KATY STOOD THERE in Dylan’s kitchen holding the telephone to her ear and staring at him, standing in the doorway. The very air seemed to crackle with electricity.
She blinked back to the business at hand. “I’m fine, Grandma. Everything is fine, I’m just snow-bound.”
“With Dylan?” Grandma demanded.
“I’m afraid so,” Katy said around a smile. Somehow she couldn’t seem to take her gaze off him.
“Afraid? If that’s the truth,” Granny declared, “then you’re no granddaughter of mine. Don’t worry, we’ll have the party without you.”
The line went dead. Katy hung up without her breaking eye contact with Dylan.
He started forward. “Is she all right with this?”
“She’s delighted with this.”
“That makes two of us.”
She went into his arms and they kissed. She came up breathless, aching for more. “Dylan…?”
“What?” He nuzzled her neck, his hands moving inside the wrap closing of the robe.
“Will you do something for me?” She blew in his ear and he jerked in reaction.
“What?” His voice sounded rough and impatient.
“Carry me up the stairs.”
“Do what?” He jerked back to stare at her. “Have you lost your mind? You got any idea how many stairs there are?”
“I don’t care.” She tugged at his top button. “Ever since Gone with the Wind, I’ve wanted to be carried upstairs like that. If Clark Gable can carry Vivien Leigh, why can’t you carry me?”
“Are you going to pout about this if I don’t?”
“Probably.”
“Then let’s get it out of the way now.”
“Oh, good!”
She waited for him to scoop her up in his arms as he’d done on the horse. Instead, he picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder like a bag of grain.
She tried to wrestle her way free. “Hey, this isn’t the way!”
“It’s my way.” He clamped an arm behind her knees. “If you’re smart you’ll hang on tight, honey, ‘cause you’re in for the ride of your life.”
She sure was…and she loved every minute of it.
Dylan had just poured himself a cup of coffee the next morning when Matt pulled into the yard in his big red pickup, weighted in the back with heavy burlap bags of something; Dylan used feed but Matt probably used cement. Sipping, Dylan watched his friend jump out of the cab and plow through the snow toward the house.
Not too surprisingly for Colorado, the day following the blizzard had dawned clear and bright. Dylan had crept from bed only minutes earlier, unsure how Katy was going to feel about all that had transpired between them.
Katy.
He turned away from the window and was pouring another cup of coffee when Matt barged in.
“I passed Katy’s car in the ditch,” he announced. “I take it she’s all right, though. Grandma Andrews said she talked to her last night.”
“Yeah, she’s fine.” Dylan offered the cup.
“You don’t look too damned fine.” Matt took the coffee.
Dylan shrugged, feeling an unexpected reticence to discuss what had happened with Katy—heck, he didn’t know what had happened. He’d just wanted to sleep with her. He hadn’t bargained for anything else.
Matt peered over the rim of his mug. “And Katy is…?”
“Still asleep.”
“I see.”
“The hell you do!” Frustrated, angry, Dylan began to pace. “We’ve made a real mess of this, Matt. I never should have—” He stopped short.
“But you did. You’re a man. When opportunity knocks…”
“But now I feel like a louse. She didn’t want to and I kind of made it impossible for her to say no.”
“Katy?” Matt’s brows soared. “We are talking about Katy Andrews, right? No is not a word she ever had trouble saying.”
“This was different,” Dylan said thickly. “There’s this thing between us—sex, nothing more. We both knew this would be just a one-night stand—two at the most.”
“Isn’t there a chance that it could be something more?”
How? Dylan wanted to yell. She wants a completely different kind of guy. It’s not enough that I want a wife and a bunch of kids and I want ’em with her because I love her— He lost his breath and sat down hard on a straight-backed kitchen chair. He loved her but so what? She just wanted to pacify her family enough to give her time to find someone she could really love.
He drew a ragged breath. “No,” he said, “there’s not a chance in the world that it could be something more.”
Katy woke up alone.
Sunlight streamed through the window and lay in a golden beam across the hand-stitched quilt covering Dylan’s bed. In her worm nest, she smiled and stretched luxuriously.
She didn’t know where he was but wasn’t worried. They were alone in this snug haven, safe from the storm. Perhaps by the time they were able to drive back to town, they’d have come to some understanding….
It was obvious they were in love. He couldn’t have lifted her to such glory last night had he not cared for her as much as she cared for him. Today, she was going to darn well make him admit it.
Leaping from the bed, she dragged on the terrycloth robe. A cup of coffee was exactly what she needed. She ran from the room and was halfway down the stairs before voices coming from the kitchen told her they had company.
Matt. She recognized the low timbre of his voice, and Dylan’s as he answered. At least it wasn’t her brothers, she thought gratefully. If they’d found her here like this—
The voices became clearer as she approached closer and she heard her name. She shouldn’t eavesdrop, she really shouldn’t, but the opportunity was too tailor-made to resist. She’d just love to hear Dylan singing her praises!
She crept closer to the door, being careful to remain out of sight.
She heard Dylan mumble something, then say quite clearly, “—sex, nothing more. We both knew it would just be a one-night stand—two at the most.”
Her stomach clenched. This was not what she’d expected to hear. Maybe she should sneak back upstairs the same way she’d come.
But she couldn’t. She had to hear more.
“Isn’t there a chance that it could be something more?” Matt asked.
“No,” Dylan said, “there’s not a chance in the world—”
Katy thought she was going to be sick. She’d made such a fool out of herself, thinking thoughts of love and commitment. She turned away blindly, knowing that she had to get out of here—now!
“Dammit!” Dylan put down his coffee cup. “Who am I kidding? I’ve at least got to try!”
“Try what?” Matt looked interested.
“She may spit in my eye or laugh in my face but I can’t let her just walk out of here thinking…what she’s probably thinking.”
“Which is?”
“That I just wanted to get her in the sack.”
“Which you did.”
“Yeah, but not just that. I also want—” Dylan choked on what he wanted. “Lots more than that.”
“Then go get it,” Matt advised.
Dylan took the stairs two at a time. He found her dressed and busy making the bed they’d destroyed the previous night. He watched her for a moment, thinking that only recently had he begun to appreciate how beautiful she was, how competent.
How cold, if he had to judge by the look she turned on him. What the hell was this?
“Good morning,” she said, and she might have been speaking to a complete stranger.
He resisted the urge to reply in kind. “You okay?”
“Of course.” She fluffed up a pillow and tossed it onto the bed.
“Matt’s downstairs. He came to check on us.”
“That was nice of him. I suppose you told him everything.”
“Hell,” he said, “I don’t know everything. What exactly are you talking about?”
“Our one-night stand.” She faced him with eyes like green chips of ice.
He couldn’t help flinching. “That’s kind of a harsh judgement,” he said. “Last night meant a lot to me, Katy.”
She laughed without humor. “Of course it did, but there’s not a chance in the world that it’ll amount to anything more so why drag this out? If I had a magic wand—” She sucked in her breath and for a moment her expression was vulnerable. “If I had a magic wand, I’d wave it and make everything all right. But of course, you stepped on my magic wand and broke it into a million pieces, so that’s out.”
“Hey, it was an accident.” If she was trying to be funny, it wasn’t working.
“My life seems to careen from one accident to the next,” she said.
“You want me to go out and come in again so we can start over?” he asked. “You seem so…bitter.”
“I’d hoped to get through our ‘liaison’ without letting this happen,” she said.
“Getting bitter?”
“No, sleeping with you!” A flash of the old fire surfaced, then was quickly gone. “I’m annoyed with myself, that’s all. Don’t give it a thought.” She started for the door. “I’m ready. I can go back into town with Matt and spare you the trip.”
“Dammit, I don’t want to be spared the trip!” He caught her arm and swung her around to face him.
Her cool look didn’t warm by so much as a degree, and he quickly released her. “Why not?” she asked calmly.
“Well—” he searched for an excuse. “I have to make things right with your grandma. Our deal—”
“We don’t have a deal anymore. Now that Brandee’s married, there’s nothing in it for you anyway.” She stuck out her hand. “No hard feelings.”
He had plenty of hard feelings, but he shook her hand anyway. There didn’t seem to be much point in arguing.
But he wasn’t a coward. “I’m not going to let you face them alone,” he said. “I’m going into town, too. We’ll tell them the truth together.”
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
“I don’t give a damn about what you’d rather. That’s how it’s going to be.”
For a moment she stared at him; then she shrugged and turned away.
Katy rode with Matt, Dylan following in his pickup. She didn’t say a single word on the drive that Matt didn’t force out of her. Staring into the snowy vastness of the mountains, she tried to steel herself for the ordeal ahead.
She’d have to tell her family everything; there was no other way. Why had she ever tried to deceive them?
The snowstorm obviously hadn’t been nearly as severe in town as it had at the ranch. Streets were already cleared, and the resulting piles of snow were melting rapidly beneath a brilliant sun. The day was beautiful, but Katy didn’t care.
With Dylan on their tail, Matt pulled up in front of her house and stopped. “We’re here, I’m afraid,” he announced.
She gave him a strained nod. “Thanks for the ride.”
He shrugged. “Katy, don’t do anything rash.”
“Rash?”
“Give Dylan another chance. He—”
“I have nothing to say to or about Dylan.” She flung open her door and guess who stood there? She glared at him. “Why don’t you just go home?”
“Sorehead.” He glared right back at her. “Let’s go in and get this over with so I can.”
“Fine.”
Side by side, but not arm in arm, they marched up to her front door, flung it open and walked inside.
And their nearest and dearest sprang forward shouting “Surprise!”
Dylan felt as if he’d been kicked by a mule. Granny rushed forward to hug him and he just stood there like a fence post, wondering how they were going to get out of this one. Liz, Katy’s mother, beamed at them. She was holding baby K.C. in her arms.
“You couldn’t make the party yesterday so we carried it over until you could,” she exclaimed. “And don’t worry, Katy—we invited your boss so you wouldn’t get in trouble.”
John Reynolds waved from the back of the pack.
Dylan glared at Matt. “Did you know about this?”
“Are you nuts? You think I’d have let you walk into—”
Dylan couldn’t hear the rest because of the people surging around them, leading them to the sofa, pressing them to sit, thrusting cups of hot coffee into their hands, demanding to know about their adventures—in the snow, of course!
He could see Katy’s struggle. She’d intended to walk in here and tell the truth, the whole truth, and now she couldn’t.
She managed a strained smile. “Dylan saved me. I got stuck in the snow and he rescued me and carried me back to the ranch on horseback.”
“Ohhh!” Laura looked impressed. “How romantic!”
Dylan saw Matt give her a quick glance that said, Lay off! She looked startled but didn’t press the issue.
“Ma,” Mack yelled from the back of the crowd, “can we get at that cake and ice cream now?”
“Me, too!” Zach’s little voice joined in. “I like cake!”
“Don’t you boys ever think of anything except food?” Liz complained with a smile.
“Yeah,” Josh joined in, “we think about weddings—so when’s the big day, Katy? Dylan, when you gonna make an honest woman out of our big sister?”
Dylan felt the oppressive weight of their attention. “I—we—uh, I’m not—” He glanced helplessly at Katy. He had no idea how much he should say.
“We’ll talk about that later,” she said quickly. “Mom, I didn’t have any breakfast so I think cake and ice cream’s a great idea.”
Grandma sat down on the couch beside Katy. “Liz, you give me that baby and go get the cake so Katy can blow out the candles,” she ordered.
Liz laughed. “Mother, you’ve just been looking for a chance to get this baby away from me.” Nevertheless, she gently passed baby K.C. into the loving arms of a grandmother.
Katy took one look at her beaming grandmother, burst into tears and ran out of the room.
She returned ten minutes later—humiliated, contrite, and red-eyed—to find a subdued crowd waiting. From the looks of Dylan, he’d been grilled pretty seriously.
When they saw her, they at least refrained from rushing her—except for Jessica. Katy gave the little girl a wan smile.
“Before anyone says anything,” she announced, “I want to apologize to all of you. I don’t know what got into me.”
Grandma cocked her head. “You wouldn’t be in a family way, would you?”
“Grandma!” Katy stared at the little old lady, horrified.
“Sweet pea, I wasn’t born yesterday. This is the nineties! Besides, you’ll be getting married soon so what’s the big deal?”
“That’s just it,” Katy said. She glanced at Dylan and saw the surprise on his face; apparently he hadn’t thought she’d actually do it. “We won’t be getting married. We never planned to get married. This was all just a stupid ploy to get you all off my back for another year.”
You could have cut the silence with a dull blade, it was so thick. Expressions changed from loving and forgiving to outraged and confused.
Liz found her voice first. “Mary Katherine Andrews, are you telling me that you have lied to us about your relationship with this man?”
“I’m afraid…” Katy swallowed hard. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”
Dylan stepped to her side. “She didn’t do this alone,” he said staunchly. “We got into this for the best of reasons. It just hasn’t worked out the way we thought it would.”
Mack’s jaw thrust out at a belligerent angle. “Just how did you think it would work out?”
“We—well, we—Katy?” He deferred to her.
“We thought it would bring some happiness to Grandma in her…well, in her declining years.”
“Declining years, my eye!” Grandma glared at her granddaughter. “You thought I was on my last leg, so to speak, and you wanted me to die happy. Is that it?”
“Grandma, I don’t want you to die at all, not ever!” Katy hugged the little woman. “I want you to live—and be happy. Since all you seem to want from me is grandchildren, and since I don’t seem to have any luck finding a father for them, Dylan agreed to…well, to pretend. We didn’t mean any harm.”
“They didn’t, Mrs. Andrews.” Laura tried to ease the tension.
“You knew about this?” Grandma demanded.
“Well, yes.” Laura glanced at Matt for support. “We both did.”
“And you encouraged it?”
“Yes, we did!” Laura’s chin rose defiantly. “Deep down, we were hoping that they’d realize that they really do care for each other and ‘pretend’ would turn into the real thing.”
Liz said softly, “But that didn’t happen.”
“No.” The word hurt Katy’s heart. Granny pursed her lips. “Balderdash!” she announced. “You two are the perfect couple, it’s plain as the nose on my face. Besides, nobody else would put up with either one of you!”
Katy gave a shaky laugh. “That may be true but—” She glanced around, suddenly aware that the solid presence at her shoulder was no longer there. “Dylan? Where’s Dylan?”
Nobody seemed to know. Jessica dashed to the window and looked out. “He’s leaving,” she yelled. “He can’t do that! Stop him, Aunt Katy!”
Katy wanted to so very badly. Everyone was looking at her, waiting to see what she’d do.
Except for Josh, a man of action. “Want me to bring him back?” he offered.
She shook her head. “It won’t do any good if you have to force him.”
Granny grabbed Katy’s hand and squeezed. “Tell the truth,” she urged. “You love that boy, don’t you?”
All that love Granny seemed to sense welled up in Katy’s soul and she couldn’t have lied if there’d been a gun to her head. “Yes, but he doesn’t love me. He’s sorry he ever got mixed up in this.”
“Ohhh!” Granny banged her cane on the floor. “You young people are not only blind, you’re dumber than rocks! The boy loves you just as much as you love him but neither one of you has the gumption to say it right out loud.”
Jessica piped up. “What you need is your magic wand, Aunt Katy.” She added piously for the benefit of the rest of them, “Uncle Dylan accidentally stepped on it and broke it into a bazillion pieces. I bet that’s why they had all this trouble.”
Laura sighed. “You could be right, honey.”
Katy gave a shaky laugh. “I’m desperate enough to try anything, but that wand is long gone.”
“Which,” Jessica announced, “is why Zach and I made you another one for your birthday!” She offered a long cylindrical package loosely wrapped in tissue paper and silver ribbon.
Katy stared at it. “Is this what I think it is?”
Jessica nodded eagerly. “It’s even better than the last one!”
Which wouldn’t be too surprising, since the last one had been made of a stick and a paper plate. It sure had worked, though. Katy tore at the wrappings. They’d gone all out on this magic wand: a dowel painted silver, a cardboard star glued and taped to one end, the whole covered with glitter that was already drifting to the floor in a glittery cloud.
At the window, Zach cried out. “He’s starting his truck!”
“Now or never,” Granny said softly. “You go, girl!”
It was time to grasp at straws—or magic wands. Grabbing up her special birthday gift, Katy went full speed out the door, flying across the yard to the curb. She could see steam coming from the front of the truck as warm air met cold, and she knew he was about to drive away.
Without hesitation, she darted in front of his truck, which lurched with his quick foot on the brake. Dashing to his door, she pounded on his window with her magic wand. Glitter dust drifted down.
Dylan rolled down the window. He looked haggard and disgusted. “What on earth are you doing?” he yelled. “I could have run over you, you crazy woman!”
She socked him with her wand, right up alongside his head. “I’m stopping you from making the worst mistake of your life!” she cried.
“Which is?”
“Driving away from the love of your life, that’s what.” She whacked him again.
He tried to dodge the blow and failed. “Will you stop beating me with that stick?”
“No!” she yelled back. “I love you, you jerk, and my new, improved magic wand is going to make you love me back!”
Their audience, composed of Katy’s family, Laura and her family, and the retired couple from next door who had heard the commotion and come out to find out what all the excitement was about, applauded.
Katy held her breath. Slowly and deliberately, Dylan opened the pickup door and stepped out into the snow and slush on the street.
“Let me get this straight.” He took a step toward Katy, his gaze never leaving her face. “You love me?”
Jessica yelled from the crowd. “Everybody knows that, Uncle Dylan!”
Katy swallowed hard and nodded. “Of course I love you. Why else have I put up with you for all these years?” She swung her wand again and this time it hit his arm. “Magic, do your thing!”
Dylan froze. A look of fear crossed his face, followed by revelation. “I feel it working already!” He grabbed her in a bear hug. “Marry me or my life is over! Because I’ll never find another woman who comes complete with her own magic wand.”
And he probably wouldn’t have, either.