Reckless Promise (26 page)

"Are you feeling all right?" Mac took
Millicent's elbow. She ignored him.

Poppy looked at him, helpless to stave off
the coming disaster. Any second now, Millicent would start spewing
her damning lies and worse truths. She glanced at Bill, hoping
against hope for help from that quarter. Bill stood like he'd been
flash-frozen, horror written plainly on his face. His mouth worked
but no sound came out.

What would Mac believe? He'd heard from Tom
about Poppy's pretense, but in the heat of battle could he possibly
believe in her innocence? She looked at Mac to gauge his
reaction.

Millicent followed her gaze. She stared at
Mac for a moment that felt like forever to Poppy and then her mouth
curved in a satisfied, vengeful smile. When she took a step
forward, Poppy's fingers went limp and her mug smashed against the
stones of the hearth.

"Oh, dear. What a shame," Millicent said, her
voice all false sweetness.

"No problem," Mac said. "I'll get a broom."
He shot Poppy a quizzical look as he left.

Millicent looked Poppy up and down. "You!"
she exhaled, investing the word with enough venom to kill off an
entire third world country.

Poppy ran a hand over her hair, knowing it
must be standing on end. She glanced down to see if she'd gotten
her shirt fastened correctly and sighed. She hadn't.

"I can just imagine what you were doing when
we arrived."

Every wrinkle, every misaligned snap, every
tousled hair was magnified in the mirror of Millicent's hate. But
Poppy had to remember she hadn't done anything wrong. She
straightened her shoulders and waited for the storm.

Millicent looked from Poppy to her husband
and her eyes narrowed. "I might have known," she said, her voice
soft and vicious. "You planned this, didn't you?" She didn't wait
for his answer. "You and all your lovey-dovey talk about wanting to
make a new start. You and all your lies about how you asked
this—this—
woman
to help you get me back. You aren't going to
get away with this. I'll take care of you later. Right now..." She
turned to Poppy, malevolence in every line of her body. Hate
surrounded her like an aura. Poppy could almost swear she smelled
sulfur and brimstone.

She closed her eyes against the rush of guilt
and reminded herself that Millicent had been like this B.P.—Before
Poppy. Her 'help' hadn't turned a normal woman into this raving
maniac. "Millicent," she said. "Bill isn't lying. He did ask me
to—"

"You keep out of this. Surely you can't
imagine I'd be silly enough to take your word for anything?"

Poppy flinched. Under the circumstances she
couldn't really blame the woman.

"This is where I get even with you, you lying
little home wrecker."

"I thought I heard voices," Alice said from
the doorway. "You must be the Endlers. I'm Alice Bailey. Welcome to
the Montana Blue Ranch. All the other guests are out on the evening
walk, but there will be a marshmallow roast by the pool in a little
bit, if you're interested."

"Thank you."

To Poppy's amazement, Millicent had become as
calm and cool as if she presided over a garden club meeting. Poppy
glanced at Bill, who watched Millicent with the fixed stare he
might have given a cobra.

Unfortunately, Millicent saw Poppy's look,
and her expression turned to pure venom. "I should warn you about
this—this person," she said to Alice.

"You mean Poppy?" Alice sounded puzzled.

"She's an evil woman."

"She's practically a member of the family,"
Alice said. "Surely you're mistaking her for someone else." She put
a hand on Millicent's arm. "Let me show you—"

"No. I won't stay here if she does. And she
won't, once you find out—"

"Hello, everyone." Tom came through the door.
"Hey, Bill. Good to see you again."

Bill laughed weakly and shook Tom's hand.
"Bet you didn't know Poppy was such a good salesman for your ranch.
She never thought I'd really show up here."

"That's great. After all, I made that whole
trip back east to drum up business. Glad it worked. And this must
be your lovely wife. Welcome to the Montana Blue. I'm Tom Bailey."
He shook Millicent's hand and apparently only then noticed the
tension in the room. "Am I interrupting something?"

"I was trying to tell your wife about this
woman. She seems to want to argue with me, but I know what I'm
talking about," Millicent said with such confidence that Poppy
wondered if anyone had ever dared to contradict her. Millicent
turned to Alice. "You can't tell me you haven't had any problems
with her where your husband is concerned."

Feeling as if she'd been tied to the railroad
tracks with an express train bearing down on her, Poppy watched
Alice part her lips to speak. Watched uncertainty flicker in her
eyes. Watched her close them before any words came out. Saw
spiteful satisfaction spread across Millicent's face.

"I thought so," Millicent crowed. "So you
should know just what she is."

Tom moved to Alice's side and put his arm
around her. "Poppy's not what you think, Mrs. Endler."

"Surely you're not going to take a man's word
for that?" Millicent said to Alice, her voice scornful.

Alice nodded. "Yes, I—"

"Silly, silly girl. Just to show you what
kind of evil woman this is, let me tell you what I found out. Among
other things, the whole time she carried on with my Bill, she was
living with another man. Someone I thought was our friend. I'll bet
you anything that hasn't changed just because she's out here
trifling with your husband."

Jase made an all-too-timely entrance.

"You! I might have known you'd be here, too,"
Millicent spat.

Poppy nearly smiled at the look on her
roommate's face until Millicent rounded on him. "You—you—" Her
mouth twisted but she couldn't seem to find a bad enough word. She
turned to Tom. "He didn't even care that the woman he was living
with was involved with another man, my Bill. I wouldn't be
surprised if he set it up."

Jase took a step forward, and she scurried
behind Tom. "Don't let him hurt me," she whimpered.

Mac strode in with a broom and dustpan just
in time to catch Millicent's last words. "No one is going to hurt
anyone," he said. "What's going on?"

Poppy leaned back against the mantel, afraid
she'd faint any minute.

"I was just enlightening your friends about
this woman," Millicent said, her voice sweet and helpful. "I
encountered her last month, back in Boston. I'm only sorry I didn't
arrive in time to warn you about her."

Mac moved to Poppy and put his arm around
her. "I don't think you can tell us anything particularly
relevant."

Poppy cuddled against him gratefully, the
frozen paralysis of her heart releasing a little.

"Oh, but I can." Millicent sounded confident.
"I'm sure you already know that she's an unprincipled home
wrecker—"

"No, she isn't," Alice said.

Mac's arm tightened around Poppy.

"—who was fired for having an affair with one
of her coworkers. Not only that, but she's a common streetwalker. I
saw my Bill pick her up on a street corner," Millicent announced
triumphantly.

"That was a set-up," Bill shouted. "My God,
Millie, I've told you a hundred times. You were supposed to see
that. That was the whole purpose. We went to a bar and had drinks,
in case you followed."

"I know you did," his wife said, and Poppy
had never heard a human voice sound so much like a snarl. "I did
follow. I saw you sit in a bar with this slut and buy her drinks
and gaze into her eyes. I saw you." Millicent's eyes blazed.

Fury? Hurt pride? Genuine grief? Poppy
couldn't tell, but she felt sick that she'd had a part in it.

"But, Mrs. Endler," Alice, ever the
peacemaker, said. "Surely they were doing just what your husband
said—"

"She took money." Millicent drew herself up,
dramatic as a soap-box orator. "She's nothing but a common
prostitute. I found the check my husband wrote to her." Millicent
paused, triumphant.

"I tried to pay her for her time. She
wouldn't take it," Bill yelled. "I told you that."

"So why was the check cashed?" Millicent had
gone purple with fury.

"Because I insisted on paying for her time.
She said she'd donate it to the Humane Society."

Poppy shrank back against Mac.

He steadied her...and then stepped away. "You
picked him up on the street corner?"

"Yes, but—"

"And went to a bar?"

"Yes, but—"

"Did you take that money from him?"

"Yes. But—"

"Right. I understand."

"You don't understand. I didn't sleep with
him. Let me explain."

"You should listen to her, Mac," Alice said
in her soft, rational voice. "Poppy wouldn't lie to you."

She might as well have poured gasoline on a
fire. "I thought that about you once, too," he said, as harsh a
thing as he'd ever said to his sister. His expression told Poppy
that he believed Millicent. His words, soft and mild, tore her
heart open. "Well, honey, you're good. I really believed you
cared."

"I did. I do. Please..."

But the door had closed behind him.

Chapter 15

Poppy listened to Mac's angry footsteps pound
down the hall into silence and a thin shell of numbness surrounded
her. If she spoke, if she moved, it would break and she wanted to
stay in this not-feeling state forever. But everyone talked at her
at once. Jase gripped her shoulder. Alice led her to a couch and
Tom thrust a glass at her, holding it to her frozen lips when she
didn't take it. The whiskey burned through the shell, and noise and
feeling crashed in on her. She moaned.

Millicent leaned down, looming too close.
"Ha. Just what you deserve, you—"

Poppy ignored her. "Why in the world did you
ever want to stay married to her, Bill? I know what I did was
inexcusable. There's no reason for her to forgive me, but if she
loved you, she'd at least listen to your explanation." She stood.
"I believe I'll go to my cabin now," she told Alice with brittle,
false calm. If she hurried, she could get away
before...before...just before.

"I don't think so," Alice told her, and she
sounded so much like Mac that Poppy whimpered. "Tom, will you show
the Endlers to their cabin? I think we can do without more of their
input tonight. I'm taking Poppy to our sitting room."

"Good idea." Tom pushed Millicent and Bill
out the door.

Poppy heard Bill's voice as they went down
the hall. "You've always underrated yourself, Millie. I know you're
acting like this because you're unhappy, that somewhere inside
you're still the wonderful woman I married. Tonight I'm going to
tell you exactly why I wanted to stay married to you, and..."

It looked like someone would get a happy
ending. But it wouldn't be Poppy. Misery swelled inside her as
Alice tucked an afghan around her and Jase offered more
whiskey.

* * *

Mac grabbed a horse from the corral and
slapped a saddle on it before he realized he'd gotten Trigger. He
snorted at the irony of riding Poppy's horse to get away from the
pain of learning the truth about her.

He hadn't believed Millicent. Not until he
had looked at Poppy and seen terror written plain on her face. He'd
seen that same flash of terror, those wide, pleading eyes on his
ex-wife that day he'd come home too early. Just for a split second,
before she decided to brazen it out, but still the same.

How could he have been such a sucker again?
In spite of himself, he'd ignored his suspicions of Poppy. Had been
thinking all those permanent thoughts. Had loved her.

The pictures Millicent had drawn were all too
clear in his mind. Poppy, smiling at Bill, cuddling in a booth in a
dark, intimate bar with him. And there must have been others. Bile
rose in his throat at the thought of her smiling up from a tangle
of sheets at numberless, faceless men. Just like his ex-wife. He
swallowed hard to keep from gagging.

Trigger wasn't particularly happy with this
midnight ride, but Mac kept urging him on, up and up and farther up
into the hills, scarcely knowing where he headed. Not until the
horse stopped to drink at a stream did Mac recognize the little
valley.

The Montana Blue claim looked much like every
place he'd ridden through tonight, but it held memories that
twisted him with pain. Its sapphires were safely hidden; the
memories all but glowed in the dark.

He'd made love to Poppy here. Realized he
loved her. Realized without a doubt he wanted to spend the rest of
his life with her.

When he'd unsaddled and hobbled the horse, he
didn't have anything to do except pace and think about Poppy.

She would be in his mind forever. The jolt
that he'd felt that first time their eyes had met. That incredibly
embarrassing first evening. The way she'd looked spread out on that
rock, drying herself in the sun. Mac felt himself stir and twitch
with the beginnings of desire. His mind might be sickened by Poppy,
but his body hadn't gotten the message. He pulled at his jeans,
trying to get more comfortable.

He'd made love with her right here, right on
the patch of grass now occupied by a grazing horse. This morning, a
lifetime ago. "You should have seen her, horse."

Trigger twitched one ear.

The night grew colder. Mac wrapped himself in
the saddle blanket and sat, leaning against the saddle. Trigger
ambled closer and blew a gust of warm breath at him. "I wanted her
here on the ranch. Stupid of me, sure, because she's going back to
that university in Boston, but I thought I had a shot at the
happy-ever-after business. Imagine being dumb enough to think she'd
stay here, with me. What do you think of that? Pretty stupid,
huh?"

Trigger moved off and went back to cropping
grass.