“The hell we did.” His tone was fierce. “We did what was best for us, not what was best for you.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say.” What he was saying was true, but she hadn’t the stomach for hurting him with the admission.
His expression softened as he looked at her and she remembered suddenly how much she loved him, despite their problems. “Nothin’ you can say, darlin’. What’s done is done, but lately you’ve got me worryin’ that your mamma’s and my mistakes are keepin’ you from finding your own happiness.”
“I am happy.”
“You’re alone, darlin’. You can’t be happy. You’re not gettin’ any younger, Sammy. It’s time you started thinking about the future.”
“I have been thinking about the future, Daddy. Wilde & Daughters is in trouble. If we don’t—”
“Not tonight, darlin’. Haven’t you heard a word I’ve been sayin’?”
“You said that last week and last month and the month before that. If it isn’t the right time very soon, it’ll be too late for all of us.”
“We’re the best jewelers in this country, darlin’. Ain’t nothin’ goin’ to change that.”
“We might be the best Daddy, but we’re no longer the most successful. Not when it comes to the bottom line. We’re hemorrhaging profits faster than I can apply a tourniquet. We need help or we’re going to find ourselves gobbled up.”
“Darlin’, we’ve had ourselves slow times before and we’ll have slow times again after I’m gone. You get only one chance at this life and you’d make me real happy if I knew you understood that as well as you understand the bottom line.”
There was no use talking to him when he was like this. Her father operated on a different plane, one that had nothing to do with reality. He’d always been a seat-of-his-pants kind of businessman, but since his heart attack, his approach to business had become even more idiosyncratic.
“I want you to be happy,” he was saying again. “A husband, a family…is that too much to ask?”
“You never managed to make it work, Daddy,” she pointed out. “We Wildes don’t seem to be too good at happy endings. Why should I be any different?” Her mother had just ended another marriage. Lucky had chalked up quite a few of them. Obviously, the gene that defined marital success had passed them by. “Fortunately, marriage doesn’t interest me. It never has and it never will.”
He gestured toward Martie and Trask who were dancing together, bathed in a golden glow of happiness. “Miracles happen. One day you’ll come to me out of the blue and say you’ve found the right man and that’ll be the happiest day of my life.”
She forced a laugh. “I don’t think you’re in danger of hearing that any time soon.”
“Can’t blame an old man for hoping.”
She patted his arm. “You worry too much,” she said lightly. “What you need is a good fishing holiday.”
“Funny you should mention that, darlin’. Dr. Bob and I are heading north first thing in the morning.”
Sam thanked her lucky stars as her father launched into one of his favorite fishing stories. All things considered, she’d rather talk about trout than marriage any day of the week.
“WHO IS SAMANTHA dancing with?” Duncan asked the woman standing beside him at the bar.
The small red-haired matron squinted in the direction of the dance floor. “That’s Lucky,” she said, then looked at Duncan. “You don’t know the father of the bride?”
“No,” said Duncan, “but I think it’s time I rectified that.”
He put down his glass of champagne then strode across the dance floor toward Sam and her father. He stopped next to them.
“Good evening,” he said, nodding in Lucky’s direction.
Samantha glared daggers at him but he chose not to notice.
“We were talking about you,” her father said. He stopped dancing with Sam and extended his right hand to Duncan. “I’m Lucky Wilde.”
“Duncan Stewart.”
The older man’s grip was strong and sure. “Glad you could join us,” he said cordially. “Sammy says you’re a pilot.”
“I am.” This time he would tell the entire truth. “I’m also an artist.”
Samantha stepped between the two men. “If you’ll excuse us, Mr. Stewart, my father owes me a waltz.”
Lucky looked at his daughter and chuckled. “She doesn’t want to dance, Duncan, she wants to talk business.”
“Daddy, that’s really not any of his concern.”
“Can you believe it?” Lucky continued. “Her own sister’s wedding and my gal can’t keep her mind off business. You dance with her, young man. Maybe you can show her how to have fun.”
Samantha’s eyes glittered with tears as she moved into Duncan’s arms. “What is it you want from me?” she whispered, ducking her head against his shoulder. She spoke so softly he could barely make out her words. “I already told you I’d pay the ten thousand dollars.”
“I don’t want your money, Samantha.”
“Then what do you want?” The catch in her voice made him feel like a bastard.
“I don’t know that, either,” he said, “just that I needed to see you again.”
HIS WORDS took Sam’s breath away. She pressed her forehead against his shoulder and let the tears fall onto the fabric of his jacket.
“Why didn’t you stay in Scotland where you belong?” she managed finally. “I would have forgotten you eventually.”
“Maybe that’s why I didn’t.”
“What happened between us wasn’t real,” she said. “You must know that.”
“Aye,” he said. “That’s what I’ve told myself a thousand times since that day but I can’t seem to make myself believe it.”
“You should believe it,” she said, “because it’s true. That woman wasn’t me. I’m not passionate or spontaneous or any of those things you thought I was. I don’t have a romantic bone in my body.”
“You don’t know yourself as well as you think, lassie. The woman I made love to was all those things and more.”
“You’re wrong,” she said, pulling away from him the second the music stopped. “You’re seeing what you want to see
