Forever.
The word echoed frighteningly through his mind. He didn’t want Darby to leave, not tonight, not tomorrow. He’d never known another woman like her. He doubted another woman like her existed. And he wanted her all for himself.
“Seth?” she prompted. “What kind of crazy-making things?”
He gave himself a mental shake. “Barking dogs. Teenagers whooping it up in fast cars. Lawnmowers running too early in the morning or too late at night. There’s a feud going on over on Baker Street over whether the owner of a certain tree should rake the leaves that fall in his neighbor’s yard.”
Darby laughed at that one.
“It gets worse,” he warned. “In April, Mrs. Blackstone swears she saw an alien in her backyard. Her neighbor, Bert Campbell, thinks it was a Sasquatch. But both are now sleeping with their shotguns under their beds. The only thing that saves the neighborhood pets from certain death is the fact that neither of them can hit the broad side of a barn, and they both sleep like the dead.”
“Can’t you get out there and catch that alien?” Darby demanded.
“One night, Travis and I pretended to go on a Sasquatch hunt.”
“Pretended?”
“We took along a case of beer and watched the Broncos game on my tablet out in the bush.”
“You actually lied to a constituent about a Sasquatch hunt?”
“Through my teeth. I told him we saw footprints heading out over Beachnut Ridge.” Seth shook his head as he recalled that night. “Figured we’d scared it off, and it was long gone. So the next day, the mayor’s office got a call from strangethings.com. It seems they’d interviewed Bert Campbell, and he gave them my name to back up his story.”
Darby burst out laughing.
“So you can see why I question the value of my contribution as mayor.”
“So you’ll go back to ranching?”
“I think so. I should find us something else to eat, or we’re going to end up drunk and unable to drive.” He rolled to his feet, thinking there had to be other edible gifts stored on the shelf of his front closet.
“I can take a cab home,” said Darby.
He paused for a moment to gaze down at the picture she made on his bed, in his robe. “Or you can stay,” he offered softly.
“Seth?” Travis’s voice suddenly interrupted; the main door to the suite banged shut.
Seth swore under his breath, while Darby reflexively closed the robe.
“I’ll be right out,” Seth called.
“I thought we were meeting for a—” Travis appeared in the bedroom doorway, freezing to a halt when he spotted Darby. It obviously took him a split second to recognize her, but when he did, his expression darkened.
“What the hell?” he demanded.
“I told you I’d be right out,” Seth snapped, moving to block his view of Darby and drive him back to the living room.
“Here?” Travis stood his ground, pointing at Darby. “Seriously, here?”
“It’s none of your business,” Seth told his brother.
“With everything that’s going on?”
“Shut up,” Seth ordered.
“You are not thinking straight.”
“I’m thinking just fine,” Seth retorted, even though he knew he was losing his mind over Darby.
Travis growled. “Do you honestly not know a conflict of interest when she’s naked underneath you?”
Seth grabbed his brother by the collar and shoved him up against the wall.
The move obviously took Travis by surprise, because he didn’t do anything to defend himself.
In Seth’s peripheral vision, Darby came to her feet, tightening the belt of the robe.
“Apologize,” Seth demanded of Travis.
“For pointing out the truth?”
“For being offensive and disrespectful.”
“It’s okay,” Darby cut in, hovering beside the bed.
“No, it’s not okay,” said Seth. “Apologize now.”
“I apologize,” said Travis, tone flat, gaze never leaving Seth. “For being offensive and disrespectful.”
“That lacked sincerity,” said Seth.
“It’s really okay,” said Darby, taking a step forward.
“What are you doing?” asked Travis.
“This doesn’t change a thing,” Seth emphatically stated.
“It’s true,” Darby backed him up. “We’ve agreed it’ll be a fair fight.”
Travis shot Seth a look of renewed incredulity. “Fair?” he challenged. “Fair?”
Seth clenched his jaw, and the two men glared at each other.
“You can’t blame him for being confused,” Darby added, looking to Seth. “You and me doesn’t make any sense.”
“It makes perfect sense,” said Seth.
“You’re going to get hurt,” Travis told Darby.
Seth took a long, deep breath. Travis knew Danielle was in Denver, trying to get the referendum canceled. He knew the railroad side was very likely to win, while Darby did not.
“Or Seth will get hurt,” she retorted. “My side is doing very well.”
Travis slid a censorious gaze to Seth.
Seth returned it with a warning stare. Luckily, Travis knew enough to keep his mouth shut. But he glanced around the room, taking in the wine bottles.
“You need a ride home?” he asked Darby.
“She’s not leaving.”
“She’s going to stay for breakfast?” Travis demanded. “Meet the staff? Maybe walk you to your office? I’ve experienced the mood of this town. Do you have any idea what you’re playing with here?”
Seth let go of his brother’s shirt. He knew Travis was disappointed in him. And he understood why. But that didn’t change the way he felt about Darby.
He wanted the railroad, but he wanted Darby, too. It didn’t have to make sense. It didn’t have to be easy. But he had to try.
“I’ll get dressed,” Darby said into the silence.
Seth turned to her, opening his mouth to talk her out of leaving.
“Travis is right,” she told him firmly. “I can’t stay.”
“You can’t go,” Seth insisted.
“We’ve risked enough already,” she returned.
“I’ll be in the living room,” Travis said, brushing past Seth.
Seth moved to where he was facing Darby. “Stay?” he asked her. “Stay a while longer.”
She placed a hand on his chest. “You know I have to leave. People might have seen us come back here. It’s plausible you’ve been giving me a tour of the mansion for the last couple of hours, but any longer, and people are going to figure it out.”
“Figure what out?” he asked. That he’d fallen fast and hard for Darby?
“That one of us is trying to bribe the other with sex.”
His stomach contracted. “Is that what we’re doing?”
“I don’t know what we’re doing, Seth.” She slid her hands up his bare chest to his shoulders. “I only know that it feels good, and I wish it didn’t have to end.”
“I’m telling you it doesn’t have to end. Not right now. Not this second.”
She came up on her toes and gave him a quick kiss. “Buck up, Mr. Mayor. Let your brother drive me home.”
He longed to argue, but he knew she was right. Tonight couldn’t happen. But he feared what would happen when Danielle got back with the state-level court decision.
Darby gave him a sad smile. “I know when to call for a strategic retreat. But we’ve got some time. It’ll be weeks before we know who wins and who loses.”
Seth’s stomach went hollow again. “Right. I’ll let you get dressed.” He left the bedroom, heading down the hall to face his brother.
“Do you hate her?” Travis demanded quietly. “Are you that coldhearted that you’d use her that way?”
Seth let his indignation come through in his tone. “Of course I don’t hate her.”
“Then do you care about her?”
Seth didn’t answer.
“How much?” Travis persisted.
“Too much.”
“Well, then I feel sorry for you, bro. Because you’re going to crash fast and hard.”
“Maybe,” Seth allowed. “But maybe not.”
“I take it she doesn’t know about your appeal to the state.”
“Of course she doesn’t know. Why would I tell her? Why would I compromise our position?”
“I don’t know. Just off the top of my head, because you’re sleeping with her?”
“I didn’t tell her,” Seth stated flatly.
“She thinks it’s a fair fight.”
“It is a fair fight.”
Travis snorted. “She thinks she’s getting a referendum.”
“She knows I’m trying to stop it.”
“She doesn’t know you’ve succeeded.”