Summer in Orchard Valley: Valerie / Stephanie / Norah

“Can I get you anything, Dad?” Valerie asked, assuming he’d request the paper or a cup of coffee.

“Walk down and see if the Howard boy is still in the orchard, would you, Val?”

“Of course, but I don’t think you should worry about the orchard now.”

“I’m not worried. I just want to know what’s been going on while I was laid up. I promise I’m not going to overdo it. Colby wouldn’t let me. I tried to die three times, but he was right there making sure I didn’t. You don’t think I’d want to ruin all that work, do you?”

Valerie grinned. “All right, I’ll check and see if the foreman’s still around.”

“Colby,” David said, raising his index finger imperiously, “you go with her. I don’t want her walking in the orchard alone.”

The request was a shamefully blatant excuse to throw them together, but neither complained.

Colby followed her out the front door and down the porch steps. “You don’t need to come,” she said, looking up at him. “I’ve been walking through these orchards since I was a toddler. I won’t get lost.”

“I know that.”

“Dad was just inventing a way for us to be alone.”

“I know that, too. He told me while we were driving here that he intended to do this.”

“But why?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Yes, but …” Her father had hinted more than once that he anticipated a prompt wedding between her and Rowdy Cassidy. He’d apparently dropped the idea of her marrying Colby—so did he want her to clarify that in person? He seemed downright delighted at the prospect of Rowdy as a son-in-law, talking about her marriage as if it were a foregone conclusion.

“How have you been?” Colby asked. They strolled in the late-afternoon sunshine toward the west side of the orchard, where the equipment was kept. There was a small office in the storage building, as well, and if Dale Howard was still in the orchard that was the most likely place to find him.

“I’ve been fine. And you?” Valerie could tell him the truth about her feelings or she could tell him a half-truth. She chose the truth. “I’ve missed you.”

Colby clasped his hands behind his back, as she’d seen him do before. It might have been wishful thinking on her part, but Valerie thought he did so in an effort to keep from touching her.

“I understand your boss is calling you every day,” he said stiffly.

“I understand you took Sherry Waterman out to dinner this week,” she retorted.

“It didn’t help,” he muttered. “The whole time we were together I kept thinking I’d rather be with you. Is that what you were hoping to hear?”

Valerie dropped her gaze to the dirt beneath her feet. “No, but I’ll admit I’m glad.”

“This isn’t going to work.”

How rigid his words sounded, as though he was holding himself in check, but finding it more and more difficult. “What isn’t?”

“You … being here.”

“Here? You didn’t have to come with me! I’ve already explained that I’m perfectly capable of finding my way—”

“CHIPS stock went up two dollars a share last week.”

Colby was leaping from one subject to the next. “That’s great,” she said cautiously. “I’m sure Rowdy’s thrilled.”

“You should be, too.”

“As a stockholder myself I am, but what’s that got to do with anything?”

“Houston is where you belong, with Rowdy Cassidy and all his millions.”

Rowdy had been telling her the same thing. Not in quite the same words, but he wanted her in Texas. With him. Not a day passed that he didn’t let her know how much he missed her. Rowdy wasn’t romantic; fancy words weren’t his forte. He was as straightforward as Valerie herself. He missed her, he said, missed the time they spent together and the discussions they’d shared. He hadn’t realized how much until she’d left.

“When are you going back?” Colby demanded.

Valerie understood that this was the whole purpose of their being alone together. This was the reason he’d fallen in with her father’s schemes and had walked in the orchard with her. He wanted her out of Orchard Valley and out of his life.

“Soon,” she promised, and her voice cracked with pain. The intensity of it took her by surprise; embarrassed, she increased her pace to a half trot, wanting to escape.

“Valerie.” His voice came from behind her.

“No, please … You’re right. I’ll—” She wasn’t allowed to finish her thought. Colby caught her by the upper arm and turned her to face him, bringing her into his warm embrace.

He took her wrists and placed them around his neck as though she were a rag doll, then circled her waist with his arms and brought her tight against him. Before she had a chance to catch her breath, his mouth was on hers.

Valerie felt as though she’d drown in the sheer ecstasy of being in his arms again. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It wasn’t supposed to feel so right, so good. His mouth was eager and she opened to him as naturally as a flower to the sun.