Читать книгу Lone Star Kind Of Man - Peggy Moreland, Peggy Moreland - Страница 10

One

Houston, Texas 1997

Silence. It pressed from every corner of Reggie Gile’s private office, a constant, if not painful, reminder of the fact that she was alone. Silence really didn’t bother her, nor did being alone. She’d had years to learn how to live with it peaceably. It was what the silence represented that she found so disconcerting.

Not so many months before, she might have avoided the silence and the loneliness by picking up the phone and calling her friends, Mary Claire and Leighanna, and making plans for the evening. But they were gone now, both having moved to Temptation to start their lives anew.

She almost laughed at the irony of that. Temptation. Her friends had gone there to start over, to the same town she’d run from ten years before. But of course, Mary Claire and Leighanna didn’t know that.

That was Reggie’s little secret...or was it Regan’s? She almost laughed at the absurdity of the question. She hadn’t thought of herself as Regan since she’d left Temptation. Along with her past, she’d given up her name, choosing instead to call herself Reggie, the nickname used exclusively by—

No, she wouldn’t think about him now. That was another secret.

Secrets, Reggie thought on a weighty sigh. Everyone had them, but few could keep them, not like she had. She’d kept hers for ten long years, although the burden of carrying them had never seemed as oppressive as it did now. Every call from Mary Claire and Leighanna from their new home in Temptation, every mention of the town they’d moved to and the people they had met, every invitation for a visit brought with it a guilt, a yearning that weighed heavily on her heart and mind. Never had she longed for home more than she did now. Never had she wanted so desperately to give up her secret for the opportunity for a past, for a future, for even a glimpse of those she still held dear.

But she couldn’t. She knew that. A person could never go back and reclaim what she had so foolishly tossed aside.

Saddened by her thoughts, she pushed away from her desk and the contracts she’d been reading and settled her spine against the soft, cushy leather of her chair. Unerringly her gaze went to the wall opposite her desk and the Georgia O’Keeffe original that hung there. Soothing in its simplicity, the painting’s bold colors drew her as strongly as they had on the day she’d first seen it hanging in a gallery in Santa Fe; a radiant yellow sunflower projected on a background of cornflower blue.

She’d purchased the painting for the memories it drew of the fields that surrounded her childhood home where sunflowers had grown, tall and proud, their cheery, smiling faces tipped to the sun. The memories of home were vivid, if distant, and secreted away in her heart along with those of the loved ones she had lost—some to death, others sacrificed for a freedom that she’d once thought so important.

The phone rang, jarring her from her thoughts. Since it was after office hours, she was tempted to ignore the call and let the service pick it up, but she knew who was more than likely on the other end of the line and knew, too, that she couldn’t avoid this conversation forever. On the third ring, she punched the speaker button. “Reggie Giles,” she said briskly.

“Do you ever return calls?”

In spite of the feelings of apprehension that pricked her, Reggie found herself smiling. “Hello, Mary Claire. How are you?”

“Fine now. Hold on a second. There’s someone here who wants to talk to you.”

Reggie grabbed for the corners of the desk and curled her fingers around the burled wood in need of something, anything, to anchor herself to. She didn’t want to talk to him. Not now when she hadn’t had an opportunity to prepare herself for this confrontation.

“Reggie! We’ve been calling you for days! Where have you been?”

Reggie wilted at the sound of Leighanna’s voice, collapsing against the chair’s back, her fear giving way to relief. Another reprieve. How many more would she receive before her past caught up with her?

“Working. Where else?” she replied, trying to keep her tone light.

“Well, I’m glad we finally caught you. I have news, we both do. Mary Claire? Are you on the extension?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

“Okay. On the count of three. One...two... three...”

“We’re getting married!” they chimed in unison, laughing.

Reggie’s eyes widened. She’d known Mary Claire and Harley were getting married, had even suffered a tremendous bout of guilt for not attending their engagement party, had already spent hours fabricating excuses for not attending the wedding. But Leighanna now, too?

“Both of you?” she asked, sure that she had misunderstood.

“Yes,” Leighanna replied, laughing gaily. “Hank asked me to marry him and I said yes!”

“We’ve decided to have a double wedding,” Mary Claire added. “And we want you to act as maid of honor for both of us. Isn’t this exciting?”

Exciting? How about a nightmare? It was all Reggie could do not to put her head down on her desk and cry. She could just see Harley’s face when his stepsister Regan, whom he hadn’t seen since she’d run away from home ten years before, walked down the aisle toward him.

“Well, of course it is,” she replied, trying to force a level of enthusiasm over the knot of dread choking her. Already mentally reviewing the list of excuses she’d offer when she declined their invitation, she asked, “When’s the big event?”

“In two weeks and don’t you dare say you can’t come.”

“It is short notice,” she hedged.

“It wouldn’t matter if the wedding was months away. You’d still find an excuse not to come. Some big real estate deal pending. A client from out of town you had to entertain. A remodeling on one of your rental properties that you had to personally oversee. We aren’t accepting any excuses this time, are we, Leighanna?”

“Nope,” Leighanna confirmed in a no-nonsense tone. “You’re serving as our maid of honor and that’s that.”

“It’s going to be a small wedding,” Mary Claire explained, before Reggie could start offering excuses. “Weather permitting, we’re having it in Harley’s backyard. We’ve just finished remodeling the house, but a garden wedding has such an appeal. We’re only inviting a few friends from Temptation and, of course, Harley’s children will be there.”

Tears burned behind Reggie’s eyes. Harley’s children ? Tommy and Jenny? How many years had it been since she had seen them? They’d be almost grown now. Would they remember their Aunt Regan?

“You don’t even have to shop for a dress,” Mary Claire assured her, unaware of Reggie’s state of distress. “You can wear that darling blue silk sheath with the matching jacket that you wore to the Chamber of Commerce banquet in the spring. It’ll be perfect with the color theme we’ve chosen. And you’ll adore the best man,” she added. “He’s a doll. I think I’ve mentioned him to you before. Cody Fipes? He’s the sheriff of Temptation and a good friend of both Harley and Hank.”

Cody? Pain, red-hot and searing, burned its way through Reggie’s heart at the mention of his name and she had to press her fingers to her lips to stifle the sob that rose to her throat. She could see him still in the hayloft that night so many years ago when she had thrown herself at him, begging him to run away with her and marry her. He’d held her tight in his arms, offering her comfort as he had so many times in the past... then had broken her heart by steadfastly pushing her to arm’s length and telling her that he couldn’t marry her. Another year, he’d told her, and she’d be able to make the decision to leave without running, without tying herself to a man who had nothing to offer her.

There was a moment of silence while Reggie struggled to choke back the tears, the memories, the regrets.

“Please say you’ll come, Reggie,” Leighanna begged. “It would mean so much to me. To both of us.”

Reggie gulped back tears, knowing that if she ever gave in to the emotion she might never stop crying. Her heart warred with the secret she’d harbored for so long and the longing to be a part of her friends’ wedding and their lives. If she agreed, her secret would be out and she would have to face them all. Harley, Tommy, Jenny...Cody. If she refused, she would disappoint Mary Claire and Leighanna, and ultimately lose two friends whom she held dear.

“I can’t,” she finally managed to choke out “I’m sorry, but I just can’t.”

The road to Temptation stretched before Reggie like a ribbon of silver in the bright sunshine. She drove with her hands cinched tight around the steering wheel of her Lexus, praying with each passing mile that her arrival wouldn’t ruin what should otherwise be the happiest day in her friends’ lives.

The decision to attend the wedding hadn’t been an easy one, in fact she’d vacillated almost daily. She’d carefully weighed the pros and cons, just as she did every decision she made. The pros were obvious: continued friendship with two dear friends and, she hoped, the renewal of a family relationship she’d turned her back on ten years before. The cons were just as obvious and a whole lot more daunting: having Harley call her Regan and expose her secret, subjecting herself to possible rejection and public humiliation, seeing again the man who had rejected her, the man she’d never been able to forget.

In the end, cowardice had given way to duty and love and she’d decided to take her chances, telling no one of her plans, hoping that the element of surprise would work in her favor.

As she drove through Temptation, she kept her gaze focused on the road ahead, denying herself even a glance at Carter’s Mercantile, Will Miller’s barbershop or any of the other landmarks that remained from her childhood. There would be time enough for a nostalgic tour later, she promised herself. But for now she had to reach Harley’s ranch where the weddings were to take place.

She had timed her arrival carefully, waiting until the very last minute to appear, hoping to avoid seeing anyone other than Leighanna and Mary Claire before the actual wedding took place. With her hands damp on the wheel of her car, she turned onto the drive, parked behind the other cars and trucks already there and climbed out, pausing only long enough to listen.

The murmur of voices and soft strains of music came from the backyard, and she knew, as she’d prayed, that everyone was already gathered there, waiting for the ceremony to begin. With her heart pounding in her chest, she hurried to the front door. Taking a deep breath, she stepped across the threshold of her childhood home.

Once inside, she closed her eyes, fighting back the ghosts that rushed at her, then opened them to look at the room where her family had once known such happy times... before tragedy had struck, robbing her of her mother and stepfather, before Harley had brought home his bride, Susan.

She steeled herself against the hate that flooded her. She wouldn’t think about Susan now. Wouldn’t think of the cruel things she’d said and done. She wouldn’t think of how miserable Susan had made her life, until Reggie had finally run just to escape the torment.

She was here for a wedding, she reminded herself. A celebration of life and love. She wouldn’t think about the past. Only the present.

Certain that the brides would be in the master bedroom, waiting to make their entrance, she slipped down the hall. She found them, just as she’d expected, in the room once shared by her mother and stepfather. The sight of the two of them brought tears to her eyes.

Wearing an ivory suit, Mary Claire sat in front of a cheval mirror. Leighanna, dressed in soft pale blue, stood behind her, struggling to pin Mary Claire’s veil into place.

“For heaven’s sake, Mary Claire!” Leighanna fussed. “Be still or I’ll never get this on straight.”

“I am sitting still,” Mary Claire snapped impatiently. “It’s your fault the dang thing’s crooked. Your hands are shaking like a leaf.”

In spite of her own nerves, Reggie bit back a smile. “Here, let me,” she offered from the doorway. “After all, that is one of the duties of the maid of honor, isn’t it?”

Both women whirled, mouths gaped wide at the sound of Reggie’s voice.

“Reggie!” they both cried and bolted for her.

The three met in the middle of the room, gathering each other in a tearful hug. Mary Claire was the first to pull away. “I knew you would come! I just knew it!”

Leighanna sniffed, dabbing at tears with one hand, but refusing to let go of Reggie with the other. “She’s lying,” she said, casting a disdainful look Mary Claire’s way. “She’s been crying for hours, cursing you because you refused to come.”

Mary Claire’s chin came up. “Oh, and what were you doing?”

“The same,” Leighanna replied without batting an eye. “But at least I’m not too proud to admit it.”

“Girls, girls,” Reggie admonished, laughing. “This is no time for squabbling. This is your wedding day!” Giving Leighanna’s hand a squeeze, she took the pins from her, then guided Mary Claire back to the chair. “Now let’s get this veil in place before y’all start pulling out each other’s hair and there’s nothing left to anchor it to.”

At that moment, the door flew open and Mary Claire’s daughter Stephie burst into the room, her crown of spring flowers slightly askew. “Mama, hurry up! The preacher said it’s time.” She stopped short when she saw Reggie.

“Reggie!” she squealed and threw herself at Reggie, wrapping her arms around her waist. “You came!”

Laughing, Reggie dropped down to her knees, giving Stephie a quick hug before leaning back to straighten her headpiece. “Yes, I’m here. I wouldn’t have missed this—” she glanced at her two friends behind her and laughed. “Rather, these weddings for the world.”

Stephie twirled for Reggie’s benefit, showing off her new dress. “I’m the flower girl and Jimmy’s the ring bearer. He’s a ’fraidy-cat and refused to walk down the aisle, so he gets to stand by the preacher.”

Remembering the purpose of her errand, she grabbed Reggie’s hand, tugging her to her feet. “Come on! We have to hurry! The preacher said it’s time.”

Reggie slowly rose, turning her gaze on her two friends. Drawing a deep fortifying breath she reached for their hands. She squeezed, knowing she had to prepare them in some way for what was about to take place, but not at all sure what to say.

“You’re the best friends a woman could ever ask for and I wish you both all the happiness in the world.” She swallowed and blinked back the tears that clogged her throat, thinking about what was to come. “No matter what happens today,” she said, her voice growing hoarse, “please know that I love you both like family.”

Before Mary Claire or Leighanna could respond to the odd comment, Reggie took Stephie’s hand and let the child lead her from the room.

Reggie stood behind the screen of ivy that concealed the kitchen doorway from the guests, her hands resting on Stephie’s shoulders, listening with Stephie for the music cue from the harpist. Hearing it, she stooped to press a kiss on the top of the little girl’s head.

“Remember,” she whispered. “Walk slowly and don’t forget to drop the rose petals.”

Stephie tipped up her chin, grinning at Reggie. “Don’t worry,” she whispered back. “I won’t forget. I’ve been practicing all morning.”

Reggie watched the child step into the center of the arbor and turn, selecting a petal from the basket she carried. With a wink at Reggie she dropped it then moved out of sight.

Reggie pressed a hand to her stomach, knowing that on the other side of the screen of ivy, at the end of the stretch of red carpet, her stepbrother, Harley, waited. What would he do when he saw her? she wondered frantically. Would he cause a scene? Would he demand an explanation for the ten years of silence? Would he even recognize her after so many years?

And Cody? What would be his reaction? What would be hers on seeing him again?

Before her fears could carry her further, the screen door opened behind her and Mary Claire and Leighanna stepped out onto the narrow porch, both looking radiant. Mary Claire quickly thrust a single, longstemmed rose into Reggie’s hand and nodded as the music cue sounded for her entrance. With a last wistful look at her two friends, Reggie stepped into the center of the arbor and turned to face those gathered.

She paused on that spot of carpet, flanked by an arbor of green ivy and baskets filled with a rainbow of roses, carnations and baby’s breath, her fingers clutching tightly at the single rose she held. Her gaze settled instantly on Harley. Dressed in a suit, his hands folded properly in front of him, he was handsome, achingly so, and the mirror image of his father, the stepfather Reggie had loved so dearly.

Oh, Harley, she cried silently. Please don’t be angry with me for doing this.

At that moment, his gaze met hers and for a second there was no change in his expression, then slowly, ever so slowly, recognition dawned. His eyes widened, his shoulders stiffened... her name formed wordlessly on his lips. Blinking back tears, she took that first slow step toward him, then the next, her heart crying out for his acceptance, for his forgiveness.

When she reached him, she stopped, daring to rise to her toes to brush a kiss on his cheek. “Please don’t be angry,” she whispered at his ear. “I’ve come home.”

His hands closed at her elbows, painfully so, cutting like steel vises into her tender flesh. For a moment, she thought he meant to rebuke her, to cast her away, as she had her family ten years before. But then his grip eased. She felt the tremble in his fingers as he released her, and she lifted her face to his. She nearly wept when she saw the tears that glistened in his eyes. He raised a hand and brushed it tenderly at her cheek as if to assure himself that it was not a ghost standing before him.

“Regan,” he murmured, his voice a hoarse whisper.

“Later,” she promised softly. “We’ll talk later.”

At his slight nod, she turned away to take her place on the opposite side of the minister. When she turned back, the music swelled and she shifted her gaze to the arbor just as Mary Claire stepped beneath the arch.

She watched, emotion tightening her chest, as her friend and soon to be sister-in-law started that slow, life-changing walk down the carpet, unaware of the drama that had just taken place. Once Mary Claire had laced her arm through Harley’s, Leighanna followed, her gaze never once wavering from the man who stood at Harley’s right

Reggie shifted her gaze to look at him. Hank Braden. She didn’t know him, at least not personally, but like everyone else who’d ever lived in Temptation, she knew him by reputation. You better be good to her, she warned silently as Leighanna took her place at his side.

The harpist ran her fingers across the strings, then pressed them, silencing the harp as the minister opened his Bible. “Dearly beloved,” he began. “We are gathered here...”

Then, and only then, did Reggie find the courage to look farther, to the man who stood at Harley and Hank’s right.

Cody.

Her heart stuttered to a stop at the sight of him, then kicked into a rib-rattling beat. Like the two friends he stood up for, he was breathtakingly handsome, dressed in a dark western-cut suit and crisp white shirt, his hair freshly trimmed and slick against his head. She’d forgotten how handsome he looked in a suit, for the memories she had locked away in her heart were steeped in jeans and boots, a cowboy hat that changed with the seasons and a warm, lazy smile that had always had the power to both arouse and comfort her.

At the innocent age of seventeen, she’d thought him grown, mature... a man. As she looked at him, she realized how childish, how foolish her assessment had been, for it was a man who stood before her now. His shoulders had broadened over the years, his chest had filled out, and even from beneath the camouflage of his suit she could see the increased strength in his muscled arms and legs.

He’d changed so much...and yet so little. Now, like then, she found herself wanting to lean against that strength, to let those muscled arms envelop her as they had so many times in the past, offering comfort and protection from a life that seemed out of her control.

But Cody seemed unaware of her need. His attention focused on the minister, he listened intently as the vows were exchanged. With all her heart, Reggie willed him to look at her, to let those lips firmed in concentration spread into a welcoming smile directed her way.

But he didn’t. He kept his gaze on the minister, never once glancing her way.

“You may kiss your brides.”

At the minister’s invitation, both Harley and Hank gathered their brides into their arms and kissed them with a fervor that had the guests cheering. Their faces wreathed in smiles, the two couples linked arms and made their way back down the strip of red carpet.

Reggie knew what came next. She’d served as bridesmaid in enough weddings to know the script by heart. She shifted her gaze back to Cody and found him looking at her. Her breath caught in her lungs as gray eyes met hers. She didn’t know what she had expected from him. A sign of welcome, maybe. A yearning for what might have been. Perhaps even a little regret. But never this cool disregard.

He offered her his arm, but she could tell that he did so only out of obligation to his duties as best man.

She tipped up her chin, refusing to give in to the tears that threatened, and slipped her hand through the crook of his arm. Heat flooded her body with an awareness of his nearness as he silently walked her down the strip of carpet. Their hips brushed once. Twice. And Reggie’s heart crowded her throat.

She wouldn’t cry, she told herself. Not now. There’d be plenty of time for crying later.

Cody looked around the kitchen. The wedding guests were gone. Tommy and Jenny had left to make the drive back to their mother’s home in San Antonio. Stephie and Jimmy were knee-deep in a video game in Jimmy’s newly redecorated bedroom. All who remained to celebrate were the newlyweds, Cody...and Regan.

He wanted to kick himself into next month for not paying more attention to the wedding plans when they were discussed. But when the women had started talking colors and flowers, he’d tuned out. Now it was too late to prepare himself for the shock of seeing Regan again. She was here and ready or not, he had to deal with both her and the memories she’d left with him.

Arms folded across his chest, his hip resting against the newly tiled kitchen countertop, Cody felt separate from the group huddled around the table, talking. An outsider. It seemed he’d always been on the outside, looking in.

He’d all but grown up with Harley and Regan. His family, if you could call them that, had lived less than a mile from the Kerrs’ ranch. With no one at home but an alcoholic father, Cody had spent most of his time at the Kerrs’, preferring their company to that of a drunk. The Kerrs had welcomed him to their home and hearts, a gesture Cody would be eternally grateful for, but he’d always been careful to remind himself that he wasn’t truly a member of the family, merely an outsider who had gained entry out of pity.

Even so, he’d grieved with them when Harley’s mother had passed away. Celebrated when Harley’s father had brought a new wife and stepdaughter to live with them. He’d accepted big-brother responsibilities for Regan right along with Harley and tried his best to honor them even when his feelings for Regan changed to less than brotherly ones.

He’d grieved again when Regan’s mother had died. He’d even served as a pallbearer when Harley’s father had been killed in a freak farm accident less than a year after his second wife’s death.

But the pain of those losses paled in comparison with the pain he felt now. Regan. She was home. But for how long?

Though he didn’t belong there, didn’t feel he had the right to sit in on what should be a private family reunion, he couldn’t bring himself to leave, not when there were so many questions to be answered, questions he didn’t have the guts, or the right, to ask. Instead, he stood on the sidelines and listened while the answers unfolded before him.

“I thought you would come for me and drag me home by my hair,” Regan was saying as she shot a teasing glance at her stepbrother.

Harley chuckled. “The thought did cross my mind.” He shook his head, remembering, his smile turning wistful. “But I knew I had to let you go. By law, you were old enough to be out on your own. Besides, you were unhappy here. Forcing you to come back would have only made things worse.” He sighed, reaching to gather Regan’s hand in his larger one. “I’m sorry I didn’t make it easier for you here. I was so damn busy trying to make this ranch pay that I was blind to how bad things were between you and Susan.”

He squeezed her hand. “After I discovered what you’d done, my biggest concern was for your safety. When I found out that you had gone to the bank and withdrawn all the money your mother had left you, I knew that at least you wouldn’t be living on the streets.” He lifted his gaze from their joined hands, his eyes filled with the love and the pride that she remembered. “You were always headstrong, independent. I never doubted that you could take care of yourself, but damn, I missed you.”

Regan’s eyes misted. “And I missed you. You’ll never know how much.”

Harley squeezed her hand again. “And now my little sister is all grown up.” He studied her, his gaze growing thoughtful. “When Mary Claire mentioned her friend Reggie, I never put the two together. Giles, isn’t it? Reggie Giles?”

At her nod, his forehead wrinkled. “Did you change your name to keep me from finding you?”

Reggie felt heat creep into her cheeks and she stole a glance at Cody, wondering what he’d think when he heard that she’d married. But he didn’t seem interested in the conversation taking place. He seemed more fascinated with something on the tips of his boots. “Reggie just seemed to fit and Giles was my married name,” she murmured.

Harley glanced around as if expecting to find a husband lurking somewhere in the kitchen. “Where is he?” he asked, returning his gaze to hers.

“Living in Spring, Texas, with his new wife and baby.”

Cody’s head snapped up at that. Divorced? Regan was divorced? Unlike Harley, he’d known Regan had married. More than a year after she’d left Temptation, he’d decided to hell with Harley and his willingness to just let Regan go without putting up a fight. He’d traced her to Houston and discovered from the court records that she’d married. Though he’d made the trip to try to persuade her to come home with him, he’d left without ever contacting her.

“You’re divorced?” Harley asked in surprise.

“Yes. Our marriage lasted less than a year,” she explained. “It was a mistake.” She could have told Harley the mistake had been hers, that she’d married Kevin Giles for all the wrong reasons, the biggest of which was her hope of forgetting Cody. “But we’re still friends,” she added.

Still friends? Cody felt a stab of anger. She’d maintained a relationship with her ex-husband, but not with him. He guessed that pretty much summed up her feelings for him.

Mary Claire slowly shook her head, still dazed by all that had transpired. “After all these years of friendship, I can’t believe I never knew you were Harley’s sister.”

“Stepsister,” Regan clarified, smiling at Harley.

Harley reared back in his chair, his chest swelling in brotherly pride. “Step or full, you’re still our little sister.” He cocked his head over his shoulder to peer at Cody. “Right, Cody?”

Cody stiffened. The feelings he had for Regan hadn’t been brotherly since she’d turned sixteen, and at the moment, even those were dampened by a blinding anger he couldn’t have explained if he’d tried. One thing he knew, though—he didn’t like hearing others call her by his special name. “Yeah, right,” he mumbled.

Leighanna dabbed at wet eyes. “This is all so—so, heartwarming.”

Hank rolled his eyes. “Here we go again,” he mumbled, pulling out an already damp handkerchief.

With an indignant sniff, Leighanna snatched the cloth from his hand. “I can cry if I want. After all, it isn’t every day a person gets to witness a reunion like this.”

Hank snorted. “You obviously don’t watch much TV. Stuff like this happens on ‘Oprah’ all the time. Father reunited with daughter he’s never seen. Twins reunited after being separated at birth twenty years before.” His eyes took on a teasing glint as he glanced at Cody. “Maybe we should call up Oprah, huh, Cody? Milk this for all its worth. It would give you another chance to sing the praises of Temptation on national television and maybe draw a few more folks our way.”

Cody’s face reddened at Hank’s reference to all the media attention Temptation had received after Cody had suggested at a town meeting a few months back that they should advertise for women to move to Temptation to save their dying town. “Back off, Hank,” he muttered.

Hank chuckled good-naturedly as he looped an arm around Leighanna’s shoulders and pulled her to him for a hug. “Just a thought.”

Mary Claire let out a long sigh. “Well, it just proves that life is certainly stranger than fiction.”

“It does for a fact.” Harley pushed away from the table. “I think this calls for a toast.” He quickly filled flutes with the champagne left from the reception and passed them around. Positioning himself behind Regan, he placed a hand on her shoulder and lifted his glass. “To Regan, my sister, whose homecoming is the best wedding present I could ever ask for.”

Regan’s eyes widened and she bolted from her chair, setting her glass aside. “Oh! I almost forgot!” She ran into the den and returned, digging through her purse. She pulled out two envelopes and placed one in Leighanna’s hand and the other in Mary Claire’s. “Congratulations!” she exclaimed then folded her arms triumphantly at her breasts. “The honeymoon is on me.”

Mary Claire’s mouth dropped open. “A honeymoon?”

“Yes. A honeymoon. You’re all scheduled to leave in the morning for Cozumel. The reservations can be changed, of course, but, hey! Why not go now?”

Mary Claire lifted her head from the tickets she’d pulled from the envelope. “Oh, Reggie, as much as I appreciate the gesture, we can’t. The kids—”

“The kids,” Reggie interrupted, “have their Aunt Reggie to baby-sit them while their Mom and Dad are soaking up the sun on the Caribbean.”

She turned to Hank and Leighanna. “What about you guys? Anything that stands in the way of your enjoying a honeymoon?”

Leighanna started to reply, but Hank quickly snatched the envelope from her hand. “Heck no! Thanks, Reggie.”

Leighanna jerked her head around to stare at him in open-mouthed surprise. “But what about the End of the Road? Who’ll run the bar?”

Hank pressed a kiss on the tip of her nose. “We’ll close it. It’ll still be there when we get back. I’m not passing up the chance of spending a week alone with my wife.”

Though her opinion of Hank had been guarded at first, Reggie decided she might just like this guy after all. Any man who’d drop everything to spend a week with his new wife had her undying respect. She shot him a wink. “Well, that settles it, then. In the morning you guys are off for a week in Cozumel.”

Harley turned to Cody, his forehead knitted in a worried frown. “Would you be willing to keep an eye on my place while I’m gone?”

Without tasting the champagne, Cody set his glass aside. When he’d heard Regan offer to stay and baby-sit Stephie and Jimmy, he’d immediately started planning a vacation of his own. The destination didn’t matter, just as long as he was far away from Temptation and Regan. But now he was trapped. He couldn’t deny his friends this opportunity for a honeymoon, and, without his help, he knew Harley would never agree to go.

“You know I will,” he assured Harley, as he reached for his hat. He settled it one-handed onto his head, knowing he had to get out before this madness consumed him. “I guess I better be going.” He made a quick circle around the table, clasping first Harley’s hand, then Hank’s, offering his congratulations. A peck on the cheek for Mary Claire and another for Leighanna. But when he reached Regan, he took an obvious step back and merely tipped his hat... and then he was gone, the door slamming shut behind him.

Reggie stared after him, feeling the bitter sting of his rejection. Why? she wondered in confusion. Why was Cody treating her so coolly? They’d once been so close.

Well, she’d watched him leave before without an explanation, she told herself, but this time she wasn’t going to let him get away so easily.

“Excuse me,” she murmured to the others and rose to her feet.

By the time she pushed through the back door, Cody’s long stride had carried him halfway to his truck.

“Cody!” she called. “Wait!”

He turned, but the look of repressed fury on his face stopped Reggie cold. Less than six feet separated them, but it gaped like a mile.

Reggie hauled in a steadying breath. “Is—is something wrong?”

“What do you mean?” he growled.

“You seem...” She shook her head in confusion. “I don’t know...angry or something. I’d hoped that—”

He took a step nearer, his eyes darkening to a stormy gray. “What did you hope, Regan? That I’d kill the fatted calf? That I’d welcome the prodigal sister home with open arms like Harley?” He took another step nearer and the heat of his anger all but smothered her. “Well, I’m not Harley, Regan,” he ground out. “And I’m not your brother. I never was and I never will be. I—” He clamped his lips together before he could say more, before he could say something he would regret.

With a scowl he turned his back on her, and headed for his truck, leaving her standing on the drive behind him.