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“We could hardly do in that crowd what we were doing on the airplane.” His eyes raked down her insultingly. “Besides, you were otherwise occupied.” His mouth was set in a cynical smirk again. It looked unfamiliar now because Rusty hadn’t seen that expression since they’d made love.
She was bewildered. Where and when had things between them gone wrong? “What did you expect to happen when we arrived in L.A.? We were and are news, Cooper. It wasn’t my fault that the reporters were there. And my father. He was worried sick about me. He helped fund our rescue. Did you think he’d treat my return casually?”
“No.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “But did it have to be such a goddamn sideshow? Why the big production? That coat, for instance.”
“That was a very thoughtful thing for him to do.”
It embarrassed her even now to recall her father’s flamboyant gesture, but she sprang to defend him. The coat had been an expression of his love and joy at having her safely returned to him. That it had been a tasteless display of affluence wasn’t the point. It was aggravating that Cooper couldn’t see that and simply overlook her father’s idiosyncrasies.
Cooper was moving around the room restlessly, as though he found it confining. His motions were abrupt and self-conscious, like those of a man ill at ease because his clothes didn’t fit him well. “Look, I’ve got to go.”
“Go? Now? Why? Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“To Rogers Gap?”
“Yeah. Back to where I belong. I’ve got a ranch to look after. No telling what shape I’ll find it in when I get there.” Almost as an afterthought he glanced down at her right leg. “What about your leg? Is it going to be all right?”
“Eventually,” she replied dully. He’s leaving. He’s going. Away from me. Possibly forever. “It’s going to take a series of operations. The first of them is being done tomorrow.”
“I hope I didn’t do you more harm than good.”
Her throat was tight with emotion. “You didn’t.”
“Well, I guess this is goodbye.” He edged toward the door, trying not to make it look like an escape.
“Maybe sometime I can drive up to Rogers Gap and say hello. You never can tell when I might get up that way.”
“Yeah, sure. That’d be great.” His forced smile told her otherwise.
“How...how often do you come to L.A.?”
“Not very often,” he was honest enough to say. “Well, so long, Rusty.” Turning on the heels of his new shoes, he r
eached for the door handle.
“Cooper, wait!” He turned back. She was sitting up in bed, poised to chase after him if necessary. “Is this how it’s going to end?”
He nodded curtly.
“It can’t. Not after what we’ve been through together.”
“It has to.”
She shook her head so adamantly that her hair flew in every direction. “You don’t fool me anymore. You’re being insensitive to protect yourself. You’re fighting it. I know you are. You want to hold me just as much as I want to hold you.”
His jaw knotted as he ground his teeth together. At his sides, his hands formed fists. He warred with himself for several seconds before losing the battle.
He lunged across the room and pulled her roughly into his arms. Lowering himself onto the side of the bed, he hugged her against him tightly. With their arms wrapped around each other, they rocked together. His face was buried in the cinnamon-colored hair. Hers was nestled against his throat.
“Rusty, Rusty.”
Thrilling to the anguish in his voice, she told him, “I couldn’t go to sleep last night without a sedative. I kept listening for your breathing. I missed being held in your arms.”
“I missed feeling your bottom against my lap.”
He bent his head at the same moment she lifted hers and their mouths sought each other. Their kiss was desperate with desire. He plowed all ten fingers through her hair and held her head still while he made love to her open mouth with his tongue.
