Page 12 of Love You
Win choked on his own laughter. “Yep. Love me some calf roping.”
Lewis wasn’t the best at reading social cues but even he realized she’d just told him to get lost. In the nicest way possible, of course. But if he stuck around much longer, Win was liable to tell him more outrageous lies that would wind up humiliating Darcy in the long run.
“I’ll be on my way, then.” Lewis stood there for a beat. “You’ll still help me transfer my records to that new software program, right?”
She’d promised, despite being bogusly engaged to another man. “Of course, Lewis. I’ll call you as soon as my workload at Garner Adventure lightens up.” He wouldn’t wait. Even though it had been more than a year since their split-up, Lewis hadn’t been able to let go. At least not of her managerial skills.
Win watched Lewis climb the bleachers to his own seat, then turned to her. “How do you know Howdy Doody?”
“We were married for two years,” she said.
Chapter Four
“How come you got divorced?” Win asked on the ride home. It had taken the rest of the rodeo for the fact that she’d been married to sink in. Shy, quiet, horny little Darcy. He never would’ve guessed it. Not in a million years. Then again, he didn’t know much about her personal life. All their conversations had either been work-related or about him.
“It didn’t work out,” was all she said, signaling that it was none of his business.
Bullshit! If they were going to be engaged he deserved to know.
“Why not?” he asked.
“It just didn’t and I’d appreciate it if we didn’t talk about it anymore.”
“That doesn’t seem fair, since I told you about Britney. Jeez, Darce, learn to share.” He got into the left lane so he could pass the slowpoke doing forty-five in a seventy-mile-an-hour zone.
“Britney was just another one of your side pieces. Lewis was my husband.” She grabbed the oh-shit handle on the roof of his Jeep. “Could you please slow down. This isn’t the Indy 500.”
He switched back to the slow lane. At least he was in front of Snail Car. “Britney was almost the mother of my child.” She’d been pregnant but as it turned out the father was some dude named Cortland. Britney had waited to give him that little piece of information until after Win had put the Rock of Gibraltar on her finger. “We were engaged.”
“For fifteen minutes, which I suppose is fourteen minutes longer than our engagement.” She grabbed the bar again. “Watch out for the guy on the left, he’s weaving like he’s drunk.”
“Stop side-seat driving. I’ve got this.” He passed the weaver and took the turnoff for Glory Junction. “We were engaged for nearly a month.” The longest month of his life.
“Why’d you tell Lewis we were getting married? For all you knew he was a guy I wanted to date.”
He slid her a sideways glance. “That dweeb?” Lewis’s jeans actually looked pressed, like he’d put a crease down the middle. And that string tie, WTF?
“Win, I was married to that dweeb.”
“We both know you can do better.”
She sneered. “Like you?”
“Don’t start that again.” He got into the slow lane to let some asshole in a Jaguar pass. “You know, Darcy, you used to be sweet.” When she’d first started working at GA she was afraid of her own shadow; now she had a smart mouth and a bad attitude. And truth be told he kind of liked it. “For the first time in my life, I’m trying to take responsibility, be a better person. You could be more supportive, you know. So what does Little Lord Fauntleroy do for a living?”
“Don’t call him that. He owns a very successful real estate company in Reno. They sell ranchettes, farms, and large parcels.”
He turned to look at her and she admonished him to watch the road. “Why, is it doing tricks? Did you used to work at the real estate agency when you lived in Reno?”
“I was Lewis’s assistant,” she said, and continued to squeeze the grab handle as if he was going to veer off the mountainous road and kill them both.
“You didn’t want to stay on after you two broke up?” He was interested. Darcy had always seemed so . . . staid. This new side of her intrigued him.
“I moved here, so how could I?” Reno was only a thirty-minute drive. Twenty if you drove it like he did.
“Why’d you leave Reno?”
“Who are you, Inspector Clouseau?” she said, and glanced at his speedometer. “My grandmother needed me.”
