“You really want me to leave?”
She swallowed hard, wondering why, if this was the right thing to do, it was hurting like some kind of breakup. “Yes.”
He stood. “Then come over here and tell me that.”
She looked up at him from where she knelt by the box on which she was writing kitchen. “You’ve got the flu. I wouldn’t want to catch it.”
“I’m better now.”
“You can’t be completely better.”
“I’m mostly better. Come here.”
“Why?”
“Because. I’ve never seen you scared of anything in your life. But I think you’re scared of me.”
“I’m not scared of you,” she said, capping the marker. “That’s silly. Why would I be scared of you?”
“That’s what I want to find out.”
She rose, dusted off her low-cut jeans and cap-sleeved T-shirt and moved closer, telling herself she’d stare him in the eye without flinching and repeat everything she’d just said. Then maybe he’d believe her. She wasn’t going to be anything less than what Buddy deserved her to be, wasn’t going to settle for “I am what I am.” She wanted to be so much more.
She stopped a few feet away from him.
“Is that the best you can do?” he taunted.
“You borrowed my toothbrush!” she accused, catching the scent of toothpaste on his breath. “When did you do that?”
“I woke up this morning while you were gone.”
“So you helped yourself to my toothbrush?”
“I had to. I’m a real clean freak when it comes to teeth.”
“Good for you. But that’s sort of a personal thing to do, don’t you think?”
“I think you’re stalling.”
She stepped closer, determined not to let him know how deeply he affected her.
When they stood only a foot apart, she stared into his eyes—the gray-green eyes that had always tormented her in some strange way—and felt the strongest magnetic pull she’d ever experienced. She’d moved too close to the sun. It was going to pull her in and burn her up. Or simply cause her to instantaneously combust.
She wasn’t sure whether she closed the gap or he did, but a moment later they were standing so close the tips of her br**sts tingled as they grazed his bare chest through her shirt. His lips hovered near her own. She could feel his breath fanning her cheek and smell the oil she’d used on his skin the night before and, for a fleeting second, imagined his mouth on hers in one of those hungry, passion-filled kisses she remembered so well from last summer….
She was hovering only inches away from complete ruin, hanging on by her fingertips, she realized dully.
And then everything that hung in the balance—her self-respect, her engagement, her escape from Dundee, her refusal to become another of Josh’s conquests—suddenly came into sharp focus, and she jumped back.
He must’ve felt something, too, because his head snapped up and he stepped away at almost the same time.
“You’re right,” he said gruffly. “Forget the damn truce, forget the friendship, forget it all.” Grabbing his boots and his keys, he left without even bothering to pick up his shirt.
CHAPTER NINE
SITTING ON THE FLOOR, her face buried in her hands while she tried to make some sense out of what had just happened, Rebecca didn’t realize that Randy had entered the house until he spoke.
“Tell me that wasn’t my best friend I just passed on the street,” he said, standing in the open doorway.
She jerked her head up. Her brother-in-law’s company was the last thing she needed right now. She had no emotional reserves left, no energy to spar with him. “I don’t know. I wasn’t there.”
His eyes narrowed as he gave her a searching look. “He was tall, blond and driving like a bat out of hell. And he didn’t seem to be wearing clothes. That ring any bells?”
“No.”
“Rebecca, he didn’t even recognize me. Only a man who’d just encountered you could be that crazed.”
Rebecca counted silently to ten and found her feet. “Randy, I don’t want to argue with you today. Maybe Josh has a new girlfriend. Maybe she lives at the trailer park. How should I know?”
“Come on. The only women in that trailer park have a houseful of kids or they’re over seventy. What did you do to him?”
“I didn’t do anything to him!” She waved a hand at the boxes and newspapers and tape. “Can’t you see I’m working here? I’m trying to get moved. Are you going to help me or not?”
He didn’t look completely convinced, but Rebecca could see him wavering.
“Randy, I’m fully dressed. I’m obviously in the middle of packing. And I’m engaged. Can’t you cut me a little slack?”
Finally he nodded. “Yeah, you want to get married too badly to screw it up. You wouldn’t get involved with another guy right now.”
“Try never,” she said.
“Okay. I’m with you. So, where does everything go?”
“This box here needs to—”
A rap on the open door caught both their attention. “Hey, babe,” Booker said, sauntering inside. “You still moving in with me today?”
Randy straightened, instead of picking up the box he’d been about to lift, and his eyes went immediately to her. “You were saying?” he muttered.
Rebecca felt her stomach drop. “Your timing is impeccable,” she told Booker.
“HEY, GUESS WHAT I just heard? You’re gonna love this one.”
Startled by his brother’s intrusion into the otherwise quiet stable, Josh jumped up and accidentally knocked over the bucket he’d been sitting on while brushing Sheza Beaut. “What’d you hear?” he asked, kicking it out of the way.
The mare stomped and nickered at the disturbance. “Whoa, girl, it’s okay,” Josh murmured, stroking the mare’s neck.
Mike, older by three years, paused at the front of the stall to lean on the gate. “Rebecca Wells is moving in with Booker Robinson.”
“What?” Josh felt as though his brother had just slugged him in the stomach. He hadn’t completely recovered from last night’s flu but until that moment, he’d been feeling much better. “Where did you hear that?”
“I stopped by the diner on my way into town just a few minutes ago. Judy said Booker and Rebecca had been in with Hatty. She heard them talking about the move.” He chuckled and rubbed his neck with one hand. “Only Rebecca would shack up with another guy when she’s supposed to be getting married in six weeks. Doyle’s probably going to have a coronary when he learns, if he doesn’t know already. Can you imagine? Having a daughter who…”