so soon? How can you trust it? How can you trust that you’re not off the mark the way you were with DeWitt, even if that was a totally different situation? It’s all very clear to everyone here. And since you seem confused, we’re all helping you figure it out.”
Skye. Even Skye had defected. Lars was Rasputin.
Delphi nodded, feeling the tug of tears at her eyes. She sucked it up. She’d be damned if she’d cry just because an entire town, who didn’t know her, didn’t understand where she was coming from, had ganged up on her. They just treated her life as if it was some communal joke. And if Lars thought she’d be bowled over or think this was anything other than blatant disrespect for her, as if she was too stupid to know her own heart, her own emotions... If he thought she’d be swayed by this, he had another think coming. If anything, it made her more resolute to stand up for herself. And if she had to stand alone, well, then she’d stand alone.
She was torn between wanting to burst into tears and itching to march over to the B&B and give Lars a piece of her mind. However, she was a professional, so she did neither.
By the end of the day, she’d perfected smiling at the patients while steadfastly ignoring the buttons.
Her nerves were seriously on edge by the end of the day. She finished her duties as quickly as possible and left.
Merrilee, with her button on, was closing up the airstrip office when Delphi came in. She took one look at Delphi’s face and reached up and removed her button.
“I’m sorry,” Merrilee said, and Delphi felt a small measure better. “He was desperate. Desperate men take desperate measures.”
Delphi simply nodded. If she spoke, it was altogether likely her voice would be filled with the tears that had been clogging the back of her throat all afternoon.
“I’ll order you a dinner to go from Gus’s.”
Delphi managed a thanks and a quick nod and went upstairs. He’d turned her into the laughingstock of Good Riddance. She had to work here for the next three months. She would never forgive him for this. Granted, he could be brash and run a little roughshod over people, but this? This was so far over the top. It simply made her realize just how right her decision had been.
Skye was wrong. He wasn’t the best thing that had ever happened to her. He couldn’t be.
She’d feel better once she ate something. And she’d choke down some of whatever came from next door. She’d skipped breakfast, and lunch hadn’t even been a remote option.
She smelled the food just before the knock sounded on her door. She opened it, expecting Merrilee or perhaps Ruby—really anyone other than the man outside her door. She immediately recognized him. They might bear a resemblance, but each man was uniquely his own person.
Liam Reinhardt held out the box containing her dinner. “I’d understand if you say no, but I’d appreciate a few minutes of your time.”
There was a somber intimidation to Liam that wasn’t part of Lars’s makeup. She hesitated but then found it impossible to refuse. She didn’t think many people said no to Liam. She wasn’t looking to start a trend. It was all too easy to imagine him sighting a target and squeezing off a kill shot.
She stood aside. “Come in. Did Lars send you?” She recognized the inherent foolishness of her question the moment it left her mouth. No one would send Liam anywhere. He wasn’t a man to answer to others. However, she refused to be intimidated.
“No. He doesn’t know I’m here. I heard there was a family emergency so we cut our honeymoon short.”
“You cut your honeymoon short to talk to me?”
“Sit down. Eat.”
Bossiness seemed to be a family trait. As much as she resented being ordered around by this unsmiling facsimile of Lars, she sat and, opening the take-out box, she ate.
She ate in silence.
Liam waited in silence.
When she’d somewhat assuaged the hunger pangs, she pushed the take-out box aside. She had no interest in eating her entire meal with this austere man looking on. The sooner he stated his business and left, the better.
“That button is the dumbest thing my brother has ever done,” he stated baldly.
Hmm. Maybe he wasn’t as bad as he initially seemed. It struck her as pretty dumb, too. “Well, that’s one thing we agree on.”
“I think there’s probably quite a lot we’d