by Diana Palmer
“It isn’t our fault that the educational system is in chaos,” Polk reported. “We’re just the innocent victims of bureaucracy.”
Guy nodded. “That’s right.”
Emmett sat down and crossed his long legs. “Victims or not, I’ll thank you to start minding your manners at school. Or I might just forget to pay the electric bill. How would you watch television then?” he concluded smugly.
Amy sighed. “Well, Emmett, I guess we’d just have to watch it by candlelight.”
Melody had put the children and Emmett forcibly out of her mind several times over the weeks that followed. Christmas came and went. She exchanged cards and presents with Randy and Adell, but it was still a lonely time.
It disturbed her that she kept staring at dark-haired men because they looked a little like Emmett. Remembering how he’d kissed her before he went back to San Antonio didn’t help her nerves, either. She seemed to walk around in a perpetual state of nervousness, jumping when people came into the office.
“You are a case,” Kit said, shaking her head when Melody leaped back from the filing cabinet as she came into the office after work.
“Nerves,” Melody agreed. “I have nerves. It comes from mollycoddling nervous investors all day. It’s a wonder I haven’t shaken my desk apart.”
“Work is all it is, hmm?” Kit asked.
“Of course,” Melody replied.
The dark-haired woman only smiled. “Have you heard that Emmett and the kids moved to Jacobsville?”
Melody stopped filing and stared at her. “They did?”
“Emmett’s accident must have made him do some hard thinking about his life. He phoned Logan last night and said he’s given up rodeo to manage Ted Regan’s cattle ranch in Jacobsville.”
“Has he sold his own ranch?”
“He hired a manager. I suppose he’ll make more than enough to keep his own place going until the economy gets a bit better. Meanwhile, he’s having plenty of time with his kids.”
“They all need that,” Melody replied. “Guy especially.”
“You don’t like Guy, do you?”
“I don’t really dislike him. But he hates me. He can’t forget that I helped his mother leave. I can’t say I blame him. Divorce is hard on little children.”
“It’s hard on any kind of children, even big ones,” Kit replied. “Why don’t you go home? I’ll take over here until Logan’s ready to leave.”
“How nice of you!”
“Well, not really. I enjoy spending time with my husband. Since we both work at different jobs now, every second is precious.”
Melody envied her that happiness, but she didn’t mind an early night. She said so.
“You’re doing a terrific job here,” Kit said before she left. “We both appreciate you.”
Melody grinned. “You’re only saying that because I don’t wear blouses cut to my knees or have a breathy voice.”
“That, too.” Kit chuckled.
Melody waved and went back to her lonely apartment. A telephone call from her brother shocked her speechless.
“You never phone me,” she reminded Randy. “I even had to call you at Christmas. Is something wrong?”
“You know me pretty well, don’t you? It’s not that anything is wrong. It’s just that…we have a sort of awkward situation,” he began slowly.
“Randy?” she persisted.
There was an audible sigh. “I don’t know how to tell you, and you can’t tell anyone…especially not Logan or Tansy. Not yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because if it gets back to Emmett, I don’t know what we’ll do!”
She was getting worried. “Randy, what is it?” she said proddingly.
“Well, it’s like this. Adell’s pregnant.”
Melody remembered belatedly congratulating her brother, but the news was a complication that wasn’t going to make things easier for Emmett and the kids. A new child in a mixed family always brought turmoil. It was a shame, too, when Emmett and the kids had just gotten settled into a new life in Jacobsville.
On the other hand, she was going to be an aunt again, and a real one this time, because Randy was her own blood. It would be his first child. She couldn’t be sad about that. But she hurt for Emmett. It wasn’t going to be easy for him to learn that his ex-wife was pregnant by the man who’d taken her from him. It was going to cause all sorts of problems.
Emmett stopped outside Logan’s office and hesitated. He hadn’t wanted to come here, but Melody was playing on his senses. He’d missed her. Christmas, even with the kids, had been oddly lonely for him this year. There was a hollow place inside him that a casual date couldn’t fill any longer. He’d brooded over what to do about it, and he’d finally come to the conclusion that he needed to see Melody again, to make sure he wasn’t overreacting to her.
He’d looked for days for an excuse to show up here. He’d finally found one, in the guise of letting Logan invest some money for him. But he hadn’t telephoned first. He wanted to know if Melody was as attracted to him as he was to her. The element of surprise was going to tell him that.
He opened the door and walked in. She was typing at the computer. She didn’t see him at first, not until he closed the door and the sound distracted her.
She looked up with her usual welcoming smile for clients, but it fell short when she saw the man in the gray suit and Stetson standing just inside the door.
“Emmett!” she said involuntarily.
The light in her eyes couldn’t lie. Emmett smiled, because she was glad to see him and it showed. He liked the way she looked in that figure-hugging beige dress, with her long hair in a neat French braid and her dark eyes warm in her freckled face.
“Hello,” he replied. He moved close to the desk, feeling his body throb, his heart race as he drank in the sight and scent of her from scant inches away. His voice dropped an octave involuntarily in reaction. “You look well.”
“I am. I’m fine. How about you?” she asked worriedly.
“No more problems. I have a hard head,” he replied. His eyes slid over her face and down to the mouth he’d possessed briefly so long ago. It made him hungry to remember how eager and willing she’d been. “Emmett!”
The exclamation came from Logan, who’d walked out with a letter to find his cousin standing over his flustered secretary.
“Hello, Logan,” Emmett said, extending a hand.
“You look prosperous,” Logan murmured with a smile. “What brings you to Houston?”
“I needed some advice. I was about to make an appointment…”
“No need for that. I’m not busy right now. Come on in.” He handed the letter to Melody and tried not to notice that her hands were trembling. Emmett obviously had a powerful effect on her.
“I wanted to see you about some investments,” Emmett said when they were sitting in Logan’s office.
“Imagine that,” Logan said thoughtfully. “You said you didn’t trust the stock market.”
“I’ve changed,” the other man replied doggedly.
“Indeed you have. How is it, being a full-time father?”
Emmett tossed his hat onto a nearby chair. “It’s hell,” he said flatly. “I get all the hassles now. I never realized how much trouble three little kids could be. In fact, they’re never out of trouble.”
“Now that you’re home at night, that will change, I imagine,” came the droll reply. “You’ve spent a lot of time avoiding them.”
“You know why.”
Logan nodded. “Yes, I do. Are you finding your way out of the pit, Emmett?” he asked kindly.
Emmett ran a lean hand through his thick, dark hair. “Maybe. I don’t know. A lot of things have changed since I had the fall. Maybe I was looking at it all the wrong way.”
“Divorce isn’t easy on anyone,” Logan said quietly. “It would kill me if Kit left me, for any reason. I don’t know if I could take it if it was for another man.”
“That’s how
I felt. I thought I loved Adell,” he said heavily. “I really did. But now I’m not sure it wasn’t just hurt pride.”
“Having her run out in the middle of the night with the other man involved couldn’t have helped.”
“It didn’t. I guess maybe I understand why she did it now, though. She isn’t a fighter,” he added, echoing the words Melody had spoken. “She probably figured I’d play on her sympathy and talk her out of it if I had the chance.” He smiled faintly. “That’s what would have happened. She never could stand up to me in a fight.” He leaned back. “It’s all water under the bridge. I have to go on living. So does she. I want to make some provisions for the kids, in case anything happens to me. That’s really why I’m here. I’ve got a little spare cash and I want to put it where it can grow.”
Logan considered it for a moment, his eyes narrowed. “All right. I’ve got a few ideas. How long are you going to be in town?”
“Until tomorrow,” came the surprising answer. “Mrs. Jenson is living in, so that she can watch the kids while I’m away. I…have a few other things to do while I’m in town.”
“Where can I reach you?”
Emmett gave him the number at his hotel. “Until six,” he said. “I may have plans for the evening.”
“Oh,” Logan said with a chuckle. “Confinement getting to you, is it? I gather the plans have something to do with a woman.”
“Well, yes.”
“From what I remember, the kids would make any sort of relationship impossible. I haven’t forgotten that they were trying to take off the door of the bathroom when Kit and I were in there, at your ranch.”
Emmett grinned at the darkly accusing stare. “So they did. Good thing the screwdriver was too big, wasn’t it?”
Logan gave in to laughter. Emmett was as incorrigible as his kids.
He showed the other man out, but Emmett seemed strangely reluctant to leave. Perhaps he wanted to tell Melody something about the children, Logan decided, so he said his goodbyes and went back into his office.
Melody was typing nonsense into the computer, because Emmett’s stare made her too nervous to function.
“Is there something you needed to ask me?” she said finally, dark eyes lifting to his.
“Yes,” he said with a husky laugh. “What are you doing for dinner?”
Doing for dinner. Doing for dinner. The words passed through her mind with very little effect. She stared at him blankly. The telephone rang loudly and she jumped, fumbling the receiver all over the desk before she finally got it to her ear and gave the correct response.
“I’ll put you through to Mr. Deverell,” she said breathlessly, and buzzed Logan to give the caller’s identity.
When she put the receiver back down, she was still very visibly shaken.
Emmett had his Stetson by the brim and he was watching her with a half-amused look that glittered in his green eyes. “Looking for excuses not to go?” he asked softly.
“Oh, no!” she replied huskily. “But why?”
“Why not?”
Her pulse started to run away. She wanted to refuse. She should. But somehow she couldn’t. “I…what time?” she asked.
“Six.”
“This isn’t a good idea, you know,” she said. “I’m still Randy’s sister, and the past hasn’t changed. Not at all.”
He moved closer to the desk and his lean hand toyed with a notepad on its paper-littered surface. His pale green eyes searched her dark ones quietly. “That’s true. Maybe I’ve changed. I enjoy your company. I want to take you out for a meal. That’s all,” he added flatly. “You won’t have to fight me off over dessert and coffee.”
She laughed nervously. “That was the last thought in my mind.”
He didn’t believe that. But she relaxed, and he felt glad that he’d said it. He didn’t want to make her uneasy. She’d been too much on his mind lately and he wanted to find a way to purge her from it. Perhaps closer acquaintance would solve the problem for him. Often women who seemed nice weren’t, and they couldn’t keep up the act when a man took the time to get to know them.
Melody was relieved by his blunt statement. There had been a time or two when she had found herself having to talk her way out of a difficult situation.
“I’ll see you at six, then,” he said.
He stuck the Stetson back on his head and went to the door. He paused there and turned. “I’m rabidly old-fashioned in one respect. I like dresses.”
She grinned impishly. “Yes, but how do you look in a dress?” she asked curiously.
His pale eyes splintered with good humor. “Wear what you damned well please, then,” he mused. “See you later.”
Melody owned one nice dress. It was black with a silvery draped bodice and spaghetti straps. It flattered her full-figured body without making her sexiness blatant. She coiled her hair around the top of her head and wore more makeup than usual. The final touch was high heels. Most men she dated were her height or shorter. But Emmett was very tall, and she could get away with wearing high heels when she went out with him. She liked the way she felt when she was dressed up; very feminine and sensuous.
Now, she wondered, why should she think of herself as sensuous? She had to douse that thought before Emmett read it in her face. She didn’t want any complications.
He was prompt. The doorbell sounded exactly at six. She opened the door and there he was, very elegant in dark slacks and a white dinner jacket with a red carnation in the buttonhole of his lapel. The stark white contrasted handsomely with his lean, dark face and dark hair. He had on a cream-colored Stetson to set off the elegance.
“You look very nice,” she said huskily.
“Stole my line,” he mused, grinning at her. “Ready to go?”
“I’ll just get my wrap and my purse.”
She draped a black mantilla over her shoulders and picked up her small black crepe purse. She checked to make sure Alistair had water and cat food. He was curled up on the couch asleep, so she didn’t disturb him.
Emmett waited while she locked the door before he took her hand in his and led her along the corridor.
If someone had told her that holding hands could be a powerful aphrodisiac she might have laughed, but with Emmett, it was. His lean, strong hand curled into her fingers with confident possession. Beside him she felt protected and unexpectedly feminine. She couldn’t remember ever feeling that way with another date.
He saw her expression as he led her into the empty elevator and pushed the down button. He’d let go of her hand to do that. Now he leaned elegantly against the rail inside the elevator as it started to move and just watched her, registering the conflicting emotions that washed over her face.
The tension between them was chaotic. She could barely breathe as she met his eyes and felt her knees go weak.
“You look lovely,” he said, his voice deep, his eyes faintly glittery. “Black provides a backdrop for all the color in your hair and your face.” His eyes fell to her draped bodice and lingered there, making her feel shivery all over.
“How do you like Jacobsville, you and the children?” she asked quickly, hoping to distract him.
“What? Oh, so far, so good. It’s no picnic, but I think we’re all getting the hang of it. It’s going to be the best thing that ever happened to the children,” he added quietly. “I honestly didn’t realize how much out of hand they’d gotten.”
He looked broody for a minute, and Melody wondered if there wasn’t more to it than that. But before she could voice her opinions, the elevator door opened and they were on their way out.
He stopped, taking her hand back in his and holding it warmly while he searched her eyes. “I like it better like this. Don’t you?” he asked softly, and he didn’t smile. His eyes dropped to her mouth. “For now,” he added, very gently.
Chapter 6
The cool air on her face felt good as they left the apartment house and walked down the street. Melody was still vibrating from the heady experienc
e of being on a date with Emmett. He, on the other hand, seemed perfectly nonchalant. Her heart was racing like a mad thing while they walked, hand in hand.
He led her to the car and unlocked it, but when he partially opened her door, he stood still, so that she couldn’t get past him. She was so close that she could smell his tangy cologne, feel the warm strength of his body. It made her react in an unexpected way, and she moved back against the car a little self-consciously.
“You’re nervous of me. Why?” he asked.
She twisted her bag in her hands and laughed. “I’m not, really.” She shrugged. “It’s just that it’s been a long time since I’ve been out for the evening.”
He tilted her face up to his quiet eyes. His thumb smoothed against her chin and her full lower lip, making sensation after sensation wash over her. She wasn’t fooling him. He read quite accurately her helpless physical response to him. Whatever else she was, she wasn’t experienced. That was unique to a man who deliberately chose women for their sophistication and disinterest in involvement. Melody was different.
“That’s the only reason?” he asked, probing softly.
She couldn’t hide her expression quickly enough. “Well…maybe not the only one,” she said demurely.
He smiled with pure delight. He bent and his lips brushed gently across her wide forehead. She smelled of soap and skin cream and floral cologne. The mingled scents appealed to his senses. “There’s nothing to worry about,” he said quietly. “Nothing at all.” He moved away from her then, still good-natured. “I hope you like a smorgasbord of choices. This restaurant has international fare.”
The change from tenderness to companionship was unsettling, but Melody managed the shift. “I love international fare,” she said.
He opened the car door the rest of the way and helped her inside. All the way to the restaurant, the most intimate thing he discussed was the stock market and the state of the economy. By the time they disembarked, Melody could have been forgiven for thinking she’d dreamed that gentle kiss in the parking lot.