Page 33 of Wyoming True

She grimaced. “I only had one tablet with me. I left the rest at home. I didn’t think I’d need it. I’m all right,” she added quickly. “It’s just a little twinge, nothing major.” But she was lying through her teeth. She should never have run through the surf, no matter how tempting it was.

“It won’t take us long to get home,” he said. She worried him. He didn’t like that. Most women left him cold. He’d been a rounder in his younger days, interested in women only for their bodies and not much more. Most of the females in his set were sophisticated and out for an evening of indifferent pleasure, much as he’d been.

But these days he was thinking about a family, a place to belong, a woman to belong to. He’d never wanted children until he’d gone around with Mina. He could picture her as a mother, holding a baby and loving it. Loving him. But that hadn’t happened. He’d adored Mina. She’d liked him, but only as a friend.

It had made him bitter and sad when he lost her to the Texas cattle baron. All his wealth and power had meant nothing at all to her. Mina wasn’t mercenary, as most of his casual affairs had been.

The woman beside him in the back of the limousine was much the same, he realized with some surprise. She had money of her own, but she didn’t sport expensive clothes or expensive gems. She wore a gold ring with a small emerald on her right hand and a midrange watch on her left wrist. There was also a Celtic cross on a gold chain. Puzzling, for a scarlet woman to wear such a thing. But he was becoming convinced that whatever Ida was, it wasn’t a scarlet woman.

“You don’t wear your wealth,” he said abruptly.

She laughed, surprised. “No. I’m not like the Navajo, who really do wear their wealth,” she said quietly.

“They do. I served with a man who had a fortune in turquoise and silver on his person, antique jewelry.” His face hardened. “He died beside me, in Iraq.”

Her breath caught. “He was your friend.”

He nodded. “It was a blow. There were plenty of others...” He stopped and glanced at her. “I don’t like to talk about it.”

She smiled. “I won’t ask,” she assured him. “I have my own bad memories. I don’t speak of them, either.”

He didn’t know what to say. So he said nothing.

ITWASN’TAlong flight. At least, it didn’t seem long. Ida and Jake spent the time discussing the upcoming local political race. Both were surprised to note that they felt the same way about the issues. They moved on to national government, and still they were in agreement.

He laughed. “I never pictured you as a conservative,” he said.

She grinned. “I don’t act like one, do I? Appearances can be deceiving.”

“Tell me about it.” He studied her quietly at her front door, his head tilted to one side, his eyes hidden under the wide brim of his hat. “This was fun.”

“It really was,” she agreed. She was hurting rather badly, but she didn’t show it. She didn’t want pity from this man. “Thanks.”

He shrugged. “We might do it again one day.”

That was disappointing, because he sounded as if he was putting her off. She just smiled. She had cold feet, too. “That would be nice.”

“Well,” he said, not moving closer. “Good night. I’ll let you get back to your pain medication. I expect you’re hurting.”

She swallowed. “Quite a lot, I’m afraid. It was worth the pain. I loved dancing in the surf,” she added softly.

“I enjoyed it all.”

She smiled up at him. “Then good night.”

She hesitated for just a second, but he didn’t come a step closer. She unlocked her door and went inside.

He stood on her porch, his emotions in turmoil, his mind whirling. He’d wanted to kiss her good-night. So why hadn’t he?

Because he didn’t trust her. She could be the reticent woman he’d squired around tonight, or she could be putting on an act. Had her husband really been brutal to her, or was she not telling the truth about him? Suppose she’d fallen accidentally, as her ex-husband had claimed, and she’d had him sent to jail out of spite, or distaste, or for some other reason?

He didn’t know her. She seemed to be a lot of things that appealed to him, but he was wary of traps. He’d had his adventures with women who seemed like one thing and were actually something much worse.

He turned and went back to the waiting limousine. Maybe he’d take her out again one day. Or maybe he wouldn’t. Just as he got into the car, he noticed her new foreman loping up onto the front porch and knocking on the door.

He saw Ida smile at the man as she opened it and let him in. It closed behind them.

Jake told the driver to go on. He felt angry. She was having a visitor at this hour, behind closed doors. The man, her so-called bodyguard, was handsome and well built. She’d welcomed him, although supposedly in great pain with her hip.

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