Trask bit at his lower lip pensively. “I thought he was married.”
“He is. He married Belinda about seven years ago.”
“So he’s above suspicion.”
“Of course he is. He was the one who showed us the dead calf in the first place, remember?” She tapped her fingers on the counter impatiently. “Look, I don’t like the thoughts that are going through your head. You’re more than willing to start pointing fingers at anyone associated with the ranch, but no one here knew where we were going.”
“We could have been followed,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck and watching her movements.
She was about to pull some mugs down from the shelf, but hesitated and her slim shoulders slumped. “God, you’re as bad as Keith,” she muttered.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that the both of you have overactive, extremely fertile imaginations when it comes to each other. If you’d just sit down and try to straighten all of this out like adults instead of going for each other’s throat, we’d all be a lot better off.”
“I agree.”
Trask grabbed a chair from the table, placed it on the floor and straddled it. He folded his arms over the back of the chair and rested his chin on his arms as he studied Tory.
“You agree?” she repeated incredulously.
“Of course. It just makes sense that if we all work together we can accomplish much more in a shorter space of time.”
“And then you could finish this business and fly back to Washington,” she thought aloud. Suddenly the future seemed incredibly bleak.
“Don’t you want me to go?” he asked.
Swallowing a lump in her throat, she pushed her burnished hair from her face. “It doesn’t really matter what I want,” she whispered. “You’ve got an important job in Washington, people depend on you. There was a time when I would have begged you to stay…”
“And now?”
She winced, but decided to put her cards on the table. As the coffee finished perking and filled the room with its warm scent, she leaned one hip against the counter and stared into his deep blue eyes. “And now I think we’re all better off if you go back to the capital, senator. I fell in love with you once and I won’t let it happen again. Ever.”
“What about what you said on the ridge?” he asked softly.
“I was scared; nothing more. I didn’t want you to do anything foolish!”
“Tory—” He stood, but she cut off his next words.
“I don’t want to hear it, Trask. Here—” She quickly poured them each a cup of coffee and tried to think of a way, any way, to change the course of the conversation. “Take your coffee and we’ll drink it in the den.”
“You can’t ignore or deny what’s happening between us.”
“What’s happening is that I’m trying to help you figure out if that note you received is a phony. That’s all.” She turned away from him and walked down the hall, hoping that her hands and voice would remain steady.
Once in the den she snapped on two lamps and walked over to the window. Where was Keith? She needed him now. Being alone with Trask was more than foolhardy, it was downright dangerous and seductive. She stood in front of the window and sipped her coffee as she looked across the parking lot to the shadowy barns.
Trask entered the room. She heard rather than saw him and felt the weight of his stare. His eyes never left her as he crossed the room and propped one booted foot on the hearth. “What are you afraid of, Tory?”
“I already told you, I’m not afraid…just confused. Everything in my life seems upside-down right now.”
“Because of me?”
She let out a long sigh. “Yes.”
“It will be over soon,” he said. “Then your life will be back to normal—if that’s what you want.”
My life will never be the same again, Trask. “Good. I…I just want all this…nonsense to be over.” She took a long sip of her coffee and set the empty mug on the windowsill. Her fingers had stopped shaking. “It’s late. I think maybe you should leave.”