made it up to you, Rachael. I swear to you, I would have made it up to you.”
“Your beer, sir,” Corey said, bringing the mug over to the table at that moment.
“Thank you, my good man,” Edwin said.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Edwin, must you always be so pompous?” Rachael asked. “He isn’t your ‘good man.’ He is the owner of this establishment, and he is my boss.”
“I see,” Edwin said. He looked around the saloon. “You call this an establishment, do you? If you call it an establishment rather than a saloon, does that make it seem a bit more palatable for you to be playing piano in such a place?”
“If I ever wondered what happened to us, I need only to spend a few minutes with you,” Rachael said. “And who are you to criticize me? Here you are, playing for a square dance in a hotel, not performing in a concert theater.”
Rachael started to get up from the table, but Edwin reached out for her.
“Wait, please,” he said.
Rachael looked down at him.
“Please,” he said again. “Another moment?”
Rachael sat down again.
“I’m sorry,” Edwin said. “You are right, I am playing music for a square dance and I am a little pompous.”
“A little pompous?”
“A lot pompous,” Edwin corrected with a smile, and Rachael smiled with him.
“What a joy to see a smile on your beautiful face,” Edwin said.
“Don’t think that it means anything,” Rachael said. “Because it doesn’t.”
Edwin sighed. “Is it MacCallister?”
“What?”
“MacCallister, the man I just met. The brother to Andrew and Rosanna.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Of course you know what I’m talking about. Are you in love with this man MacCallister?”
Rachael hesitated.
“My God, you are, aren’t you?” Edwin ran his hand through his hair, then sighed. “Well, I should have known better than to think you would just still be out there somewhere unattached.”
“I’m not in love with him,” Rachael said. “I confess that I find him fascinating. Do you know that they actually write adventure novels about him?”
“Adventure novels?”
“He is quite a daring figure,” Rachael said. “They say he has faced death many, many times.”
“But you aren’t in love with him?”
Rachael shook her head. “No, I’m not in love with him. And it is for sure that he feels nothing more than friendship for me.”
“Good, good, then there is a chance,” Edwin said.
“No, Edwin. There is no chance.”
Edwin smiled. “I won’t take that as an answer.”
“Edwin, what are you doing out here anyway?” she asked. “The last I heard, you were going to Europe on a grand tour of the continent.”
Edwin shook his head. “I didn’t go,” he said.
“It’s obvious you didn’t go, because you are here. My question is, why didn’t you go?”
“The maestro thought it better that I not go.”
“But why would he think that? Edwin, you are generally acknowledged to be one of the best violinists in the business.”
“At the risk of being ‘pompous’ again, I agree with you,” Edwin said.
“Then what happened? I mean, what really happened?”
Edwin took a sip of his beer, then set the mug down. “The maestro’s wife,” he said.
“Lucinda?” Rachael gasped. “My God, Edwin, please tell me you were not being indiscreet with Lucinda.”
“It was more her doing than mine,” Edwin said quickly.
“Well, now, that I can believe. Lucinda is the biggest flirt in the business. Everyone knows that she has an eye for men. For any man,” Rachael said. “I just can’t believe that you were foolish enough to fall into her trap. No, wait, as I recall, you seem to have a problem in that department as well.”
“Rachael, you aren’t being fair,” Edwin said. “You had just left and I was feeling—”
“Oh, no, you aren’t going to blame that on me,” Rachael said, interrupting him.
