“So I’m not as perfect as you are,” Win blazed back. “My situation is messy. My parents manipulated me. I got caught up in their story of how I should live. But you know what? I figured it out in the end. And that’s the real difference between you and me. When I make a mistake, I know how to admit it. You just dig in and make it worse and worse.”
“That’s not true!” Leslie cried.
“Isn’t it?” Win stepped closer to her. “Is Angus really the man for you? Or is there someone else? Someone who actually loves you as much as you could love him if you just shut up a minute and looked around you?”
She spun on her heel in time to catch Byron’s shocked expression, but Win didn’t wait to see how Leslie would react. She’d had her say. Either Leslie would take her meaning and try something different, or she wouldn’t.
All Win knew was she wasn’t going to stand back and let someone else be with Angus anymore.
It was a long, quiet ride home from the Russells’ house. Somehow they’d all gotten through the evening without letting the Russells see too much of the drama happening behind the scenes. Leslie had disappeared for nearly an hour, but Win had told Angus to leave her alone. Byron had slunk around the room where the dancing was taking place, giving his crew perfunctory orders but obviously waiting even more anxiously than Angus was for Leslie’s reappearance.
When she did come back, she ignored all of them, selected a book off the floor-to-ceiling shelf in one corner of the room and sat reading in one of the chairs. If Maud or James noticed anything amiss, they were too accomplished as hosts to point it out.
Finally, it was time to leave. Angus hadn’t meant to end up in a barouche with Leslie, but Win had made it clear he shouldn’t ride with her.
“We have to play by the rules until midnight,” she’d said when he lifted her into one of the other carriages.
Angus knew she was right. Besides, it didn’t matter. Leslie still wasn’t talking, and midnight was right around the corner. Byron and a couple of crew members rode with them, as well as Riley and Boone. No one said a word until they were halfway home.
“I always push. That’s my fatal flaw. Push, push, push,” Leslie said suddenly.
Byron, filming them desultorily from the front seat, made a sound almost like a growl but didn’t lower his camera. Angus had to give it to him; he was a professional.
It was time to stop this, Angus realized. Time to speak clearly for once. “None of this is your fault. You deserve better. You deserve a man who’s in love with you.”
“I know I do. I just got too wrapped up in my goal of being with you to see there was someone better right in front of my face.”
Angus hadn’t expected that. “Someone better?”
Leslie nodded vehemently. “Byron’s more of a man than you could ever be. He’s kind, considerate, loyal. He sees me in a way you never did.”
“You’re damn right I do,” Byron said. “I see everything about you, Leslie Baker. I know exactly how amazing you are.”
“I followed you around trying to make you love me, Angus, when all the while Byron didn’t need me to make him feel anything.” She put up a hand to stop Byron from speaking when he opened his mouth. “I need time now. I have to sort out why I did what I did, and I need to figure out what I really want, and then I need to get to know you,” she told him. “Then you can tell me what you were about to say just now.”
Byron nodded. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about you, but you haven’t had the chance to think about me yet.”
“That’s true. I think I’m going to like thinking about you, though.” A mischievous smile turned up the corners of her mouth.
“Good.” Angus could practically hear the answering smile in Byron’s voice, and his heart lifted. He held perfectly still, afraid to break the spell the two of them were weaving. “While I’m waiting for you to do that thinking, I’ll build my tiny house,” Byron went on. “I’ll learn to work with the bison and grow my own food. I’ll learn the dances so the next time we go to the Russells’ I can ask you to dance with me. When you’re ready for me, I’ll be ready for you. What do you think?”
“I think that sounds perfect.” Leslie took his hand. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.”
Chapter Fifteen
‡
“It’s midnight; my thirty days are up,” Angus said when he disembarked from the carriage and found Win in the crowd.
“Thank goodness. What should we do to celebrate?” Win asked, linking her arm in his.
“Should we go back to my tiny house?” It had been far too long since he’d shared a bed with Win, and he couldn’t think of anything he’d rather do now he was free and clear of his obligation to Leslie.
“Can we make it without running into someone?” she asked. “Because honestly, I don’t think I could stand it if someone else tries to stop us from being together.”
“I think Leslie’s with Byron.” He filled her in on what had happened in the barouche. “Sounds like she’s ready to give him a try.”
“It’s about time; Byron’s been mooning after her for weeks.”
“I’ve been mooning after you for months.” He stopped and drew her closer, bending down to brush his mouth over hers. “Come on; I want you alone.” Keeping an arm around her, he hurried her past the bunkhouse, past the tiny houses and onto the path toward Pittance Creek.
“I thought we were going to your place.”
“You made a good point; I don’t want to be interrupted.” He didn’t speak again until they reached the creek, where he stopped,
