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It all kept coming back to the same thing, the same question. Why had she paid the mortgage, knowing how dead set he was against it, if she hadn’t been planning to file for divorce? The answer was always the same, and she had given it to him. She had never tried to hide it. She loved him.
The realization staggered him anew, and he had to stop to wipe the sweat from his face, even though the temperature was only in the thirties. Maddie loved him. She had tried to tell him when he’d been yelling all those insults at her, and he hadn’t listened.
Savagely he jerked the wire tight and hammered in the staple to hold it. Crow had a bitter taste to it, but he was going to have to eat a lot of it if he wanted Maddie to come back to him. He’d gone off the deep end and acted as if she were just like April, even though he knew better. April had never enjoyed living in Montana, while Maddie had wallowed in it like a delighted child. This was the life she wanted.
She loved him enough to take the chance on paying off the mortgage, knowing how angry he would be but doing it anyway because it would save the ranch for him. She had put him before herself, and that was the true measure of love, but he’d been too much of a blind, stubborn ass to admit it.
His temper had gotten him into a hell of a mess, and he didn’t have anyone to blame but himself. He had to stop letting April’s greed blight his life; he had to stop seeing other people through April-embittered eyes. That was the worst thing she had done to him, not ruining him financially, but ruining the way he had seen other people. He’d even admitted it to himself the day he had met Maddie; if he had run across her before marrying April, he would have been after her with every means at his disposal, and he would have gotten her, too. He would have chased her across every state in the country if necessary, and put her in his bed before she could get away. As it was, he hadn’t been able to resist her for long. Even if the schoolteacher—he couldn’t even remember her name—had said yes, he would have found some way of getting out of it. Maddie had been the only one he’d wanted wearing his name from the minute he’d seen her.
Damn. If only foresight were as clear as hindsight, he could have saved himself a big helping of crow.
CHAPTER TWELVE
HE WALKED INTO the café and immediately every eye turned toward him. He was beginning to feel like a damn outcast, the way everyone stopped talking and stared at him whenever he showed his face in town. Floris had come out of the kitchen and was arguing with one of the customers, who had ordered something she thought was stupid, from what he could hear, but she stopped yammering and stared at him, too. Then she abruptly turned and went back into the kitchen, probably to get her spatula.
Madelyn didn’t acknowledge him, but no more than a minute had passed before a cup of hot coffee was steaming in front of him. She looked so good it was all he could do to keep from grabbing her. Her hair was in a loose French braid down her back, she wore those loose, chic, pleated jeans and a pair of deck shoes, and an oversize khaki shirt with the shirttails knotted at her waist, the collar turned up and the sleeves rolled, an outfit that looked impossibly stylish even under the apron she wore. He took a closer look at the shirt and scowled. It was his shirt! Damn it, when she’d left him she’d taken some of his clothes!
No doubt about it. He had to get that woman back, if only for the sake of his wardrobe.
A few minutes later she put a slice of chocolate pie on the table, and he picked up his fork with a hidden smile. They might be separated, but she was still trying to feed him. He’d always been a little startled by the way she had fussed over him and seen to his comfort, as if she had to protect him. Since he was a great deal bigger than she, it had always seemed incongruous to him. His own protective instincts worked overtime where she was concerned, too, so he supposed it evened out.
Finally he caught her eye and indicated the seat across from him with a jerk of his chin. Her eyebrows lifted at the arrogant summons, and she ignored him. He sighed. Well, what had he expected? He should have learned by now that Maddie didn’t respond well to orders—unless she wanted to, for her own reasons.
There was evidently a rush hour in Crook now, at least judging by the number of customers who found it necessary to stop by the café. He wondered dourly if there was an alert system to signal everyone in the county when his truck was parked out front. It was over an hour before the place began to empty, but he waited patiently. The next time she came over with a refill of coffee he said, “Talk to me, Maddie. Please.”
Perhaps it was the “please” that got to her, because she gave him a startled look and sat down. Floris came out of the kitchen and surveyed Reese with her hands on her hips, as if wondering why he was still there. He winked at her, the first time he’d ever done anything that playful, and her face filled with outrage just before she whirled to go back to the kitchen.
Maddie laughed softly, having seen the byplay. “You’re in her bad books now, listed under ‘Sorry Low-Down Husbands Who Play Around.’”
He grunted. “What was I listed under before, ‘Sorry Low-Down Husbands Who Don’t Play Around’?”
“‘Yet,’” she added. “Floris doesn’t have a high opinion of men.”
“I’ve noticed.” He looked her over closely, examining her face. “How do you feel today?”
“Fine. That’s the first thing everyone asks me every day. Being pregnant is a fairly common occurrence, you know, but you’d think no other woman in this county had ever had a baby.”
“No one’s ever had my baby before, so I’m entitled to be interested.” He reached across the table and took her hand, gently folding her fingers over his. She was still wearing her wedding ring. For that matter, he was still wearing his. It was the only jewelry he’d ever worn in his life, but he’d liked the looks of that thin gold band on his hand almost as much as he had liked the way his ring looked on Maddie. He played with the ring, twisting it on her finger, reminding her of its presence. “Come home with me, Maddie.”
Same tune, same lyrics. She smiled sadly as she repeated her line. “Give me one good reason why I should.”
>
“Because you love me.” He said it gently, his fingers tightening on hers. That was the most powerful argument he could think of, the one she couldn’t deny.
“I’ve always loved you. That isn’t new. I loved you when I packed my clothes and walked out the door. If it wasn’t reason enough to stay, why should it be reason enough to go back?”
Her gray, gray eyes were calm as she looked at him. His chest tightened as he realized it wasn’t going to work. She wasn’t going to come back to him no matter what argument he used. He’d been on a roller coaster of hope since the day he had seen the station wagon parked out front, but suddenly he was plunging down a deep drop that didn’t have an end. Dear God, had he ruined the best thing that had ever happened to him because he hadn’t been able to accept it?
There was a thick knot in his throat; he had to swallow before he could speak again. “Do you…do you mind if I check up on you every day or so? Just to make sure you’re feeling okay. And I’d like to go with you when you have a doctor’s appointment, if you don’t mind.”
Now Maddie had to swallow at her sudden impulse to cry. She had never seen Reese diffident before, and she didn’t like it. He was bold and arrogant and quick-tempered, and that was just the way she wanted him, as long as he realized a few important facts about their marriage. “This is your baby, too, Reese. I’d never try to cut you out.”
He sighed, still playing with her fingers. “I was wrong, sweetheart. I have a phobia about the ranch after what April did to me—I know, you’re not April, and I shouldn’t take it out on you for what she did eight years ago. You told me, but I didn’t listen. So tell me now what I can do to make it up to you.”
“Oh, Reese, it isn’t a matter of making anything up to me,” she cried softly. “I don’t have a scorecard with points on it, and after you tally up so many I’ll move back to the ranch. It’s about us, our relationship, and whether we have any future together.”
“Then tell me what you’re still worried about. Baby, I can’t fix it if I don’t know what it is.”
