cousins of yours would have hated him. He couldn’t hold his liquor or his tongue.”
Duncan looked at Em. “Want to explain what this gambler is talking about, Emily?” he asked. “One of you didn’t hit him in the head real hard, did you, because my former friend here seemed to think he hasn’t spent any time with you and Sumner tells me the two of you have been together for a week.”
“She’s not Emily . . .” Lewt froze, his finger pointed at Em. As if lightning had struck him full force, the truth hit him. The times he’d seen Em, Rose, and Beth putting their heads together talking. The way Sumner treated her as if she were the boss. The way she stood up to Wyatt and demanded to come along. She’d said her papa taught her to know horses. Papa was the name the girls called Teagen McMurray.
As the truth hit him, so did the knowledge that he’d been fooled completely—no, tricked. Hell, he’d been conned. He’d forgotten the first rule of reading people. Always look for what they don’t say.
Em stood between the two men even now and didn’t say a word. She didn’t have to. They’d both figured it out. Duck realized his cousins had tricked Lewt, and Lewt realized he’d been fooled by women way out of his league where manipulation was concerned.
Duncan ignored Em and turned to Lewt. “I could use a drink before I kill you. How about you?”
Lewt nodded once. He followed his friend to the camp without glancing at Emily. She’d lied. For more than a week she’d only been pretending. Pretending to be someone she wasn’t. Pretending she was his friend. Pretending more, far more.
He should be furious with her. If he had any pride, he would turn around and yell at her. Tell her what he thought. She must have had some great laughs with her sisters talking about how he told her he was planning to marry a rich wife. He’d even been dupe enough to ask for her help.
No wonder she was always around the house. She had no family in the hills to go home to. She was living right under the same roof, and he was too dumb to know it. She’d played him as no one else had ever played him. And when they were alone, she played him for a fool.
Today, in the shadow of the trees, he’d thought he was falling in love with her. Falling in love for the first time.
Lewt swore under his breath. “Falling in love for the last time. Damn dumb thing to do.”
He didn’t hate her, he hated himself for being so blind. He could have made love to her today, but he hadn’t; he wanted to wait because she was so special. More special than the McMurray girls with their small talk and their lace napkins. His Em was so much more, so much deeper, so much more worth the loving.
Only his Em wasn’t what she appeared to be. She wasn’t his Em, she was Emily McMurray, a rich pampered brat who thought she could play with a man. How she must have laughed at him.
Lewt accepted the bottle from Duncan and downed a third of it.
Duncan laughed. “Slow down there, partner,” he said. “I’ve never known you to drink like that.”
Lewt noticed Em—correction, Emily—step into the circle of light from the fire. Her slender body moved with such grace, even now, that knowing what he knew about her, his hand itched to touch her.
He forced himself to turn away and face Duncan as he downed another drink. “I’m thinking about becoming the town drunk as soon as I can find a town with an opening.” He glared at Em. “You were right, Duncan, I should never have gone to Whispering Mountain. Men like me don’t belong there. While I’m still sober enough, I wish to say I’m deeply sorry to have tricked my way into your plan to marry off your cousins and I wish you more success next time. From my point of view, you’ll need it.”
Duncan took the bottle. “I’d be mad at you, but you seem to have been beat up enough. Don’t feel alone, though; the girls have been playing tricks on me for as long as I can remember. Maybe this time I’ll let you live for what you did back there for me. Besides, you look like a man bent on killing himself.”
He started to offer Lewt the bottle,