by Francis Ray
“She’s not my woman!”
“And it’s eating you up inside.”
Kane raised his fist. The younger man didn’t flinch. “I’d let you beat hell out of me, big brother, if I thought it would make you feel better. It won’t. Take Victoria to my trailer.”
Kane looked at Victoria. What he saw made his gut twist violently again. Her face was pinched in fear. Her arms were folded protectively around his damn hat, her purse lay a few feet away.
He grabbed her purse in one hand and her elbow in the other.
His hands were trembling, but his voice was as sharp and as biting as a bullwhip. “I told you to go home. Don’t you ever think before you do something?”
He stalked through the open gate without a backward glance. “Everyone knows how unpredictable animals are, and nobody but a fool would stand in front of the gate unless they know how to scale a fence.”
Going up the steps of a trailer home, he opened the door and pushed her inside. “Can you scale a fence, Tory?”
She mutely looked at him.
Without benefit of undoing the buttons, he tore the ruined shirt from his body leaving only his white tee shirt. He twisted the faucet on the kitchen sink and water gushed froth. He washed his hands. Finished, he jerked a paper towel. The entire roll hit the floor.
He cursed.
She whimpered.
His hands fisted.
His angry gaze settled on his hat. “Stop clutching that damned hat,” he ordered. Snatching the Stetson from her fingers, he flung it to the floor. “It doesn’t mean a thing to me. It can’t feel pain . . . it can’t . . .”
His eyes closed, his hands shook. He drew in a ragged breath.
“Kane, if you’re going to fuss, do you possibly think you could do it while you’re holding me?” Her voice was a wobbly thread of sound.
“Oh, God, Tory. If I touch you . . .”
She bit her lip. If Kane didn’t put his arms around her, she was going to lose what little control she had managed to hang onto. She needed to feel his strength. “P-please,” she whispered. “I—” Her voice broke.
He swept her into his arms, felt her body tremble. His arms tightened. “You’re safe, honey. Don’t cry.” He sat on the couch because he wasn’t sure how much longer he could stand. He settled her in his lap. “I’m sorry for yelling. Don’t cry, honey. The calf probably would have ran on past you. I’ll bet being bulldogged scared him as much as he scared us.” Knowing he shouldn’t, yet unable to help himself, Kane kissed her eyelids, the curve of her lips.
“I-I don’t think that’s possible. I was so frightened.”
“I should have made sure you were safe.” Self-condemnation laced his voice.
She pushed away from his chest and studied his dark brown face. “It wasn’t your fault.” Trembling fingers tenderly stroked his cheek again and again as if in reassurance. “It was mine. I shouldn’t have followed you.” Her body shuddered. “If anything had happened to you, I never would have forgiven myself.”
Ebony eyes held hers. “You were scared for me?”
“When you grabbed that animal, all I could think of was that if you were hurt it was because you were trying to protect me. You told me you weren’t a rodeo performer.” She swallowed. “Kane, I know you’re probably tired of hearing it, but I am sorry.”
“Now that you’re safe and my heart is out of my throat, I’m not. I got you into my arms again.” His hands stroked the curve of her back. “If you don’t want to be thoroughly kissed, speak now or be prepared not to speak for a long time.”
Victoria glanced up through tear-spiked lashes. “I don’t think we should.”
“Probably not, but we are if you aren’t off my lap in three seconds and counting.”
Knowing how much she wanted to stay gave her the will power to move from the security of his arms onto the couch.
Kane immediately pushed to his feet. “If you’re feeling better, I’ll help you find your car.”
She didn’t move. Instead she watched Kane pick up the roll of paper towels and slip them back into the holder. Despite her refusal of his counteroffer, he had not hesitated to protect her from danger, then from himself. He always put her first.
How many men wouldn’t have taken advantage of her vulnerability or would have remembered she needed help in locating her car? How many men would be that generous or caring? Kane deserved better from her than she had given him.
The words began softly, cautiously, then gathered strength and momentum. “Lavender and Lace is the only thing I’ve ever been successful at. Mother finished summa cum laude at Spelman: Daddy finished magna cum laude at Morehouse. They were number five and six in their med-school graduating class at the University of Texas.
“My parents balanced their social and professional lives as skillfully as they wielded a scalpel. They lectured all over the country. The best I ever did was the seventieth percentile. They never said anything, but I always felt somehow I had let them down.” She closed her eyes for a moment, then focused on her clasped hands in her lap.
“They died in a boating accident when I was twelve. I went to live with my flamboyant grandmother and indulgent step-grandfather who loved me, but again I was overshadowed. I couldn’t get over the feeling that I should be smarter, wittier, prettier.” She looked up and met Kane’s intense gaze without faltering.
“I met Stephen when I was a junior in college. He was handsome, a smooth talker, and a hustler. He made me feel important. I got a marriage license instead of the degree in business I always wanted.” Her lashes lowered, concealing the pain in her eyes. “Lavender and Lace is the only thing I’m good at.”
Kane was stunned by Victoria’s confession. He remembered sensing her insecurities the night of the storm, and couldn’t believe she hadn’t outgrown them. Despite her devastating divorce, despite her grandparents’ wishes to the contrary, she had taken charge of her life, stood on her own feet and succeeded.
“My life revolves around my stores. I’d do anything to save them except put myself at risk emotionally. You want something from me I can’t give,” she finished softly.
Kane heard the fear and vulnerability behind Victoria’s words and wanted nothing more than to lift her chin, pull her into his arms, and kiss her until she was breathless and aching with desire. But that was what she was afraid of . . . the mindlessness that overtakes a woman when passion rages through her body. She didn’t want anything in her life she couldn’t control or couldn’t walk away from. She didn’t want another failure. Not even in a sham marriage.
But what made his heart swell with pride and love was knowing she was trying to protect him from being hurt as well.
It had taken a great deal of courage to bare her soul to him, to confess her so-called failures. Obviously, she thought it would lessen her in his eyes. But it had only strengthened his feelings for her. This was the caring, compassionate, courageous woman that he had carried in his heart for so long. If it was within his power, he was going to take that haunted look from her eyes and show her the good things about herself she didn’t see.
To accomplish that, he needed her to say yes to his proposal. He now realized he had gone about trying to convince her the wrong way. She was too stubborn and too wary of men to be pushed into a marriage that wasn’t on her terms, but she could be lured. Thank goodness, he finally knew how to entice her. He was going to appeal to her greatest strength, her compassion for others. He only hoped he was a good enough actor to pull it off.
“I guess I came on pretty strong at times,” Kane said mildly.
Her head lifted. “A little.”
“Sorry, Tory. I guess after we kissed in the truck my brain went south.” As Kane expected, Victoria ducked her head and began fiddling with the clasp of her purse again. “I can’t believe I found someone to solve all my problems and I blew it.”
Her head snapped up. “Problems?”
This time it was Kane who ducked his head. “I’m usually p
retty self-sufficient, but lately I’ve gotten tired of going home to an empty house and eating meals alone.” He sent Victoria a slanting glance. “If I go out with my married friends and their wives, I feel like a fifth wheel. Or I’m given the unwanted name of some woman their wives think would be perfect for me. If just the married guys and I go out, I have to listen to them talk about their wives. If I go out with my single friends, by the end of the evening they’re ready to pick up anything breathing. I’m left alone again. That ever happen to you?”
Slowly she nodded. “I learned to take my car whenever I’m meeting single friends for dinner or drinks.”
Kane’s broad shoulders slumped as he crossed his arms and leaned against the counter top in the kitchen. “Then, there are the times when I stay home. I’m hungry, but nothing in the refrigerator appeals to me and even if I felt like driving, I don’t know what it is I want to eat. Nothing on the TV is worth watching, and the book I wanted to read can’t hold my interest past a couple of pages.”
Kane sighed loud and eloquently. “I don’t realize I’m lonely until the phone rings and I break my neck getting to it. Nine out of ten times it’s a solicitor and it takes all my willpower not to hang up on them.”
This time Victoria spoke without being prompted. “I guess most single people feel lonely once in a while.”
“You been to your high school reunion yet?”
Victoria blinked at the seemingly arbitrary change of subject. “No.”
Kane suspected Victoria probably thought bulldogging the calf had rattled his brain. “Last year at my high school reunion, I was the only one out of my class of two hundred and seventy eight that hadn’t married. Some were working on marriage number two or three.” He shook his dark head. “I’m going to pass on going to my college reunion in July.”
“Why?” Victoria asked, unwittingly walking right into Kane’s trap.
“Everyone will be asking if I got married and I’ll have to say no. I’ve already heard from a few of the guys. As soon as I tell them I’m single they start trying to match me up with someone.” His gaze sought hers. He couldn’t tell if she was swallowing his line or not. For good measure, he tried to make his voice sound as sad as he hoped his face looked. “You would have been perfect and saved me a lot of trouble. No one would have suspected that you were pretending to like this face of mine.”
“There is nothing wrong with your face,” Victoria snapped defensively.
He didn’t smile, but his heart did. “After Bonnie explained your problem, I really started looking forward to going back to Prairie View. You would have been by my side, my arm around your waist, maybe a kiss or two.”
Victoria bit her lip.
Kane wondered if he should have left the kissing out. No. She needed to know up front they were going to act like a happily married couple in public. He only hoped one day it wouldn’t be acting.
“If we had gotten married it sure would have helped me out. You don’t know how tired I get of the measuring looks from my friends when they talk about their wives and families. Even my mother has started giving me a hard time. I stopped telling her when I was coming home because I don’t want to be cornered by some woman my mother thought would make me a good wife.”
At least that was the truth. The last time he had gone to Tyler to visit his parents, not less than three women just happened to drop by. Any fool could have seen it was a setup. After the last one had gone, he warned his mother if she ever did that again, he would get in his truck and leave.
“She sounds like Grandmother,” Victoria said.
Kane sighed. “She keeps telling me she wouldn’t worry about me so much if I had a wife to take care of me. I can take care of myself, but it would be kind of nice having someone who worried about me if I was late coming home. Being married would have given me some breathing space with my mother and friends, a wife for the reunion, and someone to come home to.”
Unfolding his arms, Kane pushed away from the counter. He wish he could tell if she was weakening. “We could have really helped each other out. I guess I better see you to your car.”
He walked over to her, grasped her gently beneath the elbow and helped her to her feet. As soon as she was upright, he stepped back. “I’m sorry I blew things with you by coming on too strong. I’d ask for another chance, but I know how difficult it is for you to trust men.”
“I trust you, Kane,” she defended.
“Enough to give me a second chance?” he asked. The ringing silence and her downcast head was his answer. “I bet Matt wouldn’t have any trouble finding a wife.”
Her head snapped up. “He’d have even more trouble. Pretty men usually have pretty egos. You’re kind and dependable.”
“You just described a dog I once had.”
She hit his chest with a closed fist. “Don’t say that!”
His dark brows drew together. “Tory, you sure you feel all right? You want to lie down?”
“No, I don’t.” She took a deep breath, looked into Kane’s eyes, which held so much concern for her, and knew what she had to do. “I hope you continue to be this solicitous about me after we’re married.”
He went still.
“We both have reasons for getting married. I don’t see why we can’t help each other.” She wasn’t going to find a better man than Kane to marry. She doubted if one existed. “Three months living together should be enough time to get your mother off your back and get you through your college reunion.”
“Done,” Kane blurted and extended his hand.
She lifted hers. “My grandmother and your mother will just have to be happy with a year of marriage.”
He expected a lifetime with her. His hand closed over hers, his thumb stroked her skin. “You’ll make a beautiful bride.”
The velvet softness of his voice caressed her as much as his thumb did. Liking both too much, she quickly withdrew her hand. “My grandmother wants to meet you. The entire family will be there, but I don’t want to mention our engagement. I couldn’t stand all the questions.”
His dark brow arched. “Are you sure that’s the only reason?”
She frowned. “What other reason could there be?”
“I’ll give you one guess,” he answered with a wicked smile.
Her eyes blazed. “Will you give it a rest! If we’re going to be married I can’t be bothered watching every thing I say for fear you’re going to take it the wrong way.” Victoria gave him her grandmother’s address. “Dinner is at seven. It’s up to you if you want to come.” The door shut with a decided snap behind her.
“Well, I’ll be.” Kane threw back his head and laughed. Victoria really knew how to dig her spurs into a man’s hide. He rubbed his hand across his face. He had pushed too hard, but more than his next breath he wanted to see pride and love in her eyes when she looked at him. He should have known he’d be greedy where she was concerned.
After putting on one of Matt’s shirts, Kane snatched up his misshapen hat, rammed it on his head and followed Victoria. He had a feeling this time she would wander the parking lots located around the stockyards all afternoon without coming back to ask him for help.
Kane caught up with her less than thirty feet away. “Promise me you’ll put me in my place if I get out of line again.”
The rigidness left her shoulders. She stopped and looked up at him. A shy smile curved her lips. “I will . . . if you promise to help me find my car.”
“It’s a deal, but there’s one thing we forgot about our engagement.”
“What?” she asked wearily.
“This.” His head dipped, his lips took gentle possession of hers.
* * *
“Would you care for more apple pie, Kane?” asked Clair.
Swallowing the last bite of his second large slice, Kane shook his head. “No, thank you, ma’am.”
Clair beamed at him, then at Victoria, as if they had given her something precious and rare.
Kane studied the petite yet
regal older woman in ecru lace and pearls. Clair Benson wasn’t what he had expected. She was charming and genuinely warm. She treated him like the proverbial prodigal son. Within two minutes of his and Victoria’s arrival it was also obvious that his new fiancée was Clair’s favorite among the fourteen other assorted relatives.
Despite their being late, Clair had insisted two chairs be brought into the living room so they could sit next to her. When they went in to dinner, Clair’s husband escorted Victoria, and Kane took Clair’s surprisingly firm arm.
“Do you come from a large family, Kane?”
“Grandmother, please. You’ve been quizzing him all evening,” Victoria said.
“Kane doesn’t mind. Do you, dear?”
Kane smiled. “I’ve got a feeling that whether I minded or not, you’d still want an answer.”
“Age does have its privileges.”
Victoria groaned.
“I’m the oldest of three children. The baby’s a girl.” Kane grinned. “But since she is about to get her chemical engineering degree from A&M, she doesn’t want us calling her ‘baby’ any longer.”
“I thought it was just you and Matt,” Victoria said, before she thought.
“It never came up.”
Victoria set back in her chair. It had never come up because she hadn’t asked him anything, except how much money he wanted for his signature. “You must be proud of her.”
“We all are.”
“You should be.” Clair nodded to Henry and rose. Everyone followed suit. “Victoria, take everyone into the living room. I’d like to show Kane something that I’m proud of.”
“Grandmother, I—”
“I know you’d be happy to do it for me.” Clair laid a hand on Kane’s arm, then placed one on her husband’s, who had come to her side. “We’ll be in shortly.”
Victoria heard the buzz of her relatives around her and knew they were speculating about her grandmother’s attachment to Kane. If she wasn’t so grateful that her grandparents had appeared to like Kane on sight, she might have balked. “Shall we go into the living room?”