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Tiffany decided there was no better time for the truth than now. Before she became more hopelessly in love with him, she had to settle the past. She reached for her dress, but Zane restrained her. “I want answers, Tiffany.”
“Not nearly as badly as I do.” She pulled away from him and grabbed her clothes. As she quickly dressed, she began to talk. “I told Dustin that you had been here and expressed interest in buying the farm.” The rain began in earnest, running down her face and neck in cold rivulets.
Zane’s expression grew grim. “He wasn’t too pleased about it, I’d guess.”
“That’s putting it mildly. He nearly fell through the floor.”
“And what did he suggest?”
“That I shouldn’t even consider selling to you. In fact, he seemed to think that I shouldn’t have anything to do with you.”
“He’s afraid, Tiffany.”
She began working on the buttons of her dress while Zane slipped on his jeans. “That’s what I thought, too. At one point I was certain that Dustin was going to confess about switching horses and admit that Devil’s Gambit is alive.”
Zane was reaching for his shirt but stopped. “Did he?”
“No.”
He slipped his arms through the sleeves but didn’t bother with the buttons. His shirttails fluttered in the wind. “Then what, Tiffany? Just what the hell did he tell you that upset you so?”
Tiffany wrapped her arms around her breasts and stared at Zane. The wind caught her hair and lifted it off her face which was glistening with raindrops. “Dustin said that not only did you lose most of your money to Ellery in an honest poker game—”
“Honest my ass!”
“—but that Ellery also ran off with your wife.”
Zane gritted his teeth together and rose. “Damn!” he spit out as he stood and stared at the pond, legs spread apart, hands planted on his hips.
Tiffany’s heart ached as she watched him. Deny it, Zane, she thought.Tell me Dustin lied . . . anything . . . tell me again that you love me.
“He told you only part of the story,” Zane said. He walked over to the boulder and propped one foot on it as he stared across the small lake. “It’s true, Stasia ran off with Ellery, and at the time I felt like killing them both.”
He still loves her,Tiffany realized, and fresh tears slid down her cheek to mingle with the drops of rain.
“So did you come here looking for her?” she asked, her voice thick and raw.
“No.”
“Then why?”
“I can’t lie to you, Tiffany.”
“You already have.”
“No—”
“I asked you if you were married,” she whispered.
“And I’m not.”
“You just conveniently forgot that you had been?” She looked up at the cloudy sky. “You never even mentioned her.”
“She’s not something I like to think about,” he confessed.
“But your feelings were strong enough to bring you here. You can’t expect me to believe that you’re not looking for her.”
He walked over to the grassy knoll on which she was sitting, knelt down and placed his fingers over her shoulders. She quivered betrayingly at his familiar touch. “I knew she wouldn’t be here, but yes, I need to find her.”
