Dovie sighed.
Regan weighed in. “Since I’m new to all this—who or what is a Boudicca?”
“A Celtic warrior queen who fought the Roman Empire,” Dovie explained. “According to him, our statures are similar.”
“Isn’t that delicious?” Glenda swooned. “Arnold would never be that poetic.”
“It’s not poetic,” Dovie gritted out.
Lucretia said, “Take it from someone who’s been in love with the same man her entire life. It’s poetic and passionate, Dovie. You could do a lot worse.”
“And she has,” Glenda pointed out. “His name was Wallace Denby. Remember him, Dovie? Your husband? Bounder? Left you for a girl who can’t spell her own name?”
Dovie shot back, “Thanks for the reminder, Glenda Cale. Good night, everyone. Let me know when we’re meeting.” And she stalked off.
Lucretia said, “You were hard on her, Glenda.”
Glenda appeared chastened. “I know, and I’ll apologize tomorrow. I just want her to have the love she deserves. You have love, Lucretia. Do you, Regan?”
She thought of her love for Colton. “I do.”
“And I have Arnold. No love match for me unless I can turn myself into gold for his bank vault. Wallace broke Dovie’s heart and her spirit. Heath’s willing to give up the saloon for her. How many men would turn their back on their livelihood to be with a woman?”
Regan’s Uncle Rhine had, and even though she knew nothing about Leary, if he was willing to give up his business, she believed his feelings for Dovie must be true.
Glenda said, “Let’s meet at my house on Friday.”
They agreed and parted.
Back at home, Regan bedded Star down for the night and found her husband seated in the darkness on the back porch.
“No problems on the way?” he asked.
She took a seat beside him on the old weathered sofa. “No.” She knew he continued to worry about the shooter being on the loose and she did, too. “Did you and Anna visit Spring?”
“We did. Anna fed the piglets.”
Regan chuckled.
“And you owe me a kiss for being gone so long.” He slid her over onto his lap.
She laced her arms around his neck. “Just one?”
“For now.”
So she kissed him, putting as much sweetness and love into it as she could as penance for her prolonged absence. She drew away reluctantly. “Better?”
“One more.”
“Such a greedy doctor man.”
“Guilty.”
They shared another, this time longer and it was infused with enough passion to make hands roam languidly and desire awaken and spread. As his lips brushed her jaw, she said through the rising haze, “I want to tell you what happened at the meeting.”
“In a minute.”
But time was lost as buttons were undone and hot kisses trailed over bared skin cooled by the night’s breeze. Her shift was eased down so he could play and suck and nip. When he’d dallied enough, she was on her feet, facing the moon with her denims pooled down around her boot-covered ankles, soaring with anticipation over what would come next. Behind her, his palms slipped beneath the tail of her shirt, moved possessively up her spine, then swept down slowly over the smooth curves of her hips. His hands circled her, fingers teasing the damp vent between her thighs until her breath rose on the air. “Are you ready for me, Mrs. Lee?”