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And then she’d walked out and gone home before her four little girls ever woke up. The sitter had fallen asleep on the sofa and never knew what time Vidalia had come home. No one did. No one besides her had any clue what had happened.
Bobby reached across the table and covered her hand with his. “You’re not married anymore, Vidalia.”
“God, Bobby, a whole lifetime has passed between then and now. You can’t just come back here and expect all those old feelings between us to be the same.”
“I didn’t. I didn’t expect that. Not at all. I just...” He sighed heavily. “You know why I left, Vidalia?”
She shook her head slowly. He caught her chin with his fingertip and turned it toward him. She could’ve closed her eyes, but that would’ve been cowardly, and Vidalia Brand was no coward. So she stared into his eyes and knew she’d compounded her sins by lying to him just now. All those old feelings were exactly the same, just buried under years and years of guilt and shame.
“I left because I knew that if I stayed, I was going to have you,” he said, his voice as rough as if he’d gargled with broken glass. “I wouldn’t have let up until you gave in to me, and you would have because you felt the same way I did. I know you did. But I also knew you’d never forgive yourself if that happened. I knew it would tear you apart. Just like leaving you tore me apart. I chose to take the pain rather than give it to you. But now....”
His voice trailed off there, and lowering his head, he shook it slowly, then pushed one hand back through his hair. He let go of her hands and leaned back in his chair. “Damn, this is not the conversation I intended to have here today.”
“I should hope not.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m not here to seduce you back into my arms. I’m not.” Oddly, it sounded almost as if he was trying to convince himself more than her. “I’m just here to open The Long Branch. Opening night, I’m gonna dress as Marshall Matt Dillon. You know, the vest, the badge, the gun belt. And I need a Miss Kitty to be my hostess for the evening.”
She closed her eyes slowly. She had lied to this man for more than two decades. Okay, omitted the truth. The dishonesty shamed her straight to the roots of her hair, almost as much as that night she’d spent in his arms.
And now, to know that he’d left town to spare her having to say no to him. To spare her the guilt of eventually saying yes.
She’d sworn off drinking that night, but it didn’t change the truth of the lie she’d told. Or of the other much bigger secret she’d kept for all these years. The one he reallydiddeserve to know.
She lowered her head to hide the tears that were springing into her eyes. “I dressed as Miss Kitty last Halloween at the Corral,” she said.
“I know. I saw a picture in the local paper. That’s what gave me the idea for the Long Branch, to tell you the truth.”
She closed her eyes, thought she was going to regret her next words, but she owed this man even more than he knew. “All right. I’ll help you.”
“You will?” He seemed both stunned and delighted. “You will, you’ll do it?”
“I’ll do it. You’re right. I owe you. I can have one of the girls handle the Corral that night. Or just close it for the evening. What night are you opening?”
“The twenty-second.”
She lifted her eyebrows. “It’s not the twenty-first, so Selene might be free.”
He frowned. “She has plans on the twenty-first?”
“Winter Solstice,” Vidalia said. “She’s into....” She gave up, waved both hands in a never mind gesture. “She’s always been different from the other girls.”
“She’s the only one I never met,” he said.
“Oh, you’ll be meeting her. And seeing the rest of them again, too. Those girls of mine are way too interested in what I’ve been doing in my private time since you blew back into town.”
“I am looking forward to it,” he said. And he cupped her hands in his, pulled them to his lips, and kissed her knuckles. “Thank you, Vidalia. I mean it. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she told him, and she didn’t try to suppress the delicious shiver caused by the touch of his lips on her skin. Again. Finally.
CHAPTERFOUR
He didn’t want to say goodbye when their lunch date ended, so he was glad when an aging woman who introduced herself as Betty Haggerty came out from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron, and smiling at Vidalia. He was introduced briefly, before the older woman tugged his date away to engage her in what looked to be an important conversation. He watched them, because he couldn’t take his eyes off his raven-haired beauty.
Vidalia was as sexy as ever. She’d come in work clothes, probably because she’d rather be shot between those pretty eyes of hers than to let him think she’d dressed up for his sake. But he kind of thought she had. Her hair was down, not bundled up behind her head like it had been at the Corral the other night. The jeans were snug and hugged her in all the right places, and watching her walk across the restaurant to the buffet had been so delicious an experience that he made sure to let her head back to the table first, so he could watch her all over again. Her hair was just as jet black as ever, springy curls falling way past her shoulders, and her eyes were just as brown.
He’d never got over her. He’d been sure from day one, she was the only woman he would ever love.
But he couldn’t have her, and that was that. And so he’d tried to move on. He’d met Judith, married her, raised a family with her, and thanked his lucky stars for the three sons she’d given him. But Vidalia had remained in his heart the entire time.
