Heart of Stone

“Mrs. Brown runs a very respectable boardinghouse,” he began.

She grimaced. “Yes, and charges a respectable price for rooms. I can’t afford it on my salary.”

“Hit Bentley up for a raise,” he suggested.

“Oh, right, I’ll do that first thing tomorrow,” she drawled.

“You’re scared of Bentley. You’re scared of Boone.” He pulled out into traffic. “You’re even scared of your mother. You have to step up and claim your own life, Keely.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can’t go through life being afraid of people. Especially people like my brother and Bentley Rydel. Do you know why they’re scary?” he persisted. “It’s because it’s hard work to talk to them. They’re both basically introverts who find it difficult to relate to other people. Consequently they’re quiet and somber and they don’t go out of their way to join in activities. They’re loners.”

She sighed. “I’m a loner, too, in my own way. But I don’t stand on the sidelines and glare at people all the time—or, worse, pretend they’re not there.”

“Is that Boone’s latest tactic?” he mused, chuckling. “He ignores you, does he?”

“He did until I argued about Bailey’s condition.”

“Thank God you did,” he said fervently. “Bailey belongs to Boone, but we all love the old fellow. I’ll never understand why Boone didn’t realize what had happened to him. He’s a cattleman—he’s seen bloat before.”

“His girlfriend convinced him that I was trying to get attention, using Bailey to lure Boone to my place of work.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” he burst out. “Boone’s not that stupid!”

“Well, apparently my mother’s been telling him that I have a crush on him, and now he thinks everything I do or say is an attempt to worm my way into his life,” she said bitterly.

“Ella told him that?” he exclaimed.

“Yes. And she told him that I’m sleeping with Bentley.”

“Does Bentley know that you’re sleeping with him?” he asked innocently.

She laughed. “I don’t know. I’ll ask him.”

He burst out laughing, too. “That’s more like it, kid,” he said. “You have to learn to roll with the punches and not take life so seriously.”

“It feels pretty serious to me lately,” she replied. “I feel like I’ve hit a wall tonight.”

“You should push your mother into one,” he told her. “Or better yet, tell her what a lousy mother she’s been.”

“She doesn’t listen when she’s drunk, and she’s mostly away from home when she’s sober.” She pursed her lips. “I work for veterinarians. I’ve been professionally taught to let sleeping dogs lie.”

He smiled. “Have you, now?”

“Where are you taking me?” she asked when he took a state highway instead of the Jacobsville road. “I thought we were going to a movie.”

“I’m not in the mood for a movie. I thought we might go to San Antonio for shrimp,” he replied. “I’m in the mood for some. What do you think?”

“We’ll be very late getting back,” she reminded him worriedly.

“What the hell,” he scoffed. “You can tell your mother you’re sleeping with me now instead of Bentley and she can mind her own business about when you come home.”

Her eyes almost popped.

He saw that and grinned. “Which brings to mind a matter I need a little help with. I think,” he added, “that you and I can be the solution for each others’ problems. If you’re game.”

All the way to San Antonio, she wondered what he meant, and how she would fit into his “solution.”

Chapter Three

The restaurant Clark took Keely to was one of the most exclusive in town, famous for its seafood. Keely was worried that she was dressed too casually for such a grand place, but she saw people dressed up and dressed down for the evening out. She relaxed and followed Clark and the hostess to a corner table. They were seated and provided with menus. Keely had to bite her tongue at the prices. Any one of these dishes would have equaled a day’s salary. But Clark just gave her a grin and told her to order what she wanted. They were celebrating. She wondered what they were celebrating, but he wouldn’t say.

Keely had eaten earlier, so she just had a very light meal. After she’d finished, she wondered if it was really the food that drew him here. He couldn’t take his eyes off the waitress who took their orders. And the waitress blushed prettily when he stared at her.

“Do you know her?” Keely asked softly when the waitress went to turn in their orders.

“Yes,” he said, grimacing. “I’m in love with her.”

Immediately Keely recalled Boone’s attitude toward his siblings becoming involved with someone from a lower economic class. He’d been vocal about it in the past. The look on Clark’s face was painful to see. She knew without asking that he was seeing the hopelessness of his own situation vividly.

“Is she the one you took to supper at the ranch?” she asked, remembering something she’d heard from Winnie.

He nodded. “Boone was polite to her, but later he asked me if I was out of my mind. He sees all working women as gold diggers who can’t wait to marry me and then divorce me for a big settlement.”

“Not all women want money,” she pointed out.

“Tell Boone. He doesn’t know.”

“That woman he goes out with seems to be obsessed with it,” Keely muttered.

“She doesn’t count, because she’s rich in her own right.”

“Yes. She’s beautiful, too,” she added with more bitterness than she realized.

He studied her across the white tablecloth with its fresh flowers, candles and silverware. “Think about it—would a man like Boone stick his head into the same noose he escaped once? That woman walked away from him when he was lying in a hospital with shrapnel wounds that could have killed him. She didn’t like hospitals. She thought he might be crippled, so she gave him back his ring. Now she’s in San Antonio and wants to go back to where they started. How do you think Boone feels about that?”

For the first time, she felt a glimmer of hope. “Your brother doesn’t forgive people,” she said softly. It was what she’d said once to Winnie.

“Exactly. Much less people who stick pins in his pride.”

“Then why is he taking her around with him?” Keely wanted to know.

He shrugged. “She’s beautiful and she has polished manners. Maybe he’s just lonely and he wants a showpiece on his arm. Or,” he added slowly, “maybe he has something in mind that she isn’t expecting. She wants to marry him again. But I don’t think he wants to marry her. And I think he’s got a good reason for going out with her at all.”

“God knows what it is,” Keely murmured.

“God does know. He probably doesn’t like it, either.”