Return of the Runaway Bride (24 page)
The room was utterly silent. It seemed that no one even breathed as they waited to hear Daniel's response.
Animosity flickered in his harsh gaze. He stood with slow deliberateness. His spine was straight, his shoulders high and square, as he quietly said, "With Savanna Langford back in Fulton, who could blame me for hightailing it out of town?"
He couldn't have stunned her more had he physically smacked her.
Then he walked out of the conference room.
"Oh, Savanna."
Miz
Ida's disapproving voice pierced through the thick fog that enveloped Savanna's brain.
"I didn't know Daniel was thinking of leaving us," someone whispered.
"What law firm was she talking about?"
"I did hear something about that."
"Will somebody please tell me what's going on?"
Everyone talked at once and the meeting fell into complete and utter chaos.
Savanna's knees gave way and she sank back into her chair. The anger drained from her as though someone pulled the plug out of a water-filled tub.
The rumor had been that he was thinking of leaving town because of her, but she hadn't wanted to believe it. But now she knew it was true. She'd heard him say it. He was leaving because of her.
Because of her
.
She felt hollow and empty. Her throat burned with the acid left behind by the hurtful words she'd flung at him.
If Daniel moves away
, Ida's words echoed through Savanna's mind,
the people of Fulton will be losing someone special.
Fulton will be losing someone special.
Someone special.
Dear Lord, what had she done? She couldn't let this happen. This was all her fault. She'd slid her satin-clad butt on his lap. She'd told him to shut up and kiss her. She'd practically demanded that he make love to her. What kind of way was
that
to garner the man's trust?
She had to fix this. She had to find him.
Had to talk to him.
And make him change his mind.
Savanna murmured a vague apology to everyone murmuring around the conference table and then headed out of the room, without thought for her purse, briefcase or notes.
"Savanna, wait," Jim Thompson called.
But she was out the door, her feet fairly flying down the tiled hallway. She slid half a foot as she made the first sharp turn that would take her to the hospital's main entrance. As she turned the next corner, she collided with a white-uniformed orderly.
"My fault," she said, waving off his apologies. "Did you see Mr. Walsh? Daniel Walsh?"
"Yes," the surprised young man said. "He's waiting for the elevator."
"Thanks," she called over her shoulder.
The elevator doors were just gliding shut as she reached them. Savanna cursed under her breath and turned toward the door leading to the stairs.
Her heart felt as though it would burst as she rushed down the steps, two at a time. Bursting onto the first floor, she ran toward the front entrance.
She was impervious to the hot, muggy air that hit her full-force in the face as she erupted into the night.
"Daniel!" she called.
He was in the parking lot, his back to her. He didn't stop.
"Daniel, please," she shouted, continuing to run toward him. "Wait!"
The high-powered street lamp threw shadows over his face when he turned to face her. Her chest was heaving, her lungs burning, when she stopped a few feet from him.
"Please," she said, panting. "I need to talk to you."
"Seems to me you've already said plenty."
"I know. And I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said any of that. I shouldn't have told everyone your plans."
"My plans?"
He gave a derisive laugh. "And just how the hell did you find out about my plans, anyway?"
Savanna tucked her bottom lip between her teeth. Finally she gave a little shrug, refusing to add to her sins by incriminating Ida.
Daniel shook his head. "The rumors fly fast and furious in this town, don't they? I guess I already knew that..." He sighed and dragged his fingers through his hair.
She gave a small nod of her head.
"I know," she said, her voice sounding weak to her ears, "there were rumors floating around about me too. Rumors that said I had plans of staying on in Fulton."
He moved to speak, but she cut him off with one upraised palm. She had to do this. She might not want to, but she had to.
"Let me finish." She swallowed and gathered the courage to tell him the truth. "Daniel, the rumors were true. In fact, I'm sure I probably fueled them. I was thinking of moving back to town." She took a step closer to him. "But I won't," she said. Pausing, she ran her tongue over her dry lips. "I won't move back here, if you'll promise to stay. Daniel, these people care about you. They love you." Her voice lowered an octave as she added, "They
need
you."
She moved closer. "You may not realize it, but you're an intricate part of this town. You're one of the reasons Fulton is what it is. You can't move away from here."
Taking another step, she was a scant few inches from him. "I promise I'll go. Right after the dinner, I'll pack up my things and go back to Baltimore."
A solitary tear slid silently down her cheek and she dipped her head to hide it. She hated the sound of the words, hated the thought of promising to go back to that lonely apartment in that overcrowded city. But she would. She'd do it for the man she loved. She'd do it for Daniel.
"Savanna."
She started at the sound of his voice. Swiping her hand quickly across her cheek, she lifted her chin and looked into his eyes.
"Savanna, I'm not going anywhere," he said, his tone almost gentle. "I won't lie to you. I did consider moving to Richmond."
His chest expanded as he inhaled, and Savanna had a fleeting thought of how comforting it would be to rest her head there.
"But," he continued, "
do
you remember the day we painted the room in your house?"
She would never forget the fun she'd had with him that day.
"The day we had ice cream cones on the front porch?" he asked.
She nodded.
"Well, you went on and on about Fulton. You listed the town's attributes as only an out-of-towner could."
Savanna didn't understand why he suddenly looked chagrined.
"I was a little embarrassed," he explained, "that I had forgotten them. All the wonderful things Fulton has to offer, all the great reasons my parents chose to raise their children here, all the amazing qualities that make Fulton the place I want to be in. I left your house that day in a rush, if you remember. And I made a call to Richmond, declining their offer. I came to your house later that night to tell you. But…" He couldn't meet her gaze. "We got…side tracked."
Her breath leaving her in one wild rush, Savanna felt relief flood through her whole body.
Daniel shifted his weight. "So you see
,
I'm staying in Fulton, after all. My mind is made up. My decision isn't changing.
No matter what."
His gaze took on that same unreadable quality she'd come to know so well since returning to town.
"But whether you stay, or whether you go... that's entirely up to you." His mouth turned up in a dismal grin. "I learned a long time ago that it's wise to let you make up your own mind about those things."
Savanna knew he wasn't making fun of her, he was simply stating a fact, a hard-learned lesson that had caused him a great deal of heartache.
"You know, now that I think about it, maybe we should go back inside." He indicated the hospital with a jerk of his head "Let's clear up this rumor about my leaving town."
As they walked back toward the big glass entry doors in silence, Savanna was acutely aware that Daniel kept a wide margin of space between them.
Savanna's emotions had been flip-flopping for days. She didn't know where she stood. Out in the middle of that dark parking lot nearly two weeks ago, had Daniel been suggesting she stay in Fulton? Or go?
Closing her eyes, she could conjure the sound of his voice, the gentle but firm manner in which he'd assured her that he was staying in town whether she moved back to Fulton or not. But she hadn't been able to decide if his reassurance had been out of some tender feeling he had for her, or if he'd just been kind because he was confronted by a crying female.
And what about their night of love-making?
Did he regret it? At first, she'd been sure he had. But after having days and days to think about it, what if he was merely confounded by the whole thing? What if he didn't know what to feel, or what to say, or how to act? One fact remained certain;
she
was completely perplexed by the passionate encounter. How could he feel any different? They needed to talk.
She'd have loved nothing more than to do just that, but the opportunity had never presented itself. The gala dinner had been the sole focus of her attention since the last board meeting. It had begun with a couple of minor snags that she'd have normally described as irritating. However, then the catering company had contacted her with a necessary menu change. The problems snowballed until she was spending every waking moment redirecting, rethinking, and reorganizing. The fact that her reputation rested on the success of this fund-raiser never left her mind for a moment.
Sitting on the edge of her bed, she leaned forward and tucked her toes into the foot of the black stocking. She gently pulled the gossamer fabric up her leg and fastened it with garter hooks. For important evenings, Savanna always chose stockings over panty hose or even bare legs. The silky sexiness of them were an extravagance that made her feel wonderful, and the lacy garter belt only added to her self-
confidence, which was just the thing she needed for a night like tonight.
The much-awaited gala dinner to benefit Fulton General Hospital was less than two hours off. She had been at the country club all day completing a myriad of last-minute tasks, and now, as she thought over the past few weeks, she realized that she'd ended up working harder on this event than she had on any other fund-raising campaign she'd organized.
Savanna slipped on the other silk stocking. After her confrontation with Daniel, she'd felt as though she might drown as she had become engulfed by plans for the dinner. She'd designated who would be in charge of the setting up, decorating, food, entertainment, door prizes, cleaning up and a long tally of other particulars. She had compiled a list of detailed instructions for each volunteer, had personally taken each person to the country club so they could go over their responsibilities, step by painstaking step. Yes, Savanna had spent what felt like hundreds of hours planning this dinner to perfection.
But every night as she'd crawled, bone weary, between her cool, cotton sheets, Daniel's face would loom in her thoughts and she'd wonder where he was, what he was doing. On the two occasions when she had run into him since the board meeting, he'd pressed her about the details and how things were going until she'd become miffed. Of course, she knew he didn't
want
her to fail, but it was pretty clear that he wouldn't be all that surprised if she did. And that hurt. However, both times they'd crossed
paths,
he had looked at her with an intensity that had sent shivers coursing through her.