at the twinkling stars overhead. I’m losing it, God. I mean, I really might throat punch Rex and slap my ungrateful daughter silly. Violence, Lord. I’m about to do violence. Please help me to keep my temper in check.
“Amen,” she whispered.
“Hey, you okay?”
Daphne turned to find Clay standing behind her, looking concerned.
“Oh God,” she said, remembering that sometimes God reminded a woman of her transgressions rather than merely answering her prayers. “So you’re still here?”
“Yeah, I told you I was invited to the party tomorrow night. I’ve been in the bar drinking that wine we had a couple of weeks ago.” Clay looked unruffled and oblivious of the distress in her voice. “You know, you look like you could use some.”
“I could use a baseball bat, Clay,” she muttered.
“Who do I need to knock around?” he asked with a twitch of his lips. He moved so that he was in front of her and could look her full in the face. “Seriously. Are you okay?”
Daphne put her hands over her face. She’d worn a pretty dress of evergreen that hit her right above the knees. She had allowed her legs to be bare and had pulled on cute kitten heels. Her autumnal hair was worn loose around her face, and she’d taken care with her makeup. No crow’s-feet yet, thank God. And her neck was still smooth. She should be happy and feel good about herself, but her good-for-nothing ex had made her feel fat and frumpy. Total heifer. For sale cheap, cheap.
And here in front of her was the cure for feeling old and sexless.
“I’ll be okay,” she said, dropping her hands and sighing. “I have to get back. I just needed some air.”
Clay caught her by the elbow. “Hey, hey.”
“Clay, you’re such a nice guy and really good for my ego, but I can’t do this right now.”
“Let me come see you tonight. Please. We’ll just talk. Sometimes you need someone to listen to you . . . someone to care about you and what you want.” His eyes were so sincere and his face so handsome. Daphne remembered the way he’d made love to her, the way he’d moved beneath her, his honeyed words and firm touch healing something deep inside her.
The irony about her world at present was that no one cared about what she wanted except this good-looking man. He wanted to help her feel better. To listen to her. To hold her. To sex her up.
Giving in to what he offered was so tempting. One word, and he’d come to her room that night. Then she could lose herself in his arms and feel something besides . . . second rate. But that was no reason to further a relationship that made no sense. “You’re kind, but no. I . . . I wish things could be different. We’re just too different to work, Clay.”
He dropped his hand. “Damn, but you’re a stubborn woman.”
She shrugged. He wasn’t wrong.
Clay leaned in closer, and she could smell the wine on his breath and the cologne that made him somehow more sensual. “Thing is, Daph, I’ve had you, and I can read you. You want me. I want you. But you’re too afraid to take what you want.”
His words were true. She wanted him to sweep her away from the reality of her life, but wanting to have good sex and escape from the world wasn’t a good enough reason to give in. She was more than her sexuality. She needed more than what Clay could give her, and Clay Caldwell deserved more than a divorced, premenopausal woman.
“I have to go,” she said. She pushed on his chest so he stepped back and walked toward the bed and breakfast. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mia and Josh walking across the parking lot. They hadn’t seen her with Clay. Thank God.
Now maybe her daughter would snap out of her mood and start having the fun Daphne was paying for. Time for people to start doing what they were supposed to be doing this weekend. Ellery would laugh. Clay would go home. And Rex would choke on a bone. The thought of her ex-husband’s eyes going wide and face suffusing with color as he grasped at his throat made Daphne smile.
Okay, she’d give him the Heimlich and let him live, but she could at least enjoy the thought for a few seconds.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Dear Dee Dee O’Hara,
You’re here at the vineyard. Ellery’s birthday surprise is also