most of the rest of the citizens would be in period dress today too.
"Shut up, Honor," he said pleasantly, "and turn your eyes toward something more productive. Look for a tall woman. Long blond hair you'd give your soul for. Probably dressed in something so low-cut I'll want to wrap her in a blanket."
Honor sniffed at the "give your soul for" comment, but obediently peered around the park. Then she put her hand on his arm. "You're wrong. I'd give my soul for just half the length of her legs, let alone her hair." She pointed toward the street entrance to the park, just a dozen yards away.
The sun shining golden on her head, Kitty Wilder was passing through the open gate, a clipboard in her hand. Her attention was completely focused on the papers she was frowning at, so Dylan was able to cut her off before she even knew he was there.
"Damn it," he said, his irritation spiking as he thought of everything Kitty had kept from him - another night of enjoying her wanton's mouth, another night of burying his hands in her hair and his body in hers. He grabbed her by the elbow and hauled her toward him. "I've been looking everywhere for you."
Startled, she jerked her head up and her eyes rounded. "What?" she said faintly. Honor trailed over and Kitty's gaze darted to the heiress and then back to him. "Why?"
He had to have a why? His irritation jumped again. "I - " He broke off, then let her go to smooth his hair with his hands, trying to think of something reasonable to say. "I wanted you to meet Honor."
As he suspected she would, Honor elbowed him aside to make her own introduction. Kitty shook the other woman's hand, then chewed on her bottom lip as they all stood looking at one another in a strangely awkward silence. The incoming crowd streamed around them.
"I - "
"I - "
Both he and Kitty spoke at once, halted. Damn it. She was looking at him as if he were worm meal, and he couldn't keep one thought straight in his head except how pissed he was that he'd missed her so much last night.
A man bumped into his shoulder. "Oh, sorry," the guy said, then paused. "Hey, it's you, Dylan."
Though the man looked familiar, Dylan couldn't place his name. "Good to see you too," he said anyway.
The man didn't move on. "Congratulations on the park. Pretty cool, huh?"
Dylan frowned. "Congratulations?"
The man nodded helpfully. "That the town is naming the park after you today."
"Naming the park after me?" Dylan's mouth went cottony.
The other man nodded again. "You know, for that day ... because you're a hero - " He checked himself, his gaze drifting to Kitty. "Uh-oh. Is it supposed to be a surprise?" he asked her.
Dylan looked at her too, cold washing over him as the man's meaning sank in. "Yes, Kitty," he echoed slowly. "Is it supposed to be a surprise?"
"It is." A flush rushed up her face as she glanced quickly at Honor, then back at him. "But I ... I meant to tell you."
"Except you didn't." His words fell heavily between them. "So maybe you'd better tell me now."
The other man backed away. The rest of the world might as well have too, because Dylan saw only Kitty. He could think only about Kitty and the fact that she'd been keeping another secret from him.
Hugging her clipboard to her chest, she swallowed. "The Odd Fellows are naming the park after you because of your heroism. Today. This morning."
He shook his head, anger growing hard and cold inside him. "No, they're not." That was certain. "You're going to stop them."
"Me?" Kitty blinked those guileless - God, the irony - blue eyes. "Why me?"
He stepped closer to her, his voice low and harsh. "Because I can't live with them naming the park after me. I'm not anyone's hero. Especially not Hot Water's. You know that." Panic flooded his gut.
"Dylan..." She inhaled a breath. "What I know is that you were a young man who went riding to the rescue like a white knight. That the rescue didn't end the way you hoped. Lord, Dylan, I and everyone else in Hot Water know that. But that doesn't make you any less."
Any less a hero, she meant. Damn it, this was all her fault! His hands curled into angry fists and her betrayal churned like bile inside him. "What made me less was the expression on