could feel Jed watching her. And when he spoke, she could hear the smile in his voice. “Are you a secret rebel, Adora Beaudine?”
She made a scoffing sound. “No way. You ought to know that, after the things I told you today.” Lord, was that only a few hours ago? It seemed like years, somehow.
He grunted. “Right. You wanna get married. To a guy in a Brooks Brothers suit.”
She had a silly urge to argue the point. But why? “You’re right. A guy in a Brooks Brothers suit is exactly what I want.”
“Still, I know you went with Dillon McKenna. Back in high school, when his reputation was almost as bad as mine.”
She kept her eyes on the faraway moon. “That was different. We were only kids. A crush. And in case you haven’t heard, Dillon’s married to my sister Cat now.”
“I heard.”
Adora thought about Dillon. Like Jed, he’d left town when he was barely grown. He’d returned to Red Dog City just last winter, an international celebrity whose career as a professional daredevil had ended after one of his jumps almost killed him. As soon as he’d set eyes on Cat again, he’d known what he wanted. Cat had taken some convincing. But in the end, Dillon had been more than persuasive enough to win her.
“Jealous?” Somehow, Jed made the question sound tender.
Adora looked at him then. “Of what?”
“That your first love belongs to your sister now?”
She stared at him, wondering how he managed to ask her such personal questions—and yet not offend her at all when he did it. And he’d hit right on the mark, too. She had been jealous. At first. There had been trouble between her and Cat. But it had all worked out in the end. Now Adora couldn’t picture Dillon with anyone but Cat.
She said, “No, I’m not jealous. And if I was, I’d be suffering for nothing. No other woman’s got a chance with Dillon. He’s crazy over Cat. And she’s nuts for him. They’re so in love, it’s embarrassing sometimes to be in the same room with them. They forget other people exist.”
The porch light caught on the diamond stud in Jed’s ear, making it glitter. “You wanna be loved like that?” His voice, always low, was lower than ever. And intimate.
She couldn’t help thinking of that afternoon, on the trail by Trout Creek. Of the impossible way she had felt then. Of the way she felt right now...
“Come on. Say it out straight.”
She gulped, and then she did it; she said it out straight. “Yeah. I do. I want to be loved like that. What woman wouldn’t?”
He grinned, white teeth flashing. The diamond stud gleamed. Right then he looked like a pirate from one of those old movies, that Cat used to take her to when they were kids. “You think Mr. Brooks Brothers Suit is gonna love you like that?”
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