Wearing the Rancher's Ring. Stella Bagwell

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СКАЧАТЬ throat was so thick, all she could manage to do was nod.

      His gaze locked on hers. “Oh, Olivia,” he murmured ruefully. “Why did you marry him when you knew that I was waiting?”

      The dark anguish in his eyes was more than she could bear. Jumping to her feet, she blindly hurried through the busy tables until she reached the ladies’ room.

      Once inside, she dropped her head in her hands and allowed the scalding tears to flow.

Chapter Three

      Eventually, a woman with a little girl entered the ladies’ room and the distraction forced Olivia to dry her tears and attempt to gather her composure.

      Leaving the table that way made her look worse than an emotional teenager, she thought, as she pressed a damp paper towel beneath her eyes. But the only other option she’d had was to sit there and let him see a stream of regretful tears rolling down her face. And she wasn’t up to dealing with that sort of humiliation. Going back out there and facing him again was going to be bad enough.

      Tossing the paper towel into a trash basket, she smoothed down the skirt of her black dress and with a bracing breath walked out among the diners. As soon as Clancy spotted her approaching the table, he rose to his feet and helped her into her chair.

      Once he’d returned to his own seat, she quickly apologized. “I’m sorry, Clancy. I shouldn’t—”

      “No, Olivia,” he interrupted. “I’m the one who should be apologizing. I shouldn’t have said that to you. Not here. Not now. Let’s forget it, shall we?”

      While she’d been in the ladies’ room, the waiter had served their meal. One glance at Clancy’s plate told her he’d not yet touched his food. Which made her feel even worse. She’d not only embarrassed the man, she’d starved him on top of it.

      “You should’ve started eating without me,” she said. “I wouldn’t have minded.”

      “The waiter just brought it. So it’s still hot. No harm done.”

      He looked across the table at her and she could see concern in his eyes. The notion that her feelings were more important to him than the meal surprised her and for the first time this evening, she felt herself start to relax.

      “I am hungry,” she admitted, then joked, “It takes a lot of energy to have an emotional breakdown.”

      To her amazement, he reached across the table and wrapped his hand firmly around hers. His touch was rough and warm and incredibly familiar. But how could that be, she wondered, after so much time had passed and so much had happened?

      “And I don’t want you to have another one,” he said gently. “We’ll keep our talk in the present. Deal?”

      She gave him a grateful smile, but underneath she was actually terrified. Being with Clancy wasn’t supposed to be affecting her this way. His touch shouldn’t be making her long for more, making her wonder what it would be like to kiss him again, make love to him again.

      “It’s a deal,” she agreed, then carefully pulling her hand from his, she picked up her fork and started to eat.

      He followed her example and as the two of them began consuming the spicy food, Clancy purposely steered the conversation to Olivia’s job.

      “So, are you doing the same type of work here in Carson City that you were doing back in Idaho?”

      “Yes. Land management. I worked out of the Shoshone district there. That’s where I started about seven years ago and I liked it. But this move to Carson City brought a small promotion with it. One that I’d worked hard to get.”

      “So, what sort of things do you mainly look for when you’re seeing a piece of land for the first time?”

      He appeared to be genuinely interested and that was something new for Olivia. The few men she’d dated in the past years never wanted to hear about her work. They mostly thought she just poked around in the dirt and looked at bugs and plants. None of them had understood or cared that nature had a rhyme and reason and her job was to make sure it stayed in balance. But Clancy made a living off the land. He understood.

      “The watershed and whether there’s too much or not enough. Then we study the grasses, trees and other vegetation to see what sort of wildlife it’s capable of sustaining. Of course if it’s rangeland for livestock then other things are involved. But you’re a rancher, you already know all about that.”

      He nodded and as her gaze swept over him, she wondered, as she had so many times, whether he’d ever married or if he had a special woman in his life now.

      “Do you ever work with minerals?”

      She asked, “You mean land that’s being mined?”

      He nodded and she shook her head. “A little. Why? Is part of the Silver Horn land being mined?”

      “No. But I’ve been getting calls from a lease hound. It seems odd to me. These days silver isn’t worth digging out of the ground.”

      “Could be his connections are searching for the yellow stuff. Not silver.”

      “Well, this is Nevada and I suppose there’s always someone out there who likes to take a gamble on finding a fortune,” he said.

      “Yes. Finding it the easy way,” she agreed.

      For the next few minutes, Clancy continued to focus their conversation on her job and then he changed it completely by suddenly asking, “What is your brother doing now? Is he still in the military?”

      “He’s no longer in the army. But I couldn’t tell you what he’s doing now. The last time I talked with him he was in Oregon, working for a timber company.”

      Glancing over at her, he picked up a tortilla and folded it in half. “So you two still aren’t close.”

      “No. That will never happen. Todd is like our father. He doesn’t need or want to be close to anyone.”

      “And what about your father? Do you ever see him?”

      Her gaze fell to the food that was left on her plate. “A couple of years ago he showed up out of the blue. Said he was in the area and thought he should say hello. He didn’t even know that Mom was dead. When she passed, I had tried to locate him, but never had any luck. I honestly think he uses aliases just to keep the bill collectors and bookies off his back.”

      “Learning that Arlene was gone must have been a shock for him.”

      Shaking her head, she lifted her gaze back to him. “No. You can’t shock a person who doesn’t care, Clancy.”

      “I’m sorry, Olivia.”

      She gave him a brave smile. “See, I’m pretty much without a family. So I’d rather hear about yours. How are your brothers?”

      “They’re all doing well. Evan is a detective for the sheriff’s department now. Rafe is foreman of the Horn and Finn manages our horse division. Bowie has been СКАЧАТЬ