A Woman's Touch

He was angry now, but he controlled his temper, desperate to make her understand that his grand gesture, as she termed it, had been for real. „I meant every word I said last night. I wasn’t playing games, Becky. You’ve got to believe that.“
    She shook her head ruefully. „You took a risk, you know. I was mad enough yesterday to actually consider selling the whole valley to Ballard.“
    „Sell it, if it will satisfy you,“ he grated.
    „I couldn’t do that. It means too much to you. I just couldn’t do it,“ she said quietly. „And you know it. Will you let me up, please? I want to take a shower.“
    For an instant Kyle refused to move. He struggled furiously to think of some way to convince her his offer had been for real. His temper was near the explosive point. It was all he could do to keep from lashing out at the woman lying under him. He had to make her understand.
    „Becky, listen to me. I wasn’t trying to run a bluff last night. I meant what I said. Every damned word.“
    „Please let me up, Kyle.“
    He didn’t want to let her up. He wanted to keep her pinned right where she was while he made love to her until she was shivering, until she couldn’t possibly doubt him.
    But if he used force at this juncture, she might never believe him. Frustrated, Kyle rolled over. „Go on. Take your shower. When you get out, we’ll talk. I’m going to make you understand that I meant everything I said last night.“
    She scrambled to the side of the bed as he released her. He watched broodingly as she disappeared into the bathroom. When the door closed firmly behind her, Kyle swore again, violently.
    This was one event he hadn’t anticipated.
    Last night he had made what had to be the noblest gesture of his entire life, and she hadn’t believed a word of it.

    Rebecca had assumed he was bluffing.
    Fury burned within him, but over and above that was a sense of desperation – a feeling that was dangerously akin to panic. Rebecca didn’t believe him.
    Kyle had dealt with a lot of problems in his life, but he had never faced the problem of rebuilding trust between himself and a woman after it had been shattered.
    Rebecca’s doubt seared his soul.

NINE
    „It’s the most fascinating thing to read,“ Rebecca said enthusiastically to Darla as they sat eating hamburgers in the town’s one cafe. „A real piece of local history. Alice had a wonderful eye for details and people.“
    „Was she lonely out there all by herself in that valley?“ Darla asked interestedly as she dipped a French fry into a pool of catsup.
    Rebecca thought about what she had read in the Cork journal. „Sometimes. But no more than anyone is from time to time, I think. She really loved her farm and the animals. She seemed to take a lot of satisfaction from the day-to-day routine of that kind of life.“
    „Does the journal go all the way back to the time when she was engaged to marry Glen’s father?“
    Rebecca nodded. „That part of the record is the only truly sad portion. When she discovered that Ballard didn’t love her and had seduced her in the hopes of getting Harmony Valley, Alice was crushed. When she found out she was pregnant, she was torn between a woman’s rage and a mother’s love. But she cried when she lost the baby. It made me cry to read that part of the journal.“
    „Makes you want to throttle Glen’s father, doesn’t it?“
    „Kyle’s father, too. Cale had the gall to try to seduce poor Alice, first. But he botched it. He pushed too hard and too fast, and when she resisted he lost his temper. He frightened Alice.“
    „And Ballard senior was waiting in the wings to charm her,“ Darla concluded. „Typical Bal-lard-Stockbridge scenario. That poor woman. She resisted the rough, dangerous one, only to fall victim to the smooth-talking seducer.
    And neither really cared about her. I told you the Ballards and the Stockbridges do not have a reputation for being nice folks when it comes to the subject of Harmony Valley. They’ve always been obsessed with that land.“
    „I know.“ Rebecca picked up her hamburger and bit into it. She was still thinking about Kyle’s reaction to her this morning. She had expected him to be at least somewhat grateful that she hadn’t called his bluff. Instead he had been tight-lipped with anger. When he had driven her back to the motel, she sensed he had been as close to losing his temper with her as he had ever been.
    He had, in fact, acted downright insulted,