Yesterday's Magic (24 page)

That scared her. She was twenty-five years
old and she’d never cried over a man. She’d yelled and bitched and
carried on at length but she’d never cried.

On the drive back to Aunt Freida’s house, Jed
continued the silent treatment. It drove her crazy. After all, less
than an hour ago, he’d been teasing her and then literally
screaming her name as he’d come inside of her.

“Are we going to talk about this?” she asked
finally.

He made a sound she thought was a no.

The back of her neck started to heat up. She
kept her mouth shut because she was afraid of what might come out
if she opened it.

He turned into Aunt Freida’s lane and pulled
the horses up sharply. At that moment, Bella saw that the barn door
was open and there was an extra wagon and horse inside. There were
also two horses tied to the rail just outside of Aunt Freida’s
house.

“Your sister is here,” she said.

He nodded, looking grim. “And Earl and Thomas
Bean,” he said.

“I’m sure they were concerned.”

He studied her. “They may have some questions
about where you spent last night.”

Okay. “It could be a little awkward, I
suppose.”

He studied her. “I think it would be best if
we didn’t give them any reason to speculate.”

“I don’t care what they think,” she assured
him.

“There’s no need to be carrying on about it,”
he said. “Best to keep it to ourselves.”

“I’m not ashamed of what…” She stopped.
Suddenly it dawned on her that perhaps she was speaking strictly
for herself when she said that there was no need for shame. Jed was
doing a very fine imitation of a man who had a big secret and he
wanted to keep it that way.

She wouldn’t have been exactly thrilled if
he’d been the kind of guy in her time that had gone to the gym and
over a set of free weights had bragged to his buddies about
doing
the girl, but this was the other extreme. Of all the
nerve. She threw off the blankets that he’d wrapped around her legs
and stood up. “Relax. I don’t generally kiss and tell,” she
said.

He reached out a hand and grabbed her arm.
“As I recall,” he said, “we did a lot more than kiss,” he said, his
tone angry.

She’d hurt his pride. Well, good. He’d kicked
her in the stomach. It felt as if she couldn’t breathe. “It’s a
freakin’ expression. I don’t talk about men that I’ve screwed.”

“What?” Now
he
sounded like the one
who’d taken a sucker punch.

Damn. Screwing was no doubt slang from the
twenty-first century. She thought about making up some crazy
explanation about how they talked in Ohio but stopped before she
dug herself so deep that she’d never breathe fresh air again.

“Never mind,” she snapped. “I’m going
inside.”

“I’ll come with you,” he said.

“There’s no need. I mean, really. Leave now.
No one will ever know you were even here. I’ll tell them I spent
the night with a group of apes.”

He didn’t answer. He clicked his tongue and
the horses moved. When they stopped in front of Aunt Freida’s
cabin, he jumped off and turned to hold out a hand to help her. She
ignored it and made a similar jump. She hit the ground so hard that
it felt as if her teeth were jarred loose. It made her madder at
him because now he was making her do stupid things.

When she opened the door, Bella was relieved
to see her aunt sitting up in bed. She was still pale and her eyes
had dark circles under them, but when she gave Bella a big smile,
the tears that Bella had held back earlier would not be denied.

She wiped the back of her hand across her
cheek and ignored the rest of the people in the room. She looked
only at her aunt. She sure as hell didn’t want Jedidiah McNeil
thinking she was crying for him.

“Now, now. Looks like the two of us caused
some commotion last night,” Aunt Freida said. She patted the bed
next to her and Bella sat down. “I’m sure sorry, honey, that you
had to endure that. You must have been very frightened out there on
your own.”

Aunt Freida looked up. “Thank you, Jedidiah,”
she said. “I was scared silly when I heard that Bella had gone for
help. But when I knew you had her, I knew she was safe.”

“I’m happy I could help,” he said.

Two hours ago he’d been happy that she’d had
his cock in her mouth.

Aunt Freida rubbed Bella’s hand. “You must
have thought he was some kind of angel.”

Before or after I got naked with him
?
Bella stood up. She was just going to get herself into trouble.
“I’m going to change clothes and then go to the store.”

Aunt Freida shook her head. “There’s no need
for that. We just won’t open today.”

“And give Saul the advantage?” Bella forced a
smile. “I don’t think so.”

“Your wagon needs a little repair,” Thomas
Bean said.

Bella turned to look at him and made the
mistake of looking across the room. Elizabeth was staring at her,
her eyes full of speculation.

“I can take care of it but it could take most
of the morning,” Thomas offered.

She needed to get away now. She smiled at
String. “Would you mind giving me a ride into town?”

She heard a sharp click and she thought it
might be Jed’s teeth clamping together. Good. She focused on
String. The man’s nose had turned bright red.

“It would be my pleasure,” he said.

“Great. It’ll just take me a minute to get
ready.”

***

She’d been at the store for less than fifteen
minutes when Jed walked through the front door. He strode toward
her, like a man on a mission.

“You shouldn’t encourage Earl Bean,” he
said.

She looked back down at the receipts she was
sorting.

He stuck his big hand out and let it hover
three inches over them, effectively blocking her view of the
papers. With one swift motion, she swept the pile six inches to the
right. His hand followed. She did it again.

They were being ridiculous.

She looked up. “I would think you’d be
happy,” she said. “If people see me with Earl, I doubt they’ll make
a connection between you and me.”

“Earl Bean doesn’t have good sense when it
comes to women.”

On the ride to town, String had described, in
excruciating detail, how one went about butchering a hog. It had
started with his recommendation that she might put some lard on her
cheeks to get rid of the redness and it had gone downhill from
there. But she wasn’t about to admit that to Jedidiah McNeil.

“I don’t think that it’s any of your
business.” She tossed her hair. She’d seen someone do that in a
movie, maybe Jennifer Aniston, and the message—
I’m just not that
into you—
had been clear.

It was too bad that motion pictures hadn’t
been invented yet because he clearly didn’t get it. He simply
shrugged and walked over to the stove. He kicked the small pile of
wood next to it. “This won’t last much more than a day or two.”

He was driving her crazy. “Jed. Go home. It’s
not that I don’t appreciate everything you did for me. I do. And
the sex was great.”

He jerked back and looked over both
shoulders, like some customer might have suddenly materialized from
the canned goods section, just in time to hear about Jedidiah
McNeil’s impropriety.

“I think things are different in Ohio,” he
said.

“They are,” she assured him. She was so
tired. He needed to leave and she needed to figure out some way to
just get through the day. “Goodbye, Jed.”

He chewed his bottom lip. “I’ll bring some
wood by later,” he said.

“No. I’m sure Freida has wood at home that I
can bring in tomorrow.”

“Yes, well, if I bring it to you, then you
don’t have to worry about it, do you?”

He must want her to jump over the counter and
start clawing and scratching at exposed parts. They’d been as close
as two people could be, then he’d practically begged her to look
the other direction if they happened to pass on the street, and now
he was taking care of her.

“Fine. Bring me wood. Do whatever you want. I
don’t care.”

He stared at her. The only sound in the room
was the snap and crackle of wood and paper burning in the
stove.

“I’m sorry,” he said finally. He looked at
the floor.

She didn’t want an apology. She wasn’t sure
what she wanted.

He raised his eyes and looked at her. “It
wasn’t my intent to hurt you.”

He
had
hurt her. But she needed to
stay true to her hair-tossing alter ego. “Jed, I’m leaving in just
a few days. It really doesn’t matter.”

His head jerked up and she could see the
flare of anger in his eyes. “My mistake then, Ma’am. I won’t make
it again.”

***

Jed jerked open his desk drawer with such
force that the whole damn drawer came out. It dropped to the floor
with a dull thud and papers inside flew onto the floor. The only
thing that stayed secure inside was the damn music box that he’d
bought from Saul.

He got out of his chair and knelt down next
to the drawer. He’d intended to give the music box to his sister.
But instead, he’d brought it here and hid it in the drawer. Several
times a day he’d lift up the papers and look at the trinket. Every
time he did, he remembered the look in Bella’s eyes when she’d
heard the tune. Vulnerable. Innocent.

She was definitely no innocent. She’d come to
his bed willingly—hell, she’d practically dragged him into it. And
once there, she’d enjoyed herself. A man could tell. It had been a
pleasure to take a woman to his bed that didn’t feel it was
necessary to pretend to be shocked, even if she wasn’t, by what
went on between a man and a woman.

He couldn’t dismiss her being vulnerable as
easily. He’d hurt her with his insistence that it was necessary to
keep quiet about what had happened between them. But she just
didn’t understand. It would start with one person and by the time
the story was told by the twentieth person, there would be barely a
hint of truth to it.

People were vicious in their discussions
about others. They said hurtful, horrible things that could ruin a
person’s life.

The door to the sheriff’s office opened and a
blast of cold air came in. Bart stood in the doorway. Jed moved
quickly to pick up the papers and lay them on top of the music
box.

“What are you doing?” Bart asked.

“Drawer fell out,” Jed mumbled. “Could you
shut the damn door,” he added.

Bart did as instructed. He made a big
production out of stomping the snow off his boots. Then he took off
his coat and hat and hung them on his hook. By the time he’d
finished, Jed had managed to put the drawer back into the desk. He
locked it and slipped the key into his pocket.

Bart took the chair next to Jed’s desk. He
scratched what appeared to be a freshly-shaved chin. “Something
wrong, Jedidiah?” he asked.

Everything.
“No.” He picked up the
weekly newspaper, hoping that Bart would get the hint.

Bart, who at times could be as dense as a
rock, pulled the paper out of Jed’s grasp, folded it, and tossed it
on the floor.

“What the hell?” Jed asked. He scooted his
chair back, leaned to the side, and reached for it.

Bart stuck his leg out and pushed the paper
farther away.

“Bart,” Jed said, his jaw feeling tight. He
sat up straight in his chair. “What is your damn problem?”

“I don’t have a problem,” Bart said. He kept
his legs stretched out, laced his hands behind his head, and
slumped in his chair, acting truly like a man who didn’t have a
care in the world. “I’m just confused,” he went on. “How can a man
who spent a night with Bella Wainwright in his arms look so damn
unhappy the next morning?”

“Shush,” Jed said, looking up at the
door.

Bart shrugged. “I don’t need to shush. There
ain’t nobody standing outside with their ear pressed against the
door and there ain’t nobody inside but us. I saw you, Jedidiah. I
saw the worry on your face when you thought the worst had
happened.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. Hell, Bart. I’d
be worried about you if you were lost in a snowstorm.”

Bart smiled. “Maybe. But once you’d have
found me, you’d have taken me home. You wouldn’t have stood watch
over me.”

Jed rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the
ache that started in his chest. If only he’d have been smart enough
to simply stand watch. But no, he’d kissed her and touched her and
then he’d been a lost man. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he
said.

Bart smiled and looked satisfied. “You don’t
seem to be denying that you spent the night with Bella in your
arms.”

Jed closed his tired eyes. “I made a mistake,
Bart,” he said.

Bart didn’t respond. Jed opened his eyes.
“Surely you’ve got something clever to say about that?” he
added.

Bart tucked his legs back under his chair and
sat up straight. “Jedidiah, while you’re not a man to boast about
things of this nature, I’m fairly certain that you’ve taken your
share of women to your bed. Why is this one such a mistake? After
all, she’s a widow, not some innocent.”

She might not have been an innocent but she’d
been fresh and honest in her responses and it had excited him in
such a manner that it would have been easy to pretend that it had
been the first time for both of them. “She’s angry with me,” Jed
said.

Bart stood up and frowned. “Jesus, Jedidiah.
You didn’t force her, did you?”

“Of course not.” If there was anything he was
sure about it was that she’d been every bit as eager and needy as
he’d been. “She’s angry about what happened this morning.”

“And what was that?”

“I told her that we needed to keep quiet
about what had happened, that there was no reason to be talking
about it with others.”

“Oh, Jedidiah.” Bart rocked back on his heels
and shook his head. “For a smart man, you do some dumb things. No
wonder she’s angry. She thinks you’re ashamed of being with her.
That never sets well with a woman.”