Wyoming Tough - Diana Palmer [63]
Morie didn’t speak. She was too sick at heart. It was too late. Much too late.
“What risks?” King asked coldly.
“For one, a confrontation with an escaped convicted killer who’s a friend of my brother Tank,” he replied.
“He isn’t guilty,” Morie said defensively. “I’m sure of it.”
“And I’m sure that he is,” Mallory replied. “Tank’s fond of him and he won’t listen to reason.” He glanced wryly at King, who was still smoldering. “Family character trait, I’m afraid. But the fact is, Joe Bascomb has an atrocious temper and he once beat a mule almost to death. Any man who’ll treat livestock like that will treat a man like that.”
“Nobody treats animals that way here,” King said.
“Or on my place,” Mallory agreed.
“You should let him stay,” Danny told King.
King smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. “He won’t like it here.”
Mallory glanced at Morie’s stiff little face and he felt a cold, hollow place inside him. “You might have just told me who you were in the first place.”
“I wanted to learn ranch work and he—” she nodded toward her father “—wouldn’t let me near it.”
“You were raised to be a lady,” King said curtly. “Not a cowhand.”
“You had no business lifting heavy limbs off fences!” Mallory agreed hotly.
“Don’t yell at my daughter,” King said angrily.
“Your daughter was an idiot,” Mallory shot back. “She could have ruined her health. I thought she was what she claimed to be, a poor girl down on her luck who needed a job desperately!”
“I did need a job,” Morie said defensively. “I got sick and tired of men wanting me for what my father had instead of what I was!”
Mallory glared at Daryl.
Daryl grinned at him. “Wrong number,” he said defensively. “My folks are on the Fortune 500 list, and I have my own very successful businesses. I don’t need to marry money.”
“He had the same problem,” Morie replied. “That’s why we’re marrying each other.”
“Not true,” Daryl replied.
She gaped at him. “Not true?”
“She’s marrying me because I can do the tango,” Daryl said easily, and smiled down at her.
She shifted restlessly. “Well, yes. Most men can’t dance.” She looked pointedly at her father.
“Your mother didn’t marry me for my dancing skills,” King pointed out.
“Good thing,” Shelby agreed, and she seemed to unbend just a little. She looked past Mallory. “I believe your friend is motioning to you.”
He turned. Gelly was making frantic motions toward the door.
“She’s just afraid that she’ll be arrested before you can get her to an airplane,” Morie said with a pleasant smile. The smile faded. “And that might be the truth.”
Mallory felt like an insect under a magnifying glass. He knew he wasn’t going to change minds or win hearts here, not in this atmosphere. He’d have to go back home and do what he could to undo the damage. Morie was going to marry that handsome yahoo, was she? Not if he could help it.
“Don’t you marry him,” he told her firmly, nodding toward Daryl.
“Well, you can’t tango,” she said sourly.
“How do you know?” he replied.
“He isn’t staying long enough to demonstrate any dancing skills,” King said impatiently.
“I’m going.” Mallory turned away. But he hesitated. “We all make mistakes. It’s why they put erasers on pencils.”
“Some of us make bigger mistakes than others,” Morie replied. “I’ll concede that I shouldn’t have applied for work without telling you the truth. But you should have given me the benefit of the doubt,” she added coldly.
“Under the circumstances, that didn’t seem possible.”
“Not with your girlfriend planting evidence right and left,” Morie replied curtly.
“Not my girlfriend,” Mallory said quietly. “Not anymore.” He looked right into Morie’s eyes as he said it, and her whole body tingled.
“I’m getting married,” Morie informed him with a tight smile. “So don’t look at me to replace her.”
“Fat chance,” Mallory said with a glance at a glowering