Warmth shot through her body like fire. Surely she was hearing things. Her expression said so.
“We’ll have to do something about that self-image.” He chuckled. “I don’t know why you ever thought I didn’t want you. Even Clark realized I was jealous as hell.”
“You hated me,” she exclaimed. “You ignored me when you came to bring Bailey to Dr. Rydel!”
“Camouflage,” he replied. “I didn’t know about your shoulder, then,” he added, in a subdued tone. “All I could think about was my own defects. I’d already had evidence of how a woman would react to them. You’re so young, Keely. I thought you were too young to cope.”
“I’m older than I look,” she replied.
“We both are.” His dark eyes grew intent on her face. “I don’t care about the obstacles anymore. We’ll improvise.”
She was tingling at the way he looked at her, but she was a little apprehensive. It was a modern world, in the circles Boone frequented. But Keely was living in the past. “I’ve never been… I’ve never had… I don’t know how…” She gave up, exasperated.
“I know all that,” he said gently. “We’ll go slow. I won’t rush you.”
“Yes, but it won’t matter,” she said earnestly. “Don’t you see? I was raised religiously, despite the bad role models my parents were. I don’t believe people should sleep together if they aren’t married.”
“Funny,” he returned with a smile, “that’s exactly the way I feel, too.”
She seemed to stop breathing. Her eyes were held by his. She felt funny. “It is?” she parroted.
“It is. So we’ll get to know each other a lot better, then we’ll make long-term decisions. Okay?”
She smiled. Her heart was soaring in her chest. “Okay.”
He chuckled deep in his throat. It was the first time he’d felt happy since the ordeal began.
* * *
He got the money out of his bank, in cash, and phoned Hayes, who had Keely call her father and set up a time and place for the money to change hands.
“You got it!” her father exclaimed. “Keely, you’re a wonder! This will save my life!”
“I thought it was going to save mine,” she replied suspiciously.
“Of course, yours!” he said quickly. “I meant it will save us both! Where do you want me to meet you?”
“Dad, I’m still in the hospital,” she pointed out.
“Oh! That’s right. I guess I could meet you in the hospital, then,” he said.
She repeated what he said, so that Boone and Hayes could hear him. Hayes nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes, that would be fine,” Keely said. “When do you want to come?”
“Ten minutes,” he said, and hung up.
She put the receiver back down. “He’s on his way here,” she said. Her tone was bitter. “He said it would save his life. He wasn’t ever concerned about mine.”
“I’m sorry, Keely,” Hayes told her. “But he never was concerned about the welfare of other people. If he had been, he’d never have sent Bobby that totally pure cocaine, knowing it would kill him.”
Keely sighed. “I had hoped that—” She broke off, flushed. “Well, it would have been nice if he’d cared a little about me. But if he had, he’d have dived into that mountain lion pit without thinking about the consequences when that little boy’s life was at stake.”
“Which you did,” Boone replied.
She nodded. “I didn’t think at all, I just reacted. Dad got sued by the parents because of it, but they called me to the stand and described the wounds I sustained trying to save the little boy. The family was shamefaced and asked their lawyer to withdraw the case. The little boy wasn’t even frightened, and he didn’t have a mark on him. But the judge wasn’t so forgiving. He said that Dad should have had better fencing in place, and he named a figure for Dad to pay the family. But by then, Dad spent all his money on his pretty gold digger and had to borrow on the game park to pay off the little boy’s family, and to take care of his legal fees. He lost everything. I guess he thinks I owe him for that.”
“It seems to me that he owes you,” Boone said coldly.
