Page 55 of Dark Side of the River

“I did wonder what had gotten into you,” she said, smiling at him as she took a chair. “If I hadn’t known better, I might have thought you’d lost your mind. You shouldn’t have asked me to eat with the family. Now your children are going to think that I’m sleeping with you.”

He chuckled. “Would that be so bad?”

She said nothing, still smiling, giving him that patient look of hers that said she knew he was joking—just as she had been. A love affair had never been in the cards for them.

“You’re my family and have been for years.” Again, she said nothing. “Margaret must be rolling over in her grave to see what I’ve done with the rest of this family. She would have never allowed things to go so wrong. I’ve made so many mistakes.” Like marrying his second wife, Lulabelle. That thought did nothing to improve his mood.

“Today wasn’t a mistake, asking Tilly to eat at your table with your family,” she assured him. He hoped she was right. She’d always encouraged him to make peace between their families.

“I like Tilly and I think Cooper likes her. But if they were to marry...”

Elaine nodded. “Like she said, it may be up to this generation to settle this old feud between the families.”

“Or to continue it. Look at Treyton.” He shook his head. He didn’t even want to get into what Cooper had told him about Treyton. Or into Cooper’s suspicions about his brother. Holden didn’t believe Treyton would go behind his back, but he could be wrong. The thought upset him, making him worry that he really had lost complete control of this family. “Then there is Duffy. I fear there isn’t a serious bone in his body, and Bailey...” He took a sip of his drink.

“You’re a good father. It’s your children who are awful,” she joked.

“They are headstrong, that’s for sure.” He looked at her. Elaine had a quiet quality that he’d come to appreciate more and more. She’d been with him through it all. He knew there could be more between them. Except he also knew she would never make the first move. He was in love with another woman and suspected Elaine knew it. He would never do anything to ruin the easygoing comradery he had with Elaine. He wondered if she felt the same way.

He took another sip of the bourbon. It burned all the way down, sending a needed warmth through him. “You always know what I need,” he said, making her smile again.

“When are you going to tell them the truth?” she asked.

“When I have no other choice.” He could feel her waiting, her gaze intent on him. “It is hard to admit a part of your life you want to forget. But when it comes to Holly Jo, I hope I’m doing the right thing.” He shook his head again before emptying his glass. “I haven’t been paying enough attention to what’s going on here at the ranch, and it is proving to be a very big mistake.”

“We’ve all made mistakes,” she said, waving it off.

He laughed. “Not you, Elaine. You’re a saint.” He liked the sound of her laugh. “Have a bourbon with me.”

She shook her head. “I have my secrets, and you aren’t going to try to get me inebriated to worm them out of me.” She rose to go to her room off the kitchen. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Holden.”

“Easy for you to say.” But Elaine had already left the room. He stared into the empty fireplace, already anxious for fall and cooler days, even though it was only late June. He wished he could see the future. With a laugh, he got up to get himself a refill, glad he couldn’t see where his life was headed. The future scared him right now, especially as he considered what Cooper had told him about Treyton.

He thought of Cooper. What would Lottie make of Tilly and Cooper spending time together? As if he didn’t already know.

AFTERSUPPER,Cooper walked Tilly out to where Deacon was hooking up the horse trailer. He couldn’t wait for the two of them to be alone. All through dinner, he’d found himself looking at Tilly, wanting her. There was so much he wanted to say to her. Once they were headed to her ranch, he was damned sure going to kiss her. Hell, he might change his mind and make love to her in the pickup if she was up to it.

“Thank you for earlier today,” she said. “I don’t know that I would have gotten out of there alive without you. And I enjoyed Sunday supper.”

“That was all my dad’s doing. I’m going to talk to him about what happened earlier today, what we found. He’ll be upset. He’ll want to find out who’s behind it. I just hope it isn’t anyone close to the families.”

She nodded as if it was her fear as well. They lived in a community where they knew everyone. When Oakley was shot, they had both wanted to believe it had something to do with coalbed methane drilling and someone from outside the community had fired that shot.

He didn’t want to talk about any of that. He just wanted to get her alone. He wanted Tilly, and by damned, they were going to be together. Just the thought of her naked in his arms was almost his undoing. He knew a spot where they could stop along the river in the trees.

But as he reached the horse trailer, he saw that Deacon had hooked it up not to Cooper’s pickup, but his own. “What’s going on?” he asked the ranch manager.

“I think it would be best if I took her,” Deacon said, and looked at Tilly as if he expected her to back him up.

To Cooper’s surprise, she did. “Deacon’s right. We don’t want any trouble, and I believe there would be if CJ is around. Your father was wonderful tonight, Coop, but he doesn’t realize how things really are, and quite frankly, they’ve been getting worse.” She must have seen his disappointment and had some of her own. She leaned toward him and gave him a quick kiss.

He grabbed her, pulling her into his arms, and kissed her passionately. She moaned against him. He swore he could feel her heart thundering like his own. She pulled back, looking as if it was as difficult for her as it was for him.

Deacon had turned away and was now climbing into his pickup.

They stood looking at each other for a long moment before she said good-night and climbed in the cab with Deacon. Cooper watched them drive away, the stock trailer with her horse inside trailing behind.

It had been one hell of a day. As he walked back into the house, he knew that Deacon was right. As his ardor cooled a little, he knew that if he’d taken her home, he would have made love to her in the pickup. That wasn’t what he wanted. Not for their first time. But he couldn’t take her up to his bed in the house and he couldn’t go to her bed in her house. The last thing he wanted to do was take her to a motel, but it might come to that. He told himself that he would come up with something. He wasn’t pushing her away. Not anymore.

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