Deborah Camp (21 page)

“You have a point,” Bitsy said.

“What?” Regina stared at Bitsy. “
You’re
siding with him now?”

“No, Regina. I’m just saying I can see his point.” Bitsy sighed. “It’s not black and white, you know. This drinkin’ thing is complicated. My problem with saloons is that men can go inside ’em and spend their whole pay on one bottle after another while their wives aren’t allowed in the door. Saloons are for men only and that causes problems
in marriages. Men have a place they can go where their women can’t follow ’em. It ain’t fair.”

“Sounds fair to me,” Stu said, laughing, and Theo and Eric joined in.

“It wouldn’t sound so fair if the shoe was on the other foot,” Regina asserted. “Stu, if you had a sweetheart and she had this place she could go where you weren’t allowed and you could hear her inside laughing and having a fine old time and buying drinks for herself and others and calling someone sweet names—why you’d be livid! You’d want to close down that place, or at the very least be allowed inside it. Isn’t that so?”

Stu slumped in the chair, looking grumpy. “I guess, but closing saloons won’t change nothing.”

“It might,” Lu said.

“No, he’s right,” Theo cut in. “Liquor will be made and sold no matter if there are saloons or not.”

Stu chuckled. “Keeps the rowdies off the streets and makes it easier for me to round them up when they get too frisky.”

Theo looked toward the screen door as if something outside had attracted his attention.

Regina glanced in that direction to find Jebidiah standing outside on the porch. “Excuse me,” she murmured, then went to speak to the old man. “Is anything wrong, Jebidiah?”

“Naw, Miz Rose. I just thought I’d turn in. You need anything a’fore I put this old body abed?”

“No, you go on, and sleep well.” She patted his shoulder.

“I can help you clean up them supper dishes, if you want.”

“Lu and I will do them. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Night now.” He shuffled off the porch and around the side of the house, heading for steps
that gave access to his cellar room. Regina turned to go back inside, but the screen door swung open and Theo joined her on the porch.

“Nice evening,” he commented, blocking the door. “Why don’t you show me the gardens?”

“We can’t see the flowers in the dark.”

“No,” Theo agreed, extending his arm toward her, “but we can smell them.”

“Is this your attempt at a truce?”

“I didn’t know we needed one.”

She placed her hand lightly on his arm. “Oh, very well. It is nice out here. The gardens are out back.”

They went around the house to a backyard splashed with moonlight.

“I’ve been wanting to get you alone to tell you how pretty you look tonight, Regina.”

Regina let go of his arm and clasped her hands behind her back. “There’s a path here with stepping stones, but be careful; the ground is a bit spongy and it’s easy to loose your footing.” She took a deep breath and a faint perfume tickled her senses. “Ah, you’re right. You
can
smell the flowers, but their scent is so light it’s barely there.”

“Their perfume is different at night,” Theo said, close behind her. “During the day the sunshine strengthens it.” His breath tickled the back of her neck. “Are you wearing perfume or is that just you that smells so sweet?”

Regina whirled to find his face a mere inch from hers. She recoiled, and he smiled.

“You never let up, do you?”

“Can’t you accept a compliment, Regina? All that’s required is a simple Why, thank you, Theo, darling!’”

She pursed her lips to keep from smiling. “Thank you, Theo.”

“Darling.”

“Demon,” she said, finally releasing her smile. “You have the most devilish grin I’ve ever seen.” She glanced away. He was too near and she felt as if the air she exhaled, he inhaled, and vice versa.

“And you have a smile that has haunted me ever since the first time I saw it.”

She laughed lightly. “You sure you aren’t Irish? Sounds as if you’ve been kissing the Blarney Stone.”

“If I kiss something Irish, it’ll be you.” He stepped closer, but she stiff-armed him. He stared at her hand flattened against his chest. “I didn’t sign the petition, Regina.”

“But you might.” She snatched her hand away.

“No, I won’t. Wouldn’t be ethical.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that yesterday?”

“You had your mind made up about me yesterday, so why bother?” He looked past her and grinned. “Hey, a tree swing!” He grabbed her hand. “Come on, I’ll push you.”

“No.” She tried to jerk her hand free. “I don’t want to.” The swing brought memories of Jack’s ambush. “We should go back inside.”

“Come on, Regina. You know you want to.” He stepped around the swing and gripped the rope handles. “Would you rather push me?”

She crossed her arms. “Are you hard of hearing?”

He cocked his head and squinted. “You say something? Speak up, girl! Better yet, sit in this swing and I’ll take you for a ride.”

She flung up her hands in a show of exasperation. “Oh, all right! I swear, I’ve never met a more stubborn man in all my born days.” She settled onto the swing seat and took hold of the ropes, making sure her hands didn’t touch his.

“Are you ready?” he whispered close to her ear.

“Yes,” she answered, striving to sound unaffected by the tickle of his breath.

He pulled her back and her feet left the ground. Regina gasped at his strength. She sensed the tautness of his muscles and the trembling in his hands a second before he let her go. Like an arrow shot from a bow, she sailed through the night, up, up, up, then gravity caught her, held her a moment in suspension, and dragged her back to earth. He caught the sides of the swing seat and gave her another quick push. Again she soared and again she fell, but each time he caught her and sent her toward the scudding clouds and the black velvet sky.

A laugh bubbled past her throat and she heard his answering chuckle.

“Having fun?” he said.

“Yes!” She pointed her toes and aimed them at the moon. “Higher! I want to go higher.”

She relaxed and allowed herself to enjoy pressing her face against the stars. She imagined that the sound of her fluttering clothing was actually fairy wings, keeping her aloft. She closed her memory to the evening of Jack’s ambush. Tipping back her head, she didn’t care when a couple of hairpins slipped out to free strands of her hair from its upswept style. She felt young and free, and the world was beautiful again.

Gradually, she became aware of the man behind her. She could hear him breathing, could feel the intensity of his blue-eyed gaze. Intimacy closed around her like a fist. Suddenly, he wrapped his arms around her waist, ending her flight. Regina leaned her head back against his shoulder and held her breath. She waited for the touch of his mouth somewhere on her skin.

“Sweet, sweet Rosy,” he whispered, then pressed a kiss to the side of her neck. He tightened
his arms about her waist, pulling her against him until she swore she could feel the tap of his heart against her spine. “I would dearly love to warm you like the sun and have you bloom for me. Just for me.”

She wanted to hear those words and to believe them. Her desire blotted out reason, willpower, and the wariness life had cultivated in her. She raised one hand to push her fingertips through the side of his hair. He turned his head and kissed her wrist. He crossed his arms and filled his hands with her breasts. Her nipples tightened into buds of desire and his thumbs found them through the layers of her clothing, and rubbed. A moan vibrated in her throat as her need for his mouth on hers became too, too much.

Spinning around, she shoved the swing aside and flung her arms around his neck. He framed her face in his hands and his eyes adored her, memorized her every feature.

“Why do I always end up in your arms?” she asked breathlessly.

“Because that’s where you belong.”

His mouth fastened on hers and his tongue delved deep. The intensity of his kiss fanned the flames inside her until she felt as if she were in a tunnel of fire. Regina tore her mouth from his, her lips burned tender.

“Why do you do this to me?” she asked, her voice as broken and ragged as her composure. She pressed her forehead against his chin and tried to douse the brushfire of her emotions. “You can have your pick of women in this town, so why don’t you pick on one of them? I’ve tried to push you away, insult you, hate you, but every time I turn around, there you are with those gorgeous blue eyes of yours and that mouth that can make a proud woman beg.” She balled her hands into
fists and pounded weakly against his chest. “I surrender to your superiority, Theodore Dane. You’ve worn me down.”

He was poised to take her, but her words splashed like icy water. Theo leaned away from her and studied her flushed face, her downcast eyes, her trembling lips. “I don’t want to wear you down, Regina. I want you to want me. I want to put a sparkle in your eyes again.”

“Again?”

“At the Gold Star you were full of life and laughter. What happened to make you such a dour taskmaster?”

Regina wiggled from his arms and edged around the swing. “That’s an unbecoming picture you’ve painted of me. I’m surprised you’d want to have anything to do with such an unattractive shrew.”

“Regina …”

“No.” She pushed away his cajoling hands. “And don’t bring up the Gold Star to me again.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to remember those times.”

“I don’t know why not. You had every man in the room madly in love with you. One look, one blown kiss from you, brought men to their knees.”

She covered her ears with her hands briefly and shook her head. “Don’t. And I hope you’re not telling this all over town. You’ll ruin me. My work is important. It’s all I have, Theo.” She tugged on his shirtsleeve. “Please don’t tell anyone. Don’t use my past as a weapon against me.”

Theo stared hard at her. “You think I’d gossip about you? My God, Regina! You don’t know me at all. I’m not so low that I’d carry tales about you.” He swung away from her to deal with his
anger. “Why are you so sensitive about your work at the Gold Star?”

“I’m ashamed of it.”

He glanced at her over his shoulder. “You didn’t take any of those men upstairs, did you?”

“No! Never!” She sucked in a breath. “
You
don’t know
me
at all, either.”

“What are you ashamed of? All you did was sing.”

“I … I drank, too.”

He feigned a shudder. “No! You drank? You mean, liquor actually touched those lips? Oh, you vile creature you!”

“Stop it!” She stamped one foot. “It’s not amusing. Drunks are never amusing. They’re sad, pitiful lost souls.”

“You were a drunk?” He faced her again. “I doubt that.”

“I stopped drinking before it stopped me. I didn’t want to end up like … well, like Jack. I shouldn’t have worked in that place anyway. No lady works in a saloon, Theo.”

“I’ve known a few who would quarrel with that.”

“What I’m trying to say is that I have to uphold a high standard if I’m to be of any help to Mrs. Nation. How could she trust me if she thought I might fall back into that life at any given moment?”

He laughed at her. “Regina, you act as if you have no will of your own, and I think you’re a poor judge of Mrs. Nation’s character if you think she’d spurn you because you used to be the Gold Star’s entertainment.”

“When I left Dodge City, I wanted a new life here. I didn’t want anyone to know about my mother or Jack or the Wild Irish Rose. I want to be seen as a decent woman. A lady.”

He grinned. “Regina, honey, you should loosen your corset and live a little. What happened to that girl who sang as sweet as an angel about love lost and found? You surely haven’t smothered her completely under your saintly robes. Where’s your sparkle, sweetheart?”

She hitched up her chin. “The sparkle was put there by whiskey.”

Theo ran a fingertip down the bridge of her nose. “Oh, really?”

“Yes, really.”

“I’d like to challenge that.” He curved one hand at the back of her neck and kissed her, his lips plucking restlessly at hers until she stepped into his embrace and kissed him back. His mouth lifted from hers. “Regina?”

Regina opened her eyes to stare into his. “Yes?”

“Have you been drinking? That sparkle is back, sweetheart.” He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. “We’re good for each other.”

“How’s that?”

“We bring out the best in each other.” His lips brushed across her forehead and he nuzzled the lock of hair curling at her temple. “You need to put your energy into something else besides this place. You want to change something and make it better? Change me, Regina.” He angled back to lock gazes with her. “If you want to make the world a tamer place, tame me. I’m willing, eager, and ready.”

The steady flames in his eyes told her he was serious. The import of that made Regina gasp softly. She didn’t know if he was more dangerous when he was teasing and strutting or now, when he was gently, passionately sincere.

“I … I don’t want to change you. And I’m not fighting the battle just to be fighting. This
means
something to me.” She pressed a fist between her
breasts. “This is important work, Theo. It’s not a whim or something to keep me occupied while I wait for my prince to come and take me away from all this dreariness. No.” She shook her head emphatically. “I want to close every saloon in this state and in the next state and the next and the next.”

Theo tipped back his head and stared at the sky. A moan of frustration escaped him and he whirled away from her. “Why? Just because your mother liked sour mash too much? You’re willing to throw your life away on that?”

Regina gritted her teeth to keep from screaming at him. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Theodore Dane, and I’m not throwing my life away. I’m putting it to good use for a change. I was throwing it away when I was working at the Gold Star.”

“That’s where we differ, my dear. I liked you better at the Gold Star.”

“Then you should be out in the moonlight with a saloon girl, not with me.” She turned sharply and started for the house. “Good night.”