A Dark & Stormy Knight: A McKnight Romance (McKnight Romances) (29 page)

“You and Tracy,” she said it out load,
just to see how it sounded.

“I should have known you’d be shocked. I
worked so damned hard at focusing on the negatives, the drinking and all the
crap that went with it, because if I didn’t, I’d remember the good stuff, and I
couldn’t afford to do that. I figured the girl I fell in love with didn’t exist
anymore, but well, she’s sober now, and being around her feels so good. We talk
on the phone every day. It feels like old times.”

Part of her wanted to ask,
What about
us? Who’s going to help me break the family curse?
But then she started
laughing. She’d gotten herself all worked up, thinking he wanted to be more
than friends, and all along he’d been pining for his ex-wife.

He looked at her as if she’d lost her
mind. She should stop laughing and reassure him. She tried. She really did but
then she realized how relieved she was that the ring wasn’t for her, and the
laughter burst out again until tears ran down her cheeks.

When he started looking hurt, she finally
got a grip on herself. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be laughing, it’s just—” The
laughter threatened to bubble up again. She fought it down. “When you brought
out that ring—” A few squashed giggles escaped. “For a minute, I thought—I
thought—”

The concern on his face dropped away. His
eyes widened and his mouth fell open. She fought to keep from bursting into
another round of laughter.

“You thought I was asking you?”

“Only for a moment.” She couldn’t wipe
the smile off her face.

He chuckled. The chuckles grew into
laughter. They shared a minute of mirth.

“Now that would have been real dumb,” he
said with a grin. “Proposing to a woman who’s still in love with her ex.”

Her amusement disappeared in a flash. “What?
No.”
Why do people keep saying that?
“I am
not
still in love with
Sol. No. Definitely not. Whatever gave you that idea?”

“You’re not? Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure.” Exasperation tinged
her voice. In love with Sol? That was beyond ridiculous. The man made her
insane.

“Huh. I would have sworn . . .”
He laughed again. “The joke’s on me, then. I thought you were. That’s why I
never made a move on you until . . . Well, you know. That night.
And why I backed off the next day.”

She wanted to find a convenient wall to
pound her head against. Apparently, Sol didn’t have to exert himself to drive
men off. Simply existing worked.

She didn’t want to rant about Sol, so she
took the ring box from Daniel for a closer look. It wasn’t what she would have
picked, but it was pretty. “Are you sure? You’re not afraid she’ll start
drinking again?”

“You know what I’ve figured out this
summer?”

“What?”

“There are no guarantees in life.
Sometimes things work out. Sometimes they don’t. But if you try to play it
safe, you miss all the good stuff.” He met her eyes. “I’m tired of missing the
good stuff.”

“I guess you know what you’re doing,
then. I really hope things work out for you. Only . . . be
careful.”

“I will. And thanks for being on my team.
My folks won’t understand, but I knew you would, and I really need to know
someone’s on my side.”

“Of course I am.” She clasped her hand
around his. “Always.” So maybe she didn’t understand why he was taking this
risk, but maybe she didn’t need to. She’d always have his back whether she
understood or not. That’s what friends did. “I guess Sol can quit worrying
about you.”

He laughed then sobered. “Well, as soon
as you choose to tell him.”

“Why wouldn’t I tell him?”

“He has put you through a lot over the
years.”

She knew Daniel well enough to guess what
he was thinking. Okay, so she’d been wrong about who he wanted to marry, and
that was kind of a biggie, but about this, she knew. She knew, too, that he was
waiting for her to say something. To tell him again not to even think about
tweaking Sol. That’s what she should do, but suddenly, she didn’t want to. Sol
had
pulled a lot of sneaky tricks on her, driving man after man out of her life,
some of whom she’d really liked.

She wasn’t going to green-light it, she
decided, but she wasn’t going to forbid it either because she knew Daniel
wouldn’t seek Sol out. If Sol approached him, then Sol deserved whatever Daniel
dished out. And maybe Sol needed to learn there were some men he couldn’t drive
off.

Pretending not to notice the opening
Daniel had left her, she brought the subject back to Tracy, and they talked for
a while about how he planned to propose. When Daniel announced he should head
back to Dallas, Georgia walked back with him to find Deanne.

On the way, she said, “I’m curious. Why
did you think I was still in love with Sol?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Little things, I
guess.” He tipped his head as though sorting through memories. “Here’s one.
Remember the spring before last when you were down with the flu?”

“Ugh. That was a miserable week.”

“Yeah. Eden stayed with Deanne and me
that week, so you could focus on getting well. Every time we stopped by to see
how you were, you were laying on the couch in those old flannel pajamas and
that ratty old bathrobe you like so much with used tissue surrounding you like
Indians circling a wagon train.”

“I was
sick.
”

“As a dog,” he said with a laugh. “But
when I brought Eden home on Friday, so Sol could pick her up for the weekend,
you were wearing a tight pair of jeans and a cute, little top—emphasis on
little
—that
showed your cleavage.” His eyes sparkled. “And yes, I noticed. Our relationship
may be platonic, but I am a guy.

“You still sounded like you were going to
hack up a lung, but your makeup was done.” He smirked as though he’d proven his
point. “A woman who’s as sick as you were doesn’t go to that much trouble for a
man she’s done with.”

Sol didn’t offer words of solace to Eden
and Deanne when he took them for snow cones because the last thing he wanted
was to make promises he couldn’t keep. Spitfire was hurt and Eden felt
responsible. He didn’t know Deanne, but it didn’t take a wizard to see she,
too, was more subdued than was normal for an eleven-year-old girl.

He bought three snow cones and, while
they ate them, tried to lighten the mood with rodeo stories. It took some time,
but he finally got the girls to giggle over a story about a rodeo bull with a
case of toxic farts. That lightened the mood enough for him to change the
topic. Once he found out Deanne had been staying with the mother she hadn’t
seen in four years, a few leading questions got the girls talking about all the
things Deanne was learning about her mama, and Sol felt safe to tune out.

Daniel wasn’t what Sol had expected. Or
maybe he wasn’t what Sol had hoped for. He seemed like a nice guy. A
responsible guy. He was certainly a more practiced parent than Sol. That
mattered to Georgia.

Sol fought down the urge to call it
unfair. He’d never had the chance to prove himself. But it was fair to say he’d
abdicated making decisions about Eden. It didn’t matter that he’d done it
because he’d thought that was what Georgia wanted; he’d still done it.

If Daniel were someone new in Georgia’s
life, there was no question Sol would try to run him off. He’d done it before,
but he didn’t think any of his old tricks would work. Daniel knew Georgia too
well. Hmm. Maybe that was the key. Sol needed to get to know Daniel, to
discover the chink in his armor. It would take time, and patience wasn’t one of
Sol’s virtues, but it was the only hope he had.

As Sol and the girls walked back to the
trailer, Eden grew quieter and her feet dragged. Deanne took her hand. He gave
his daughter a hug then looked around for Georgia only to find she and Daniel
were missing. Sol didn’t want to look as though it mattered too much, so he
didn’t ask where they’d gone, but when they walked up together a few minutes
later, his chest tightened. Daniel said something in Georgia’s ear that made
her smile, and Sol had to clamp down on his desire to go caveman on the guy.

He tried to observe Daniel objectively.
His competition wasn’t bad looking. Light brown hair, even features. A couple of
inches taller than Georgia but a little shorter than Sol. Every instinct urged
him to walk over to them and sucker punch the guy, but he’d promised Georgia he’d
behave. If they’d been even holding hands, he wasn’t sure he could have
controlled himself, but as long as Georgia did as he’d asked and not flaunt
Daniel, Sol meant to keep his promise.

Eden left Sol’s side to give Daniel a
hug, and Sol’s jealousy flared again. This jackass wasn’t stealing only Georgia
from him; he’d ingratiated himself with Eden. Sol forced his clenched fists to
relax. Now wasn’t the time, but sooner or later, he would make it clear to this
bozo that Eden was
his.
She didn’t need another daddy.

Determined to look as though this claim
jumper didn’t worry him, he asked Eden when she rejoined him, “Do you want to
walk with them to their car? Say a little longer good-bye?”

Eden nodded.

“I’ll walk with you.” That would give him
a chance to start making nice with Daniel.

They were nearly at his car when Daniel
said, “I think Georgia doesn’t give you enough credit. You look to me like you’re
pretty good at the dad thing.”

A knot tried to form in Sol’s throat, but
he swallowed it down. “I appreciate that. I don’t get a lot of practice.” Under
different circumstances, he could like this guy.

Sol reminded himself he had an agenda
here. Get to know this guy. Find his weak spot.

The girls stood on the passenger side of
Daniel’s car, saying their good-byes, as Daniel said, “It’s not easy. You never
really know if you’re doing it right.” He shot a look that dripped love and
parental pride at the girls over the top of his Prius.

In that moment, Sol knew he’d found
Daniel’s Achilles’ heel. The man would do anything for his daughter. Maybe even
walk away from a woman he loved. It was so obvious, Sol couldn’t believe he
hadn’t thought of it on his own. He should have; he had the same weakness.

The question was how to exploit it. He
took a tentative shot over Daniel’s bow. “Yeah, I’m learning that. It’s
especially hard when you’re fighting your own doubts, and you have to defend
your position to others. Georgia’s got kind of strong feelings about child
rearing. She can be tough to reason with if she disagrees with you.”

Daniel shot a puzzled look at Sol.

“Take today, for example. Georgia hates
rodeo. And because today didn’t go so well, it’s going to be hell getting her
to let Eden try again.”

Daniel’s eyebrows scrunched closer
together, his puzzled look deepening.

Come on. Figure it out. You’ve seen it.
You know I’m telling the truth.
Of course, he was giving it his own spin, but truth was truth.
When she gets
rights to your daughter, she’ll be the same way.

The confusion on Daniel’s face faded to
be replaced by a more thoughtful expression.

It couldn’t be this easy. And it wouldn’t
be. Not for Sol. Planting the seed was the easy part. Standing back, hoping it
would sprout, that was the hard part.

“And that’s not her only bias. Only the
industrial-strength one.” Sol hoped he wasn’t pushing too hard. These things
required finesse.

Daniel tipped his head, indicating he
wanted Sol to follow him. They moved to the rear of the car, where Daniel
pulled something out of his pocket. “You’ve known Georgia a long time.”

“Since first grade,” Sol said. “Of
course, back then she had girl cooties, so we didn’t hang out much.”

Daniel smiled as though Sol’s comment
amused him, but then the smile faded a little. “I didn’t come here just to
watch Eden ride. I mean, I’d have come for that anyway, but I was going to,
well . . .” He took a deep breath. “With the horse getting hurt,
it wasn’t the right time.” His hands moved as if breaking something open, then
he held it out. “Do you think she’ll like it?”

Sol stopped breathing. The ring Daniel
held was blinding in its brilliance. Sol could already see it on Georgia’s
hand. See her flashing it proudly.

Gideon’s voice sounded in his head.
She’ll
be married within a year.
No, she couldn’t . . . But he
could see it all too clearly. The life Georgia would have with Daniel. The
instant sister Eden already loved.

Sol’s knees threatened to give way. He
reached blindly for the car. His hand found the smooth metal, warm from the
sun. He would not, absolutely
would not,
lose his dignity in front of
this man.

“I’m sure she will,” he heard his voice
saying as though from far away. Even though she liked colored stones better
than diamonds, she would love the ring because it came from Daniel.

Daniel snapped the box closed and put it
back in his pocket. The world slowly slipped back into focus as Sol lifted his
gaze. Daniel was smiling again—or still smiling. Sol wasn’t sure which. The
smile looked a little smug. How could he have thought for an instant he might
like this guy?

Daniel turned away and called to his
daughter. “Time to go, honey.”

Sol watched as they got in the car.

“Take care,” Daniel said through his open
window as he put the car in drive.

Sol barely noticed when Eden came to
stand by him. How had his plan backfired so badly? He was numb from the shock.
Eden waved as Daniel and Deanne pulled out, but Sol couldn’t even lift his
hand.

###

Georgia was astonished at how quickly
Daisy pulled everything together for the trip home. The mare was loaded in the
trailer, her leg wrapped, booted, and iced when Sol and Eden returned.

Eden’s mood seemed to infect everyone as
they all felt the need to respect her feelings. Georgia tried several times to
catch Sol’s eye, but his attention was either on Eden or on his preparations
for leaving. It felt almost as though he wanted to avoid talking to her, but
that was ridiculous. Unless . . . Sol had walked with Daniel and
the girls to the parking lot.

She couldn’t imagine what might have been
said in that short a time that would affect Sol this way. Most likely, he
thought she was going to give him grief because, if he hadn’t insisted on
letting Eden race, Spitfire wouldn’t be injured, and Eden wouldn’t feel
responsible. Did he really think she’d blame him? She had to admit that, as
crazed as he thought she was about rodeoing, it was a possibility.

Great. Now she felt guilty because he
expected her to yell at him.

“Can I ride home with Dad and Daisy?”

Georgia pulled herself back to reality to
look into her daughter’s worried face.

“You want to be there when they unload
her, don’t you?”

Eden nodded.

“Go ahead.” Georgia watched as Daisy
checked on Spitfire one last time before securing the trailer. Then Eden
climbed into the truck’s cab to sit between her daddy and her aunt.

It was a lonely drive home, but it gave
her time to think about things, including Daniel’s theory about why she dressed
up for Sol when she’d been sick. Not that jeans and a nice top was really “dressing
up.” And the makeup, well, that had been to make herself feel better because
when she’d looked in the mirror that day, she’d looked like death, not just
warmed over, but about to go bad from botulism poisoning.

Okay, so she hadn’t wanted Sol to see her
looking like that. No woman with an ounce of pride wanted to give her ex a
reason to feel as though he’d dodged a bullet.

So there. She was right and Daniel was
wrong.

As she approached Dallas, she felt the
pull of home. For half a second, she was tempted to go on autopilot and let her
car find its way to her apartment. Instead, she took I-635, skirting
Dallas. KVIL came out of a station break to a Garth Brooks song. One verse in,
she realized the song was
Rodeo or Mexico
.

She sighed. Garth sang few songs she didn’t
like, but she’d had enough rodeo for one day. She tried another station. Joey +
Rory. Cool. She liked them. Then she recognized the song:
Rodeo.

Next.

KNON was playing Suzy Bogguss’
Someday
Soon
. Oh, yeah, that’s what she needed. A song about a woman who planned to
travel with her rodeo cowboy “someday soon.”

Next.

George Strait. Yes.

Amarillo By Morning.

Oh, hell no.

Next.

When she heard Chris Ledoux’s voice, she
didn’t even wait to figure out what the song was. Ledoux didn’t get much
airplay, but she’d heard everything he’d recorded, thanks to Sol sharing his CD
collection with Eden, and the odds were good the song was about rodeo.

What the hell was wrong with her radio?

She punched a preset button again, tuning
back in to KVIL. Jason Aldean’s
Dirt Road Anthem
filled the car.
Thank
God.
Country-rap was about as far from a rodeo song as you could get.
Georgia breathed a sigh of relief. She’d been starting to think her radio was
possessed.

She left Dallas behind—and the future she’d
thought she’d have with Daniel—and headed east on Highway 20.

Georgia hoped Daniel was right about
Tracy because she understood the allure of trying again. Having a shared
history created a seductive bond. Even with Sol—who, in spite of what everyone
seemed to think, she wasn’t in love with—there were moments when she wished
they could go back in time and change things. A do-over. Sometimes it even felt
possible. Like the morning she’d woken up at Sol’s. When he’d come up behind
her as she’d brushed her teeth, she’d felt as if she could turn the clock back
if she only knew how. The way Dorothy had clicked her ruby slippers together
and said, “There’s no place like home,” and woken up in Kansas. Except Georgia
didn’t know any wizards who could share the magic phrase that allowed a do-over
of the past twelve years.

She sighed. Daniel was about to get a
do-over. Where did he find the courage to take the risk, knowing his ex could
chew him up and spit him out the way she had before? Do-overs were no different
from any other part of life; they didn’t come with guarantees. He and his
daughter could again play second fiddle to a bottle.

Georgia was nearly in Hero Creek when her
phone rang. A quick glance showed it was Daniel. She’d call him back later, she
decided, but it turned out to be much later because when she got home, she
found Bethany ready to strangle anyone who came too close. Georgia sent her
sister home, got supper on the table, sent her mama and Grams to separate
corners, watched her daddy wisely disappear into his shop, and did the supper
dishes. Finally, after all that, she called Daniel.

“Whassup?” she said when he answered.

“Have you heard anything about Spitfire?”

“Not yet. I’ve barely had time to breathe
since I got home.” Daniel and Deanne were spending the night in Dallas before
heading to Houston in the morning. Daniel planned to propose sometime the
following afternoon. “Are you nervous?”