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They’d been over this ground so many times they’d trampled it to death. She was determined not to let an argument cast a pall over the happiest night of her life.
“I know exactly what I’m doing, Bowie. I’m beyond the age of consent. I love you to distraction, and I think you love me the same.”
He glanced at her and answered with deadpan seriousness. “You know I do.”
“That gives us the strength to face anything. What can possibly happen to us that we can’t combat?”
“Oh, damn,” he groaned. “You’ve just tempted Fate to show us.”
“Bowie,” she said, laughing and nuzzling his neck, “you’re a sight.”
Darcy spotted Key the moment she entered The Palm. He sat alone at the end of the bar, hunched over his drink like a stingy dog with a bone.
She was in a buoyant mood. Fergus was at a school board meeting, which traditionally dragged on for hours. She loved school board meetings. They liberated her for an evening out.
Heather was on desk duty at the motel. Odds were highly in favor of her taking home the crown of homecoming queen this coming Friday night.
Darcy had spent over seven hundred dollars to outfit Heather for the occasion. Fergus would have a fit if he knew, but she considered the expenditure a good investment. If Heather won homecoming queen, it would boost her chances of getting into the best sorority when she went to college. Fergus might not appreciate the subtle way these things worked, but Darcy did.
Although she drove a new car every other year, belonged to the country club, wore expensive clothes, and lived in the largest house in Eden Pass, she still was excluded from the inner social circles.
She was determined that Heather would reverse that. Heather would be her ticket into every tight clique even if she would have to enter through the back door.
Key’s posture smacked of potential danger, but she decided to approach him anyway. So what if the last time she’d seen him she’d spat in his face and he’d threatened to murder her? Things weren’t going so well for him these days. Having been brought to heel, he might be in a more receptive mood.
She slid onto the barstool next to his. “Hi, Hap. White wine, please. Put some ice cubes in it.” The bartender turned to get her drink. She glanced at Key. “Still mad at me?”
“No.”
“Oh? You’ve learned how to forgive and forget?”
“No. In order to be mad, you have to give a shit. I don’t.”
She quelled her anger, smiled at Hap as he served her wine, and took a sip. “I’m not surprised that you’re in such a bear of a mood.” As she turned toward him, she brushed his knee with hers. “Must’ve been quite a shock to discover the dead husband was alive.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I guess not. It’s a touchy subject. Did you at least get to screw her before Ambassador Porter got dumped in her bathtub?”
Key’s muscles tensed, telling Darcy he had. She was treading on thin ice, but the one thing she couldn’t tolerate from a man was indifference. She’d rather be verbally or physically abused than ignored. Besides, she was curious.
“Was she as good as you expected? Not as good? Better?”
Better, she would guess by the way he tossed back the remainder of his drink and signaled for Hap to pour him another. Gossip around town was that you’d have to be real stupid to cross Key Tackett these days. He was truculent. Testy. Spoiling for a fight.
Just yesterday, at noon, right in the middle of Texas Street, he’d threatened to shove a journalist’s camera up the guy’s ass if he didn’t get it out of his face. Later, he’d gotten into a fight at Barbecue Bobby’s with a redneck from out of town who’d parked his pickup too close to the Lincoln to suit Key. Witnesses said it’d be a while before the redneck ventured into Eden Pass again.
Reputedly, he was on the brink of dru
nkenness at any time of the day or night, and he spent hours at the country airstrip with that dimwit Balky Willis. Someone said he was taking target practice at 4:00 A.M. on the lights at the football stadium, but that was unsubstantiated.
If Lara Mallory’s performance in bed had disappointed him, he wouldn’t care that her husband had turned up alive and well. On the contrary, the better he liked her, the angrier he’d be over the turn of events.
From what Darcy had heard and could now see for herself, Key was good and pissed.
Jealousy made her reckless. She dared to probe another tender spot. “Guess you know now why your brother was willing to risk his career for her.” His jaw flexed. “Wonder how she compared the two of you and which one earned the most points. Did y’all discuss your merits?”
“Shut the fuck up, Darcy.”
