by Kristi Gold
After a round of uncomfortable quiet, Sam gestured toward the portable table holding all the food. “There’s hot dogs and some wire to roast ’em. You’ll find beer and sodas in the cooler. Help yourselves.”
To Matt, Savannah’s and Jess’s mad rush to the table, with Sam and Chase trailing behind, looked more like the result of discomfort than starvation. Not one of the foursome even sent him or Rachel a passing glance. Served them right. They should’ve known better than to try to play mass matchmakers.
When Rachel failed to move, Matt set his beer on the ground beside the lawn chair and approached her, keeping his distance in case she decided to throw that punch.
Before he could say a word, she clenched her teeth and spoke through them. “Did you have something to do with this?”
Exactly as he’d predicted. “Nope. I was as surprised as you were. Sam invited me to a guys-only fishing trip and said you and the girls were in Memphis. I just figured you’d be there most of the night.”
“You figured wrong.” She wrung her hands like an old-time washer. “One of us should leave, and I think it should be you. Don’t you need to go inoculate a cow? Or maybe that dive on the county line is calling to you?”
That just plain pissed him off, even if she did make a valid point about the bar. But when home was no longer a haven, a man had to do what he had to do. “No, sweetheart, I’m free for the evening. But I wouldn’t mind taking you home.”
“No, thanks, but you can take yourself home.”
With that, she brushed past him and joined the others at the table.
As usual, he couldn’t leave well enough alone. When he walked right up beside her, the others scattered like crows and returned to their seats around the fire.
Rachel’s refusal to look at him spurred his determination to tease a smile out of her. In order to garner her attention, he reached in front of her, speared a hot dog with a wire and held it up. “Could I interest you in a—”
“Don’t say it, Matthew.”
“Hot dog?”
“That’s not what you were going to say.”
So much for that strategy. “Didn’t know you could read my mind.”
“I’m no mind reader, but I know you. You’re an expert at double entendre.”
Time to bring out the big guns—a little soda with a side of seduction.
He moved behind her, rested a palm on her hip and leaned over to withdraw a drink from the cooler set on the end of the table. Then he straightened and touched the can against her neck where her blouse opened right above her breasts. “Here ya go, sweetheart. A nice cold cola to help cool off your temper.”
She took the can and gave him a sugary-sweet smile over one shoulder. “Here’s a news flash. I’ve become immune to your charms.”
She spun around, leaving him holding an unwanted hot dog and the urge to prove her wrong. He left the speared hot dog and went back to his chair that had conveniently been positioned next to Rachel. She didn’t hesitate to pick hers up and move it to the opposite side of the fire pit and him. If their friends hadn’t gotten the hint that this was a bad idea, they’d surely figured it out now.
Sam cleared his throat around the awkward silence and smiled. “This reminds me of old times. Remember when we ran off to Nashville that Sunday for the football game without telling our folks?”
“Who could forget?” Chase said. “We didn’t have the money to buy tickets, so we spent the day in the parking lot, tailgaiting.”
“And Matt was the only one who didn’t get grounded,” Savannah added.
Because his dad hadn’t given a rat’s ass what he did. “We should have all gotten our stories straight and then none of us would have been in trouble.”
Rachel gave him an accusatory stare. “I believe it was Matt who told Chase’s dad we went to the lake right after Chase had told him we were at the fall festival in Yazoo City.”
“Just one of my many shortcomings,” he said. “Do you want to go ahead and recite all of them while you have the chance?”
Jess jumped in quickly like a marriage referee. “Savannah’s diary got us into the most trouble.”
“Sorry,” Savannah muttered. “I had no idea my mother would read it and that she’d have the audacity to call everyone’s parents.”
Sam chuckled. “Best I recall, your dad wasn’t too happy, either. I wasn’t allowed to come over for two weeks, although that didn’t stop me from sneaking into your bedroom.”
Savannah smiled. “No, it didn’t, and we almost got caught then, too.”
“Wasn’t that the first time you two did it?” Jess asked.
Savannah’s cheeks turned red as a robin’s breast. “Yes, I believe it was.”
Sam reached over and patted her thigh. “Took me two years to convince her, but I managed to climb up that old trellis one night and sweet-talk myself right into her bed.”
“It took me five minutes to convince Jess to let me in her bed,” Chase said with a grin.
Jess rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. We didn’t plan that whole dorm-room incident. I just thought you were pokin’ fun.”
Chase leaned over and kissed his wife. “You can’t deny that was some mighty good fun.”
“A little too good,” Jess said. “That’s how we ended up with Danny. But I’m glad we did.”
Matt wasn’t too keen on the current course of conversation. Hopefully they had enough sense not to mention his and Rachel’s first time.
“When was your first time with Rachel?” Chase asked Matt.
Great. Just great. He looked at Rachel, and Rachel looked at him, right before they simultaneously said, “Our wedding night.”
Sam shook his head. “No way. To hear you tell it, Matt, you’d been doing it since the two of you hooked up in the seventh grade.”
That earned him another glare from Rachel. “Not true,” he said. “Whenever you asked, I always said that it’s disrespectful to a lady to kiss and tell.”
“He’s right,” Chase chimed in. “He was always evasive. He just let us assume they were doing it.”
“I think it’s remarkable,” Savannah said. “I can only imagine how special your wedding night was because you waited.”
Rachel shifted in her seat, a sure sign of discomfort. “It seemed like a good idea at the time, but things aren’t always what they’re cracked up to be.”
Matt could think of several responses, none of them very nice. He picked the least caustic one. “Sorry I disappointed you, sweetheart.”
Jess shot out of her chair, nearly knocking it over. “I think this hot dog’s done, and after I’ve finished this one I just might have another, since I’m eating for two now.”
That was news to Matt, but Rachel didn’t seem all that shocked by the announcement. She also didn’t seem too pleased, or maybe it was that ever-present sorrow he’d seen in her eyes for a while now. Under different circumstances, he would’ve gone to her, consoled her. But for the past few months she’d made it pretty clear she didn’t want or need his consolation. No reason to think she’d welcome it now.
She did put on her happy face, but she still couldn’t fool him. “How far along are you, Jess?”
Jess returned with a plateful of food and lowered herself into the chair. “Twelve weeks. I suppose you could say this is a honeymoon baby.”
Sam frowned. “You two got married four months ago, not three.”
Chase winked at his wife. “It was a long honeymoon.”
“Yes, it was,” Jess added. “And we wanted to wait to tell everyone, just in case.”
In case something happened with the pregnancy. Matt had been told that problems usually occurred during the first trimester, only his son had been born later in Rachel’s pregnancy. He’d been informed after the fact that having a baby always posed some risk to mother and child if something went wrong, which it had. That was a risk he didn’t care to take again. A risk he wouldn’t take again.
Rachel suddenly stood and rubbed a temp
le with her fingertips. “I’m sorry to cut the evening short, but I have a headache. Savannah, do you mind taking me home?”
“Not at all.”
Rachel didn’t hesitate before she took off through the trees, heading for the car at a fast clip. Matt rose and brushed past Savannah before she could move. “I’ll handle this,” he called over one shoulder, although he had no idea how he’d handle it. He only knew he had to try.
He found Rachel standing by Savannah’s luxury sedan, arms folded across her middle, her head slightly lowered. He figured she could be crying, but he also knew she’d do her best to hide it from him.
“You okay?” he asked as he approached her.
She swiped at the moisture on her cheeks with her fingertips. “No, I’m not okay. I’m tired and I want to go home.”
He saw an opportunity and grabbed it. “I’ll take you home.”
“That’s not a good idea.”
Stubborn woman. “It’s just a ride. I won’t ask to come in or pressure you into anything. We don’t even have to talk.”
“That wouldn’t be a first.” She lifted her chin and sent him a determined look. “I’d rather have Savannah take me.”
He intended to keep prodding her until she gave in. “No reason to inconvenience her when it’s on my way.”
“I appreciate the offer, but no thanks. If you want to help, then please go back and tell Savannah I’m ready to leave.”
Apparently she wasn’t going to budge, and he decided not to waste his time. He backed away, hands held up in surrender. “Fine. At least you can’t accuse me of not trying to give you what you need, although lately I damn sure don’t know what you need from me.”
“I need…” Her gaze drifted away. “Never mind.”
He did mind, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to beg her to spill it.
Matt turned and headed back to the group, scraping his forearm on a wayward branch on his way back, adding injury to insult. Now he had a cut finger and a chunk of missing flesh. As soon as he appeared in the clearing, the crowd stopped talking and stared at him as if he’d sprouted a second head. “She wants you to take her home, Savannah.”
“Okay,” Savannah said. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Jess stood and handed Chase her plate. “I’ll go with her. See you guys later.”
After the girls hurried away, Matt sat back in his chair and took a drink of beer. Hot beer. He emptied the rest onto the ground, crushed the can in his fist and tossed it into the fire. “Looks like your plan to throw me and Rachel together backfired. Hope you’re both proud of yourselves.”
Sam eyed him a long moment. “Man, I didn’t realize things were that bad between the two of you.”
“Yeah, they are.” Real bad. “According to Saint Rachel, I drink too much and I don’t talk enough about my feelings. When I do try to talk to her, she doesn’t give a tinker’s damn about what I have to say. I can’t win for losing.”
“And you’re giving up on working it out, just like that?” Chase asked.
Matt shrugged. “She doesn’t want me near her, so I’m going to give her space. Lots of space.”
“Like I told you earlier today,” Sam began, “you’re traveling down the wrong road if you don’t do something and soon. Anything worth having is worth fighting for.”
He’d grown pretty sick and tired of the ongoing war and the advice. “If you’re so damn wise, how do you propose I change her mind?”
Chase forked a hand through his sandy hair. “Be persistent. Use every trick in the book to get her to come around.”
“Seduction usually works well,” Sam added. “Worked wonders for me and Savannah when she came back to town.”
Hard to mount a seduction when Rachel wouldn’t let him within five feet of her. “You can’t seduce an unwilling woman.”
Chase grinned. “You can if you play your cards right. Have you been married so freakin’ long that you don’t remember how to charm the pants off a girl?”
Sometimes he wondered if that could be the case. “I don’t take too kindly to rejection.”
“Here’s what I think you should do,” Sam said. “Give her a while to cool down tonight, then march over to Wainwright’s grand estate and politely convince her to let you in the house. After that, do your best and let nature do the rest.”
Easy for Sam to say. He didn’t run the risk of getting booted out on his ass. “And if she doesn’t let me in?”
“Then try again tomorrow,” Chase said. “Try every day until she finally listens to you. She’s bound to get tired of you hounding her.”
Maybe in a year or so. But his friends were right. He had to keep pushing until they hashed everything out. Otherwise he might never get her back home, and that wouldn’t do. “Fine. I’ll pay her a visit in a half hour or so. But right now I’m going to have another beer.”
Before Matt made it to the cooler, Sam blocked his path. “Didn’t you mention that Rachel thinks you drink too much?”
He could use a little liquid courage if he planned to see this through. “It’s only one beer. I didn’t even finish the last one.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Chase said from his chair. “If you’re going to get anywhere with your wife, then you better go there stone-cold sober. And since I’m the law, I can’t let you drive if you’ve had too much to drink.”
He’d been waylaid by the booze police. “Okay. You win. No beer.”
And no expectations. Matt had a hard time believing Rachel’s attitude would change in less than an hour. That she’d suddenly decide to hear him out when she’d done nothing but close him out of her life since after the first of the year.
Only one way to find out, and he would in a matter of minutes.
CHAPTER TWO
“DO YOU WANT US TO COME IN?”
Rachel appreciated Savannah’s offer, and she loved her friends dearly, but at the moment she needed solitude. “I’ll be okay. I’m going to take a shower and go to bed. I’m sure I’ll be asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.” And that was a colossal lie. She’d be lucky to get any sleep at all after the disastrous day.
“You should eat something,” Jess said from the backseat.
Her appetite had diminished the moment she’d laid eyes on Matt. “Don’t worry about me. I’m going to be fine.”
“Are you sure?” Savannah asked. “It seems you and Matt have a lot of issues to work out.”
“That’s an understatement,” Jess muttered.
Yes, it was. “I agree, and I plan to tackle that in the near future. Right now I need some rest.”
Savannah reached over the console and laid a hand on Rachel’s arm. “Let me know if you need anything. Anything at all. Just pick up the phone and call me.”
“Same here,” Jess said. “Even if you only need to talk. And if you need someone to verbally beat some sense into your husband, I’m your gal. Ask Chase.”
Jess could talk all day to Matt and it wouldn’t make a difference. Rachel had learned that the hard way. “I do have a favor to ask. Make sure someone takes Matt home if he has too much to drink. He’s been doing a lot of that lately.” One of the major issues with their marriage.
“I assure you neither Sam nor Chase will let that happen,” Savannah said. “But we’ll serve as backup, just in case.”
“Thanks.”
After doling out hugs to her friends, Rachel left the car and walked into the house alone. She flipped on several lights, hoping to make the place seem a bit more warm and inviting. But even though the two-bedroom, two-bath guest bungalow was nicer than many people’s houses, it still wasn’t home. It had afforded her some independence, at least until her father returned and insisted she move into her old bedroom, not the guest quarters. Maybe by that point she’d be back in her own house with her husband, though that seemed highly unlikely under the current circumstances. Maybe she should find a place of her own. She didn’t have enough energy to worry about that now.
Rach
el set her purse on the counter, walked to the large picture window and made sure the main house was completely dark. Zelda, the maid, always went to bed with the chickens and awakened with the roosters. Meeting a millionaire’s demands was tough business.
Still restless and somewhat tense, Rachel decided a dip in the hot tub might help her relax. On that thought, she went into the bedroom and, after a brief consideration, bypassed the drawer containing her swimsuit. Normally she wouldn’t dare go outdoors in the buff, but the remote estate allowed enough privacy to stay concealed from prying eyes. Besides, she highly doubted anyone would come calling this time of night, and even if they did, they’d have to get past the security gate.
She stripped out of her clothes, wrapped an oversize towel around her torso, pulled her hair into a clip and headed toward the deck. Just to be on the safe side, she flipped off all the lights before she opened the French doors and stepped onto the deck. She stopped at the control panel mounted on the wall and turned on the jets and heater. Then in a fit of daring, she tossed the towel onto the nearby chaise and lowered herself into the tub.
After she settled into the swirling water, she leaned her head back to study the host of stars and the three-quarter moon partially concealed by the wisp of cloud. But she couldn’t fully appreciate the night sky or the country quiet. Not with so much turmoil spinning around in her brain.
She closed her eyes in an attempt to block the childish scene she and Matt had caused back at the pond. Forget that the remarkable, caring man she’d always loved had become almost a stranger and that she didn’t particularly like who she’d become in his presence.
Yet she couldn’t quite forget everything that had transpired earlier. The talk about first-time lovemaking had definitely generated more than a few memories, and not only those having to do with their wedding night. She considered all the years they’d spent together and the passion that had always existed between them, no matter what, until recently.
Even during those days when she’d been too tired, or not in the right frame of mind to make love, Matt had always had a way of wooing her right into his arms. She recalled the times he would receive a late-night emergency call, and before he left their bed, he’d always given her a kiss. A few suggestive touches. A promise to finish what he’d started. When he’d returned in the early-morning hours, he’d made good on those promises. And during those instances when she’d beaten him to the clinic, he had no qualms about locking doors and putting an end to her anticipation right there in his office.