Free Lacy by Diana Palmer Page B

she reminded him.
    He looked as if he wanted to say something, but
he shrugged and closed his eyes again.
    If only he could talk to her, she thought
miserably. If only they could just communicate. She sometimes thought that
there was a loving, giving man locked up in those suppressed emotions. That
Cole was a keg of dynamite, waiting for a match—that as a lover he'd be
everything she could want. If she could only find the spark to ignite him. But
he seemed not to care about that side of his nature. And only occasionally,
like just now, did any hint of it come out. He was the most complex and
puzzling man she'd ever known. Perhaps that was why, after all the years she'd
known him, he still fascinated her.
    Ben was waiting for them at the siding, dressed
in a beige city suit with a derby on his head, hands in his pockets as he
leaned back against the building. The aging but jaunty black runabout was
parked nearby, its top down.
    Lacy couldn't help but grin at the picture of
gay youth he presented. "The future famous writer," she murmured.
"Do you think he'll make it, Cole?"
    "I suppose he'll keep trying until he dies,
at least," he said. "Don't encourage him," he added
unexpectedly.
    She glared at him as he got up to let her out of
the seat. "I never did."
    "He's still got a wild crush on you,"
he said. His dark eyes narrowed. "This time, if he makes one move toward
you, brother or no brother, I'll beat him to his knees."
    "Cole!" she gasped, shocked by the
hard look in his eyes.
    "You remember what I said," he told
her, and took her arm firmly in his hand as he retrieved the carpetbag with her
clothes in it and walked off the train with Lacy in tow.
    "Lacy, darling!" Ben said in his most
sophisticated tone, spreading open his arms. "How are you?"
    "She's fine," Cole said, with a
cutting edge in his deep voice as he dared Ben to come one step closer.
"How's Mother?"
    "Upset..." Ben started, obviously
nonplussed by his brother's sudden possessiveness. "Katy's gone."
    Standing next to him, Lacy actually felt the
tension grow in Cole's lean, powerful body. "She's what?" he
demanded.
    "It's okay; she's not going to live in sin
or anything," Ben said quickly. "She's going to marry that Danny
Marlone. He's taking her to his mother's until the wedding."
    "It's too quick," Cole said shortly.
"They've only known each other for a few weeks. And where the hell was
Turk while this was going on?"
    "At the ranch. He said she was of age.
Besides," he added ruefully, "she was long gone before he knew about it."
    "He could have gone after her!" Cole
shot at him. "So could've you!
    "And done what, for God's sake?" Ben
demanded coldly. "She's over twenty-one!"
    Cole glared at him until he actually moved
backward a step.
    "He's right," Lacy interrupted gently.
She touched his arm, noticing with a faint hope that he didn't jerk away this
time. "She's a grown woman. You can't force her to come back. And knowing
Katy, she'd never go off with a man she didn't love."
    "You don't know her lately,"he replied
quietly. "She's changed. Gone wild."
    "It's just the new age." Ben laughed.
"Times are changing, for the better. Everything's looser, less rigid.
Girls are getting liberated, that's all."
    "They're getting loose, that's all,"
Cole returned curtly. "Short skirts, cussing, drinking, running wild with
men... The younger generation's going to hell!"
    "Well, yours sure did the world a lot of
good, didn't it?" Ben shot back. "The war to end all wars.. .isn't
that what they called it? How many men did you kill, big brother?"
    Cole hit him. The movement of the taller man's
fist was so fast, Ben didn't even see it coming. And Lacy didn't say a single
word. If anything, she moved even closer to Cole, her accusing blue eyes on
Ben's bruised face as he got slowly to his feet, rubbing his chin.
    "Okay, I was out of line," he
muttered, glaring at his brother.
    "But so were you. The world's changing. If
you can't change with it, you'll be left behind. Car's over