She’d waved the red flag, and she knew it. It gave her a malicious satisfaction to see the tightening of his jaw.
“If Claude was so damned wonderful, why aren’t you still married to him?” The surrey creaked as he stepped in.
“I’m not about to swap bedroom tales with you.”
“Claude wasn’t any good in bed?”
Tanner snapped the reins and got the old mule into motion.
“I didn’t say that. As a matter of fact, Claude was—”
“I didn’t ask for the gory details.” Tanner’s voice was harsh as he cut her off.
Amanda felt a small surge of triumph that she’d touched a nerve, but it didn’t compensate for the death of a dream. Apparently fate had never meant for the two of them to love. Tanner’s negligence eleven years before, and his coldness now, made that achingly clear to her. As the mule clopped slowly down the street and they sat side by side in icy silence, she was grateful that Christmas wouldn’t last forever. Soon it would be over and Tanner would go back to Dallas. Until then she’d endure. She’d meet every one of his outrageous tactics with fire and spirit. She’d use him, just as he was using her. Catharsis was the name of the game. Each time she was with Tanner, she’d take mental notes of his shortcomings. People didn’t change. The man sitting beside her was the same man she’d once jilted—and with good cause. She’d keep reminding herself of that until she was convinced.
They were almost on the outskirts of town before Tanner spoke.
“You took back your maiden name.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Is it important?”
He turned and gazed at her a long time before answering. “Everything about you is important.” Tanner saw the beginnings of her beautiful smile. It shook his resolve to bed her and leave her. He almost changed his mind.
“Is it?” Her soft inquiry felt like nails driven through his heart.
“Yes,” he wanted to say. But the empty years and the remembered pain got in the way.
“Certainly.” He turned his attention back to keeping the old mule on a straight course to the river. Not looking at Amanda helped him play out the deceit. “The way to win is to know your opponent.”
“Life is a big game to you, isn’t it, Tanner?”
“Is that what you thought when you left me?”
“I didn’t leave you. You left me.”
“I’d hardly call going to Alabama on a football scholarship leaving you. Besides, I was there when you came over to visit.”
“After all these years you still don’t understand, do you?”
“I tried, Amanda. Heaven knows I tried.”
“You were there physically, Tanner, but Claude is the one I had to depend on. When we’d leave Southern University on the weekend and drive over to see you, nine times out of ten we’d have to wait in line behind your coach, your football teammates, your fans, and the press.”
“You knew how I felt about football before you agreed to marry me.”
“I guess I really didn’t know until your last year in college. When you broke Joe Namath’s passing record, made All-SEC, and won the Heisman Trophy, you became a public property. I wanted a husband, Tanner, and a real home—and children.”
“I love children. We would have had them.”
“When? During time-outs at football games?”
“I’d forgotten how stubborn you are, Amanda. It’s a damn good thing we didn’t marry.”
“Right. With your pigheadedness. . .
“And your sassy tongue. . .”
“And your high-handed ways. . .”
“And your slave-driver approach to work. . .”
“Don’t forget your frivolity. . .”
“Not to mention your redheaded temper . . .”
They both burst out laughing. The old mule slowly turned his head to see what all the commotion was about. Seeing nothing but two happy people, he continued his poky pace to the river.
When they had stopped laughing, Tanner reached over and took her hand.
“Mandy, I’m completely out of the mood to seduce you.”
“What a relief. I’m out of the mood to fight with you.”
“Good. What do you say we run up the white flag and enjoy the rest of the day?”
“Agreed. How long is this truce going to last, Tanner?”
“At least all day. Maybe even two days. I guess I’m feeling the Christmas spirit.”
“And I’m feeling enormously hungry. Did you bring a picnic lunch?”
“I was so busy convincing old Josephine to pull this surrey and getting the candy that I guess I forgot.”
“Chocolate?”