“Yeah.“
Diana became irritated. “Well? Don’t just stop there. How did it happen?“
He gave her an odd look. “The usual way.“
“Colby, stop it. You know perfectly well what I mean.“
He exhaled slowly. “Cynthia Fulbrook was the princess of Fulbrook Corners. She was the richest kid in town, the prettiest girl and the best-dressed student at Fulbrook Corners High. She got a brand-new red convertible from her parents the day she turned sixteen, and she had her choice of any boy in school. She was a year younger than me and I’d been as dazzled by her as every other male in town.“
“How did she feel about you?“
“She found me interesting. But her parents kept a close watch on her.“
“Ah, the old forbidden fruit syndrome.“
“On both sides,“ Colby admitted. “But nothing happened between us until after I went into the service. I saw the army as a way out of Fulbrook Corners, and I took it the day I got out of high school. Eddy Spooner went with me. The summer of my nineteenth year I came home on leave and there was Cynthia, just graduated and getting ready to go off to college. She took one look at me and decided to find out what forbidden fruit tasted like.“
“And you took one look at her and decided to see what it was like to go to bed with a genuine princess?“
“That’s about it. But neither one of us were quite as grown up as we thought we were. I thought I knew all about taking precautions, and Cynthia thought she knew all about safe times of the month and other mythical means of avoiding pregnancy. The net result was that we took some chances we shouldn’t have taken.“
“And Cynthia got pregnant.“
Colby nodded grimly. “There was hell to pay. Cynthia was scared to death. Her mother was screaming at her, and her father was threatening to have me put in jail or shot. They both agreed the pregnancy should be taken care of as quickly and quietly as possible. The last option anyone considered was allowing Cynthia to marry me and have the baby.“
“So you ran off with her,“ Diana concluded.
“We thought we were in love. Or at least, I did. I also thought I had to protect her from her parents. I don’t think poor Cynthia was thinking at all. She was a nervous wreck, torn between angry parents and the guy from the wrong side of the falls. I took charge, packed her up and drove her out of town before she had a chance to reconsider. We got married in Reno, and then I took her to the army base where I was stationed. She had Brandon seven months later.“
“Brandon?“
“My son.“
Diana smiled at the quiet pride in his voice. “What happened to Cynthia?“
Colby tossed a handful of pebbles out over the falls. “Cynthia’s parents decided they could force her to come home if they threatened to cut off her inheritance. They never let up the pressure. And Cynthia did not take well to motherhood. She hadn’t wanted Brandon in the first place. The whole thing had been a stupid accident, and she decided she shouldn’t have to pay for it the rest of her life. Maybe she was right. Hell, I don’t know.“
“Who does at that age?“
“Yeah. Who knows? Cynthia and I fought a lot, and one day I came home to find her gone. She’d left a note for me telling me Brandon was at a neighbor’s and that she couldn’t take it any more. Her life had been ruined. She was going home to her parents. She wanted to start over. I never saw her again. She was killed in a freeway smashup on the interstate. Her parents never forgave me. At the funeral they told me they never wanted to see me or Brandon again. I was happy to grant them their wish.“
“And you never married again?“
Colby shook his head. “I figured I’d seen enough of marriage to last me a lifetime. Besides, I was busy with my son.
I raised Brandon by myself. Made a lot of mistakes along the way, but the kid turned out okay.“ Colby’s eyes warmed with paternal satisfaction. “He just finished his first year in college in Eugene. Did great, too. Thinks he wants to be an engineer.“
“Congratulations,“ Diana said softly. She folded her elbows on her drawn-up knees and rested her chin on her forearms. “It must have been rough at times.“
Colby grimaced. “You don’t know the half of it. Like I said, I made a lot of mistakes. Sure as hell wouldn’t want to go through it again. But Brandon and I both survived.“
“And that’s the great saga of Colby Savagar and the town of Fulbrook Corners?“
He looked at her. “That’s it.“
“I think I understand why you haven’t bothered to return before now.“
Colby’s intent gaze never left her face. “I answered your questions.“
Diana felt the warmth in her face. She glanced away. “Yes, you did.“
“I’ve got a few for you, too,“ Colby said quietly.
Pleased that he was finally showing some real interest in her background, she glanced at him. “You do?“
“Most of them can wait.“
“Oh.“ She was strangely disappointed.
“All except one.“ Colby reached out and gently tumbled her down across his chest. “And that one is a very straightforward question. All it takes is a simple yes or no to answer it.“
Instinctively Diana struggled to find her balance, but she didn’t pull away once she had braced herself. She sprawled on top of him, her face very close to his.
“Yes or no, Diana?“
The roar of the falls filled her ears and the warm fragrance of the sun-heated woods enveloped her. Gossamer plumes of mist, creatures of light and magic soared overhead. One of her jeaned legs slid between Colby’s thighs and got caught there. His body was strong and hard and infinitely inviting. His eyes were pools of gray fire waiting to blaze.
Diana realized with blinding clarity that she was falling in love.
“Yes,“ she whispered and lowered her head to kiss him.
3
He had never felt so pulsatingly alive in his life. He was going to go up in flames at any moment. The blood beat heavily in his veins, and the ache in his loins was almost painful.
Colby held on to the woman in his arms with all his strength, afraid she would try to slip away from him again the way she had slipped away every other time he’d tried to make her his.
But this time she wasn’t fighting him. This time she wasn’t trying to edge out of reach. She was giving herself to him and his head spun with the wonder of it. All the hot, fierce questions his body had been asking would finally have answers.