The Men of Medicine Ridge - Diana Palmer [39]
She followed him up the staircase and into Vivian’s room. It hadn’t dawned on her, either, that Whit had been out in the wind and his hair was disheveled. When the two of them entered the room, Vivian put together Natalie’s swollen mouth and mussed hair and Whit’s mussed hair and came up with infidelity.
“Go home,” she told Natalie in a vicious tone. “Go right now and don’t ever come back!”
“Viv! What’s wrong?” she asked.
“As if you don’t know!”
Whit didn’t say anything, but he had a very strange look in his eyes. “You’d better go,” he said gently. “I’ll look after Viv.”
Natalie looked at Vivian, but she turned her face away and refused to say another word. With resignation and bitter sadness, Natalie put down the cream and left the room.
Nobody was around when she went out the front door. She’d made a clean sweep tonight. Mack and Vivian were both furious at her over Whit when she hadn’t meant to cause trouble. She hoped it would all blow over.
For the moment, all she could think about was the close call she’d had in Mack’s arms on the sofa, and she wished with all her heart that things had been different between them. For better or worse, she loved him with her whole heart. But he had nothing to offer her.
She went home and fell, exhausted, into bed.
Whit was left alone with Vivian, who was in tears. “You were making love to her!” she accused, her blue eyes shooting sparks at him. “My boyfriend and my best friend! How could you?”
He hesitated before he spoke, with both hands in his pockets. He’d seen Vivian as a nice, biddable little source of gambling money and light lovemaking. But she’d become jealous and possessive of him, and he was getting tired of it. There were other women.
“So what?” he asked, not denying her charge. “She’s not as pretty or rich as you are, but she’s sweet and she doesn’t question every move I make.”
Vivian stared at him, almost purple with rage and frustration and hurt pride. “Then go with her,” she spat at him. “Get out. And don’t come back!”
“That,” he replied, “will actually be a pleasure. You’re no man’s idea of the perfect woman, Viv. In fact, you’re a spoiled little rich girl who wants to own people. It’s not worth it.”
“Worth what?” she choked.
He looked at her with world-weary cynicism and contempt. “I like to gamble. You had money. We made a handsome couple. I thought we’d be a match made in heaven. But there are other rich girls, honey.”
He laughed mockingly and walked out, closing the door behind him. Vivian went wild, throwing things and weeping horribly until Mack came into the room minutes later and helped her off the floor and into bed.
“What in God’s name is wrong with you?” he demanded, surveying the destruction of her bedroom.
“Whit and Natalie,” she choked. “They were…making love…. Whit said she was everything I’m not.” Sobs choked the words for several seconds while her brother stood by the bed, frozen. “Oh, I hate them so. I hate them both! My boyfriend and my best friend! How could they do this to me?”
“How do you know they were making love?” he asked in a hollow tone.
“I saw them,” she lied viciously. “And Whit admitted it. He even laughed about it!”
Mack’s face became a mask. He drew the covers over Vivian with a strange, frightening silence.
Vivian wasn’t making connections. She was just short of hysteria. “They won’t come here again. I told them not to. I’m through with them!”
“Yes.” His voice sounded strained. “Try to calm down. You’ll make yourself sicker.”
“If either of them call,” Vivian added coldly, “I won’t speak to them.”
“Don’t worry about that,” he told her. “I’ll handle it.”
“I already handled it,” she shot back. “And don’t tell Bob and Charles. Nobody else needs to know!”
“All right, Viv. Try to get some sleep. I’ll have Sadie come in tomorrow and clean up in here.”
“Thanks, Mack,” she managed through her tears. “You really are a dear.”
He didn’t answer her. He went out and closed the door quietly, and the life seemed to drain out of him. Natalie, with Vivian’s boyfriend. He’d told her not