible these days? When was the last time you set foot in a church?”
“The day I said goodbye to your mama,” he said without any hint of an apology. “These days the Bible quotes come to me.”
“Caleb,” she guessed at once.
Max grinned. “The man does have one for every occasion. It gets tiresome.”
“And yet you two have become fast friends,” Amanda noted.
Max looked vaguely uncomfortable. “He plays a decent hand of poker, that’s all.”
“Meaning he lets you win,” she said, amused.
“Actually, he doesn’t, which is the point,” her father said. “For too many years folks seemed to think they had to let me win at everything—business, poker, it didn’t matter. Caleb doesn’t bat an eye when it comes to taking my money.”
“You’re actually playing for money?” she asked, more shocked by that than anything else that had been said.
“Have you ever known me to gamble for toothpicks?” Max scoffed.
Amanda chuckled. “No, but I thought Caleb might find it objectionable.”
“He’s got money for the food bank and a new stained-glass window for the church on the line. He’d have all of it by now, if he’d play for more.”
“He’s that good?”
“That man could bluff his way past the tightest security network in the world,” Max said with admiration. “Hard to imagine a preacher would have that much skill lying through his teeth, but he doesn’t even hesitate.”
Amanda grinned at her father. “Maybe I’ll join you next time you play,” she said impulsively.
A slow smile spread across Max’s face. “You serious?”
Amanda considered her impetuous offer and decided it felt right. “Sure. Why not? It sounds like fun.”
“The man won’t know what hit him,” Max observed. “You sure you want to do that to him?”
“Oh, I think he’s about due for a surprise,” Amanda said, thinking of all the things Caleb had kept from her.
“You think you can remember everything I taught you?”
She decided not to tell him about the strip poker games she’d played with Bobby. “I remember,” she said confidently.
“Then how about I call him and get him out here right now?” Max asked.
He sounded so eager Amanda couldn’t bring herself to say no. “Let me see if I can make arrangements for someone to stay with the kids for a couple of hours,” she said.
“They could come out here with Caleb,” Max suggested. His tone was carefully neutral, but there was a wistful expression on his face.
Amanda shook her head, then noted the disappointment in her father’s eyes. “I’ll bring them next time,” she told him. “Before Christmas, I promise.”
He nodded, his relief plain. “Caleb says they’re pistols.”
“They’re wonderful,” Amanda confirmed. “Now, let me call Nadine. If she can watch them, then you get in touch with Caleb and lure him out here. Think you can?”
“Jessie baked a pie today. That’ll get him out here if nothing else does.” He gave Amanda a knowing look. “Something tells me he’ll get here even faster if I mention you’ll be sticking around.”
Amanda wasn’t about to have that particular conversation with her father. It was enough that they’d dredged up all the past and made a start on putting it to rest. She wasn’t anywhere near ready to have him meddling in the present. She’d resisted his attempts to control her life once, but if he got it into his head that there ought to be something between her and Caleb, she wasn’t sure she’d have the strength to fight him this time.
16
Caleb wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. He’d arrived at Max’s to find Amanda seated comfortably on the porch looking very much like a cat that had just gotten into a particularly delectable bowl of cream. Her presence rattled him. Max hadn’t said a word about Amanda being here.
“Everything okay?” he asked, studying both Max and Amanda for signs of tension. To his relief and amazement, they seemed relaxed enough.
“Perfect,” Amanda said cheerfully. “Can I pour you a glass of iced tea, Caleb?”
“Sure.” He glanced at Max. “Are we still playing poker?”
“That’s what I invited you out here for,” Max said. “You think I had some ulterior motive?”
“I almost never try to second-guess you,” Caleb said. “I was just thinking you might want to reconsider, since Amanda’s visiting.”
“She wants to play, too,” Max said. “It was her idea we give you a call.”
“Is that so?” His gaze shot to Amanda. “You want to play cards with us?”
“If you don’t mind,” she said sweetly. “I’ve been hearing so much about these friendly games the two of you have, I thought I’d sit in.”
Caleb got a very funny feeling in the pit of his stomach. She was acting too darn nonchalant, to say nothing of being awfully cozy with a man she’d claimed to despise not that long ago. If she and Max had miraculously cleared the air today, they’d done a darn fine job of it. He should be pleased. Instead, he was suspicious.
“Are you two trying to hustle me?” he asked.
Max gave him a scathing look. “We play for peanuts. What does it matter?”
“Oh, I suspect it matters quite a lot,” Caleb said. He studied Amanda’s expression. “How good are you?”
“Good enough,” she said modestly, then added, “You might need to refresh my memory on a few of the finer points.”
“Now I know you’re up to something,” Caleb said.
“Why?” she inquired indignantly. “Because I admitted I might need some pointers? I was merely being honest.”
“Yeah, sure,” Caleb said.
/> “You want to back out?” Max inquired.
Caleb grinned. He might not know what was going on with these two, but the atmosphere was promising. He wasn’t about to do anything to rock the boat. “Absolutely not.”
Max nodded approvingly. “Thought I had you pegged right. I like a man who doesn’t back down from a challenge. Amanda here wasn’t so sure.”
Caleb regarded her with amusement. “Is that right? You thought you’d scare me off?”
“Well, I do know how badly you want that new stained-glass window,” she said. “And the food bank can always use an infusion of cash, especially with Christmas right around the corner.”
“Your father told you about that?”
She nodded pleasantly. “Exactly how much do you have in that fund at the moment? Daddy says you usually have the figure right at your fingertips.”
Caleb retrieved the paper from his pocket and handed it to her, then took another sip of his tea as he watched her.
“Nearly eight thousand dollars,” she said admiringly. “That’s a lot of poker. Want to play the first hand double or nothing?”
He laughed. “Not a chance, sugar. I’ll need to figure out your strategy and your skill before I take a risk like that.” He studied her over the rim of his glass. “You sure you ought to be gambling at all, Amanda? Your finances are…” He deliberately let his voice trail off in an unspoken warning.
“Oh, don’t worry. Daddy’s staking me. I wouldn’t dream of putting any of my paycheck at risk, especially since I’m thinking of quitting my second job after Christmas if Joanna comes through with the raise she’s promised me.” She smiled, her expression smug. “Truthfully, though, there’s not that much risk involved.”
“And only moments ago you were claiming you might require pointers to keep up,” Caleb reminded her. “If you’re going to bluff, Amanda, it’s better to be consistent.”
She studied him, her eyes wide with innocence. “Really? I’ll have to keep that in mind. If sounds as if you might know quite a bit about bluffing.” She stood up. “Shall we go inside, gentlemen?”
Caleb regarded her with growing amusement. “I’ll want to inspect the cards we’re using.”
Amanda turned to her father. “Did you hear that, Daddy? Caleb all but accused you of trying to cheat by using a marked deck. I’d be insulted if I were you.”
Max chuckled. “Suits me fine. He’ll have no excuse when he loses.”
Caleb frowned at the pair of them. “I’m not going to lose,” he said. “In fact, since you’re staking Amanda, I’m especially looking forward to doubling my take for the evening.”
He laid his accounting of their past games on the card table in Max’s den and smoothed it out. “In fact, I’m so confident, I’ll even let you have the first deal, Amanda. It’ll give me a chance to see just how clever you are.”
“Okay with me,” she said cheerfully, then handed him the deck. “See, no markings. This is a perfectly ordinary deck. Brand-new, in fact.” She waved the box and now-unsealed wrapping under his nose. “Opened right before your eyes.”
Caleb made a great show of examining it closely, then handed it back. “It’ll do.”
Amanda shuffled the deck with a skill that seemed to shock even Max.
“Where’d you learn to do that?” Max demanded.
Amanda grinned. “Nadine worked as a dealer in Vegas for a while. She’s taught me a few things. Have you met Nadine, Daddy? She’s been dating George Winslow for several months now.”
“Driving him crazy, the way I hear it,” Max said. “She refuses to marry him.” His eyes sparkled. “Have to admire a woman who has the gumption to turn down George.”
“Next time we play cards, I’ll ask her to come along,” Amanda promised. “I think you’ll find her surprising.”
“That’s what George says,” Max replied as he looked over his cards, then tossed down two.
Caleb studied him intently, then discarded three of his.
Amanda dealt them their new cards, then said, “Dealer takes one.”
Caleb exchanged a look with Max, trying to get a read on just how likely Amanda was to try to bluff her way through the very first hand to set the tone for the game. He couldn’t read a single thing into Max’s bland expression.
He looked at the pair of jacks in his own hand and decided to play the hand out. “I’m in,” he said, tossing an additional penny into the pot.
“Me, too,” Max said. “And I’ll raise you one.”
“I’m in for five cents,” Amanda said, her gaze locked with Caleb’s, daring him to challenge her.
He couldn’t help it. He admired a good bluff as much as the next man. He tossed in the additional four cents to stay in the hand. “I’ll call.”
“I’m out,” Max said, throwing down his cards, then watching the two of them expectantly.
Amanda slowly pulled out a pair of tens and laid them on the table. Just as Caleb was about to claim victory with his jacks, she pulled out two more cards.
“Sorry, I almost forgot these,” she said as she set a pair of aces beside the tens.
“Beginner’s luck,” Caleb scoffed, enjoying the quick rise of indignant color in her cheeks. “Now it’s time to get serious.”
Amanda lifted her gaze to his. “When it comes to poker, there’s something you should know, Caleb.”
“Oh?”
“I am always very, very serious.”
In that instant, he realized for the first time just how alike she and Max were. Suddenly she was no longer Amanda O’Leary, damsel in distress, but Amanda Maxwell, a woman capable of bringing a man to his knees. It was a daunting discovery. Fascinating, too.
Amanda happily pocketed her $10.85 winnings at the end of the evening. She’d been the big winner, but Caleb had held his own. Max had seemed content enough to hand over his pennies to the two of them. She’d never known her father to be so complacent about losing before.
“I’ll get it back next time,” he said confidently as he walked them to the door.
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Amanda retorted. “This is just a little pocket change, Daddy. Next time I’m going to talk Caleb into upping the ante.”
Caleb looked at her. “How did I miss the fact that you have the heart of a gambler?”
“Should have been plain as day,” she told him honestly. “Daddy thinks he’s the one who took a gamble on my wedding day and lost. I gambled more. In fact, I gambled everything I had. Some would say I’m the one who lost,” she added with a pointed look at her father. “But I’d say I was the big winner. I had ten years with a man I loved and came away with three incredible kids. That more than outweighs whatever losses and problems I’ve had since.”
“Nobody can say you didn’t inherit the Maxwell spunk,” her father said with real admiration. “I should have realized I never stood a chance against that.” He winked at Caleb. “Something you might want to remember, too.”
Caleb looked flustered. “Me?”
“Yes, you,” Max grumbled. “You want my girl, you’re going to have to fight for her.”
“I never said—” Caleb began, even as Amanda’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
Max scowled at him. “Either you do or you don’t, son. I’d advise you to make up your mind before it’s too late.”
“Yes, sir,” Caleb said, sounding surprisingly meek.
Outside, Amanda regarded him with dismay. “I’m sorry about that. I don’t know what got into him. We’ve barely reconciled and he already thinks he has a right to meddle in my life. Wouldn’t you think he learned his lesson last time?”
Caleb laughed. “Men like Max don’t learn lessons. They teach them. The rest of us just have to keep up.”
“Still, don’t let him bully you into doing something you don’t want to do,” she said.
Caleb seemed taken aback by the idea that he might be bullied into anything. “You think I don’t want you? I could prove otherwise.”
&n
bsp; “Oh, I know you want me, but trust me, that is not what my father has in mind.”
“I know exactly what your father has in mind. Now that he’s been given a chance, he wants to see you settled before it’s too late.”
“Too late for me?” she scoffed. “I’m not that old.”
“Too late for him,” Caleb corrected. “I think he’d like another chance to walk you down the aisle.”
Amanda blushed furiously. “I think that idea’s a bit premature, don’t you?” she said stiffly.
“I believe you know my position on that,” Caleb responded. “But you certainly don’t think a little thing like timing would stop your father, do you? Have you forgotten that much about him?”
Amanda considered the question. There was no doubt her father would push and shove to get his way, even if he knew he was treading on very thin ice with her. He wasn’t the type to proceed gingerly just because he’d barely made his way back into her good graces.
“Still, he can’t make us do anything,” she said staunchly.
“Of course not,” Caleb said, his gaze steady. “But there could come a time when it’s not worth fighting him.”
“You’d give in just because he’s sick?” she asked incredulously. “After all those conversations we’ve had when you’ve declared any future between us to be impossible?”
Caleb gave her an odd look she couldn’t quite interpret.
“I think you know me better than that,” he said mildly.
“Then what?” she demanded.
He trapped her against the side of her car and kissed her thoroughly. With his hands braced on either side of her, she couldn’t get away. Not that she was inclined to run. Caleb’s mouth was very clever as he plundered hers. His unmistakable arousal sent desire rampaging through her bloodstream.
They really had to stop doing this, she thought weakly, hanging on to him. It was becoming addictive. One of these days neither of them was going to think of a single reason to stop.
Or a single reason not to do as her father wanted and get married.
“Oh, my,” she murmured as understanding dawned.
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