He shook his head. How could he wish for her to be anything but the beautiful, sexy woman he saw in front of him? Even in the August heat, she looked cool and untouchable.
“Not at all. But that’s not really why I was staring at you. When we were teenagers you seemed like a girl who was going to lead a charmed life, and I was noticing that you don’t seem bitter that you haven’t.”
She shrugged one delicate shoulder and a strand of her honey-blond hair fell forward; she reached up and tucked it back behind her ear. “I can’t change what happened, so there is no use lamenting it, right?”
“Not everyone would see it that way.” He realized she didn’t see anything special in the way she was, but he did. Nothing she said would convince him that she wasn’t heroic. He liked the way she seemed to have adjusted to the changes in her life and he was very glad he was the first man to take her out after her surgeries were complete.
“It’s just the way I am now. Plus, if not for the accident I wouldn’t have started working in the Burn Unit at the hospital.”
“You mentioned that before. Are you in the medical profession now?” he asked.
“No. But I’m the administrator of the Reynolds Trust.”
“What is that?” Chris asked.
“It’s a charitable organization that my father established after my mother died. They give money to different organizations, some relating to medical research and providing care for the uninsured. I took over after college. After I started volunteering in the children’s Burn Unit, I added it to one of our charities at the trust. I am also a financial analyst and work at my dad’s company.”
“You sound very busy. Do you enjoy your work?” he asked.
“I do. What about you? What is it like being a big real estate developer?”
“I do a fair amount of work around the state.”
“More than a fair amount. Every time I open the business page there’s a new project with your company’s name on it.”
“Do you think about me whenever you see them?” he asked.
“Maybe.”
“Never thought I’d make good, did you?” he asked. He’d spent more than a few late nights over the years thinking about Macy and wondering what she’d make of his success.
“I was young, Chris. I really didn’t think much about you and me, or the future.”
“We were both young.”
“I wasn’t sure enough to stand on my own … despite how confident I may have seemed at school,” she confessed.
He took a deep swallow of his beer, not wanting to comment on it. No matter his age, he’d fallen hard for Macy. “And now?”
“I don’t know, Chris. I’m just starting to figure out who I am. The accident made me reevaluate my life.”
“I can see that,” he said. “And now you’re one of the rabble-rousers trying to get the club to admit women to its roster.”
“Yes, I am. I think it’s time we shake things up in this part of Texas.”
Chris laughed at the way she said it. His business was headquartered in Dallas, which wasn’t at all like this part of Texas. Here, attitudes were slower to change and men were still men.
“It will be interesting to see what happens,” Chris said. He had a hard time imagining women as full-fledged members of the Texas Cattleman’s Club. The traditions of the club were part of what made it so exclusive.
“I think we will win. Women have always had a certain advantage when it comes to negotiating with men,” Macy said with a tip of her head and a wink.
Macy had always known how to get her way. Which was probably how he’d ended up dating her to begin with. But now he was older and wiser. He should know better, but he was still turned on by this woman. It wouldn’t take much manipulating on her part to make him want to please her.
“True enough. And the women in Royal know how to use it to their advantage.” He had experienced her powers of persuasion when they’d been in high school. He’d never been able to deny her a thing. Even when she broke up with him he hadn’t been sure it wasn’t his fault.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” she said.
“It’s not,” he said. Since the beginning of time women had figured out how to get men to do what they wanted and that was the beauty of the opposite sexes. “I always liked seeing you smile, so if I have to do something to make that happen again then I guess I’d do it,” he said. Even walking away from her, he’d done that to make her happy because her father had been making their lives hell back then.
“What about now? Still like my smile?” she asked. “My teeth have been professionally whitened and straightened and Daddy has always said I could charm the whiskers off a cat with this smile.”
He leaned in closer and put his hand under her chin, tipping her head to the left then the right, studying her very pretty mouth. “Can you frown for me?”
She chuckled but then pouted for him. He rubbed his thumb over her lower lip. “Now smile.”
She did and it was like taking a punch to the gut. He’d forgotten how powerful his reaction was to a true smile from Macy. And this was a true smile.
“Yes. I think it’s safe to say you still have some power over me with that smile.” Even after all this time. No other woman that he had met had affected him the way she had. He didn’t want to admit it, but he’d thought of her often over the years, and being here with her tonight was very fulfilling.
“I’ll have to remember that. How long are you in town, Chris?”
“At least the rest of August. I have a project that I have to oversee in Dallas that I will need to return to for September. Why, anxious to see me leave?” he asked.
“Not at all.” She leaned forward and rubbed her index finger over his knuckles. Then she looked up at him, her green gaze meeting his, and he felt everyone else in the dining room disappear. There was just the two of them.
“I would miss you if you left today,” she said. “I’m sorry we didn’t keep in touch when you left Royal. I think I missed out on seeing the best of you as you matured into the man you are today.”
“Me too,” he said. “I would have liked to see you before your accident so I would be able to tell you how much more beautiful you are now.”
He lifted her hand to his mouth and brushed his lips across the back of it. That little display of affection was really all that this conservative community would allow, but he wanted so much more from Macy, and this time he wasn’t going to leave without taking what he wanted.
“I’ve got a bone to pick with you, Richardson.” A booming voice jarred him back to the present. He looked up just in time to see Harrison Reynolds barreling down on their table like a Texas longhorn on a rampage.
