Devon smiled grimly, raising his glass in silent acknowledgment. “No more darn-fool stunts.”
“That’s what Steve called it,” Sally murmured to Tally as she sipped her lemonade, eyeing Devon with uncertainty.
“Over and over, I have no doubt,” Devon said easily, with a half smile at his friend.
“Well, it’s true, man. No fool like an old one.”
“I won’t make that mistake again.”
Devon scowled down into his glass.
“What are you talking about?” Tally asked, puzzled at their exchange.
“What Devon got sent up for,” Steve replied.
“Oh.” Tally said quietly. She waited a minute, then took a breath. “What?”
Three pairs of eyes swiveled to her in surprise. Devon spoke first.
“Doesn’t Fresh Start have all that information?”
“Embezzlement,” Steve said.
“No, I never embezzled a penny,” Devon countered quickly.
“You don’t know exactly why Devon was in prison? Or about the delectable Sheila?” Steve asked.
“Who?”
“Steve,” Devon said, his tone a warning.
“You needn’t explain,” Tally assured quickly, curiosity raging.
She was dying to know what happened. And just who was the delectable Sheila?
“Ask, if you want to know something.”
His voice was hard, his gaze firmly locked on her.
Tally studied his expression for a long moment.
“All right, then, what did you do?”
“I made a darn fool of myself over a woman.” He paused as if looking a long way back. “I thought we were in love. I asked her to marry me and she accepted. Only it turned out Sheila was only using me to cover for her own crime of embezzlement. By the time I had it all figured out, I was caught and tried as an accessory.”
Devon’s tone was bitter, his face settling into the closed, withdrawn look Tally saw so often.
Tally glanced at Steve and Sally. Steve stared thoughtfully at his hands clasped loosely before him. He, of course, already knew the story. Sally’s eyes were fixed on Devon. When no one spoke, Devon continued.
“We worked at a financial brokerage house. She was an account executive. I was the assistant controller. A couple of weeks before the annual audit, I discovered a discrepancy in the books. I worked a couple of days on it and discovered it led back to Sheila.”
Devon paused and took a long swallow from his drink.
“Did you call the police?” Tally asked softly.
“No. That was mistake number one. Or mistake number two, actually. Having anything to do with Sheila was mistake number one. I confronted her with my discovery. At my place. She cried, gave me a song and dance about wanting to be worthy of me. Of not wanting me to be ashamed of her because of her poor background. She had only used the funds she’d embezzled to buy clothes to be able to be seen with me. You can imagine—it made me feel like a heel, as if I were so shallow things like that were important.” He shook his head.
Tally leaned forward. “Then what?”
“She talked me into giving her a little time. She’d get the money from somewhere, her folks, or borrow it or something, and pay it all back before the audit. She swore she’d never do anything like that again. She’d only done it for me. Now that she knew me better, she knew clothes didn’t matter. What a pack of lies.”
“But you didn’t know that then,” Steve said.
“I should have. She was only looking out for herself.”
“Now you look back and see that, but at the time, I can understand how you felt as you did. If Sally said something like that, I’d listen to her.”
Sally gave her husband a loving smile and patted his arm.
Tally wondered how much Devon must have loved the woman to stand by her even when she’d confessed to a crime.
“I gave her the time she requested. We were both arrested ten days later for embezzlement. Once the story came out, I was charged as an accessory. You see, Sheila had continued her scheme during those ten days. She’d hoped to get enough to get clear out of the country. If she’d had a few more days, she’d have made it.”
Tally tried to sort through her feelings at the story. She couldn’t believe a woman would betray a man who loved her.
“What about Sheila? What happened to her?”
Devon didn’t answer.
Steve did.
“She’s one gorgeous, red-haired, green-eyed witch. Lovely to look at, but rotten at the core—selfish and greedy. Not that you could convince old Devon here, he had to learn the hard way. She was sentenced to ten years.”
“A very hard lesson to learn,” Devon said bitterly. “But one I learned well, extremely well. I’ll never trust a woman again.”
“Hey, Devon, don’t be hasty in that decision. One woman did you wrong, but don’t let that put you off women for the rest of your life. Married life can be pretty good, with the right partner.”
Steve wrapped his fingers around his wife’s hand and smiled at Sally.
Whatever lingering fantasy Tally imagined about Devon vanished with his revelation. She understood why he had such a strong conviction to remain apart. He wasn’t ready for any kind of commitment to another woman. After a shattering betrayal by the woman he loved, he’d erected barriers taller than anything she could scale. And she didn’t blame him. How did anyone recover from such a blow?
In time he might meet someone he could trust, even grow to love. Time, however, was not on Tally’s side. He wouldn’t be here long and once he left it was unlikely their paths would cross again.
Devon glared at his friend. “Easy for you to say. I’m glad you and Sally are making a good life together. I’d hoped to do that, too. But look where it got me. You tried it and succeeded. I tried it and went bust. I’m not willing to risk it again.”
“I’m lucky and I admit it. I hope you’ll find the same luck one day, too, Devon,” Steve said slowly.
“Tally, tell me about this place. Has it been in your family long?” Sally asked brightly, changing the subject.
“It belonged to my grandparents. When my father died a few years ago, it was left to me,” she said quietly, refusing to look at Devon, refusing to dwell on the painful surprise his story had caused her.
For one long moment she tried to imagine having a man love her so much he’d throw away honor and honesty for her sake.
She couldn’t do it. She was not the type to inspire such passion. But the chasm between her and Devon seemed even larger than before. Sighing softly for a dream that never would see daylight, she turned her attention to Devon’s friends and their interest in the ranch.
“As you can probably see, it was neglected for years. As time and money permits, I’m repairing it little by little. Devon’s going to help.”
In all the years she’d cared for her father, nursed him, catered to him, put up with his cranky nature, his caustic tongue, she’d never known about this property. With all the problems with Bobby, their father had never mentioned the ranch. It had graphically emphasized to her how little he’d really cared for either of them. She could never forgive her father owning this haven and denying it to Bobby.
She could understand Devon’s determination to go it alone. A person was safer on their own with no one to let them down when they foolishly relied on that person. She’d learned that lesson from her father. Independence was the only way to live. Respecting that yearning in Devon was easy. If only she could forget her own attraction to the man.
“Devon’s going to help?” Steve asked with a teasing glance at his friend.
“That’s right. Get another kind of experience behind me. I’m not going back to an office job. No one’s going to hire an embezzling accountant. Thought I’d try construction or maybe ranching.”
“But what about—” Steve caught the sharp negative shake of Devon’s head and stopped. “Well, I guess it’s as good a skill as any. I never figured you outside an office, somehow.”
“Time will tell,” Devon said.
A short time later, Alberta announced they were starting to cook and everyone should come and place their orders.
Kat arrived from work as Alberta began to place the meat on the hot grill. Per requests, there were steaks for the cowboys, barbecue chicken and ribs for Devon and his guests and the ubiquitous hamburgers and hot dogs for the teenagers.
When it was time to eat, Tally arranged the seating so Devon and his friends had a picnic table to themselves. Sally called her to join them. Hesitating only a moment, Tally agreed, moving her plate from the other table. She was aware of Kat’s frown, but ignored it. Devon’s friends wouldn’t want a bunch of teenagers at their table.
Dinner proved to be fun. Steve reminisced about his and Devon’s early days together in San Francisco, two young bachelors out to set the world on fire. Sally talked about her job as an assistant television producer for a local station.
Tally felt emboldened enough to speak briefly about her own life when she lived in San Francisco. She glossed over her domineering father and spoke more of the walks she liked to take in the parks near their apartment, of the fun she had in her art classes. And the excitement surrounding the first book she and Jimmie May had sold.
As the conversation ebbed and flowed, Tally picked up a new perspective of Devon. His conversation was sprinkled with funny anecdotes and knowledgeable insights to current events—with an overriding hint of biting cynicism.
Had he been this way before? Or was the cynicism a result of his recent experiences?
It was growing dark when Steve announced they’d have to leave.
“With a three-hour drive ahead of us, we won’t be home until late.”
“Y’all are welcome to stay the night,” Tally offered. “I have a spare bedroom.”
“Another time, perhaps,” Sally said. “I would love to come back and see that pond when it’s done.”
“And all the work around the place Devon is planning to do,” Steve added, with a wry look at his friend.
Tally walked to the car with the Davises and stood beside Devon in the quiet driveway watching the taillights disappear around the bend. The night had grown dark, silent, the temperature continued balmy. For a moment, if she let her imagination run riot, she could pretend she and Devon were a couple bidding farewell to friends. They’d turn and head back into the house together, talking softly about the evening, enjoying the lingering feeling of closeness and—
Devon turned and headed for the house, without saying a word.
So much for imagination, Tally thought as she turned and caught up with him.
“Your friends are nice,” she said.
“First time I met Sally. They had a whirlwind courtship, have only been married a few months. Steve told me all about her when he visited. Thanks for letting them come over.”
“This is your home for the duration.”
Devon hesitated near the porch, looking at her. He took a deep breath.
“It’s still awkward for me to meet people. You made it easier today. Thank you,” he said the words hesitantly, as if they were hard to form.
Her heart ached. She was happy if she had helped—that was the purpose of the program, and she wanted him to succeed. But there was only so much she could do. Devon had to do the rest himself.
“I enjoyed them. Invite whomever you wish.”
“Maybe.” He raised his hand and tentatively brushed the backs of his fingers against her cheek. “Thanks again.”
Startled, Tally’s heart stopped, skipped a beat, then raced. Things seemed to spin around. His touch had been unexpected, but her reaction was becoming commonplace around him.
Instantly she wished for more. Wished he had kissed her. She wanted to meet his lips with hers, capture the magic of a first kiss with a special man. Her arms rigidly held by her side so she didn’t fling them around his neck, she cleared her throat, wishing one of the other guests would come around the house or Alberta would call her.
“I’m going for a walk. Want to go, old boy?” Devon called to Major, lying on the porch. With a joyful bark, the big dog bounded over to Devon, tail wagging.
“I’ll see you both in the morning, then,” Tally said calmly as she moved toward the porch, holding herself erect, her emotions damped down.
She wished Devon had asked her instead of Major to go for a walk with him.
If she was wishing for things, she ought to wish she could control her feelings around him. She experienced none of these feelings with anyone else. Who would have suspected her new guest would wreak such havoc with her senses?
Immediately after breakfast on Monday morning, Tally went to her studio. She had work to do on the current book and needed to get going on it. The weekend had been full of activities. Yesterday she’d gone riding with Jed and then spent part of the afternoon with Ariel. Kat kept pestering Devon until he excused himself and went to his room, firmly closing the door behind him.
Picking her paints, Tally tried to work on her drawings for the new book, but felt too restless. Time and time again she looked out the window, trying to see where the others were.
Others? Or just Devon?
Throwing down her brush she rose and paced back and forth. This was ridiculous. Maybe if she talked to Jimmie May, she could settle down. They could discuss the book, get her back in the mood for painting.
Instead of being in the mood for spending time with Devon Henderson, Tally thought as she dialed her friend’s number.
“Hello, chérie.” Jimmie May’s friendly voice answered the phone. “What’s up?”
“I called to talk about the book. Do you have the first draft finished yet? If I can read it, maybe I can come up with some ideas.”
“We already blocked out the ideas for the illustrations. What did you want to change?” Jimmie May asked slowly.
“Nothing.” She sighed. “I’m having painter’s block.”
Her friend laughed softly. “It’s supposed to be writer’s block.”
“I just don’t feel like painting today.”
“So don’t. Go herd some cattle.”
“I have ranch hands for that.”
“Speaking of hands, how are you and Devon doing?” Jimmie May asked.
“In what?”
“In the friendship department, ma chère, what else?”
Tally felt the stain of color flood her cheeks. Friendship wasn’t exactly what she craved. But she dare not let anyone else know that!
“We’re doing fine—like the others. He had some friends over on Saturday. They were nice.”
And trendy and more interesting than she could ever be.
“Have you cut your hair yet?” Jimmie May asked suddenly.
“I don’t think...”
“Tally, do allow me the concession that I know fashion. You’d do well to follow my advice.”
“Kat said that.”
“When?”
“I stopped in her shop last week. She wanted me to buy a whole bunch of clothes.”
“So do it.”
“But it seems so...so blatant,” Tally protested.
“What is wrong with looking one’s best for someone, especially when the someone is so very male?”
“Devon’s in the program. I can’t do anything with him, even if he wanted to, which he doesn’t.”
Not with her, not with any woman.
“You do not wish to marry, merely amuse yourself. Really, Tally, splurge un peu.”
Tally played with the telephone cord. “I don’t know—” She was so tempted.
“Tally? Do it.”
“I’ll think about it.”
When she hung up, Tally wandered into the hall, surprised to find she was actually thinking about what her friend had suggested. Stopping before the mirror, she lifted the hair from her neck, trying to envision it short. It had been this length as long as Tally could remember. It was so easy just to pull it back. How would it look short?
Would Devon notice if she got it cut? Would he like it?
Unable to paint, Tally gave up trying and drove herself into town. Maybe she’d buy some of those clothes Kat had recommended after she changed her hairstyle. Summer was coming and with it very hot weather. A shorter style would be much easier to care for and cooler. Could she get something sleek and elegant like Sally? Or sexy and sassy like Jimmie May’s cut? Somehow she didn’t see any of the adjectives applying to her.
Plain old country girl. Was that a style? It sure depicted her now. But she wanted a change.
The hairdresser was quick once she verified Tally really wanted the length cut off. Tally was pleased with the result. Without the weight, her hair curled. The cut was light and carefree and made her look years younger. She shook her head, delighting in the feel of the wispy curls.
The stunned expression on Kat’s face when Tally entered the boutique was worth the whole trip. Kat exclaimed over the new haircut and then insisted that Tally had to buy some new clothes to go with her new look. Showing off, she picked out several outfits, and a handful of tops and shorts, expounding on the effects the new clothes would have.
When Tally tried them on, she felt as if she were looking at a stranger. Was the woman with the tiny waist and long legs really her? The tops contoured to her body, emphasizing her shapely breasts. The shorts were very short and her legs pale beneath them. She wore jeans too much to acquire a tan. Maybe she should rethink that, as well.
Kat talked her into wearing the short pink top and new jeans home.
As she rang up the sale, almost bursting with pride for such a large order, Kat looked at Tally with speculation.
“Isn’t this a sudden change?” she asked suddenly suspicious.
“Jimmie May has been ragging on me for a while to enhance my wardrobe,” Tally said easily. “She feels I let down my half of the team.”
“I thought it might be because of Devon,” Kat said as she slipped the last of the tops into a huge bag.
“Devon?” Tally said, hoping the heat she felt in her cheeks didn’t show.
“He’s a real babe. I bet every woman who sees him, wants him.”
“Well, he’s a guest at the ranch like the rest of you. Only here for a short time, then on his way.”
Not for anything would she give Kat a hint of how she felt about Devon. Not that she was sure herself. Was it only physical attraction? Or something deeper?
“Wish I was going to be home when you show up. I bet they don’t even recognize you!”
“Thanks for your help, Kat. I’m happy with the new clothes.”
Now if she could get home without shattering into a thousand nerve endings. The enormity of what she’d done was starting to make itself felt. Was she a total idiot?
In for a penny, in for a pound—Tally stopped at the drugstore to pick up some new makeup then headed self-consciously back to the truck. With any luck, everyone at the ranch would be out working and she could sneak into her bedroom without anyone the wiser.
Of course they would all see her at dinner.
Devon brushed down his horse and turned him loose in the corral. Within seconds the perverse animal rolled in the soft dirt, coating himself with a dusty layer.
“Blast it horse, I just brushed you,” Devon called at the horse.
Gus rested his arm on the top rail of the corral fence and chuckled softly.
“Horses are the very devil, aren’t they?”
“Why bother to brush them if they immediately roll?” Devon asked in disgust.
“That cools them off. A man always takes care of his horse, never know when you’ll depend upon him for your life.”
“Surely that was in the old west,” Devon said, eyeing Gus suspiciously.
“Can be true today. A lot of ranching hasn’t changed much from a hundred years ago. Of course, a lot has. There sure is a heck of a lot more paperwork. Poor Tally, it’s a struggle for her to keep up. Business isn’t her strong suit. She’s an artist at heart.”
“Seems to be doing okay.” Devon said shortly.
Gus shrugged. “Time will tell. But I know she subsidizes the ranch income with that from her painting.”
He took off his hat and hit it against his thigh to shake off the dust, then replaced it carefully.
“Dinner be soon, time to wash up.”
Devon watched the old man head for his cottage. Gus had to be seventy if he was a day—whipcord tough, wiry, full of energy. Devon didn’t know how he did it. He himself was tired at the end of every day and he didn’t do as much as Gus. Of course he’d been doing it less than two weeks and Gus had a lifetime behind him, but still, he could give the man forty years.
When he heard a truck, he turned toward the house. Were Kat and Ariel returning from work? No, they’d taken the old truck. The big one was usually reserved for Tally.
It stopped and the door opened. Devon stopped walking and stared. A shapely rear was the view he got as the woman leaned into the truck. In a moment she straightened, her arms full of bags.
He looked at Tally with astonishment, straightening to his full height. He almost didn’t recognize her. She’d done something to her hair. The short curls were perfect with her small stature. He could see her eyes shining even behind her glasses and her color was high.
The reaction came fast and hard—pure desire.
For a moment he felt as if he’d been kicked by that dusty horse. Then his common sense took over. Lusting after Tally Newcome was plain stupid, no matter how pretty she suddenly looked.
And she looked like a beauty. Amazing what a haircut could do. Or was it the pink top she wore?
She glanced at him, almost in panic, and whirled around to hurry into the house. Devon followed more slowly. He needed a minute to get his raging hormones under some kind of control.
He’d liked her hair that night he’d seen it swirling around her shoulders. Now he wished he could thread his fingers through those soft curls, feel the texture of that silky-looking mass, see if those curls wound themselves around his fingers. He jerked back, not liking where his thoughts were heading—where they seemed permanently lodged these days.
Tally escaped to her room and dumped her bags on the bed. Darting to the mirror, she stared at herself, seeing the stranger she’d seen at the dress shop. Taking off her glasses, she gazed at herself, slowly smiling. Even if no one else noticed the change, she liked it
She put her new clothes away and went to the bathroom with her new makeup. Slowly experimenting, she enhanced her eyes. Without her glasses, they looked mysterious and interesting. For several moments she studied her new appearance.
Sighing, she put the glasses back on. She had no wish for Kat or Ariel to start speculating aloud at the dinner table on the reason for the sudden change. But maybe she’d call her eye doctor about contacts.
Alberta made a fuss when Tally came down to help set the table. Ariel immediately wanted her hair curled so it would look like Tally’s and Jed and Brad flirted with her as if she were their age. The only person who didn’t make a comment at the dinner table was Devon. But twice Tally caught him staring at her.
At the end of the meal, Devon spoke for the first time.
“Gus has all the help he needs for the next few days. Want me to start on that pond?”
So much for his noticing her haircut or the new top. She ignored the hint of disappointment that he had nothing more personal to say and nodded. There was too much going on to interrupt the normal flow of ranch work, but she did want to enjoy the pond this summer if she could.
“If nobody has other plans when dinner is finished we can discuss it.”
“Everyone?”
“What’s to discuss?” Brad asked. “Aren’t we just going out there to dig a hole and fill it with water?”
Devon shook his head. “There’s a bit more involved with it. Advanced planning will make the project go more smoothly.”
Jed wrinkled his nose. “Sounds like even more work, to me.”
Devon nodded. “But planning at the beginning saves time in the long run. If we know what we’re doing, there’s no wasted effort. We don’t want to run short of cement at a critical point, or find out we can’t get electricity to the location when we’re all ready to go with the pump. We need to check out the pricing of the supplies, get the best deal we can for Tally. Same as you would for all the different supplies the ranch needs.”
Brad looked at Tally. “Do you do that for everything?”
“Of course she does,” Devon said.
Slowly Tally shook her head. “I haven’t a clue what you’re even talking about,” she said slowly.
“What?”
“I don’t plan things out like that. I just buy things when we need them and pay the bills when they come in.”
“How do you know you’re getting the best prices, that you are taking advantages of sales, or quantity lot discounts?”
She shrugged.
He looked around the table; every eye was fixed on him. Slowly Devon looked back at Tally. It was hard to concentrate on business when she looked so darned enticing. Her eyes seemed huge behind her glasses. Her hair looked like a sunny halo around her head. Feeling the familiar reaction, he damped down the desire. This was important. For her anyway.
“Tally, Gus told me you are always doing accounts and things for the ranch, I assumed that meant planning as well. How do you know if you have enough money to do the renovations you want, expand the herd, meet your expenses?”
“I’m not very good at that part of ranching yet. Really, when you think about it, I’m a painter, an artist. Business is confusing to me.”
She looked at Jed and Brad, then Gus.
“Maybe we need some help with this.”
Devon wanted to withdraw, to get up and leave. He didn’t want to be drawn into her life any more than he had to be to make it through his three months. But he couldn’t imagine paying bills when they came due without having an idea of what was right, what needed to be budgeted for.
“You’re an accountant, maybe you could give us some pointers,” Tally said firmly.
“No.”
Brad looked at him.
“Hey, man, if you can help, why not? I’ll show you how to hot-wire a car if you like. It’s something I’m good at.”
“Thanks, Brad, but I think that’s a skill Devon doesn’t need to know,” Tally said dryly. “You’d do better to teach him some of that roping you’ve been practicing so long.”
“Yeah, but if there’s more to ranching than just riding a horse, don’t you think we all should know about it?”
“Count me out,” Kat said quickly. “I don’t want to live on a ranch my whole life.”
“But basic business guidelines would help you in whatever you did in the future,” Tally said. “Right, Devon?”
He shook his head.
“Yes, it would. It would help all of us and you have the expertise to teach us.”
His jaw worked as he clenched his teeth. Darn the woman, she was deliberately putting him on the spot.
“Not with my history.”
She waved a hand as if dismissing it as trivial.
“Nonsense, I’d take it as a personal favor if you’d show us where we could improve.”
Surprisingly, he longed to do it. He loved bringing order out of chaos. He liked projections, analysis and searching for the best way to allocate funds.
“Besides, Tally said we are all a family while we’re here. Family helps each other, right?” Ariel said warily.
She looked at Tally and then smiled almost shyly at the delight on the older woman’s face.
Devon thought of his family, so far away. He’d hidden the fact he’d been charged, convicted and sent to prison from them. Through judicial use of an answering machine, and Steve’s mailing letters for him, he’d covered his tracks. They’d be horrified to know where he’d been for the past three years. He didn’t think his idea of family was what Tally had in mind.
Nor had Tally anything to guide her, if the faint hints she’d given about her own family life were anything to go by.
But she’d obviously impressed that notion on her charges.
He didn’t feel any kinship with these teens. They were from broken homes, the wrong side of town. Street-smart punks who had been caught.
But Tally was trying to change that. Given the chance, he had an idea they’d make it. Maybe not all of them, but the ones who came through Tally’s place had a good shot at it. Because of the woman and her determination. And her loving care.
He’d be more interested in a different kind of loving. For a moment he saw himself drawing Tally into his arms...
“Devon?”