Flirting with Trouble

And before he realized what he was doing, Daniel heard himself say, “Marnie, I’m sorry about the way things turned out in Del Mar.”

She said nothing at first, only strode across the room and stared out the window beside him. Although he couldn’t see her well in the darkness—he still hadn’t switched on a light…but then, neither had she—he imagined her expression was probably much the same as it had been in the hospital waiting room. A little preoccupied, a little anxious, a little confused.

Finally, very softly, she said, “Are you?”

He expelled a long breath. “Yeah. I am. I shouldn’t have left you that letter the way I did. I should have explained things to you face-to-face.”

“Yes, you should have.” She hesitated before adding, “Is that the only reason you’re sorry?”

She wasn’t going to make this easy, was she? Then again, he didn’t deserve for her to make it easy. Hell, he’d brought this on himself by wading into the past in the first place, when he should have remained rooted in the present, where they had both seemed content to stay all evening. In spite of that, he added, “No. That’s not the only reason. I also should have explained things better than I did.”

Still staring out the window, she said quietly, “Oh, I think you explained pretty well. Your horses meant more to you than I did. End of story. It was good that you told me when you did, instead of leading me on.”

“Marnie, that—” He halted abruptly, before he made things even worse. Was that what she’d thought after reading his letter? That she’d meant less to him than the animals he trained? Just the opposite had been true. That was why he’d had to leave the way he did—because Marnie was becoming so important to him, she was making him forget all the reasons he needed to succeed. But if that was the way she’d been feeling all this time, she wasn’t going to change her mind just because he told her otherwise.

Ah, hell, he thought. Why had he even taken them down this road? Hoping to salvage what he could of the conversation, he said, “That week just didn’t end up the way it was supposed to. I…”

Finally, she turned to look at him, but her face was still in shadow, telling him nothing of what she might be thinking or feeling. “You…what?” she asked, her voice completely void of emotion.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “What happened between us in San Diego…It just came out of nowhere. I was totally unprepared for it.”

“I wasn’t prepared for it, either, Daniel.”

“I wasn’t looking to get involved with anyone,” he said.

“Neither was I.”

“I was just starting out in my career.”

“I hadn’t even begun mine.”

“And I just wasn’t ready, that was all.”

She was silent for a moment more, then repeated, quietly and carefully, “That was all?”

He knew it sounded lame, but he nodded anyway. “Yeah. I was just a kid eight years ago, Marnie. We both were. Can’t I just say I’m sorry and let it go at that?”

She made a sound that was something between a humorless chuckle and a tsk of resignation. “You know, even without the apology, I had let it go, Daniel. Until I saw you tonight. And then, it was like I relived that whole week in ten seconds’ time. But what was really strange was that, by the time we finished dinner, I’d almost forgotten about how it ended in San Diego. It felt like we were back there again, a few days before the end, and everything was fine.”

Wow, she’d felt that, too? He’d experienced the same thing. That was why he’d offered to drive her back to her hotel, why he’d wanted to walk her to her room, why he’d apologized for what had happened, as if it were some minor transgression that could be excused with a heartfelt I’m sorry. And it was why—

Well. It was why he suddenly wanted to do a lot of things he knew he had no business doing. Which was all the more reason he couldn’t do any of them.

“But we’re not back there, are we?” she asked more softly. “And we can never go back there again. It’s ridiculous to think otherwise.”

She was right. He knew she was. But he wasn’t ready to leave it behind just yet. She would probably only be in Hunter Valley for a little while. He might not see her again after tonight. So he turned to stare out the window again, thinking it might be easier to talk to her if he weren’t looking at her. And he searched for the right words to say.

“You know, when you think about it, the two of us never really learned that much about each other that week. I knew you were rich and had just graduated from college and what you wanted to do with your future. But I didn’t know much about your life’s experiences—what made you the way you were.”

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