Page 85 of A Twist of Faith
Alex smiled. “Oh no, I don’t mean her teaching. I know she’s an excellent teacher. She taught several classes for me while she was in graduate school. She’s only proven her competency and determination even more tonight.”
“Has she now?” Reese started to walk across the room, hoping Alex might take the hint and stay behind. No such luck. The guy kept right on following him as if he’d decided they were going to be family or something.
“Of course. You’re a walking research project.” Alex spread his hands in the air like he was making a headline. “A new accent in ninety days or less?” Alex grinned. “I never thought she’d be able to pull it off.”
Reese caught Dee’s gaze as she spoke to another woman. Her smile flickered enough to let him know she liked what she saw. Well, that made two of them. “She’s a pretty remarkable lady.”
“You have that right,” Alex said. “I couldn’t have lost the bet to a better person.”
Reese stopped and turned to face Alex, sure the guy was talking crazy. “The bet?”
“Yeah, you know. Accent modification of a severe Appalachian accent? National Convention presentation?” Reese’s smile faded as Alex kept talking and he darted a deer-caught-in-headlights look to Dee. “Nothing important. A harmless wager among friends.”
The fireworks in Reese’s stomach dropped like coal. “A wager that involved me?”
“Nothing serious, really.” Alex took a deep breath and hooked his hands on his hips, eyes focused anywhere but on Reese. Reese’s jaw tightened. “It was really about Dee’s success in her first job. How well she’d make the adjustments, a little nudge for her career. How long it would take her to hone her skills—”
“How long it would take to turn a country boy into a city one?” Reese thundered his consonants with purpose. Pain drilled a line directly to his heart. He focused the fire inside on the brunette staring back at him. Fooled by another woman. When would he ever learn?
In one glanceDee’s world started crashing. Reese’s gentle expression transformed from one of confusion, to hurt, and then hardened into anger all within a ten second span. Those same dark eyes that fifteen minutes ago had melted her with compassion now regarded her with utter mistrust. And why not? She’d tricked him. Of course, she’d never expected to fall in love with him during the process of her little wager, but that was no excuse. The beautiful bond of home and belonging severed with the fire in his gaze.
A staggering jab of loss nearly buckled her.
She’d unintentionally toyed with his emotions, but never to hurt him. Oh, how could she make things right and rescue the beautiful sweetness between them?
Reese turned to Alex and made some quick response then started for the door, one of his strides taking two or three of hers.
“Reese, wait please.”
He didn’t so much as pause, but kept marching forward out of the ballroom and down the hall, a man on a mission to leave his liar-of-a-girlfriend far behind.
“Please, let me explain.” Her voice echoed off the tiles, coming back to her in full desperation.
“I’ve done nothing but listen to your lies since I first met you, Doc.” He turned as he pushed open the doors to the cold November night, the breeze brushed gooseflesh up her bare arms. “I’m not listening anymore.”
“They weren’t lies. It might have started out as a game, but that was only—”
“A game?” He seared her with a look before stepping out into the night. The door slammed behind him like an exclamation mark.Thoughtless choice of words. She jerked open the door and quickly followed, tripping along the lamp lit path.
“No, not a game. Not now. I had no idea I’d grow to care for you and your family so much. It was only supposed to be a business opportunity, not—” The internal chill met the external one and she shuddered. “Everything changed. Everything.”
He waved her away, but his pace slowed. “Get back inside, woman. If you don’t catch your death, you’re gonna fall over and kill yourself. We’re finished with this, Dee.”
“I am not leaving until you listen to me.” Dee ran to catch up but her heel caught in a crack of the sidewalk. She released a cry as her ankle crumbled beneath her.
Reese’s caught her before the pavement did. His warm palms ran down the length of her arms to steady her and the pain in his eyes forced her tears to the surface. “I’m so sorry.”
He released her and stepped back. “Get back inside, Dee. Now.”
His harsh words rasped with hurt.
She whimpered as it stung. “Oh Reese, I never meant to hurt you.” She’d heard that phrase before, but not from her own lips. Her mother? Pain knifed a fresh wound. “It all started as a simple bet. That was all. I never imagined falling in love with you.”
“Love? This is what you think love is like?” He stepped back and shoved a hand through his curls. “Love has nothing to do with a wager or a bet—and it sure don’t have an accent. Love isn’t about yourself, Dee or what you can get from it.”
“I know that.”
“Do you?” Reese shook his head. “What happened if you won the wager?”
