Heart of Stone. Diana Palmer

he promised.

      She knew it was a bad idea. She was going to regret giving in. “If I agree to do it, I have to tell Winnie the truth,” she began.

      “No,” he said immediately. “Winnie can’t keep a secret, and she’s afraid of Boone, too. If he puts on the pressure, she’ll tell him everything she knows.”

      Keely grimaced. “I just know this is going to end badly.”

      “But you’ll do it, won’t you?” he asked with a cajoling smile.

      She sighed. She grimaced. Clark had been her friend as long as Winnie had. He’d helped her out of half a dozen scrapes involving her mother. “Okay,” she said at last.

      He grinned from ear to ear. “Okay! Now. How about dessert?”

      Before they left the restaurant, he introduced her to Nellie and explained to the waitress who Keely was and what her place was in his life. Nellie brightened at once. She was glowing when Clark added that Keely was going to be the red herring so that he and Nellie could go on dates without Boone knowing.

      Keely noticed that the other woman was very demure and meek, and Clark seemed to love that attitude. But Keely noticed something that he didn’t; there was a faint glint in Nellie’s eyes that didn’t go with a meek demeanor. She couldn’t help but be apprehensive. Maybe Nellie’s allure for him was Boone’s disapproval; in many ways, he’d only just started to try the boundaries of his big brother’s control. And Nellie had to know that the family was rich. She was a working girl, like Keely. If she turned out to be a gold digger, Keely stood to be burned at the stake by Clark’s older brother for her part in this. She wished she’d refused. She really did.

      They were very late getting home. It was one o’clock in the morning when Clark drove up at Keely’s front door.

      Until that moment, she hadn’t remembered her mother’s vicious words. They came back with cruel force when she saw the living-room light still on. She didn’t want to go inside. If she’d had anywhere else to go, she wouldn’t set foot in the place.

      But her choices, like her salary, were limited. She had to live with her mother until she could make better arrangements.

      Clark was watching her with open sympathy. “She probably doesn’t even remember saying it,” he murmured. “Drunks aren’t big on memory.”

      She glanced at him, curious. “How would you know that?”

      He hesitated, but only for a minute. “After Boone’s fiancée threw him over, he went on a two-week bender. He didn’t remember a lot of the things he said to me, but I’ve never forgotten any of them. The crowning jewel,” he added with taut features, “was that I’d never measure up to him and that I wasn’t fit to run a ranch.”

      “Oh, Clark,” she sympathized. She could only imagine being a man and having Boone as a big brother to try to live up to. Those were very big shoes to have to fill.

      “He sobered up and didn’t remember anything he’d said to me. But words hurt.”

      “Tell me about it,” Keely sympathized.

      He turned to her. “We’re both in the same boat, aren’t we? We’re people who don’t measure up to the expectations of the people we live with.”

      “Winnie and I think you’re great just the way you are,” she replied doggedly.

      He laughed, surprised. “Really?”

      “Really. You’ve got a wonderful sense of humor, you’re never moody or sarcastic and you’ve got a big heart.” Her eyes narrowed. “If I’d told you that Bailey needed emergency care immediately, you’d have packed him into the car and taken him right to the vet.”

      He sighed. “Yes, I guess I would have.”

      “Boone thought it was a pitiful plea for attention on my part,” she added sadly. “I guess my mother’s said a lot of things to him about me.”

      “Apparently. She doesn’t like you, does she?”

      “The feeling is mutual. We’re sort of stuck together until I can get a raise or a second job.”

      “How would you manage a second job?” he asked.

      “Getting away from my mother’s constant abuse would make me manage. I can’t imagine living in a place where nobody makes fun of me.”

      “You could work for me,” he suggested.

      She shook her head. “Thanks, but no thanks. I want to be completely independent.”

      “I figured that, but it didn’t hurt to ask.”

      She smiled. “You really are a nice man.”

      “I’ll pick you up next Saturday morning. We can go riding at the ranch. We might as well make a start at getting on Boone’s nerves,” he added with a dry chuckle.

      “Take all his bullets away before I get there,” she pleaded.

      “He’s not so bad,” he told her.

      She shivered. “Sure he isn’t.”

      The front door opened and Keely’s mother came out onto the porch. “Who’s that out there?” she drawled, hanging on to one of the supporting posts. She was wearing floral silk slacks with a fluffy pink robe. Her hair was disheveled and she looked sleepy.

      “Don’t pay her any attention,” Keely advised Clark with a sad little sigh. “She doesn’t even know what she’s saying. I’ll see you next Saturday.”

      “Thanks, Keely,” he told her with sincere affection.

      She shrugged. “You’d do it for me,” she said, and smiled. “Good night.”

      “Good night.”

      She got out of the car and walked up to the porch, shaking inside, dreading another confrontation with her parent. She tried to walk past Ella, but the older woman stopped her.

      “Where have you been?” she demanded.

      Keely looked at her. For the first time she didn’t back down, even though her knees were shaking. “Out,” she replied tersely.

      The older woman’s face tautened. “Don’t talk to me like that. You live in my house, in case you’ve forgotten!”

      “Not for much longer,” Keely gritted. “I’m moving out as soon as I can get a night job to go with my day job. I don’t care if I have to live in my car, it will be worth it! I’m not staying here any longer.”

      She brushed past her mother and went into the house, down the hall, into her room. She locked the door behind her. She was shaking. It was the first time in memory that she’d stood up to her abusive parent.

      Ella came to her door and knocked. Keely ignored her.

      She knocked again, with the same result.

      Ella was sobering up quickly. It had just dawned on her that if Keely left, she’d have nobody to do the chores. She couldn’t even cook. She’d been able to afford help until the past two or three years. But she was facing a drastic reduction in her capital, due to her bad business decisions. And there was something else, something more worrying, that she didn’t dare think about right now.

      “I didn’t mean what I said!” she called through the door. “I’m sorry!”

      “You’re always sorry,” Keely replied tightly.

      “No. This time I’m really sorry!”

      There was a hesitation. Keely started to weaken. Then she remembered her mother’s track record and kept quiet.

      “I can’t cook!” Ella yelled through the door a minute later. “I’ll starve to death if you leave!”

      “Buy