Familiar Stranger. Sharon Sala

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СКАЧАТЬ on my plate, but when we get home, I’m going to prove to you that there isn’t anything better than sex, especially when it’s with the right person.”

      “May I take your order?”

      Startled, Cara looked up. The waitress was grinning—proof that she’d overheard, at the very least, the last thing David just said. Cara glared at David and then rolled her eyes. This would be all over the tearoom before they’d been served their first dish.

      The waitress waited, her pen poised above her pad.

      Refusing to look at David, Cara gave their order. As soon as the waitress was gone, Cara glanced up, but he seemed preoccupied with a couple across the room. She turned to look and then sighed. It was Ben and Katie Murphy and their new baby girl. Probably their first outing since the baby’s arrival last month. She looked at David again. The pain in his eyes was unmistakable. Despite the fact that everyone in the room would see and put their own interpretation on the action, she reached for his hand.

      Startled by her touch, David blinked, then turned his focus to Cara.

      “I’m sorry,” she said softly.

      He sighed. So she’d read his mind again. So what else was new?

      “You have nothing to be sorry for,” he said briefly.

      “Don’t, David.”

      “Don’t what?”

      “Don’t deny your feelings…not to me.”

      “Okay then. What do you want to hear first?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. “That I envy that young couple the life ahead of them, or that I want things I know I can never have?”

      “I can’t give you back your youth, but I can give you a daughter…and grandchildren.” She held her breath, afraid to say the rest of it—that she would be his wife if he wanted it.

      David made himself smile, unaware that the action never reached his eyes.

      “You’ve already done that,” he said. “And I can only hope that they will forgive me as quickly as you have.”

      “There’s nothing to forgive,” Cara said, refusing to admit her disappointment that he had mentioned nothing about the future of their relationship. “When they get to know you, they will love you.”

      Before David could answer, he saw a woman approaching their table. From the look on her face, the curiosity was eating her up. He gave Cara a nod and then braced himself, thankful he was sitting down. This one looked as if she wouldn’t settle for a simple pinch on the behind.

      “Ooh, Cara, who’s this big hunk and where have you been keeping him?”

      Cara flinched and David saw it, identifying the woman as someone other than a friend. Whoever she was, she’d just become his enemy, too.

      “Macie, I thought you were in Reno.”

      “I just got back, and look, I’m a free woman again.” She wiggled the empty fingers on her left hand as proof.

      “I’m sorry to hear that,” Cara said.

      “Don’t be! I don’t know what I was thinking when I married that Glen Harvey.”

      “That he owned his daddy’s business?” Cara muttered, too low for anyone but David to hear.

      “Well,” Macie said. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”

      It was the way Macie Harvey leaned over, displaying her more than ample charms in David’s face, that pushed Cara’s buttons. That plus the fact her husband, Ray, had confessed to having a brief affair with Macie between husbands three and four. Although she had finally forgiven Ray, she had never confronted the woman. Suddenly, now seemed like the perfect time to yank her chain.

      She turned in her seat, giving Macie a beatific smile.

      “Macie, this is David Wilson. He’s not only my childhood sweetheart, but also Bethany’s father. David, Macie Harvey. Elizabeth Taylor has nothing on our Macie for shedding husbands. I believe Glen was number seven…or was it eight?”

      David was surprised but secretly pleased that she’d admitted their relationship. He stood and held out his hand.

      “Mrs. Harvey, my condolences on your recent divorce, but as I’m sure you must know, time does heal all wounds, except those that kill you, of course.”

      Macie blinked. She didn’t know whether to be insulted first, or run to spread this juicy bit of news. She opted for the news.

      “Yes…well…thank you, I’m sure,” she said, giving Cara a fierce glare.

      Cara returned the look, still wearing her smile. Macie was the first to look away.

      “I’d better get back to my table,” Macie said. “I think my order has arrived.”

      “Enjoy,” Cara said.

      Cara’s eyes were glittering as she turned to David.

      “Cara, honey?”

      “What?”

      “Remind me never to make you mad.”

      She started to grin. “Why?”

      “Because you shed blood better without weapons than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

      She tossed her head and then smiled primly. “Thank you. It’s part of the gift of being a woman.”

      “Old enemies are often the most difficult to dispatch,” David added, thinking of Frank.

      “She had an affair with Ray. They thought I didn’t know.”

      David’s heart twisted. So many things she’d had to endure, and all because he hadn’t come home. This time, he was the one reaching for her hand.

      “This time, it’s me who’s saying I’m sorry.”

      She shrugged. “You didn’t do it. You have nothing to apologize for.”

      “Oh, but you’re wrong,” he said softly. “It’s what I didn’t do that has caused the most hurt.”

      Before she could answer, their food arrived and the tension of the moment dissipated.

      “Hot beef sandwich and tuna salad, coming up,” the waitress said, setting the hot plate of thinly sliced roast beef on toast points with thick brown gravy in front of David and the plate of cold tuna salad on lettuce in front of Cara. “Eat hearty, folks, but remember to save some room. You don’t want to forget that dessert.”

      David laughed.

      It filtered through Cara’s anger, leaving her weak and breathless. It had been so long since she’d heard that remarkable sound.

      “This looks great,” David said. “I don’t remember СКАЧАТЬ