The Girl with the Golden Spurs

“You hungry?” Walker asked, changing the subject abruptly, but still in that gentle, comforting tone, as he carried Vanilla to her.

“Starved,” she managed to say as she took Vanilla, who clapped and smiled some more.

Walker made Vanilla a bottle while Lizzy settled Vanilla in her high chair with a cardboard book. She got plates and silverware out, then brother and sister sat down together at the scarred table she and Amanda had bought at a fair in the Village. Vanilla placed the book aside and guzzled her bottle noisily.

Walker spooned steaming rice and vegetables onto their plates. With her chopsticks, Lizzy toyed with her food. Everything was exactly the same between them as it had been before she’d watched the video, and yet nothing was the same.

“I never did find the knack of eating with those silly sticks, either,” Walker said.

Lizzy dropped them with a clatter and picked up her fork. Then she took a deep breath to ward off the panic that threatened to overwhelm her.

He watched her when she set her fork down a few minutes later.

Vanilla pounded her high-chair tray with her bottle, and Lizzy forced a smile.

“You want me to go out and get something else?” Walker said.

“No… No. The food is great…really. I guess I’m not as hungry as I thought I was.”

Her stomach churned. No way could she swallow a bite.

“Well, I reckon I’ll be leaving in the morning,” he said. “Early—before you get up.”

“Are you going home?”

“No. I’ll call from time to time to see how you’re doing. I’ll give you my new address when I have one.”

It occurred to her he was going through some crisis as bad or maybe even worse than hers. But her own pain and inhibitions wouldn’t let her reach out to him.

Maybe that was for the best. She hoped so. Maybe it was better for them both if he kept his secrets and she kept hers. That way, their lives looked perfect…on the surface.

“I’m glad you came,” she said, studying him until he looked up and did the same.

He nodded.

She lifted her fork again and then set it down. “Come back anytime.”

“New York’s a great city. Tell Bryce…”

She bit her lips. Then her hand knocked the fork off the table.

“Hey,” he said. “It’s okay.”

“I know. Everything’s fine. Just fine. Perfect.”

“Sure.”

“He’s just working late.”

“Sure. You oughtta take him home to meet the folks some time.”

She drew a deep, shaky breath and looked away. “I—I will. First thing.”

They spoke in generalities until Vanilla started banging her empty bottle on the high chair again and then threw it down on the floor.

Lizzy used that as her excuse to get up. Scooping Vanilla out of the high chair, she gathered her plate and glass and began to wash the dishes. Later, after Vanilla was asleep in her crib, Walker and she finished decorating the table by the door for Halloween. Not that they said much until she came out of the bathroom in her bathrobe and was on her way back to her bedroom to go to bed.

“Your turn to shower,” she said a little too brightly before she headed to bed.

He got up off the couch and went to her and pulled her close. “I guess I’d better say goodbye now.”

“I’m glad you came.”

“I love you, Lizzy. I wish you the best. You take care of yourself. And thank Bryce when he comes home.”

She wrapped her arms around Walker and held his solid, muscular body tightly. “You’re the most wonderful little brother a girl ever had.”

“Little?” He smiled down at her, and when she met his gaze, for an instant she felt incredible pain in his dark eyes.

“I love you,” she said simply, not knowing what else to say.

“I know,” he said, letting her go, but he looked trapped.

“Wherever you go, don’t you do anything wild and crazy.”

“The same goes for you.”

Houston, Texas

Joanne

It’s my fault, Joanne thought coolly as she let out the water and got out of the tub. She reached for a thick towel and wrapped herself in it.

Why had she gone to the board with her demands? Why hadn’t she simply told Caesar privately she couldn’t face the museum opening with him parading around Texas with Cherry on his arm?

He’d seemed to shrink when the board had taken her side. His skin had gone papery dry and bloodless. She’d gone after the one thing besides Lizzy that mattered to him—his control of the ranch. When she’d said Cole Knight did more than Caesar did to run the ranch, she’d probably made him so furious he’d had a stroke.

Was she crazy? After all he’d done, to even question her own actions? All his life Caesar had done exactly what he wanted, taken what he wanted. Not that he’d seen in that way. He thought he’d martyred himself for the good of the ranch.

Leaving the bathroom, she headed into the bedroom where her nightgown lay spread in a splash of vivid yellow silk across her huge bed. Even after a long hot bath, Joanne felt alienated and all alone in the luxurious, nondescript hotel room Cole had checked her into. She hadn’t spent many nights on her own in such a room where the decor was perfect, if sterile and the same as all other hotel rooms on the floor. He’d offered to call her friends to let them know she was in the city, but she’d said no. Now she felt so alone and afraid she almost wished she was staying with friends.