Brazen (29 page)

"She's pretty."

"I think I'll go ask her to dance." John had expected
Casey to break her engagement to Michael. Obviously,
that hadn't happened. He didn't know what was going
on, but he intended to find out.

Karen was furious as she watched Michael and Casey. She
couldn't believe the other woman had cleaned up so
well. She had come to the dance tonight expecting Casey
Turner to look little better than she had when she'd seen
her driving the buckboard. She was shocked by the
change in her and by the fact that Michael and Casey
actually looked happy together.

Fury and jealousy ate at Karen.

She had to do something, and fast.

"Would you care to dance?" John McQueen invited as
he appeared by her side.

Karen had been so intent on her tumultuous feelings
that she hadn't noticed his approach. She looked up at
the handsome, blond-haired man and flashed him her most devastating smile. "Why, I'd love to dance with you.
Thank you."

"You're new in town, aren't you?" John asked as he led
her out onto the dance floor.

"That's right. I'm a friend of Michael's from Philadelphia. My name's Karen Whittington." She followed his
lead and discovered quickly that he was a very good
dancer.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm John McQueen. I'm a friend
of Michael's, too."

"Are you a rancher?"

"Yes, I own the Royal ranch. It's north of town."

"Is it truly royal?" she asked flirtatiously.

"My goal is to make it the biggest, most successful
ranch in this part of Texas," he told her with confidence.

"How close are you?"

"Close real close."

"You must be very proud of what you've accomplished," she said, playing up to him.

"I am, but enough about ranching. What about you?
Are you enjoying your visit to Hard Luck?"

"It's been interesting. I've never been this far west before."

"How much longer will you be in town?"

"My mother made the trip with me, and we haven't
decided yet when we'll be going back."

"So you're not staying on permanently."

"No. I came to see how Michael was doing. His father's
situation is so tragic."

"Yes, it is, and the last I heard, they still don't know
who shot him."

"Do the Donovans have a lot of enemies?"

"No more than anybody else in these parts, I guess. I
suppose one day they might find out who did it, but right
now there's nothing for anyone to go on."

As John led Karen in the dance, he deliberately kept
moving toward Michael and Casey. He wanted to be near
them when the tune ended. He planned to ask Casey for
the next dance and turn Karen loose on Michael. He had
seen how Karen was watching Michael. She might be calling herself Michael's "friend" now, but John was certain
there were hard feelings.

John's plan worked perfectly. The music stopped, and
he and Karen found themselves standing close to the
other couple.

"Good evening, Michael Casey," John said, giving
them a smile. He was feeling proud of his acting abilities.

"John," Michael returned, and then looked at Karen.
"Hello, Karen. Let me introduce you to my fiancee. This
is Casey."

Karen smiled tightly at Casey. "It's nice to meet you."

Casey didn't believe a word she said, but she returned
the smile. "I've heard a lot about you, Karen. Hello, John."

"Evening, Casey. I was hoping to have this next dance
with you, if Michael doesn't mind," he invited as the music started up again.

Before Casey could say anything, Karen took advantage of John's ploy.

"Michael? Will you dance with me?"

Michael had no desire whatsoever to dance with Karen.
The farther he stayed away from her, the better, as far as
he was concerned, but he'd been put on the spot. There
was no graceful way out of the awkward situation.

"Of course, Karen."

Karen didn't need any further encouragement. She
went straight into his arms as if she belonged there.

Casey saw how comfortable Karen seemed with Michael. She watched them together even as John danced
her about the floor.

"So you managed to work everything out with Michael?" he asked. "I was worried about you after our conversation the other night. I didn't know how things were
going to go for you."

"Everything is fine. Michael was never engaged to
Karen. She lied about their relationship. Michael and I
straightened it out."

Inwardly John was seething. Once again it seemed his
plans had been ruined.

"There's only a week left until your wedding," he said.
"Are you really sure you want to go through with it, after
all that's happened?"

"Oh, yes. I'm sure," she replied. She knew it was up to
her to convince the world that her marriage to Michael
was a love match, and she would start with John.

"With all the bad blood between your families all these
years and then this unexpected trouble with Karen, I
never would have thought you two would end up together," he remarked.

"I know. It hasn't been easy, but Michael and I are
happy, and that's all that matters."

"Are you happy, Casey? Really?" John pressed the issue.
"Are you certain Michael's not just using you? Casey 1
care about you and I don't want you to be hurt."

"I appreciate your concern, John, but it's really none
of your business." She deliberately made her tone a bit
cool. She had no interest in him romantically, and it was
time he realized it. "Michael and I love each other. I know
it seemed to happen quickly, but we've known each other
so long that once we recognized the truth of our feelings,
it was all quite simple." The fact that she'd actually declared she loved Michael startled Casey, for she'd never
said it out loud before.

John had hoped to rile Casey. He had wanted to get
her furious enough to break off with Michael, but he re
alized now in a fit of barely controlled rage that it wasn't
going to happen. He had been foiled again.

"What do you plan to do about Karen?" he asked.

"Nothing. She'll be gone soon. She means nothing to
Michael."

"It doesn't look that way to me," he said, nodding in
the direction of the other couple.

Casey looked their way to see Karen leading Michael
by the hand from the dance floor toward the main door.

Jealousy seared through Casey. She didn't know what
the other woman was up to, but she wasn't going to get
away with it.

Casey was tempted to go after them that very minute,
but she didn't want to draw attention to the situation. As soon as the dance ended, she was going to take action.

Michael Donovan was hers.

Karen was going to learn that lesson tonight once and
for all.

Nick made his way over to Anne.

"How are you this evening?" he asked cordially.

"Fine, now that you're here," Anne said with a smile.
"And I love your suit."

"Some of the boys from the Circle D might argue that
point with you."

"That's why I said it. I figured they were probably giving
you a hard time," she laughed.

"They did, but I don't care what they think. There was
only one woman I was trying to impress tonight."

"That's a wonderful line. I bet you use it on all the girls,
and 1 bet they believe you."

Nick was accustomed to women falling at his feet when
he turned on the charm. He'd never met anyone like
Anne before, and he found himself chuckling. "You're
right. I have used that line before, and it does usually
work. There is one thing you need to know, though."

"What's that?" Anne's eyes were twinkling with good
humor.

"I've never meant it before." He found it was the truth.
Anne was different from any other woman he'd ever met.

Her eyes widened at his remark. She lifted her gaze to
his. "Is that another line?"

"No," he said quietly. "Shall we dance?"

"Yes."

Anne almost felt like a princess in a fairy tale, like a
heroine in one of her favorite novels, as Nick drew her
out onto the dance floor. The rest of the world faded away
as he whirled her about the room. There was only Nick
and the music and the joy of being held in his arms.

The warning voice in her mind cautioned her that Nick
belonged back East that he would be leaving after
Casey's wedding and she would never see him again.

But for right now, for this moment, Anne didn't care.

She let herself be swept up in the thrill of a fantasy
come true.

A handsome prince had come to save her from her dull
existence.

"Karen, whatever it is you wanted to talk about, we could
have discussed inside," Michael said once they'd left the
hall. He was ready to go back in. He had nothing more
to say to her and wanted to be with Casey.

"No, Michael. What I have to say is private just between us. I will not let our relationship be fodder for the
town gossips," Karen insisted.

"We have no relationship, Karen. I'm engaged to Casey,
and I'm going to be married next week. There's nothing
between you and me."

"But Michael-" She looked up at him, her eyes aglow
with the predatory excitement that filled her. "You can't
mean that." She lowered her voice as she stepped closer
to rub up against him. "I want you, Michael. I always have.
That's why I made the trip all the way out here to see you. I missed you. I wanted to help you. I wanted to be with
you."

She lifted one hand to caress his cheek, wanting to
draw him down for a kiss, but he caught her wrist and
stopped her ploy.

"Stop it, Karen. Casey and I are getting married."

"But you aren't married yet. That can all change," she
insisted in an even more sultry voice. "I can please you
in ways your little cowgirl can't even imagine. Let me
show you."

"This little cowgirl' is about ready to forget she's being
a lady tonight!" Casey snarled, interrupting them.

Her first reaction to the sight of Karen and Michael
seemingly embracing, had infuriated her. Then she'd
overheard a part of their conversation and knew Karen
was the aggressor.

"What are you doing here?" Karen looked at Casey in
disgust, but stayed physically close to Michael.

"1 came outside to see what you were doing with my
fiance. The dance is inside, you know."

"Casey, I can handle this." Michael could tell she was
angry, and he knew what she was capable of.

"Michael and I were just talking," Karen insisted innocently, smiling at her with smug superiority.

"Good, and I'm joining your conversation," Casey declared, coming to stand at Michael's side.

"Our conversation is private."

Karen sounded so arrogant that Casey lost her ladylike
veneer. She'd dealt with rough-and-tumble ranch hands
all her life and wasn't the least bit afraid of Karen.

"There's something you need to know, bitch."

Karen gasped. "Michael! Are you going to let her talk
to me that way?"

Casey didn't wait for Michael to answer. "Michael is
mine," she stated firmly, stepping closer to physically intimidate Karen. "We're engaged. You haven't figured that
out yet, so I guess you must be real stupid. Look! Here's
my engagement ring!"

Casey held her hand up in Karen's face so she could
see the diamond ring that marked her as Michael's.

"Michael gave this ring to me. Nobody invited you here.
You're not welcome here. So I think it's time you took a
hint and went back to Philadelphia where you belong.
I'm sure there's a man somewhere in a city that big who
will appreciate the fact that you can please him in such
`exciting' ways. Go find him. Michael's mine."

"But, Michael "Karen looked up at him, shocked.

"Good-bye, Karen." He slipped an arm around Casey.

Karen was devastated by this, his final and complete
rejection. She rushed away into the night, fleeing toward
the hotel. Never in her wildest imaginings had she considered the possibility that Michael would really choose
Casey over her. It was complete and utter humiliation.

Michael stood with Casey watching Karen hurry off.
When Casey would have moved away from him, he tightened his grip and drew her with him into the shadows.

"Casey"

"What?" She looked up at him, her expression guarded
and a bit defensive.

"I didn't know you cared."

"I care about the ranch," she retorted, feeling suddenly
very vulnerable before him. He was warm and strong and
so devastatingly handsome, and he had just sent Karen
on her way forever.

"Are you sure you're doing this just for the ranch?" he
asked, his voice gentling as he drew her even closer.

Casey didn't respond as Michael bent down and
claimed her lips in a passionate kiss.

Casey stood still for a moment as Michael kissed her, and
then, unable to help herself, she looped her arms around
his neck and drew him down to her. At her encouragement, Michael deepened the kiss, wrapping his arms
around her and bringing her fully against him.