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But underneath all the artwork was a woman he’d never want to see again.
*
The saloon wasexactly the kind of place she’d imagined it would be from the outside, down to the jukebox and the drawing of the building over the bar, showing how it had once been the only building that had any chance of standing up to a Mexican barrage. Maggie had personally driven her here, teasing her easily about lugging her backpack along. In general acting as if she’d truly meant that “Welcome to the Raffertys.”
Once inside Kaitlyn met the Highwaters, including the police chief who looked just as imposing as he had at the library, and the brother who ran the place and was married, improbably, to the librarian she’d also met, and several others, including a couple of familiar faces—the Buckleys who ran the Hickory Creek Inn. She tried to focus on all that instead of the grim fact that Ry wasn’t even here.
“He’ll be along,” Maggie had assured her, and Kaitlyn couldn’t find it in herself to explain why he likely wouldn’t. His mother seemed to sense her doubt—that mind-reading thing he’d mentioned?—and added, “I can’t wait for him to see you. He’s already crazy about you, but tonight you’re going to blow him away.”
Crazy about you.
It was stupid to believe it for even a second. All the makeup and curling irons and sexy dresses in the world couldn’t fix this. Why would he believe her even if she ever got the chance to tell him what Jillian had said had nothing to do with what had happened between them?
She was listening with interest to Sydney telling Lucas—he’d been allowed to come since there was food being served and, Maggie had said with a grin, Chief Highwater would be there and the boy wouldn’t dare even try to sneak a drink under his nose—about some kind of crazy cross-country horse race she’d participated in in Mongolia. It seemed he’d already heard the story, but wanted to hear it again, with more details.
When the tale was told, Lucas looked at Kaitlyn and smiled shyly. Sounding a bit worried, he asked, “She won’t come here tonight, will she? The woman you’re working with?”
Kaitlyn felt a ridiculous burst of pleasure at the very idea. Jillian Jacobs would be furious to be considered to be working even with her, instead of Kaitlyn working for her.
“If she does,” Kaitlyn said seriously, “we’ll drive her out with the twangiest country music we can find on that jukebox.”
Lucas grinned, and everyone around them, which included Maggie, Sydney and Ariel and their Rafferty men, Joey the librarian, an elegant Hispanic woman who was married to another Highwater brother, burst out laughing.
It was barely a moment later when the entire atmosphere of the place shifted. At least it did for her, and she knew why without even looking, knew from the sudden tension along her spine.
Ry was here.
She couldn’t stop herself from turning to look, toward the back of the saloon. And there he was, standing next to a woman with long, flowing hair that looked like autumn, as if all the colors of all the leaves, from burnished red to polished gold had gathered there. They were clearly having a serious conversation, leaning in toward each other in a familiar sort of way that made Kaitlyn’s stomach knot. Because this was the kind of woman she would expect him to be with, beautiful, stylish, confident…
“Ah, there he is,” Maggie said in her ear. “He’ll be looking for you.”
Only to avoid me.“Looks like he’s…busy right now.”
Maggie studied her for a moment, and Kaitlyn suddenly remembered Ry’s joke about her mind-reading. It had been a joke, hadn’t it? “That boy of mine is many things, but fickle isn’t one of them.” Then she smiled, widely. “Or stupid. That’s Lily Highwater, Shane’s wife.”
“Oh.”
“Go to him,” Maggie urged. “I want to see his face when he gets his first look at you.”
Only because you don’t know what he thinks of me right now.But Kaitlyn started walking, because she didn’t seem to have any choice. Maybe she’d just keep going, right out the back door Ry had come in through. She was certain Ry wouldn’t stop her.
He saw her. His eyes widened. But the woman next to him was speaking, and he wasn’t rude enough to cut her off. And then he shifted his gaze to the redhead, his expression changing completely.
Then she got close enough to hear his next words. Angry words. “That tears it. Who the hell does she think she is?”
She stopped in her tracks, then dodged into the hallway that led to the restrooms, out of sight. The other woman said something to him, but her voice was too low and quiet for Kaitlyn to hear anything except her last words: “…could have warned you, if I’d known it was her.”
Her brow furrowed. She tried to think if she’d ever encountered Lily Highwater before. She didn’t think so.
“I’m going to—” Ry, still sounding furious, broke off when his phone rang. He looked at it. “There’s the callback from the magazine. This ends right now.”
Lily patted his arm in a commiserating sort of way, then left him there, striding confidently into the saloon’s main room, probably looking for her massively impressive husband. Frozen in place, Kaitlyn heard it all in Ry’s taut, heated voice.
“I don’t care that it’s after hours, Jackie.” Jackie. The editor atTexas Artworks. And at the moment, essentially Kaitlyn’s true boss. “I’m not dealing with her. Get her out of here.”
The chill that overtook her then was the most awful thing she’d ever felt. She’d felt horrible, crushing things in her life, but she’d also never had much to lose. Now, she’d thought she had everything, or at least a shot at it. And it was crumbling right in front of her. He was done with her, what they’d found together mattering nothing in the face of what she’d foolishly admitted to him. He would never believe that Jillian’s order wasn’t why she’d slept with him. As if any woman would have to be ordered with a man like him.
You should have known. You should have known it was too good to be true. Ugly ducklings like you don’t land the handsome prince. Didn’t you learn that yet?
