Page 40 of Texas Honor

She stiffened defensively, remembering their last meeting. “Yes, sir?” she said with cold politeness. “May I help you?”

“Cut that out,” he muttered. “I’ve had a long flight and no breakfast, and I feel like hell.”

“I would like to point out that I work here,” she informed him. “I have no time to socialize with old acquaintances. If you want to open an account, I’ll be delighted to assist you. That’s what I do here. I open accounts.”

“I don’t want to open an account,” he said through his teeth.

“Then what do you want?” she asked.

“I came to take you home—where you belong.” He searched her puzzled eyes. “Your boss will be sorry you have to leave, but he’ll understand. You can come with me right now.”

She blinked. Somewhere along the line she was sure that she’d missed something.

“I can what?” she asked.

“Come with me right now,” he repeated. He turned the Stetson in his hands. “Don’t you remember my condition? I’m dying, remember. I have something vaguely terminal, although medical science will triumph in plenty of time to save me.”

“Huh?” she said blankly. None of this was getting through to her. She just stared at him.

“You’re going to help me write my memoirs, remember?” he persisted.

“You aren’t dying!” she burst out, coming to her senses at last.

“Shhhhh!” he said curtly, glancing stealthily around. “Somebody might hear you!”

“I can’t quit! I just started working here the week before last!”

“You have to quit,” he insisted. “If I go home without you, Lillian is going to starve me to death. She’s getting her revenge in the kitchen. Small portions. Desserts without sugar. Diet foods.” He shuddered. “I’m a shadow of my former self.”

She glared at him. “Poor old thing,” she said with poisonous sweetness.

He glared back. “I am not old. I’m just hitting my prime.”

“That’s nothing to do with me,” she assured him. “I hope you didn’t come all the way to Atlanta just to make this little scene!”

“I came to take you back with me,” he replied. His eyes took on a determined hardness. “And, by God, I’m taking you back. If I have to pick you up bodily and carry you out of here in a fireman’s lift.”

Her heart jumped, but she didn’t let him see how he was disturbing her. “I’ll scream my head off,” she said shortly.

“Good. Then everyone will think you’re in pain, and I’ll tell them I’m taking you to the hospital for emergency treatment.” He glared at her. “Well?”

He had a stubborn streak that even outmatched her own. She weighed the possibilities. If he carried her out by force, she’d lose all credibility with her colleagues. If she fought him in front of everyone, Ward would get all the sympathy, and Mari would look like a heartless shrew. He had her over a barrel.

“Why?” she asked, her voice quiet and defeated. “Why not just let me stay here?”

He searched her eyes. “Your aunt misses you,” he said gruffly.

“She could call me collect and talk to me,” she replied. “There’s no reason at all for me to go back to Texas and complicate my life and yours.”

“My life is pretty boring right now, if you want to know the truth.” He sighed, watching her. “I don’t even enjoy foreclosing on people anymore. Besides all that, my cousin Bud’s come to stay, and he’s driving me out of my mind.”

Cousin Bud was a familiar name. He was the one Ward’s fiancée had wound up marrying for a brief time. She couldn’t imagine Ward actually welcoming the man as a guest.

“I’m surprised that you let him,” she confessed.

He stared at her. “So you know all about that, too?”

She flushed, dropping her eyes to the desk. “Aunt Lillian mentioned it.”