Her Cowboy Distraction(29)

"Tomorrow?" He'd stopped listening to anything else after she'd said  that. His heart took a nosedive into his boots. "You're leaving  tomorrow?"

Her answer was delayed by the reappearance of Dana with their drinks. "Now, what can I get you two for supper?"

"Two specials," Daniel replied, not taking his gaze off Lizzy.  "Tomorrow?" he repeated when Dana had once again left with their orders.  "Are you sure you're up to it?"

She nodded, looking down at her iced tea as if unwilling to meet his  gaze. "It's time for me to move on. I feel fine and you've been more  than wonderful, but it was never meant for me to stay here." She finally  looked up at him, and in the depths of her eyes he thought he saw a  wealth of regret. It was there only a moment and then gone as she once  again looked down at her glass.

Daniel couldn't speak. His sorrow was too intense at the moment.  Intellectually, he'd known she was going to leave town eventually, but  somehow his heart had convinced him that it would never really happen,  that when the time came he'd be able to talk her into staying.

And now it was going to happen so fast. Tomorrow. That single word held a  depth of grief he hadn't been prepared for, hadn't armed himself  against.

In less than twenty-four hours she would pack up her beautiful smiles,  her sense of humor and her beloved face and take them away. She'd take  her passion and her wonderful way of approaching life and pack them in  her suitcases and carry them off.

"I just wasn't expecting it to be so soon," he finally managed to reply.

"If it hadn't been for this last attack, I would have already been  gone." She looked up at him again, and this time her eyes held no  emotion whatsoever. "If I stay any longer things will just get  complicated."

Things were already complicated, and she'd be lying if she didn't  realize that herself. They had become complicated the moment his lips  had first met hers, the day that he'd taken her into his bed and with  every moment of every day they had spent together.

It was at that moment that Daniel realized he had only one weapon left  in his arsenal to make her stay, and that was the love he had for her  that he'd never professed.

Would it make a difference if she knew the depth of his feelings for  her? Would his love for her be enough for her to forget the promise  she'd made to her dying mother? He would never know unless he let his  love for her be known.

However, as he leaned forward to speak of his love, Dana arrived at the  table with their orders. "Here we are, two Wednesday night specials, and  it looks like Rusty got a good do on those mashed potatoes." She set  the plates down in front of them. "Now, is there anything else either of  you need?"

I need you to talk Lizzy into staying here in town, Daniel thought. I  need you to make her realize that we belong together. "Thanks, but I  think we're just fine," he said aloud.

"Hmm, this looks yummy," Lizzy exclaimed, obviously not having a clue as to the utter turmoil that twisted his soul.

He had to tell her that he loved her. If he let her leave there without  her knowing how he felt about her, then he would be the fool who would  never know what might have been.

* * *

She knew she'd shocked him when she'd told him she was leaving the next  day, but what was equally shocking was the lump that had risen in the  back of her throat when she'd told him.

It had never been her intention to stay. The promise to her mother  burned bright in her heart. Besides, he hadn't asked her to stay. At  least she now understood that it had been guilt more than grief that had  kept him alone for so long, but that didn't mean he was ready to love  again. Besides, she'd only borrowed him for a couple of weeks. She'd  never meant to keep him.

They were both quiet as they ate the meal, as if telling him she was  leaving the next day had stopped the need for any further conversation.

She would forever be grateful to him for his loving care and nurturing  after the last attack. She would always be grateful to him for offering  her his home as a safe haven when things had felt so scary.

He'd been her rock when for the first time in her life she'd needed one.  But, it was time for her to let go, to finish what she'd begun to honor  her mother.                       
       
           



       

Throughout the meal people stopped by to say hello to her, to tell her  that it was good to see her up and around again and how sorry they had  been to hear that she'd been hurt. Therefore the meal took longer to  finish than usual.

When they were finished Dana came to check on them and Daniel ordered  them each a cup of coffee, apparently in no hurry to get up and head  back to the ranch.

When the coffee arrived, he cupped the mug in his hands and looked at  her, his intent gaze tightening the muscles in her stomach. "I don't  want you to leave, Lizzy."

Her heart squeezed tight as she saw the depth of emotion in his eyes. "But you know I have to."

He took a sip of his coffee, his gunmetal-gray eyes still focused on her  over the rim of the mug. He placed his mug back on the table and leaned  forward. "As we were eating I was thinking about your bucket list."

She quirked an eyebrow. "What about it?"

"You've already managed to check four things off your list right here in  town. You worked in a café, met cowboys, rode a horse and stargazed  from a makeshift mountaintop. I think if we got very creative, you could  finish up your list right here."

He talked faster than she'd ever heard him, as if the words coming out  of his mouth were too important to be delivered in his usual lazy speed.

"You said that you wanted to take some kind of dance lessons," he  continued. "We can go down to The Corral on any Friday night and they  give line-dancing lessons. You said you wanted to sing in Times Square.  Well, Grady Gulch isn't exactly New York, but we do have a Main Street,  and I'm sure you could draw quite a crowd."

"Not necessarily in a good way. You've never heard me sing," she said,  reaching for humor to cover how touched she was that he'd apparently  given this all a lot of thought, that he'd even remembered some of the  things she'd told him were on her bucket list.

She looked out the window, in the back of her mind realizing darkness  was beginning to fall and needing a moment to get her emotions back into  control. She refused to be seduced by his words, by him, into doing  something she might possibly regret later.

"Daniel, I think you just want me to stay because your life has changed  with me, because you've once again become the man you were supposed to  before Janice and Cherry died, and you're afraid what will happen when I  leave." She reached across the table and covered one of his hands with  hers. "But, you're going to be fine, Daniel. I just know you are."

He turned their hands over, so hers was captured by his, and his eyes  glowed with that smoke that made her heart catch in her chest. "This  isn't about what you've done for me or what I might have done with you. I  know I'll never go back to being that miserable man I was when you  first sat down across from me in the booth. I'm in love with you, Lizzy.  I'm in love with you like I've never been with anyone else before."

She pulled her hand from his, stunned by his words, and equally stunned  by how the force of them slammed her in the chest. She leaned back in  her chair and fought the impulse to run from the café, to escape from  him.

She hadn't expected this. She hadn't wanted it. Footloose and  fancy-free, that's the way she rolled. She never wanted to leave damage  behind, had never intended to get involved with anyone as she fulfilled  her promise to her dying mother.

"I just …  It's time for me to go." Panic. She felt absolute panic. "I  never meant for things to get this far between us. I don't want you to  be in love with me, and I don't want to love you."

"But, you do love me." His eyes were so intense she felt as if he were  sucking the air from her body. "Tell me, Lizzy. Tell me that you love  me."

She shook her head, somehow knowing that if she said the words aloud it  would change everything, and she didn't want that. She had her plans,  her path in life, and he wasn't even on her list.

"You know what I think?" he asked. "I think you love me, but you're afraid to let anyone into your life in a meaningful way."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, slightly offended by his words.

He leaned back in his chair, his gaze contemplative rather than  accusing. "You're bright, you're beautiful and you're twenty-eight years  old, and yet you told me you've never had anything but very brief  relationships."

"I was working hard and then my mother died," she exclaimed. "There just hasn't been time for long-term relationships."