“Oh yes, Stel a, I wil .”
My head turned slowly and I looked at him. “No. You won’t. This morning Mace broke up with me.” I flicked out my hand. “Your whole scene was a waste of time. It’s over between us.”
He watched me closely, likely assessing my honesty.
I stared him straight in the eye.
Then I watched his face relax.
“Wel , that’s good news,” he said softly, the tips of his lips going up in a humorless smile.
How on this earth did Mace come from this man’s loins?
“Promise you won’t foreclose,” I demanded.
It was his turn to sit back but he looked relaxed and at-ease.
“Money’s money. They don’t pay, eventual y, they’l be –”
“You foreclose, I go after Mace.”
His brows drew together. “You just told me Kai broke up with you.”
“Mace broke up with me, yes. We had an argument. It was bad. But I’m under his skin. He told me so his damn self. You leave my parents alone; I’l just be a scar. You turn them out of their home, I’l start itching.” I uncrossed my arms and leaned toward him. “And, Mr. Mason, I’m an itch he likes to scratch.”
Mace’s father’s eyes moved over my face, my hair and down my torso. It took a lot out of me not to squirm but I held my body and gaze steady.
Final y, he said, “As long as I own the loan, I won’t foreclose.”
I wasn’t that stupid.
“You keep the loan for as long as my mother’s alive,” I returned.
“Stel a.”
“Something happens to them while she’s stil alive, you’l be staring at me during Thanksgiving dinner.” He muttered under his breath and I was pretty certain it was a curse word.
He hit a button and said into the car, “Jon, we’re taking Ms. Gunn back to the bar.”
It was my turn to smile a humorless smile.
* * * * *
We hit the outskirts of Evergreen before either of us spoke again. And it was me who broke the silence.
“You’re wrong,” I said, again staring out the window and not facing him.
“Yes? And how’s that?”
“Mace is a good man.”
I heard him laugh. It was as humorless as his smile.
I watched Evergreen slip by and saw The Little Bear.
There were black Explorers everywhere and my heart hurt a little to see Mace standing, hands at his h*ps on the wood little to see Mace standing, hands at his h*ps on the wood walk outside the bar with Tex, Lee, Hank, Hector, Eddie and my entire band standing with him.
Lee saw us first and jerked his chin at the limousine. I watched Mace turn and I noted two things immediately. The first, he was the most handsome man I’d ever seen in my life. The second, he was furious.