Wrangling the Redhead - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,20
you think I should take the blame because you’re being a spoiled brat?”
“Me? A spoiled brat?” Indignation turned her eyes an amazing shade of deep sparkling green.
Wade leaned back. “That’s how it seems to me. You’ve ruined a perfectly pleasant evening for everyone by making your disdain for me plain.”
For an instant she seemed genuinely taken aback by his assessment. “But I don’t…” Her voice trailed off and her expression turned miserable. “I’m sorry.”
“For?”
“Behaving like a spoiled brat, what else? It’s just that you and I parted on a lousy note after a halfway-decent day. Then, after that, Karen ticked me off with a lot of nonsense about you and me. And now here you are, crowding me, and Cassie’s looking as if she’s just discovered the best-kept secret in Winding River, and I got testy, okay? I’ve already dealt with enough speculation to last me a lifetime. So sue me.”
“That’s what I like,” he said. “A heartfelt apology.”
When she lifted her downcast gaze and met his eyes, there was a jolt to his system. He had a hunch his heart couldn’t take a lot of vulnerable looks like that.
“I’m sorry,” she said again, and this time she sounded as though she meant it.
“So what was that comment about dealing with a lot of speculation all about?”
For a minute she looked so flustered, he was certain he must have hit on something sensitive, but then a cool mask slipped over her face so quickly, he was sure he must have imagined it.
“Did I say that?” she said. “It’s a small town. People talk. You know how it goes.”
Unfortunately, he did, so he let the subject drop. He grinned, then nodded in the direction of Grady and Karen, who were unabashedly watching the entire exchange. “Think we should invite them back over?”
“In the interest of peace and harmony, by all means,” Lauren agreed at once. “Besides, it will keep them from falling off their seats trying to hear what we’re saying.”
Wade glanced across the aisle and noted that Grady and Karen were, indeed, on the edge of the booth’s benches, clearly trying to look uninterested in his conversation with Lauren.
“You have permission to return now,” he said, amused by the flash of guilt on Grady’s face and the eagerness on Karen’s. She popped back across the aisle so fast, she almost tripped over her husband.
“Well?” she demanded. “Everything okay?”
“We’ve made peace,” Lauren informed them.
Wade caught her gaze and added, “Again.”
“You two making peace a lot?” Grady inquired.
Lauren nodded. “It seems to be our destiny.”
Hearing that word in connection with the two of them gave Wade a bad moment. He didn’t believe in destiny of any kind, especially not where women were concerned. Arlene had thought his father was her destiny, and look where that had gotten her. She’d been saddled with a bastard kid for the rest of her life. Even when he seethed with resentment toward his father, Wade could admit that it was Arlene who’d really gotten the raw deal. Her heart—and her spirit—had been irreparably broken.
Wade studiously avoided looking at the woman next to him and concentrated on his boss. “I went looking for those wild horses today.”
The change of topic was so sudden that even Grady seemed taken aback, but he went along with it.
“And?” he said to Wade. “Find anything?”
“Not a sign of them.”
“You don’t suppose somebody’s already rounded them up, do you?” Grady speculated.
Wade shook his head. “I would have heard about it.”
Lauren frowned at him. “How? You’re new in town.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t know how to keep my ear to the ground,” he told her. “If somebody had gotten their hands on those horses, I’d have heard. Everybody knows I’m looking to build up our stock.”
“Our stock? Since when did any of that stock start belonging to you?” Lauren asked.
“Actually, Wade owns a part interest in the horse operation,” Grady said. “That was our deal.”
She looked thoroughly surprised by the news. “Which one of you does Midnight actually belong to?”
“I bought him,” Grady said. “He’s got terrific bloodlines. You can see that by looking at him. Wade’s hoping to breed him. We’ll split up any foals he sires.”
“But first I have to get him to stop kicking out at anything that gets within five feet of him,” Wade said.
Lauren studied him with a blend of fascination and humor. “Which means you need me.”
Wade feigned an exaggerated sigh. “So it seems.”
A grin spread across her face. “What a perfectly lovely position for me to