Olivia wanted to say something in her own defense, but what could she say? Whatever her excuse, she had disparaged Kit, belittled him, put him down. She had turned a family joke into a public condemnation.
Kit took his hands off the wheelchair and started to leave. His silence seemed to say that he too had no words.
He got about ten feet away, then he turned back, and the look on his face had changed.
For the first time, all of them saw Kit’s anger. His eyes were dark lights of rage. He was formidable looking.
Olivia started to step back, but she held her ground.
In just a few steps, he was in front of her and he took her in his arms. Not gently, but with a force that nearly took the breath from her.
He kissed her. His body, his lips showed the passion he’d been feeling since the day he saw her. His desire for her, from seeing her daily, being close, laughing with her, from the tears to the quiet moments of happiness that they had shared, it was all there in that kiss.
His hand went to her face and his thumb caressed the corner of her mouth as his lips opened over hers.
This was not the kiss of a boy or of inexperience. This was a man’s kiss, a man who had seen much of the world, and tasted most of it.
It was a kiss far different from anything Olivia had experienced before. There was no fumbling. No awkwardness. No insecurity. This was the kiss of a man who knew what the hell he was doing.
Kit broke away and for a second he looked at her. His eyes had not changed. They were cold fire, angry, maybe even cruel.
He had one arm around her body, and when he pulled it away, Olivia’s legs folded under her.
With a snap of his wrists, Kit let her drop.
Olivia staggered backward for a step, but she was too unbalanced to catch herself. All the dance lessons she’d had hadn’t prepared her for a kiss that had pulled the insides out of her. Emotion, feelings, even sanity, were gone.
She sat down on the brick pavement hard, her teeth jolting together, pain shooting up through her.
Standing over her, Kit’s face went into a sneer. “Not a boy,” he said. Then he turned on his heel and walked away.
Chapter Nineteen
Summer Hill, Virginia 1970
“Sorry, but we aren’t open yet,” the bartender said. “Come back in a couple of hours.”
Kit put a fifty-dollar bill on the bar. “I want a beer and keep the change.”
“I guess I just opened.” He poured a beer, put it in front of Kit, then stood there watching him brood. “So which one did you choose?”
“What?”
The bartender was wiping the counter. “I assume you’re here because you’re after one of the girls. Or did you come into town to see your other choices?”
Kit looked at the man like he was crazy.
“Girls!” The bartender nodded at Kit’s tan. “You been in the sun so long you forgot about them?”
Kit sighed. “Girls are all I think about.”
“That’s normal. It’s what I did at your age. So which one is it?”
Kit frowned. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Betty Schneider or Shirley Williamson? Last night they were in here talking about the rich, naked guy who’s a relative of Uncle Freddy. They were saying they were going out to Tattwell to meet him. You’re him, right?”
Kit took a deep drink of his beer. “Rich, naked guy,” he mumbled. “That describes me perfectly.”
“Did they show up?”
“Who?”
The bartender glared at him.
Kit shrugged. “Yeah, there were some young women there today. I didn’t talk to them.”
“Didn’t—?” The bartender leaned forward. “Listen, those two girls are hot to trot, if you know what I mean. They used to be the queens of the local high school but now they just want a man. Betty is the smarter of the two. Shirley’s the nicer one, but she won’t let you out of her sight. If you want to see what else is in this town, I can put the word out. If you come back about seven, every unmarried gal within fifty miles will be here. And a few married ones, if that’s what you want.”
Kit was looking at the bartender as though he were from another planet, but then his eyes changed. He smiled as though he might like being hit on by lots of randy women. “You from here?”
“Born and bred.”
“What’s Olivia Paget like?”
The man stepped back from the bar and looked at Kit. “You’ve gone that way, have you? Well, give it up. She’s the prettiest girl in town but she wants none of us. She may have been born a small town girl but she’s not one. Her heart is somewhere else.” He stood there looking at Kit, whose head was so low it was practically touching the counter. “Got it bad, have you?”
“Yeah,” Kit said. “Very bad.”
“Poor guy. I fell for a girl like that. She was way above me. Let me give you some advice. Olivia Paget isn’t for some kid who runs around mostly naked and cleans up cemeteries. Yeah, we heard about that.”
“I think maybe I did a really stupid thing today. Livie sent the girls away.”
“You mean Betty and Shirley? Why’d she do that? I can’t imagine Livie taking an interest in them. When she lived here, while the rest of us were having backyard barbecues, Livie was in Richmond taking lessons for her future life—and this was when she was twelve. So why did she send the girls away? It’s more like she’d laugh about them being there to check you out. Olivia has a sense of humor that can cut glass.”
Kit looked up at the man, his face showing the misery he was feeling.
The bartender’s eyes widened. “You don’t think...? Olivia couldn’t be...?” He let out a snort of laughter. “You think Olivia sent those girls away because she’s interested in you? In some kid who mows the grass?” He gave a genuine laugh. “One thing I’ll say for you, kid, you got a pair on you.”
“I think the absence of a brain counterbalances my overwhelming sense of self,” Kit said as he drained his beer, then left the bar.
Watching the door close, the bartender shook his head. “‘Overwhelming sense of self,’” he quoted. “Keep talkin’ like that and who knows, kid, you might have a chance with Livie after all.” But then he thought of all the young men who’d made passes at Olivia Paget and failed.
No, not possible. Laughing, he went to the storeroom to get more beer.
*
It was Nina who solved it all. First, she found out where Kit and Olivia had gone in their separate runaways. She got an earful from the bartender at the tavern that was a few miles down the road. Kit had already been there and left.
As for Olivia, she was a local girl. She’d walked to the road and someone she knew stopped and gave her a ride. Nina called Mrs. Paget, gave her a brief explanation of what had happened, then said that if she heard where Olivia was, please let them know.
Next, Nina tackled the family by giving them a piece of her mind. The two old men and the children had assumed that Olivia had betrayed them. “She was protecting the lot of you!” Nina said, and went on from there.
The children were so fascinated at seeing Uncle Freddy and Mr. Gates getting bawled out by Letty’s mother they were almost having a good time.
After she finished, Nina left the house and used her ever-present coat hanger wire to try to scratch under her cast. She was very annoyed with all of them.
When she got home, her phone was ringing. It was Mrs. Paget saying that Livie had come home, gone to her bedroom, and shut the door. She said her husband was out looking for Kit. “And I’m packing. We’re going to spend a few days at the lake cabin.”
“Good idea,” Nina said as she kept scratching. Her anger had made the itch worse.
An hour later, Mrs. Paget called again to whisper that Kit was there, and she and her husband were leaving the house. “We don’t plan to be back for two days.”
“Make it three,” Nina said.
“I hope I’m not making a mistake,” Mrs. Paget said.
“You aren’t,” Nina answered. They said goodbye and hung up.
Chapter Twenty
When Olivia stopped talking, Kathy and Elise were silent, waiting for her to go on. But she said nothing.