Page 53 of Silver-Tongued Devil

He cleared his throat. “The man’s waiting. You got this. You don’t need me. I’m going to do the dishes and go to bed. I’ll put your chili in the fridge.” He limped toward the kitchen with Bella following him, then turned to Blake and said, “Got no reason not to trust you with my girl. Don’t give me one.”

“No, sir,” Blake said, and Russell nodded and left, shutting the door to the kitchen behind him.

“Uh…” Blake said. He still had his hands in his back pockets, and he was still frowning. “I don’t exactly know what to do here. I tried to think it over, but it’s just a big ol’ confused mess. I thought I’d know once I got here.”

“I’m guessing that’s a new feeling.” Suddenly, Dakota felt a whole lot better.

He smiled, just a twitch at one corner of his mouth. “You could say that.”

“So sit down and start.” She sank down on the couch, he sat down beside her, and she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and said, “I feel like we’ve done this before.”

He smiled for real this time. “It does, a little bit. I’ve got to say—it’s easier with wine. But here goes. I get that O’Donnell wants you for himself, and I don’t care. He had his chance, and I’m not stepping aside for anybody. You’re not stupid, and you’re the very last thing from easy. Even though ‘easy’—that’s a crappy thing for a man to say about a woman, or to think. But it was what he meant, so I’m telling you. You’re not it. If you asked me whatIthink, it’s that you shouldn’t let him talk about you like you’re fifteen. Your dad’s right. You’re a grown woman. Decide for yourself. One way or the other. I’m a grown man. I can take whatever you throw at me.”

“Wow.” She blinked. “Are you done?”

“Yeah. More or less. Go.”

“First of all, Evan doesn’t want me for himself. That’s ridiculous.”

“Not how it looks to me. I’d say that’s exactly what he wants.”

“He was my brother’s best friend.”

“Hate to tell you, but that doesn’t stop a guy.”

“I don’t know how to convince you, but I’ll just say—no. Evan’s like my brother. He’s said so.”

“As long as you aren’t in love with him, I don’t really care what he wants. What I want to know is whatyouwant.”

He was looking at her so hard, like her answer really mattered. “No,” she said. “I’m not in love with him.” She’d been having trouble with her heart rate since she’d heard his voice. Now, she was half-worried that she was going to have to ask for a paper bag to breathe into.

Some of the tension seemed to leave him. “Good. That’s good, then.” He ran a hand through his hair. “So… I guess I should ask you out.”

She wasn’t going to need the paper bag. “I guess you should.”

“Right, then. I’m invited to this thing on Friday night. This dinner party at the Schaefers’. She—Michelle—invited me to bring a date. I think I’d better do that, if you’ll go with me. That seems public enough even for Evan. Even for you.”

She was looking at him sideways again. “You realize that Michelle’s probably going to poison me if you take me along.”

“Nah. Beth and I… we didn’t click. She’s a nice woman. She’s just notmynice woman.”

“You know why, don’t you?”

“Uh… my personality disorder? What?”

“Nope. Becausethat’swho Evan’s still in love with, I think. Or still hung up on. It’s not me. It was never me.”

“Oh.” He seemed to be digesting that. “Huh. So that night…”

“Yeah.” She was smiling now. She couldn’t possibly have helped it. “Wrong partner.”

“Mm.” His eyes were doing that golden gleam thing again. “All the way around, because, baby—I sure wanted you that night. When you walked by me like that, I about half lost my mind. If you want to take care of the other half, you could wear that perfume on Friday.”

“Did I say I’d go?”

“Nope. You surely didn’t. I’m sitting here waiting.”

It was more than a daunting prospect. It was throwing herself right smack into a part of Wild Horse that had never accepted her and never would. But she’d never have better insulation.