Wild Star (Star Quartet 3)

“Ah, did you go to see a woman, then? And you’re afraid I’ll tell your little wife?”

“Do you know someone who would please me, Laurel?”

“Oh, stop it, Brent.”

“Actually,” he said after a moment, “I went to see Mr. Milsom. He told me many interesting things.”

“I’ll just bet he did. If I were you, Brent, I wouldn’t heed that old man. Your father distrusted him mightily—indeed, they scarcely spoke to each other the last several years.”

Brent wondered why she was lying about James Milsom. Hadn’t he been one of the fools sniffing about her? “My, but you’re vehement, aren’t you? You needn’t worry, Laurel. Mr. Milsom is a gentleman, and a gentleman never speaks unkindly of a lady.”

“Unlike you?”

“Unlike me. Did you want to speak to me about something, Laurel? Or do you wish to continue your ride?”

Laurel paused a moment, aware that his eyes had fallen to her bosom. He still admires me, she thought, he still wants me. She wanted him too, had always wanted him, but this time she must go carefully. She’d always used her beauty and her body to get what she wanted. What else could a woman do? She said, “Actually, we’ve had no time alone together. To talk.”

“I see,” Brent said.

“I left Byrony posing for Drew, so I came out riding.”

Brent briefly remembered telling Byrony how he would pose her, naked. He felt himself tensing and was annoyed with himself. “What do you want to talk about, Laurel?” he asked. “Are you going to keep standing over me, or will you sit down?”

She sat gracefully beside him, arranging her voluminous skirts about her.

He said, “You know, I thought you’d look old. After all, I was only eighteen when I left, and it has been nine years. You’re probably more beautiful now than you were then.”

?

??Thank you.”

He wondered silently if Byrony would be more beautiful in nine years than she was now. It didn’t seem possible to him.

“What do you want to talk about?” he asked again.

She shrugged, but her eyes were intent upon his face. “I’m worried about the future, of course. My future. Your father left everything in such an odd way. I want to know what you intend to do.”

“That’s straight speaking,” he said. He looked out over the calm waters of the river. “I used to come here when I was a boy, particularly after my mother died. I missed her very much.”

Laurel was wise enough to say nothing.

He turned to face her. “I will tell you the truth, Laurel. I haven’t decided yet what I shall do.”

“You could of course stay here. It is where you were born and raised. It’s what your father wanted and expected.”

I wonder, Brent thought, remembering James Milsom’s words about his father being pleased at his purchase of the saloon, his finally coming to terms with himself. If his father had truly believed that, then why had he left him his heir? He must have known that Brent would have to return.

She reached out her hand and lightly touched his sleeve. “There could be a lot for you here, Brent.”

He would have had to be a blind man not to see the offer in her eyes. He thought of Byrony, posing for Drew, laughing with Drew.

“You’re doubtless right,” he said, and quickly rose. “Shall I accompany you back to Wakehurst?”

She nodded and accepted his hand to help her rise. He released her immediately. She looked up at him and said very quietly, “I was very young nine years ago too, Brent. Young and foolish, just as you were.”

Brent said nothing. He lifted her into the saddle.

Byrony and Drew were seated on the veranda drinking Mammy Bath’s special mint julep when Brent and Laurel cantered up the drive. Byrony saw Brent lean closer to Laurel as she spoke, then throw back his head and laugh. If she’d had a rifle, she would have shot him. She turned to speak to Drew. She’d said two words when Laurel interrupted. “Have you two finished working for the day?”