Wyoming Tough - Diana Palmer [58]
She shrugged. “Might as well try them on, since you went to so much trouble having them designed for me,” she teased and held out her hand.
They were a perfect fit. They complemented her beautiful hands with their faint olive tan, and the settings glittered in the light with a thousand reflections. The cut was exquisite.
“I love them,” she confessed.
He smiled. “Good! So. When are we getting married?”
She stared at him in panic. Mallory was still out there somewhere, even if he hated her and considered her a thief. She should hate him, but she couldn’t. She loved him. The thing was, if he’d had second thoughts about her, he’d have been in touch by now. He’d have phoned, written, something, anything. But there had been only silence from him. He still thought she was a thief. It tormented her.
“He won’t change his mind, Morena,” he said gently, using her real name. “Men like that are never wrong, in their own opinion. You’re clinging to dreams. It’s better, always better, to deal in reality.”
“You’re right, of course,” she said in a subdued tone. “It’s just…”
He bent and kissed her forehead. “An engagement isn’t a marriage. Just say yes. We’ll announce it at the production sale and make your father and my father very happy so they’ll shut up trying to pressure us into getting married.” He lifted his head. “And if things do somehow work out for you and your suspicious rancher, I’ll take back the rings and go shopping elsewhere,” he offered firmly. “You have nothing to lose, really.”
She drew in a soft breath. He made sense. She didn’t really agree, but she was certain that the future would be dark enough if she went through it alone. In some ways Daryl was perfect for her, and her father would be ecstatic. It might be enough to stop him from digging into her recent past and steamrolling over the Kirks in revenge if he found out why Mallory had fired her. That alone was reason enough to say yes. Daryl was right about one other thing—an engagement wasn’t a marriage. She could break it anytime she liked, with no hard feelings.
She touched the rings. “Pity to waste them.”
“Just what I was thinking,” he agreed.
Her dark eyes twinkled. “Okay. We can be engaged. But it’s like a trial engagement,” she added firmly. “Just that.”
He touched her nose with the tip of his forefinger. “Just that. I promise.”
Her father was over the moon when they gave him the news. “Thank God you finally saw sense,” he told her. He shook Daryl’s hand. “Welcome to the family. You can be married very soon.”
“We’re not rushing it,” Daryl said, when he noted her discomfort. “We’re going to take our time and get to know each other.”
King’s dark eyes narrowed. “Is that necessary? Why?”
“Now, Dad,” Morie said gently. “Don’t push.”
“It’s because of that damned Wyoming rancher who fired you, isn’t it?” her father demanded suddenly. “The lowlife son of Satan is going to find himself on the wrong side of a defamation-of-character lawsuit just as soon as I find out who framed you! And his isn’t the only head that’s going to roll when I do!”
CHAPTER TEN
MORIE FELT HER HEART turn over at the anger and threat in her father’s deep voice. “How did you…?” she exclaimed, horrified that he was going to try to ruin the Kirks. They were in a precarious financial situation. He could do it.
“I didn’t buy that story that you came home voluntarily. I know you,” he returned curtly. “You were devastated by whatever happened. I had a friend in Houston do some digging. My, my, what I found out,” he added softly, although his eyes were glittering.
She went closer to him. “Words,” she said quietly. “It was all just words. I was set up…you know that. Mallory Kirk has a jealous girlfriend. She thought I was getting too close to him so she found a way to get me fired.”
“You should have made him prosecute you,” King returned hotly. “I’d have had that blonde wannabe tied up in knots on the witness stand.”
Witness stand. Jury. Her eyes narrowed. “You talked to Uncle Danny. He sold me out!”
He looked uncomfortable.