Wild West Christmas. Lynna Banning

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СКАЧАТЬ he didn’t have to. They were Sylvie’s. That was enough. He thought of his own father and grimaced.

      “Can’t do worse than that,” he muttered.

      Steeling himself for what must be done, he marched across the long runner that bisected the rows of dining tables. This being neither lunch nor dinner, the room was quiet. He passed only one other customer, a gentleman in a clean brown suit whose hat rested, brim up, in the empty seat beside him.

      Momentum carried Dillen forward until he rested a hand on the top of the two chairs occupied by his nephews, but his eyes were still on Alice seated before her china teacup.

      “You look just the same as the last time I saw you.”

      Her eyes narrowed at the reference. “Do you mean at the station?”

      The corners of his mouth tipped down and he could see from the glitter in those green eyes that she knew exactly what he had meant.

      “I meant in Omaha on Christmas Eve.”

      Perhaps she was recalling the last thing he’d said to her before his departure from Omaha.

      I don’t even know you. But it wasn’t her lie that had sent him running. It was the truth, and that was a far different thing.

      “Appearances can be deceiving,” she said. “You above all should know that.”

      He thought it was this woman, more than appearances, that were deceiving. If only it had not all been a glorious lie. Still, he wouldn’t trade his memories of Alice for the truth.

      He became aware of the silence and that someone other than Alice was staring. His nephews sat as still as twin fence posts, watching him with the dark brown eyes of his sister. Without their hats, he could see the wide-set eyes fringed with dark lashes and the familiar wavy hair of the Roach family. The resemblance was so strong that he realized, with a pang of pride, that they could easily be mistaken for his. He’d once hoped to be a father, vowing that unlike his own, he would be kind, supportive and present. Now that fate had given him the opportunity, he would be forced to give them up for their own good.

      “How’s the pie?”

      Cody nodded. “Fine, sir. Would you like some?” He pushed the half-eaten pastry in Dillen’s direction.

      “Cody,” said Alice, “what did we say you should call Mr. Roach?”

      “Oh.” Cody rubbed the back of his neck and then said. “Uncle Dillen, would you like some pie?”

      His mouth watered as he shook his head. “That’s all right, son. Have at it.”

      Colin grinned, showing he had a good deal of piecrust stuck to his cheeks. Alice dipped a lace-trimmed handkerchief into her drinking glass and mopped Colin clean. It was a gesture so maternal it made Dillen’s stomach drop an inch as the longing gripped him hard and low. She just kept surprising him. Why was she here? Was it only the boys?

       Why else? You think just because you missed her every waking moment that she missed you?

      “May I join you?” asked Dillen.

      Alice motioned to the empty seat. He removed his hat and hung it on the spindle on the chair back, then tucked in beside Alice. He settled in the seat, and for just a moment he pretended he was the head of the household and they were all his. He let the fantasy linger a moment longer before letting it die under an avalanche of reality. He didn’t even have the scratch for a haircut, let alone a family.

      The waiter arrived and handed Dillen a menu printed on thick cream-colored paper. Every single item on the sheet would have cost him a day’s wages. He set the menu aside and then assessed the empty plates, struck with the sudden fear that he’d have to pay for their meal. The shame of not having the funds to cover one lunch nearly drove him from the table. He actually rose when Alice laid a hand on his forearm.

      “Where are you going?”

      “I—I...” He had no earthly idea. His brain had stopped working the minute he saw that menu.

      Dillen stilled as her fingers splayed over his sleeve, and he wished he’d taken off his coat so he could feel her touch. But it didn’t matter. Just sitting beside her, smelling her delicate perfume, brought it all back, that night, their kiss. Him being fool enough to think he could ever keep a woman as fine as Alice. Her being fool enough to believe her parents would welcome the likes of him to their family. Her hand slipped back to her lap and her cheeks flushed. Was she thinking of how he’d held her? How he’d told her he loved her?

      “Is everything all right, Mr. Roach?” she asked.

      “Fine,” he lied.

      He would rather be back on that crazy three-year-old mustang crow-hopping across the pen than here beside her in this fancy-pants restaurant with those two boys looking to him for answers he didn’t have.

      The waiter returned and asked what he’d like.

      “Nothing,” he said.

      “Coffee, black,” said Alice simultaneously. Then she turned to him. “Have you eaten?”

      He hadn’t, not since the stale biscuit he’d had with bacon this morning, and it was now closer to dinner than lunch.

      “I’m not hungry,” he lied again.

      Alice made a face. “A ham sandwich with fried potatoes,” she said to the waiter.

      “I can’t stay.”

      That made her shoulders wilt. But she rallied, her gaze still on the waiter. “Wrap it to go, if you please.”

      The man nodded and returned the way he had come. She waited until he had vanished to the kitchens before turning to face Dillen.

      “You cannot stay?” she asked.

      He shook his head.

      “What happened at the station?”

      “I made a mistake. The telegram you received? That was for a horse breeder. I was asking him to send two horses. Now I’ve got to go up to Cripple Creek to get the pair because he got the telegram saying I couldn’t take them. The one I meant to send to you.”

      Cody’s legs went out from under him and he hit the padded seat hard.

      Alice’s hand shook, making the teacup rattle on the saucer. “Did you say that you could not take them?”

      “I just can’t take them right now. I need a little time. I’m sorry you came all the way out here.”

      “Immediate delivery, you said.”

      “Delivery of the twin Welsh ponies. They are the latest acquisitions for the Harvey spread, and I have to go fetch them now.”

      Alice’s face grew pink as she regarded him for a long silent moment. “Yes, I see. How long will your errand take?”

      “Overnight.”

      “And СКАЧАТЬ