“Montana?” she exclaimed. “But that’s over a hundred miles away!”
“No distance at all out here, cupcake.”
“I suppose not. It’s like that in Arizona, too, but I’d forgotten.” She stared at him quietly, her heart still beating wildly. “I guess you supply animals to the rodeo in Cody, too?”
He nodded. “That one and any number of others.” He studied her for a long moment. “You’d better get out of here. I need a shower before we eat.”
“All right.”
“Unless you’d like to stay and scrub my back?” he mused, a wicked gleam in his eyes.
“It’s much too early for that sort of thing,” she told him and left with a demure glance from under her lashes.
He was smiling when she left the room, but she wasn’t. She wondered what she was letting herself in for, and how she thought she was going to keep a man like that at bay. If he really was the womanizer everyone said he was, she’d be in over her head in no time.
“He’s as good as new,” Allison assured the two women when she joined them in the living room. “Almost, anyway. The cut on his arm really needed stitching, but he won’t go to a doctor.”
“That’s Gene,” Marie said wearily. “It’s been so hard for him. I wish Dad had never left that letter. It would have been so much kinder not to have told him after such a long time. Let’s go on into the dining room. Gene won’t be long, I’m sure, and we can drink coffee while we talk.”
She led them into the dining room, where a cherry table was set under an elegant crystal chandelier. The floor was oak, highly polished, and the walls were wood paneled. It was the most elegant room Allison had seen in years. They sat down and busied themselves with coffee for several minutes before Allison finally voiced the question that had been nagging her.
“Why did your father leave a note for Gene?” she asked curiously.
Marie shook her head. “Nobody knows. Dad was honest to a fault, and he was a deep thinker. Maybe he thought Gene had the right to know. His real father is still alive, even if Gene would rather die than go to see him. Heritage, health, so many things depend on knowing who your real parents are. I think that he planned to tell Gene before he died. That would have been Dad’s way. He certainly wouldn’t have wanted him to find out the way he did. It’s hurt Gene so badly.”
“I suppose it’s been difficult for you and Dwight, too,” Allison said gently.
“You can’t imagine. We don’t care who Gene’s real dad is. Gene is our brother and we love him. But he can’t accept that,” Marie said. “He’s still trying to come to grips with it. I wonder sometimes if he ever will. Meanwhile, he’s just hell to live with.”
“Is he staying for supper?” Winnie asked with a worried glance at Allison.
“Yes,” Allison said. “At least he said he was.”
“Don’t look so worried,” Marie told Winnie, grinning at her expression. “He’ll be nice because Allison’s here. I think he likes her.”
“God forbid!” Winnie said. “You know how he is with women!”
“He won’t hurt Allison,” Marie said. “Don’t be such a worrywart.”
“I hope you’re right. Anyway,” Winnie sighed, “he’s involved with Dale, isn’t he?”
“No, he isn’t,” Gene said from the doorway. He lifted an eyebrow at Winnie’s shocked face as he joined them, freshly showered and shaved, dressed in a white shirt and dark slacks. He looked wickedly handsome, and Allison’s heart raced at the sight of him.
“Sorry,” Winnie began.
Gene lifted a careless hand, stopping her before she got started. “I’m not going to gobble up your houseguest,” he said quietly. “But she’ll be safer with me than some of the other yahoos around here, especially at night,” he added with a meaningful stare. “I’ll take care of her.”
“Okay. I suppose you’re right.” Winnie sighed softly. “It’s just that...” She glanced toward Allison, grimacing. “Well...”
“She’s your best friend,” Gene finished for her with a faint smile. “No problem. I won’t hurt her, Winnie.”
“Will you stop?” Allison asked Winnie on an exasperated laugh. “I’m twenty-five.”
“Yes, but...”
“What are we having for dinner?” Allison interrupted, arching her eyebrows at an amused Marie.
“Duck,” Marie returned. “And if I don’t take the orange sauce out of the microwave, we’ll be having it without sauce! Excuse me.”
Before Winnie could say anything else to Gene and Allison, Dwight was back with the wine. But all through dinner, Gene’s eyes kept darting to Allison’s, as hers did to him. Whatever there was between them, it was explosive and mutual. She hoped she wouldn’t have cause to regret giving it a chance.
Over dinner, she learned that Gene was a wizard with figures and that his taste in books ran to mysteries and biographies, while he took a conservative stand on politics and a radical one on ecology. She discovered that he enjoyed a lot of the same things she did, like winter sports and the Winter Olympics, not to mention science fiction movies. He was droll and faintly sarcastic, but underneath there had to be a sensitive caring man. Allison wanted to flush him out.
He pulled her aside while Winnie was saying good-night to Dwight and Marie.
“I’ll pick you up at five tomorrow afternoon,” he said. “We’ll need to get an early start. It’s a long drive.”
“You’re sure you want to?”
“No,” he said curtly, and meant it. He’d never wanted involvement with her, but things seemed to be out of his hands for once. Out of control, like his life. He shifted his stance, putting the past away from him. “We’ll have dinner in Billings,” he continued, searching her eyes slowly, “before the movie starts. There’s a nice restaurant in one of the hotels.”
“Okay.” She smiled shyly. “I’ll look forward to it.”
He only nodded. He didn’t want to admit how easily he could echo that sentiment. In the past, being a loner had had distinct advantages. He didn’t
