Page 36 of The Cowboy's Redemption
Levi smiled, too. She was Otto’s sister, without doubt. They had the same bluntness of speech.
“I liked him just fine. He could be difficult when he decided to be. He was also smart, and generous with his time and his knowledge.”
Sadness crossed her face, lending her eyes a faraway expression that suggested she saw things no one else could. “He was those things, alright. Too much so for his own good, sometimes.”
The other Endeavour Ranch owners and a few of the hands had also arrived and were waiting to pay their respects, so he and Dana, who’d been politely chatting with Olive Danby’s son and grandson, moved on.
He ushered her into one of the pews near the front of the church, then slid across the plain wooden bench to sit beside her—close, but not so close as to invite speculation, since they were in public. She looked so solemn and lovely—so coolly remote—that he had a hard time reconciling her with the woman who’d woken him in the early hours of the morning, which probably wasn’t something he should be thinking about right now, but he couldn’t make himself stop.
The simple gray dress and blazer, and the high-heeled black shoes, covered pink-and-white pieces of lace that were too skimpy to serve any particular purpose as far as support went, but visually, packed quite a punch. He knew because he’d watched her get dressed—twice.
Ford took the seat next to him and guilt took a swing, even though it had no business starting a fight. He was sleeping with Ford’s brother’s former girlfriend. So what? The key word was former. His mom was right with her dance story. What was between Dana and him was nobody’s business.
Dana was too good at self-control to let on she was bothered by Ford’s sudden appearance, but the slight tightening of the skin around her mouth and eyes gave her away. She didn’t reach for Levi’s hand for support, but the toe of her shoe angled his way.
Ford leaned past Levi.
“Good to see you,” he said to her. Ford being Ford he was no doubt sincere, or he would have sat elsewhere. “Tate told me you were in town. I didn’t know you were staying at Otto’s.”
He didn’t sound especially surprised, though. Ford had a good eye for horses. Most likely he’d spotted Lady in the pasture and recognized her. The fact that Levi hadn’t mentioned Dana’s presence to him wouldn’t have escaped his notice either.
Dana met Ford’s eyes—a trick hardened men couldn’t pull off. Her face smoothed as if drawn back by invisible strings.
“Hello, Ford,” she said. “I had no idea you used to train horses for Otto.”Since we’re talking about things that are nobody’s business.“Tate looks wonderful, by the way. Motherhood suits her.”
Ford straightened and returned to his personal space, nursing a frown.
Leaving Levi stuck between them with a load on his conscience. It was easy to say that what he did with Dana in private hurt no one, or that he shouldn’t worry what other people might think.
But Ford, who’d played more of a parental role to his younger siblings than their actual parents, had been a wreck after Tanner’s death. He’d blamed himself and everyone around him for it, including Dana, because he’d viewed her as a distraction when Tanner should have been training. There was no rhyme nor reason where grief was concerned, only methods of coping. Tate was all that had held him together.
Opening Ford’s wounds didn’t sit right with Levi. Ford scraping the edges off Dana’s wasn’t right either, because one thing was painfully obvious. Despite what she believed, Dana wasn’t done grieving for Tanner.
So here he was, caught in the middle, sympathizing with both, but knowing that the moment he’d slept with Dana, he’d chosen a side.
And most likely set himself up for a whole world of regret.
*
Dana
George Cooper hadasked everyone to meet in his office on Yellowstone Drive that afternoon, after the funeral.
Dana, already out of sorts thanks to Ford’s presence, felt out of place walking in, as much for the surroundings as her reason for being in them. The attractive woman in a business suit, who reeked of professional success, stepping out of her office to offer Levi a warm welcome, didn’t put Dana more at ease.
“I heard you’d be here this afternoon,” the woman said to Levi, her smile sweeping over Dana just long enough to make her aware of her three-year-old dress, discounted shoes, and long, unstylish hair.
Levi introduced them. Shauna Walsh was pretty, well-educated, and had confidence wafting around her like a dose of expensive perfume.
And suddenly, Dana saw Levi through the same lens Shauna used. Handsome, blue-eyed, and blond, in a clean suit and wearing a tie, with his fancy master’s degree to hang on a wall, he possessed an equal measure of self-worth—and potential—to that of the lawyer. He had another dimension to him. One that hadn’t seemed important, but suddenly, she was no longer comfortable with. For the first time in her life, standing next to him, she felt shabby and ignorant and rural.
“You’re the barrel racer. My little sister is a huge fan,” Shauna said to her, with so much friendly admiration that Dana disliked her a little bit more, for no good reason other than that Shauna was the exact opposite of shabby and ignorant and rural.
Then Shauna gave her a reason by adding, “She was an even bigger fan of Tanner Shannahan’s. I’m very sorry for your loss.”
“It was a long time ago,” Dana said.
The Danbys arrived, saving her from having to make more polite small talk that not even Lady Dana could muster. Levi nudged her toward the room Shauna directed them to. The pressure of his hand on the small of her back made her more uneasy than she already was. She’d known there was more to him, but the educated, suit-wearing side was far less familiar to her than his touch.
