Patsy almost laughed at the hopeful expression on Justin’s face. “Okay, it’s a deal,” she said. “Thank you.”
“No,” Sharon Lynn said softly. “You’re the one doing me a favor.”
Her expression was so sad that Patsy was taken aback. She had seen firsthand how getting into a car had panicked Sharon Lynn. Now she realized just what a toll the trips into town and home again were taking. Suddenly she knew that if she weren’t staying in Dani’s old place, Sharon Lynn would have snatched it up for herself to rid herself of the frightening commute.
Before she could second-guess herself, she said casually, “You know, Sharon Lynn, if you wanted to, you could stay with Billy and me for a while.”
The suggestion startled both Justin and Sharon Lynn, but Sharon Lynn seized on it with such a look of relief that Patsy knew she’d done the right thing.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t mind? It would save me...” She hesitated, then sighed, not quite meeting Patsy’s gaze. “It would save a lot of time.”
Patsy met her gaze evenly. “I understand, and it would be fine with me. And I have no intention of thinking of you as a built-in baby-sitter. I’ll enjoy the company.”
“What about my company?” Justin demanded irritably.
“You, cousin dear, are an entirely different kind of company,” Sharon Lynn teased. “And I’m sure she enjoys that, too.”
“I do,” Patsy assured him.
“Then we’re on for dinner?”
“We are definitely on for dinner.”
He grinned. “And after?”
“Don’t push your luck, lawman. We’ll negotiate the details over dinner.”
He touched a finger to his Stetson in a mock salute as he put it back on. “I’ll be looking forward to it, ma’am. What time shall I pick you up?”
“Why don’t I pick you up?” she suggested, as a perfectly fascinating idea occurred to her.
“Why not? I’m a flexible kind of guy.”
“That’ll be the day,” Sharon Lynn taunted.
He scowled at his cousin, then said to Patsy, “Don’t listen to a thing she says about me. She’s never forgiven me for laughing when she fell off a horse in front of...” The teasing light in his eyes died. “Oh, God, I’m sorry, sweetie.”
Tears welled up in Sharon Lynn’s eyes, but she reached over and touched Justin’s lips. “Don’t be sorry. Don’t ever be sorry for reminding me of the good times. It’s just that...”
“It’s just that the wound is still raw,” Justin said. “But you’re going to be okay, you know that, don’t you?”
“Sure,” she said, forcing a wobbly smile. “We Adamses are made of tough stuff.”
“The toughest,” Justin concurred.
But looking at the tenderness in Justin’s expression as he watched Sharon Lynn, Patsy knew he was wrong. Justin Adams, at least, had the softest heart she’d ever seen.
* * *
Justin had no idea why it had been so important to Patsy to pick him up that night, but he was going nuts waiting for her. Was this how women felt all the time waiting for their dates to arrive? No wonder some of them were itching to turn into control freaks.
Oh, he’d recognized what that whole discussion at Dolan’s had been about that afternoon. Will Longhorn had dictated every aspect of his wife’s life and she didn’t intend to let it happen again. He had to wonder, though, how long these bids for independence were likely to go on. Would she refuse to marry him just to prove she could get along on her own? Or could he persuade her that it was possible to be half of a whole without losing her own identity? Tonight would be a fascinating test of his theory that she needed to know that at least some of the decisions in their relationship were hers to make.
When the doorbell rang at last, he bolted to answer it. To his astonishment, in spite of the humid evening air and clear skies, Patsy was wearing a raincoat.
“Expecting a storm?” he inquired lightly.
She gave him an enigmatic look. “In a manner of speaking. May I come in?”
He stepped aside. “Be my guest.”
She sailed past him in a cloud of very seductive perfume. By the time he could recover from that and had closed the door, she had disappeared.
“Patsy?”
“Back here,” she said in a tone that could have lured ships to crash into rocky cliffs.
There was no question that her voice was coming from the bedroom, his bedroom, unless he missed his guess. He swallowed hard. Something told him that dinner was going to be very late and was