The Manning Sisters (14 page)

“No, this is perfect.” She reached for her coat, but Cody took it from her hands and held it for her so she could slip it on. With a murmured thanks, she picked up her purse.

“Before we leave,” he began, then cleared his throat, “there's something I'd like understood. If we go to dinner, I pay the tab.”

“But I invited you,” Taylor reminded him, somewhat surprised at the vehemence with which he spoke.

“I pay or we don't go.”

Taylor couldn't see any point in arguing. She'd encountered enough stubborn male pride with Russ to know it wasn't going to do her any good. “If you insist.”

“I do.”

Once that was resolved, they managed to carry on a pleasant conversation while Cody drove to the restaurant. He'd chosen Larry's Place, the one halfway decent eating establishment in town. Taylor hadn't eaten there before, but she'd heard the food was good—and the company was exemplary. For the first time in a week she found herself smiling and talkative.

The hostess escorted them to a table, and they were handed menus. It took Taylor only a moment to decide. Her appetite had been nonexistent for days, and she was determined to enjoy this evening no matter what.

“Hello, Cody. Taylor.”

Russ's voice came at her like a blast of cold air. She drew in a deep breath before turning toward the man who'd dominated her thoughts all week. “Hello, Russ,” she said coolly.

“Russ,” Cody said, standing. The two exchanged handshakes. “Good to see you again, Mary Lu.”

“Have you met Taylor Manning?” Russ asked his date. His hand was casually draped over the other woman's shoulder as he smiled down on her. “Taylor's the new schoolteacher.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Mary Lu said, and she actually sounded as if she was.

Taylor smiled and nodded. The woman didn't reveal a single shred of jealousy, she mused darkly. Surely by now everyone in town knew there was something going on between her and Russ. The least the other woman could do was look a little anxious. But then, why should she? Mary Lu was the one with Russ. Taylor was with Cody Franklin.

Cody reclaimed his seat. “Would you two care to join us?”

Taylor's heart shot upward and seemed to lodge in her throat. Seeing Russ accompanied by another woman was painful enough without having to make polite conversation with them for the rest of the evening.

“Another time,” Russ said. His thoughts apparently reflected her own.

Taylor was so grateful, she nearly leaped from her chair to thank him with a kiss. It wasn't until he'd left the table that she realized how tense she was. Smiling in Cody's direction, she forced herself to relax. Elbows on the table, she leaned toward her date. “So how long have you been in law enforcement?”

“Since I graduated from college,” he answered, but his concentration wasn't on her. Instead, his gaze followed Russ and Mary Lu to the other side of the restaurant.

His frown disturbed her. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

“I don't know yet.”

Taylor sighed. This whole evening was a mistake. She'd phoned and asked Cody to dinner for two reasons. The first and foremost was simply because she was lonely, and the thought of spending another weekend alone was more than she could bear. The second was to prove that…She was no longer sure what she'd hoped to accomplish.

Cody sipped his water. “You're in love with him, aren't you?”

This man certainly didn't pull any punches. The least he could've done was lead into the subject of Russ Palmer with a little more tact. Taylor considered pretending she didn't know what he was talking about, but that would've been ridiculous.

She lowered her gaze to the tablecloth. “I don't know if I love him or not.”

“What's there to know? I saw the look in your eyes just now. Russ walked in with Mary Lu, and I swear you nearly keeled over.”

“You're wrong. I was mildly surprised, that's all.”

“It doesn't bother you that he's with Mary Lu?”

She managed a casual shrug. “Not really. I wasn't expecting to see him. If I reacted, which I don't think I did, it was due to that and that alone.”

“So what are you going to do about it?”

“Do about what?”

“The way you feel for Russ.”

“I'm not going to do anything.” She didn't need time to make that decision; it had been made weeks earlier. All the arguments she'd put forth, time and again, crowded her mind. All the reasons a relationship with him couldn't work…Yet she couldn't turn her eyes away from Russ, couldn't stop gazing at him with an emotional hunger that left her trembling.

“He loves you, too,” Cody whispered. He reached across the table and took hold of her hand. “I don't know what drove you two apart, but I'm here to tell you right now, it's eating him alive.” His smile was gentle, concerned. “It seems to be having the same effect on you.”

“It's not that simple,” she whispered.

A long moment passed before Cody spoke again. “Nothing worthwhile ever is.”

 

“Taylor, do you realize what time it is?” her sister, Christy, groaned after she answered the phone on the fifth ring.

“I'm sorry…I should've checked,” Taylor said, feeling utterly foolish and completely miserable.

Christy yawned loudly. “It's three in the morning! Why are you phoning at this hour? Are you all right? You're not in trouble, are you?”

If only Christy knew! “I…was calling to see if you were going to be free next weekend.”

“Are you flying home? Oh, Taylor, it would be so good to see you. I can't believe how much I miss you. Paul, Jason and Rich, too. Mom and Dad don't say much, but know they feel the same way.”

“No, but I'll be in Reno, and I thought that, well…I was hoping I could talk you into joining me. There are a bunch of cheap flights out of Sea-Tac and I thought maybe you could meet me in Nevada.”

Christy slowly released her breath. “I can't. I'm really sorry, but I can't possibly swing it at this late date. What will you be doing in Reno?”

“Nothing much. The drill team is competing there, and I volunteered to be a chaperone—but apparently the team will be busy for two days and I'm going to have a lot of time to kill. I thought it would be fun if we got together.”

“All right, Taylor,” Christy said after a moment. “What's wrong? And don't try to tell me
nothing.
The last time you called me at three in the morning was when…I'm sure you remember.”

“This doesn't have anything to do with Mark.”

“Thank God for that.” Her voice lowered slightly with concern. “What's wrong, then?”

Taylor reached for a tissue and blew her nose loudly. “I…think I'm in love.”

Christy groaned again. “You've got to be kidding. Who?”

“His name is Russ Palmer and he owns a cattle ranch.”

“I was afraid of that. I read your last letter to Mom and Dad and it was full of that cowboy! It was Russ this and Mandy that. Taylor, get control of yourself. You don't want to spend the rest of your life on a ranch out in the wilds of Montana, do you?”

“Of course not!” Taylor sobbed. “The last thing I intended to do was fall in love—especially with someone who thinks just like Dad.”

“Your cowboy believes women shouldn't have the right to vote?” Christy asked, aghast.

Taylor started to laugh even while she was crying. “He said he doesn't care if we vote. It's females holding public office that bothers him.” She paused. “He knows how much I hate it when he says stuff like that. He does it to get a rise out of me and it works every time.”

She could hear Christy taking a deep breath and imagined her mentally counting to ten. “Listen, Taylor, you're my sister and my dearest friend. What you feel isn't love. It's a natural and common emotion following the breakup of any romance.”

“That's what I thought…at first.”

“You were right. For most of your life your judgment was totally sound. Nothing's changed all that much. So you made a mistake with Mark. So what? But when you come out of a long-term relationship, there's an emptiness and the normal reaction is to immediately find someone to fill it.”

“I don't think that applies in this case,” Taylor argued. In the beginning she'd assumed the same thing, but not anymore. This ache she felt went deeper than anything she'd ever experienced.

“You've spent the past six weeks in a town where no one even accepts American Express,” Christy reminded her. “Taylor, this thing with the cowboy is all due to what happened with Mark. You're away from your family. You're lonely and vulnerable, and it's only natural to find yourself attracted to another man. I know I would be if the situations were reversed.”

“You would?”

“Of course,” Christy said smoothly and with conviction. “Just hold on for another week, and once you're in Reno, where there are real stores and real people, you can reevaluate your feelings. I'm sure being there will help clear your mind.”

“Do you honestly think so?”

“I know so,” Christy said without the least qualm. “Now take two aspirin, go to bed and call me next week when you get back from Reno. Ten to one, you're going to feel a lot different than you do tonight.”

“Okay,” Taylor said. After a few more minutes she replaced the receiver, convinced her sister was right.

 

The next week flew past, the days blending as Taylor threw herself into her job. Friday afternoon, her suitcase packed, she headed for the school bus and the twenty girls who comprised the Cougar Point High School Drill Team.

The first girl she saw was Mandy, who flew across the yard and hugged Taylor close. “I'm so glad you're going with us.”

“Me, too,” Taylor said, meaning it.

Mandy reached for Taylor's suitcase, setting it beside the others. “Everyone's here except the driver.” She paused and rolled her eyes. “But then he's always late.”

The girls gathered around Taylor, and soon they were chatting away like old friends. Taylor knew many of the team members as well as their coach.

“Everyone ready?” a male voice called out.

Taylor recognized it immediately as Russ's. She swallowed and turned toward him, frowning. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

He tossed one suitcase into the compartment on the side of the bus and then another. “The same thing as you,” he said without the least animosity. “You're a chaperone, and I happen to be driving the bus.”

I
t wasn't the twenty boisterous, exuberant high-school girls who were driving Russ crazy. They sang, they cheered and they shouted as he drove the school bus across three states.

No, it wasn't the girls—it was Taylor. Taylor, who laughed and sang. Taylor, who joked and teased as if she hadn't a care in the world.

Each and every one of those girls adored her. The problem was, so did Russ.

Other than their brief exchange before they'd boarded the bus, she hadn't said more than a handful of words to him. True, there hadn't been a lot of opportunity. They'd stopped in Billings for something to eat and she'd sat in a booth surrounded by teenagers. Russ had eaten with Carol Fischer, the drill team coach, and another of the chaperones. Carol and he had exchanged a few pleasantries, but the entire time they were eating, Russ had found his gaze drawn again and again to the table next to his where Taylor was seated.

He would've liked nothing better than to get Taylor alone for a few hours. Then, and only then, would he have the chance to talk some sense into that stubborn head of hers.

Okay, she'd gone and fallen in love with the wrong man. Everyone made an error in judgment at some point, but that was in the past and Russ was very much part of the present. Although he told himself this a hundred different times and in as many different ways, the thought of Taylor aching, wanting, crying over another man felt like a knife slicing deep into his heart. It hurt so much that for a moment he couldn't breathe normally. Hell, he hadn't been breathing normally from the second he'd stumbled upon Taylor in the five-and-dime last September.

The long, lonely miles sped past. The girls gave up singing even before they left Montana. Around midnight the only one on the bus who wasn't sleeping was Russ.

“Do you want some coffee?”

Taylor's soft voice behind him sounded like an angel's, Russ thought gratefully.

“Russ?”

“Please.” He waited to speak until she'd poured him some from the thermos she carried and he'd sipped it, appreciating the way it revived him. “I figured everyone was asleep.”

“They are.”

“What's keeping you awake?” He'd love it if she admitted he'd been in her thoughts for two desolate weeks and that she couldn't let another hour pass, or even another second without telling him how she felt.

“I never could sleep in a moving vehicle.”

“Oh,” he said, trying to disguise his disappointment. He should know by now that Taylor wasn't going to fulfill his fantasies by saying all the things he longed to hear.

“How have you been?”

They'd barely said a word to each other in two weeks, he mused darkly, frowning, and she was asking about his health!

Briefly he wondered what she'd say if he told her he wasn't sleeping well, his mood was sour and he couldn't sit down to a single meal without suffering indigestion afterward. All these ailments he attributed entirely to her stubbornness.

“I'm fine,” he said instead. “How about you?”

“Fine, just fine.”

“Now we've got that settled, what else would you like to talk about? The weather seems a safe enough subject, doesn't it?”

“I…I think I'll go back and check on the girls.”

“You do that,” he muttered, then immediately wanted to kick himself for being such an idiot. At least Taylor had been willing to talk to him, which was a lot better than the strained silence that had existed between them up to this point.

It wasn't until midafternoon the following day that they pulled in to the congested streets of Reno. The girls were leaning out the windows, shouting at tourists, while Carol and the other adults attempted to calm their rampant enthusiasm.

Carol and Russ had traded off driving, but like Taylor, Russ didn't sleep well in a moving vehicle. He leaned back, shoved his hat low over his face and did a fair job of pretending, but he hadn't slept a wink in over twenty-four hours.

When Russ pulled in to the parking garage at Circus Circus, the hotel where they were booked, he heaved a giant sigh of relief. He was exhausted, mentally and physically. With the help of two bellboys, he unloaded the ton of luggage the girls had found indispensable for this short trip. While he was busy with that, Carol and the other chaperones, accompanied by the entire drill team, checked in. As soon as he was finished, Carol handed him his room key and suggested he get some sleep.

Russ didn't need to be told twice. He practically fell asleep in the elevator on the way up to his floor. Taylor and several of the girls rode with him, and just before he entered his room, Russ saw that she'd been assigned one on the same floor.

Some of his tiredness vanished when he discovered that Taylor would be sleeping down the hall from him. Not bothering to unpack his bag he tossed his hat onto the small table and collapsed on top of the bed. Bunching up the pillow, he closed his eyes and savored the quiet, the peace. It wasn't until sleep began to overtake his mind that he realized he had two whole days in which to convince Taylor she loved him.

 

Taylor couldn't remember a time when she'd been more exhausted. Other than brief stops, the bus had spent nearly twenty hours on the road, and she hadn't gotten more than a catnap the entire distance. Carol, bless her heart, had insisted Taylor go upstairs to bed while she and the assistant coach managed the girls. Taylor didn't offer a single argument.

From the moment they pulled in to the hotel, the girls' schedule was packed. In less than two hours they were meeting several other out-of-state teams, who would also be competing the following day, for a social. Then, first thing the next morning, Carol would be driving the drill team to a local high school and they'd be there the entire day until their performance, which was scheduled late that evening. After a good night's sleep, they'd be back on the road again, heading home to Montana.

Yawning, Taylor ran a tub of hot bathwater and soaked in it, struggling to stay awake. When she got out, she crawled between clean, crisp sheets, already half-asleep.

There was noise and confusion around her for part of the time, since her room adjoined one with teenagers, but she hardly noticed. She woke at eight the next morning, just in time to see the team off and wish them well.

“You're coming to watch us, aren't you?” Mandy pleaded.

“Wild horses couldn't keep me away,” Taylor promised.

“Do you think Russ will want to come?”

Taylor nodded. “I'm sure of it.”

Beaming, Mandy hugged Taylor and then rushed to join her teammates.

Once the Cougar Point High School Drill Team had departed the hotel, Taylor wandered downstairs to the casino, where most of the gambling took place. Bells jingled incessantly and smoke rose like a sacrificial offering to the unpredictable gods of chance and good fortune. Row upon row of slot machines lined the brightest, reddest carpeting Taylor had ever seen.

She'd never gambled much, but the excitement that crackled through the room lured her toward the slot machines.

Trading her hard-earned cash for several rolls of nickels, she grabbed a plastic container and picked out a one-armed bandit at the end of a long row of identical machines.

“A fool and her money are soon parted,” she muttered, seating herself on a stool.

She inserted three nickels and gingerly pulled down on the handle. Oranges, plums and cherries whirled past in a blur, then came to an abrupt halt.

Nothing.

She tried again and again and was rewarded by several minor wins. Two nickels here, ten there.

Someone slid onto the stool next to hers, and when she glanced over, a ready smile on her lips, her eyes clashed with Russ's. He looked well-rested and so devastatingly handsome that her breath jammed in her throat. The lazy grin he gave her was more potent than any of the free drinks she could have ordered.

“How are you doing?” he asked.

“Fine…good, really good.” She plopped three more coins into the appropriate slot and pulled the lever with enough energy to dismantle the machine.

“How much have you won?”

She looked down at the small pile of nickels.

“Actually, I think I'm out a couple of bucks.”

He grinned. “I'm down about the same. I don't suppose I could talk you into having some breakfast with me? You wouldn't consider that a breach of protocol, would you?”

“I…that would be fine.” Taylor didn't know how a grown woman, a college graduate and teaching professional, could be so flustered around one man. The way her heart was jitterbugging inside her chest, anyone might assume Russ had asked her to join him in bed instead of in a restaurant.

Neither of them appeared to have much to say until they'd been seated by the hostess and handed menus.

Russ chose quickly and set his aside. “So how did your dinner with Cody Franklin go last weekend?”

“Cody's a wonderful man,” she answered, glancing over her menu. Their eyes met briefly and she quickly switched her gaze back to the list of breakfast entrées.

“So you plan on seeing him again?” Russ demanded. Then he shook his head. “I'm sorry. I didn't have any right to ask you that. Whom you choose to date is your business.”

Actually, she'd decided against dating Cody again, but not because she hadn't enjoyed his company. He'd been polite and gentlemanly all evening. After they'd left the restaurant, she'd invited him in for coffee and he'd accepted, but to her dismay their entire conversation then, as it had through most of dinner, centered on Russ. Cody hadn't kissed her good-night, nor had he asked her out again. Why should he? Taylor mused. She'd spent the evening with one man, while longing to be with another.

The waitress came by for their order and filled their coffee cups. Taylor took a sip of hers, and decided if Russ could question her, she should feel free to inquire about his own evening out. She carefully returned her cup to the saucer. “How was your dinner with Mary Lu Randall?”

“Great,” Russ answered. “She's a lovely woman. Interesting, fun to be with, thoughtful…”

Taylor's throat constricted painfully as she nodded. Everything Russ said was true. Mary Lu Randall was known as a generous, unassuming woman.

“I won't be seeing her again, though,” Russ muttered, drinking his coffee.

Despite everything she'd hoped to prove to this man, Taylor sighed with relief. “You won't? Why not?”

Russ set his coffee cup down hard enough to attract attention, and several heads turned in their direction. Russ glanced apologetically at those around him.

“Why?” he asked in a heated whisper. “Do you honestly need me to explain the reason I won't be dating Mary Lu again?” He threw his head back and glared at the ceiling. “Because I'm in love with you is
why.
In addition, you've ruined me for just about any other woman I might happen to meet.”

“I've ruined you?” she echoed vehemently. She leaned toward him, managing to keep her voice low enough not to attract further attention.

The waitress delivered their meals, and Russ dug into his fried eggs as though he hadn't eaten in a week. He'd eaten both eggs before Taylor had finished spreading jelly across her toast, which she did with jagged, awkward movements.

“I would've thought Mary Lu was perfect for you,” she said, unwilling to let the subject drop. “She's sweet and gentle and
deferential,
and we both know how important that is to a man of your persuasion.”

“I used to think that was what I wanted until I met you.” He stabbed his fork into his fried potatoes. “I'll be damned if you didn't ruin me for decent women.”

“Ruined you for decent women?” Taylor cried, not caring whose attention she drew.

“That's right.
You.
This is all your fault. No woman ever challenged me and dared me the way you do, and I'm having one heck of a hard time adjusting. Compared to you, every other woman has the appeal of watered-down soup.” He jammed his index finger against the top of the table before continuing. “Mary Lu's one of the nicest women in Cougar Point, and any man she married would consider himself lucky.”

“But it won't be you,” Taylor stated, hating the way her heart gladdened at that.

“How can it be when I'm crazy about you?”

The irritation drained out of Taylor as quickly as it had risen. She set her slice of toast aside and dropped her eyes, suddenly close to tears. “I wish you wouldn't say that.”

“Why? Because you don't like hearing it? Fine, I won't say it again, but that isn't going to change a thing. If you want to put us both through this hell, then go ahead. There's nothing I can do to stop you. But I love you, Taylor, and like I said, that's not going to change.”

“But I don't
want
you to love me.”

“Don't you think I know that? Trust me, lady, if I had any choice in the matter, you'd be the last woman I'd fall in love with. Do you honestly believe I need this aggravation in my life? If so, guess again.”