"Two men fought a for real duel over you?" Lydia whipped around to face her, eyes wide and fascinated. "Oh, my gosh, that is so incredibly romantic."
"Not exactly."
"Okay, okay, so we agree that dueling is totally immature, retrograde, and outdated masculine behavior. But I gotta tell you, Elly, I've never before met any woman who actually had two men fight a full-blown ghost fire duel over her."
"Yes, well-"
"Come on, you have to admit it's just like something out of one of those old films in which the hunky hunter hero goes down into the catacombs to fry the bad guys and save the lady."
"Not quite," Elly said.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going to tell you something I haven't told anyone else," Elly said. "Call me shallow, but I admit that when I first heard the rumor that Cooper had fought a duel because of me, I got a little thrill."
"Hah." Lydia smiled widely. "I knew it. You wouldn't be a real woman if you didn't get a thrill from something like that."
"It was reassuring in a way." Elly clasped her hands and concentrated on the view. "You see, up until that point Cooper hadn't been what you would call demonstrative."
Lydia pursed her lips. "Hmm. From the way he was watching you tonight, I got the impression that the two of you had definitely been demonstrative."
Elly felt herself turn hot. "There was one incident, but it doesn't count because it was, uh, fueled by the aftereffects of Cooper's big psychic burn last night."
"Ah, yes, that sort of incident," Lydia nodded sagely. "I know what you're talking about. Such incidents may be fun, but they are, shall we say, inconclusive."
"Exactly. Anyhow, as I was saying, when Cooper and I were officially dating back in Aurora Springs, I had begun to wonder if maybe he didn't find me physically attractive, if you know what I mean."
"I know."
"His lack of interest in that department reinforced my fear that maybe he only wanted to marry me because of my qualifications for the position of Guild boss wife."
Lydia made a tut-tutting sound. "And then you discover that he fought a duel over you. Woohoo. Talk about injecting some real passion into the equation."
"I told myself that, although there was no getting around the fact that dueling was totally unacceptable behavior, in this case there were mitigating circumstances."
"Guild traditions," Lydia said solemnly.
"Yes. They are still very strong back in Aurora Springs."
"Still way too powerful here in Cadence, too, if you ask me."
"The thing is," Elly continued, "I thought that maybe the duel indicated that Cooper did have some intense feelings for me, after all."
"I can certainly see how you could leap to such a conclusion."
"I felt I could work with that." Elly cleared her throat. "I was going to insist that he get counseling, of course."
"Of course."
"And even though I thought there might be a bright side to the dueling incident, I was absolutely furious."
"Rightfully so," Lydia said.
"They say that hunter duels don't usually result in a death, but I've heard enough stories to know that there can be disastrous psychic trauma to both of the people involved, especially if one of them loses control."
Lydia shuddered. "So I've heard."
"In addition, being the subject of a duel made me the talk of the campus. I knew the tabloids were going to have a field day. I was afraid I might lose my job at the college before it was all over."
"Serious stuff. You did, indeed, have every right to be mad as green hell."
"I was. Still, I kept telling myself that the incident offered some indication that our personal relationship was not doomed. I confronted Cooper in his office and demanded to know why he had fought the duel."
"And?"
Elly heaved a deep sigh. "He made it clear that he hadn't fought the duel for reasons of passion or love or my feminine honor."
Lydia frowned. "Why did he fight it?"
"Are you ready for this? To protect the balance of power on the Aurora Springs Guild Council."
Lydia's mouth opened in horror. "Oh, no."
"It's true. He told me so, himself. He was afraid Palmer Frazier might lure me into marriage and that, in turn, would lead to a family alliance between Frazier and my father, which would affect the Council."
Lydia groaned. "He fought the duel because of Guild politics?"
"Yes."
"Not because of you?"
Elly shook her head sadly. "You see now why I had to give him back his ring?"
"Of course I do." Impulsively, Lydia put her arms around Elly and gave her a quick hug. "Under the circumstances, it was the only thing you could do. Coming on top of all your other concerns about the relationship, you had no choice."
Before Elly could thank her for her understanding, she noticed movement in the doorway. Two dark shadows loomed in the opening. Cooper and Emmett stood silhouetted against the light behind them, their faces unreadable in the darkness.
"I believe I may have mentioned earlier that I stepped into some serious quicksand a while back," Cooper said neutrally.
"Yes, you did," Emmett said. "Hell of a sucking sound."
Chapter 16
"JUST SO I HAVE THIS CLEAR," COOPER SAID, SNAPPING the Spectrum's gearshifter, "you ended our engagement not because I fought a duel but because I fought it for the wrong reason?"
Elly was very still and very tense in the seat beside him.
"I don't think we should talk about this anymore," she said. "There's no point."
"You sure as hell didn't have any problem talking to Lydia London about it."
"I like her. There was a sort of instant bond between us. She was very understanding."
"You just met her tonight and already you've got a bond thing going? What about me? You've known me for months. We were engaged. What about our bond?"
"What bond?" she asked politely.
"I think I've got a right to be pissed off."
"I knew you wouldn't understand."
"You're damn right, I don't understand." He was not going to lose his temper, he told himself. Damned if he would let her make him lose it. "Your logic is about as watertight as a sieve."
"My logic doesn't have to hold water, it just has to make sense to me. And it does. By the way, in case you didn't eavesdrop long enough to hear every little detail, I'd like to point out that Lydia certainly got my logic."
"Sure she's on your side. She's a woman. You women all stick together when it comes to this kind of stuff."
"Please keep your voice down. You're upsetting Rose."
He glanced at Rose, who was sitting on the back of the seat, watching the night through the window. The jeweled bracelet glittered around her furry neck. She didn't look upset, he thought. Then again, she was a dust bunny. What the hell did he know about what was going through her brain? He couldn't even figure out what was going on in the brain of the human female sitting next to him.
He drove a couple of blocks without speaking, calling on years of training and habit to control the frustration and anger simmering deep inside him.
When that did not prove to be stunningly effective, he went with the positive thinking approach.
"Does it strike you that we sound like a typical married couple quarreling on the way home from a party?" he asked.
"No," she said. "It doesn't. For one thing, we're not married."
So much for positive thinking.
"No, but we're sleeping together."
She flashed him a look that could have scorched a ghost. "We are not sleeping together."