“Emma’s leaving for Denver in the morning,” Ryan announced casually when he stopped by the paper to see Ford after church on Sunday afternoon.
Ford’s gaze shot up. “She didn’t say anything to me about that. When did she decide to go?”
“When was the last time you saw her?” Ryan asked.
“This morning.”
“Then I imagine that’s when she decided.”
Judging from the smirk on Ryan’s face, Ford was definitely missing something. “Meaning?”
“Our Emma is running scared.”
“Of me?” Ford asked incredulously, then sighed. “I imagine that’s not as ridiculous as it sounds. I think of her as being tough as nails, but she’s not when it comes to the ‘R’ word, is she?”
“‘R’ as in relationship?” Ryan asked.
“Yes.”
“No, when it comes to that, I think she’s completely out of her element,” Ryan said. “How about you? Do you think about a relationship when you’re with Emma?”
Truthfully, what Ford thought about was sex, but, yes, the happily-ever-after thought had crossed his mind…and then fled. He did know, however, that he wasn’t anxious for her to leave town.
Rather than admit that to the protective sheriff, he asked, “Why do you think she’s so gun-shy when it comes to men? Are you sure you don’t know any more about her marriage than what you’ve told me?”
Ryan’s expression suggested he was well aware that the change of topic had been deliberate. Still, he seemed to consider the question thoughtfully before answering.
“I don’t know anything more about her marriage, but I think her skittishness goes back even longer than that. Remember I told you that Emma didn’t date a lot back when I knew her? She was too goal oriented. I don’t know what she did in college, but I imagine that didn’t change. Then she married, had a child and divorced, all in pretty short order. That may be the sum total of her experience with men. Since then I have the distinct impression that she’s been totally absorbed by her career, probably by choice.”
He studied Ford with interest. “So, what are you going to do about her decision to go?”
“Why should I do anything?”
Ryan shook his head. “You’re pitiful, both of you. She’s clearly in denial. What about you, Ford? Are you going to start denying that you’re interested, or are you just going to evade my questions altogether?”
Ford considered it for the sake of his pride, but knew it would be futile. “No. No evasions. I’m definitely interested.” It was a deceptively lukewarm description of the way she managed to tie him in knots.
“Well, then, what are you going to do?”
“I honestly don’t know. Any suggestions?”
“Go after her.”
“And do what? Stop her from leaving?”
Ryan laughed. “I don’t think the entire United States Marines could do that. She’s hell-bent on running. I meant go after her in Denver. Stick around for a few days. Show her you’re willing to compromise.”
“Compromise about what?”
“The future. The living arrangements. Whatever needs to be compromised on to make it work.”
Ford shuddered at the suggestion. “Now you’re the one who’s talking crazy. I’m not going to live in Denver. I’ve paid my dues in big cities. I like it here. And I have a paper to run, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“Does that matter more than being with Emma?”
“It’s not a competition. Why do I have to choose?” he demanded. “Is it up to me to choose just because she won’t?”
“Do you want her or not?”
“I want her,” Ford admitted, then met Ryan’s gaze evenly. “Maybe just not enough.”
“Will you ever know for sure if you stick around here and let her get away?”
“Okay, you have a point,” Ford conceded. “I’ll try to catch her before she goes. At least, I can take another reading on the situation.”
Ryan regarded him with evident exasperation. “And do what? Talk the subject to death? Emma needs action, something dramatic to catch her attention, something that will tell her you’re putting her first.”
“And chasing her to Denver will say that?”
“It’ll be a start,” Ryan insisted. “What you do after you get there will do the rest.”
Ford had a vision of going to Denver, getting Emma to give their relationship a chance, then discovering that it would all be on her terms and only if he was the one who relocated. “I don’t know,” he said, expressing his reservations aloud. “I came here to uncomplicate my life, not to get into a situation that can’t be resolved without somebody having to give up too much.”
Ryan shrugged. “Your choice. But take it from a man who’s waited a very long time to grab a shot at what he wants, when the right woman comes along, you shouldn’t waste a minute. You never know what fate has in store just around the corner.”
It was the closest Ryan had come to making a direct admission of his feelings for Sue Ellen—at least Ford assumed she was the woman he meant. Since he was eager for a change of subject anyway, he decided to pursue it. “You’re talking about you and Sue Ellen?”
“Yeah, isn’t that a kick in the pants?” Ryan said, his expression rueful. “I have to wait more than ten years till her husband is dead before I get a real chance with her and, because of how he died, it may be too late.”
Ford was startled by Ryan’s defeatist attitude. “Do you really believe that? I thought you had faith in Emma’s ability to get her off.”
“I do, but that’s the least of it. The fact is that Sue Ellen’s got a lot of baggage to deal with. There’s no telling if she’ll ever get past it.” His eyes lit with a sad smile. “You should have known her back when we were kids. She was so lovely, so fragile and yet full of life. Donny literally beat that out of her, but once in a while when I look into her eyes I see a glimmer of the woman she used to be. That’s why I keep hanging in there. I want to help her find the old Sue Ellen again.”
“Careful,” Ford warned. “Be sure you’re not mistaking the knight-in-shining-armor syndrome for something else.”
“I’m not. I loved her long before she needed rescuing.”
Ford thought once again about what a fine man Ryan was. “She’s lucky to have you.”
“That remains to be seen. Meantime, you concentrate on Emma. The man who catches her will be one lucky son of a gun.”
Ford thought about that all the way out to the Clayton ranch. He’d barely set foot on the porch when Caitlyn came barreling through the front door and skidded to a stop in front of him.
“I was hoping you were gonna come see me,” she said. “It took a long time.”
Ford grinned. “I’ve had a few things to do.”
“I know. Mommy said you publish a newspaper. I don’t know what that is, but it sounds real important.”
“I don’t know about important, but it takes a lot of time.”
Caitlyn gave him a shy smile. “Now that you’re here, wanna see my pony? Remember, I told you all about him?”
“I remember.”
Emma stepped outside and Ford’s gaze immediately went to her. She was studying him warily.
“I don’t think Ford has time to pay a visit to your pony, Caitlyn.”
Since he was pretty sure he heard a challenge in there, he rose to it. “Sure I do,” he said, taking the child’s hand. He returned Emma’s look with a dare of his own. “Want to come along?”
“Sure,” she said with no hint of reluctance. She followed them down the steps and toward the barn.
Caitlyn released Ford’s hand and danced along ahead of them. “You could ride my pony sometime,” she offered. “But she might be too little for you.” Her solemn gaze assessed him from head to toe. “You’ve got really, really long legs. She’s just right for me, though. Grandpa says when I’m bigger, he’ll buy me any kind of horse I want. I got one all picked out.”
“You do?” Emma said, regarding her with surprise.
“Grandpa took me with him to this other ranch after church this morning, so we could look at all the horses. They had the prettiest horse I ever saw. It was all golden, like a magical horse in a storybook. I can’t have that horse, because it’ll be a long time before I’m growed up,” she explained matter-of-factly. “But Grandpa says he’ll find me one just like it.”
“Grandpa spoils you.”
“I know,” Caitlyn said happily. “He loves me.”
“He does indeed,” Emma said, sounding oddly resigned.
When Caitlyn had run on ahead, Ford looked at Emma. “Is that a problem?”
“Only because it means it’s going to upset him when we leave.”
“I hear you’re going tomorrow. Is that true?”
She nodded. “Is that what brought you out here? The rumors of my imminent departure?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact. You didn’t mention it when I saw you earlier.”
“I told you on Friday night that I’d probably leave Monday. I need to get back. I have a trial next week.”
“Big case?”
“Not especially. In fact, if I’d had my way, it would never have gone to trial, but the client refused to plea-bargain, so here we are, about to waste a lot of taxpayer dollars on a case we’re likely to lose.”
Ryan was surprised at her apparent resignation to defeat. “I thought you were supremely confident about your skills as a lawyer?”
“I am, but I’ll be the first to admit that my heart’s not in this one. If you print that, I’ll deny it, though. I’ll be walking a tightrope in the courtroom, trying to give my client a fair shake without using some technicality to get him off.”
He regarded her with surprise. “You want to lose?”
“I want justice,” she corrected. “Unfortunately, there’s no predicting juries. The law may be the law, but they’re the human factor, and there’s no telling whether the facts and the evidence will resonate with them the way I expect them to.”
“Still, I imagine you’re extremely persuasive when you want to be.”
She glanced at him sideways. “Why would you believe that? I haven’t been able to persuade you to steer clear of me.”
“That’s because I’ve got my own issues with being overly confident. I think I can change your mind.”
She chuckled. “I should probably have set out to be less of a challenge. You would have lost interest by now.”
His gaze locked with hers. “Somehow I doubt that. We both know there are a whole lot of reasons why this shouldn’t or can’t work, yet I don’t seem to be able to make myself stay away. I figure we’ll just have to play it out.”
“You sound resigned.”
“Do I?” He grinned. “Trust me, that’s not how I feel. I can hardly wait.”
When he leaned forward to touch his lips to hers, he felt the shudder that swept through her. He found that reassuring. It was also what convinced him that Ryan was right. Risky or not, he had to follow her to Denver at the first opportunity.
But first he’d give her just a little time to start to miss him.
* * *
Emma could hardly wait to get away from Winding River in the morning. Ford kept catching her by surprise, rattling her with those innocent kisses that stole her breath.
The fact that he hadn’t prodded her for more details about the case she was handling had also been reassuring. She had been less than circumspect in admitting that she wanted to lose. In print, those words would have been damning and could have cost her the confidence of all of her clients, if not gotten her disbarred. His failure to ask more probing questions had reassured her that, this time at least, he wouldn’t betray her confidence.
Beside her in the car, Caitlyn was pouting. She’d barely said a single word since Emma had told her the night before that they were going home.
Outside the car, her parents were looking on with disappointment written all over their faces.
“We’ll be back soon,” she promised.
“I don’t see—” her mother began, but Emma’s father cut her off.
“Leave it alone. Emma knows what she has to do. She has obligations in Denver,” he said. He leaned through the car window and kissed Caitlyn’s forehead. “Be good for your mommy.”
“I want to stay with you,” Caitlyn whispered as huge tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Not this time, baby. You’ll be back soon, though. You heard Mommy promise.” His gaze met Emma’s. “We love you both.”
Tears welled up in her eyes now. “I know, Dad. I love you.”
As he stepped away from the car, she put it into gear, backed up, then headed down the driveway, giving one last wave to her parents, who were standing arm in arm, their expressions doleful.
“I don’t know why we have to go,” Caitlyn said with a sniff.
“Because Mommy has to go back to work.”
“I hate Denver,” Caitlyn said vehemently. “And I hate you.”
Guilt bubbled up inside Emma, but she couldn’t let her daughter’s words deter her from doing what she had to do.
She sighed and reached over to squeeze Caitlyn’s hand.
“I know, but I love you. And I always will, no matter what.”
Caitlyn fell into a fitful sleep after that and didn’t awaken again until they were almost home.
“Can I have Kelly and Laura Beth over?” she asked the minute they’d walked in the door, instinctively knowing that this was the time to play on Emma’s guilt. “I want to tell them all about my pony and Grandpa’s ranch and the kitten I get to bring home next time we come.”
The last thing Emma wanted was to have three little girls squealing while she tried to concentrate, but she also knew it would make it easier for Caitlyn to accept being back in Denver.
“You call them,” she said, regretting the fact that she’d given the housekeeper several weeks off while they’d been away. Emma had called her that morning, but the woman wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. “I’ll speak to their moms.”
“Can they spend the night?”
“Sure,” she said, resigned to the inevitable. “We can order pizza.”
Caitlyn beamed at her. She ran to grab the portable phone, then raced back, skidded to a stop and regarded Emma solemnly. “I don’t really hate you, Mommy. I just said that ’cause I was mad.”
“I know, baby. Now give your friends a call before it gets too late.”
Emma spoke to the girls’ mothers, assuring them that it would be fine for their daughters to spend the night. “Caitlyn’s looking forward to it.”
“And you?” Laura Beth’s mother asked, chuckling. “You’re a brave woman to do this on your first day back from a trip.”
“Not brave, pragmatic,” Emma told Darla. “They’ll keep Caitlyn occupied and happy while I go over the mountain of paperwork that’s stacked up while we’ve been away.”
“The girls could come over here,” Darla said.
“You’re an angel for suggesting it, but another time. Caitlyn was unhappy about leaving her grandparents. I think it’ll be good for her to see she can have just as much fun right here.”
“What time should I pick Laura Beth up in the morning?”
“I’ll drop her off about nine. I want to run by the office first thing anyway.”
“Then leave Caitlyn with me,” Darla suggested. “Kids are like puppies. When they’re in pairs, they’re much easier to deal with. They entertain each other. I love my daughter, but it’s been a long summer, and it’s just the end of July. Another whole month to go before school starts.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Of course not. See you soon. You can tell me all about your reunion.”
Emma tried unsuccessfully to hide a groan.
“I heard that,” Darla said. “Don’t panic. I’ll take the condensed version and then get out of your hair. Any gorgeous men there?”
Emma immediately thought of Ford. “One, as a matter of fact.”
“Aha,” Darla gloated. “Maybe this will take longer than I thought.”
Emma was chuckling when she hung up. Darla was a perpetual optimist, a romantic at heart, who believed in silver linings and happily-ever-after. They weren’t good friends. In fact, they were little more than acquaintances, but they’d seen a lot of each other since their daughters had become fast friends in kindergarten. If Emma told her about Ford and how disconcerting she found him to be, Darla would be encouraging her to start picking out wedding invitations, especially since he was the first man Emma had ever mentioned to her.
It didn’t help that Darla and Laura Beth arrived just as the phone rang.
“Ford?” Emma said when she heard his voice. “I wasn’t expecting you to call.”
Darla gave her a thumbs-up.
“I just wanted to be sure you got back okay. Any problems?”
“Nope. Clear sailing.”
“Are you back in your routine already?”
“No, actually Caitlyn is having guests. Two of her classmates are coming over for a slumber party.”
“Do I detect an attempt at bribery?”
“You’ve got it,” Emma said, not especially surprised that he’d read the situation so accurately.
Kelly arrived just then, and the squeals escalated. Darla’s attempts to hush the girls were pretty much ignored.
“It sounds as if you have your hands full,” Ford commented. “I’ll let you go. I just wanted you to know I was thinking about you.”
“Thanks for calling.”
“No problem.”
She was about to hang up, when he said, “Emma?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t be surprised if I’m the one showing up on your doorstep one of these days.”
“What?”
“Sweet dreams,” he said, and hung up before she could demand an explanation.
Sweet dreams, indeed! He’d just given her one more thing to worry about.
“Was that him?” Darla asked, watching her closely.
“Yes.”
“You’re barely home and he’s already checking in. You must have made quite an impression. What does he do?”
“He owns the newspaper in Winding River.”
“Sounds promising. You can’t get much more respectable than that.”
“I suppose that depends on your point of view,” Emma said wryly. “Journalists are not my favorite people.”
“I don’t know why. You’re a master at using the media to help your clients. You have all of those TV reporters eating out of your hand. You’ve mastered the art of sound bites. My Jimmy says he’s never seen anything like it, and he’s been a TV news director for five years now,” she said, referring to her husband, who worked for a local network affiliate. Before that he’d worked for a newspaper in town as one of its brightest political columnists.
“But I maintain a cautious distance even then,” Emma said. “I certainly never dated reporters.”
“Well, maybe you should make an exception. I married one and he’s definitely a keeper,” Darla said, grinning. “So, what’s his name? Ford, right? If he’s caught your attention, he must be something. Give him a chance. I know you had a lousy time with your divorce. I read about some of it when it was in the papers, and Jimmy heard a lot of the rumors, but not all men are like that. I caught myself a prize, and there are more like my Jimmy in the sea. I believe the right one will come along for you.”
Though Emma didn’t handle them herself, an awful lot of divorces were handled by other attorneys she knew. Seeing the sheer volume of them and the bitterness they stirred had made her even more jaded than she’d been by the end of her own. “How did you know Jimmy was such a prize?” she asked, genuinely curious.
“I saw it in his eyes, the first time I looked into them. He has an old soul, you know what I mean? There was all this gentleness and kindness and wisdom.” Darla grinned. “It didn’t hurt that he was gorgeous, either.”
“You knew right away that he was the one?”
“On the first date,” Darla confirmed.
“I thought I knew on my first date with Kit. I was wrong. What’s to say that my judgment has improved?”
“So that’s it? You don’t trust your own judgment? I can remedy that. Get this Ford down here to Denver and I’ll check him out. My track record as a matchmaker is unparalleled. Ask my friends.”
“I’m not sure I want him anywhere near Denver.”
“That’s fear talking,” Darla said confidently. “I saw the look on your face when you realized it was him on the phone. You want him here.” Her grin turned wicked. “In fact, you just plain want him. You can deny it to me, if you like, but don’t deny it to yourself.” She patted Emma’s hand. “I’ll get out of your hair. If the girls get too rambunctious, you have permission to threaten my Laura Beth with permanent grounding and no TV. That usually gets her attention.”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” Emma said. “See you in the morning.”
“Right-o.”
“And thanks for the advice.”
“Don’t thank me—take it! I know what I’m talking about.”
Emma sighed as she watched Darla leave. It must be nice to be so confident about your own intuition about men. She didn’t trust hers at all.
But Darla had been right about one thing, and Emma wasn’t afraid to admit it: She really, really wanted Ford Hamilton. She just wasn’t sure she was brave enough to do anything about it.
* * *
Emma haunted Ford’s dreams like a sexy ghost. He hadn’t been this hot and bothered by a female in a very long time. And he’d never let a woman who professed to be unattainable get under his skin this way. He usually preferred to cut his losses and stick with women who were as eager to see him as he was to see them. Maybe it was just because his options in Winding River were so limited. The town wasn’t exactly crawling with single women his age.
But, if he was being totally honest, he knew it was more than that. Emma would have drawn him if he’d met her during singles night at a bar crammed with available women. She was intelligent and attractive and mysterious. All in all, a worthy challenge. And as Ryan had so rightly pointed out, there was that surprising hint of vulnerability just below the surface.
He knew Emma had been taken aback by his mentioning that he might turn up in Denver. He’d heard her unmistakable gasp, but he’d deliberately hung up before she could demand an explanation or try to talk him out of making an impromptu visit. He intended to let the notion simmer a few days until she got used to it. Then he’d make good on it.
But the waiting was killing him. He’d made it through one week, but he couldn’t see lasting through two. In fact, by the time he got this week’s edition of the paper on the stands, he’d lost the battle. The urge that had him climbing into his car and heading south was, no doubt, a foolish one. That didn’t keep him from whistling cheerfully the closer he got to Denver. It was going to be downright fascinating to tackle Emma—so to speak—on her home turf.