Long, Tall Texans_ Boone (Long, Tall Texans #35) - Diana Palmer Page 0,47
and I put you at risk. Boone said anything could have happened. I’m really sorry, Keely. I was so crazy about Nellie that she was all I thought about. You’re my friend. I should have been looking out for you.”
It made her warm inside that Boone was worried for her safety. “It’s okay, Clark,” she said. “Honest, it is.”
“He gets hot about you,” he continued. “I’d almost say he’s possessive of you, but that’s ridiculous. He is fond of you, in his way, I think.” He paused. “There was some talk about the two of you at the dance. You went outside together…”
“To talk about you,” she countered. “He wanted to know where you were and what you were doing. He’s very insistent.”
There was a relieved sigh. “Yes, he is.” He paused again. “Keely, you don’t want to ever get mixed up with him,” he said, in a stumbling sort of way that made her heart fill with disappointment. “Something happened to him overseas. He hated women for years after that she-cat dropped him when he was wounded. God knows why he’s letting her lead him down the same path again. Maybe he wants revenge. He doesn’t like women at all. He just uses them. Sort of like me,” he added miserably.
Keely didn’t know what to say, how to answer him. “He’s not a bad person.”
“I didn’t say he was, just that he’s hateful toward women. He’s keeping Misty on a tight rein, and he doesn’t watch his words when he talks to her. It’s almost like he’s keeping her around for some mysterious reason, but he doesn’t really want to have anything to do with her. He couldn’t care less if he’s late for a date, or if he doesn’t even show up. She spends most of their time together complaining about the way he treats her, and about you.”
“Me?” she exclaimed. “But why? Boone doesn’t give a hill of beans about me!”
“I don’t really know. She’s jealous of you.”
“That’s one for the books,” she mumbled. “She’s beautiful and rich. I’m plain and poor. I’m no competition at all.”
“I could dispute that,” Clark replied gently. “You have some wonderful qualities.”
“I’m no beauty.”
“Neither is she.”
Keely laughed softly. “Of course she is.”
“She’s not a beauty inside,” he said doggedly. “You are.”
“Thanks, Clark. You’re nice.”
“Nice.” He laughed. “Well, at least we’re still friends. Aren’t we?”
“Yes.”
“Then you can go riding with me from time to time. At the ranch. When Boone isn’t around,” he added with a wicked chuckle.
“We both know you’re not afraid of Boone,” she chided.
“Not much, anyway.”
“What did you tell Nellie, about not seeing her anymore?”
There was a long pause.
Her heart sank. “Clark, you’re not still seeing her?”
There was a longer pause.
“Her husband might hurt you. Really hurt you,” she warned.
He sighed. “You don’t understand. It’s complicated.”
“I guess I don’t,” she replied. “Be careful. Okay?”
“I’ll be careful. I know I have to break it off. But we had something special—on my side, at least. It takes a little time to adjust.”
“You watch your back,” she replied.
“I’ll do that. See you.”
“See you.”
She hung up, but she was worried. Clark was playing with fire. If she and Boone were really friends, she’d tell him. But Boone hadn’t called or come near her since the dance, when he’d kissed her so sweetly. She’d dreamed about him, ached to see him, but she hadn’t had so much as a glimpse of him. Perhaps he’d just been leading her on, she thought sadly, to get information about Clark and Nellie. There was a miserable thought, and it kept her unhappy the rest of the day.
* * *
SHE AND HER mother were getting along better than they ever had, although Keely lived in terror that her father, or worse, Jock, might just show up at the door. Ella had talked to a Realtor about the house and land. She had to take Jock’s threat seriously, she said, and she didn’t want to go to jail. Keely was worried that the secret might come out anyway. She felt guilty just knowing about it.
Things got worse when Hayes showed up at the vet’s office where she worked in the middle of the next week. He was somber and worried. He asked Keely out into the parking lot, away from the crowd in the waiting room, where they could talk undisturbed.
“What’s wrong?” Keely asked him apprehensively.
“It’s about your father,” he began hesitantly. His face became hard. “I’ve heard something. A little gossip. It involves my brother…”
“Oh, heavens!” Keely ground