“I won’t be long,” she promised, returning to the letter.
Meade turned at the door, but something seemed to pull him back.
“Rayna . . .”
She glanced up. “Yes?”
“We’re going to have to talk eventually.”
She knew what he was referring to, but it wasn’t something she felt equipped to deal with. “I don’t think we have anything to talk about, Meade.
Why don’t we leave it in the past where it belongs?”
He searched her face. “Can you really do that?”
Of course she couldn’t. What had happened between them on the trail was so much a part of her she didn’t think the memory would ever fade. Her pride wasn’t about to let her admit it, though. “I don’t see why not,” she replied, drawing her shoulders up a little straighter. “You made your feelings clear, and I believe I did, too.”
“But neither of us was thinking straight.”
“I was. And I think you were, too. You offered to marry me out of a mis-guided sense of honor, and I refused. If what happened between us was a mistake, I don’t plan to spend the rest of my life paying for it.”
If it was a mistake? Wasn’t she sure? Meade wondered. He knew very well that he’d been wrong to give in to his need to make love to her. The least she 205
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could do was hate him for it. Any proper lady of breeding would have. But then, Rayna didn’t know the meaning of the word “proper.” She was a force unto herself who bowed to no rules except her own.
“Very well,” he said after a moment. “If that’s your final word . . . ?”
“It is,” she replied, hoping she had effectively covered her disappointment that he hadn’t told her it hadn’t been a mistake. “Now, may I finish this letter so that we can go?”
“Of course, your majesty,” he said sarcastically, bowing his way out of the room.
Trying to shut Meade out, Rayna looked over the long letter she’d written and added one final assurance that she would do whatever had to be done to guarantee Skylar’s return. As she signed the letter and sealed it with wax, she tried not to think about the effect this news was going to have on her father’s weakened heart.
After stowing the letter in her carpetbag, she checked Jenny’s room to be certain she’d left nothing behind, then put on her jacket and went downstairs.
Libby was waiting to see her off, and Meade was just returning from having brought the wagon around. As he came through the front door, he glanced up the stairs at her and frowned.
“What are you doing with your bag?” he asked crossly.
“I’m taking it into town.”
“Why?”
Rayna thought her reasons should be perfectly obvious. “There’s no telling how long the search for Skylar could take, and I can’t impose on your family indefinitely. I think it’s best that I take a room in Bannon.”
Libby stepped forward and met her at the bottom of the stairs. “I do wish you’d reconsider, Rayna. Having you here is certainly no imposition,” she assured her.
“And besides,” Meade added, “do you really think you can bear the sus-pense of not knowing whether we’ve heard from Case? What are you going to do? Ride out here every day to see if we’ve had word?”
Rayna hadn’t considered that. “Well, of course not,” she said hesitantly. “I suppose I just assumed someone might be able to notify me if—”
Meade cut her off with an exasperated glance. “Rayna, Eagle Creek is in the middle of the fall roundup. I don’t see how we can spare someone to go traipsing into town every day to give you a report.”
“I don’t expect daily reports,” she said tightly.
“Then don’t insist on doing something stupid like staying in Bannon.”
Libby was appalled at the way he was talking to their guest. “Meade! That’s uncalled for.”
“Believe me, Libby, you wouldn’t say that if you knew what she’s really like. All you’ve seen is a rare glimpse of her best behavior. She is the most stubborn, headstrong creature I have ever met, and—”
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“And she’s standing in this room,” Rayna said hotly. “She’ll thank you not to talk about her as though she were in New Mexico.”
Libby whirled to her. “Rayna, I’m sorry. I know Meade doesn’t mean to be rude.”
“Oh, yes he does,” she replied. “He’s very good at it, too.”
Meade’s smile was sarcasm personified. “I’ve had lots of practice, thanks to you.”
Libby looked back and forth between them. “I swear, you two are worse than Jenny and Lucas,” she muttered in amazement. “Rayna, despite Meade’s rather heavy-handed invitation to you, I wish you’d reconsider. You can’t imagine how nice it would be for me to have you around the house for a while. I love the ranch and my children, but I do get lonely for another woman to talk to.”
Meade let out a scornful snort of laughter, and Rayna threw him a look that dared him to express his thoughts aloud. In the face of her challenge, he couldn’t resist. “Oh, by all means, Rayna, stay. I know you and Libby will have a lovely time discussing the latest fashions and exchanging recipes.”
Libby placed a hand on Rayna’s arm. “Don’t pay any attention to him. He’s only teasing me because he knows how much I hate superficial woman-talk about fashion and such nonsense.”
Rayna looked down at the lovely, petite lady and wondered if perhaps they might have more in common than she’d thought last night, after all.
Actually, it did make sense that she stay, but only on certain conditions.
“Libby, I would be happy to accept your hospitality if you’ll allow me to earn my keep around her. If you treat me like a pampered guest, I’ll go crazy within a week.”
Libby hadn’t been certain before, but she was now: She liked Rayna Templeton. Anyone who could get Meade this fired up and hold her own against his sharp tongue was definitely a woman worth getting to know. “Very well. From this moment on, I shall consider you a part of the family and treat you as such. Tessa and I will be more than happy to have someone to help with the household chores.”
Meade laughed outright this time and looked to Rayna. “Do you want to explain the facts of life to my sister, or shall I?”
Libby frowned in confusion, and Rayna told her, “What Meade is so graciously trying to insinuate is that I’m not very domestic. I’ve been helping my father run Rancho Verde for a very long time, and I’d much rather help with the roundup than with the dishes, if you don’t object.”
Libby was surprised, but not totally shocked. “Of course. Whatever you like. Case took his uncle and nephew with him, so we’ve been a little short-handed, anyway.”
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“Good,” Meade declared. “Now that that’s settled, shall we head into town?”
“Very well.” Rayna removed the letter from her valise and made her way outside to the carriage while Libby gave Meade the list of supplies she needed him to pick up in Bannon.
As they rode away, Libby stood on the porch watching them. She noted their stiff backs and the more than respectable distance between them on the wide wagon seat. They didn’t speak; they didn’t look at each other.
Libby smiled happily. If she’d had any doubts last night, they were gone now. Her stubborn brother, who’d spent most of his life insisting he didn’t believe in love, had fallen hard. He wasn’t happy about it, and he had no idea how to cope with his intense emotions, but he was in love all right.
It seemed that in the space of a single day, Libby had discovered not one sister-in-law but two. Of course, Case still had to find Skylar, and Meade had to admit he was in love, before they could all truly be a family, but it would happen. Libby was confident of that. There was nothing she could do to help Case, but Meade was a different story.