“Nice of you to include me in on the decision-making process, Madam Executive.“
The edge that had appeared in his voice jolted her. Diana glanced at him nervously, unable to determine his mood.
Colby’s gaze was cool and direct. He was staring into her soul. “I’m sorry,“ she said a little helplessly.
“Yeah, so am I. Sorry it took you this long to tell me. Sorry you tried to shoulder the whole burden alone in your usual Diana-the-Amazon style. Sorry I didn’t pin you down and wring the truth out of you earlier. I knew something was wrong. I shouldn’t have let things go on this long. Ah, well. Live and learn. And I obviously still have a lot of things to learn about you, Diana.“
Anger began to burn within her. Diana was grateful for it. It drove out some of the cold chill that had been creeping through her. “I’m sorry if I didn’t handle this in exactly the way you think I should have handled it, but the fact is, I haven’t had any experience along this line. I’ve been going crazy trying to figure out what to do.“
His brows rose. “What’s so damned hard about figuring out that the first thing you should have done was tell me?“
“Damn you, Colby.“ Diana brushed her wind-tousled hair back out of her eyes and looked at him with despair and rage. “I wasn’t sure you’d want to know. We’re involved in an affair that’s only scheduled to last for the summer, remember?“
“Oh, Christ. Not that again. You’re the one who always talks about our relationship as if it was scheduled only for the summer. I’ve told you a dozen times there’s no need to put a time limit on it.“
“Colby, this may come as a shock to you, but I have to make plans. I can’t do that when everything’s open-ended and casual. I need to know a few basic facts so I can organize my life. I don’t know the first thing about having a baby.“
“Lucky for you, I do.“
She stared at him. Some of the warmth began to return to her midsection. “What’s that supposed to mean?“
“Just what it sounds like.“ He fished around inside the picnic basket for another sandwich. “I’m an expert on kids, remember? You want cheese or egg salad?“
“Neither. Colby, stop fooling around with the sandwiches and tell me exactly what you mean.“
He looked at her. “Just what I said. Trust me, I know what I’m doing.“
“I wish I did.“
“Relax, honey. We’ll take this one step at a time.“
Diana searched his face. “What’s the first step?“
“Simple. We get married.“
Diana couldn’t move for an instant. “I knew,“ she finally whispered. “Deep down inside, I knew you were different.
I knew you would never run from something like this. Thank you, Colby. Your offer means more to me than I can possibly say.“ She dashed the back of her hand across her eyes to wipe away the moisture. Then she sniffed. “But I can’t marry you.“
“The hell you can’t.“
She threw herself into his arms, her eyes damp with more unshed tears. “Don’t you understand? It wouldn’t be right. Listen to me, Colby, I’ve thought about this a lot.“
“Knowing you, honey, you’ve thought about it too much. You have a tendency to overanalyze things.“ His arms tightened roughly around her. “This is not a complicated situation, Diana. Don’t try to make it complicated.“
Her fingers clenched into the fabric of his shirt as she buried her face against his chest. “I can’t put you through the same situation you were forced into twenty years ago. You’ve made it clear that once was enough.
I won’t let history repeat itself for you. It’s not fair. It’s just not fair.“
“My sweet stubborn little amazon,“ Colby said into her hair. “History has nothing to do with this. And neither does fairness. We’re talking about you and me. We’re going to have a baby. That means we get married.“
At sunset the last of the sun’s rays turned the waterfall first to gold and then to scarlet. Colby privately decided he’d never seen the veil of Chained Lady Falls look more like blood than it did that evening. A curious sense of lightness flowed through him.
For the first time since he had returned to Fulbrook Corners, he had the feeling that he was finally going to complete the unfinished business he sensed had brought him here.
Being an expectant father was playing tricks on his mind, he thought, amused. He had the oddest feeling that he was somehow holding both past and future in his hands, and that the link between the two was Diana.