Chapter 51

From a seat in the corner of Olivia's wide open barn, Amy tried to ignore the uncomfortable silence of her tablemates and watched her best friend and Nate share their first dance as a married couple. They looked so perfect and right together that Amy's teeth hurt. If she weren't so dang happy for them, she'd yak.

Longing tugged her midsection. No one had ever looked at her the way Nate did Olivia. Like she was his everything and nobody else existed. After thirty years of being the girl most guys skimmed past for a glance at her friend, Amy should be used to the shadows by now. Guess not, since her belly cramped.

Because this was the working barn for shearing sheep and grooming horses, there were no stalls in the generous hundred-by-hundred space, but everything had been cleared out. Amy's brother Kyle was in the far corner, running the stereo in lieu of a DJ. Ten or so round tables were covered in white tablecloths and votives. Both the front and rear carriage doors were open, letting a cross-breeze waft in. Strands of lights hung from the rafters to look like raining stars and, combined with the ethereal glow of the moon through the skylights, had the atmosphere cast in dreamy ambiance.

She would've loved something like this for her wedding. Simple, pretty. Rustic-chic. Instead, she'd gotten a fifteen minute service in the courthouse following a less than whirlwind three-month romance and takeout from the bar afterward.

Then again, it wasn't as if she'd ever been considered someone of great significance.

Nakos's father shifted in his seat to face her, a smile crinkling the corners of his mouth. "Our son says things are going well up at the main house. You're settling in, helping Mae with cooking." His voice was a deep, rich baritone. Between that, his leathery face, the dark skin of his Native American background, and eyes like impending midnight, he should've been scary or unapproachable. But he was the gentlest soul she'd ever met.

"Olivia's been very gracious." After her ordeal with her ex-husband, Amy had no options. He'd left her penniless when he'd been sentenced for assault and kidnapping, plus their house had been foreclosed. If Olivia hadn't taken her in and found some kind of work for her to do, Amy would've been screwed. "I enjoy cooking." It was relaxing and being productive felt good, so there was that.

Across the table, her mother snorted and her father bore an expression of banality.

Yep. Because Amy should be home cooking for her husband and perfecting the image of a devoted wife. Not embarrassing them with a divorce, ruining the sacrilege of marriage, and living in supposed sin with her BFF.

From beside her, Nakos winked in support, ignoring her folks. "Ames makes the best meatloaf this side of the Platte River."

Bless him.

His mother nodded. "That soup you sent to the reservation last month when I had the flu was delicious."

This earned another snort from Mom.

The Hunts stared at the table, clearly uncomfortable.

Guilt shifted in Amy's gut for her parents' bad manners. They were devout protestants and as narrow-minded as people could get. They'd never consider the Hunts their equals based on their skin color alone. Why the heck they'd chosen to sit at their table, she hadn't a clue. For that matter, why they'd come at all.

Oh, that's right. They loved Olivia, the daughter they wished they'd had.

Amy struggled to find something to fill the quiet. "Thank you for the compliments, but I'm afraid I'm going to need to find other living accommodations soon. I'll keep helping Mae in the kitchen, of course." She had no choice. Meadowlark was a small town with few job opportunities and her parents refused to hire her at their hardware store.

Nakos's gaze bore holes in her profile, but she ignored it. His concern, though appreciated, only added to her guilt. If not for him and Nate stopping Chris from turning kidnapping into something worse, she probably wouldn't be sitting here.

"Surely, Olivia wouldn't ask you to leave." Mrs. Hunt leaned forward, apprehension in her deep brown eyes. "You two have been friends since you were little girls."

"No, she wouldn't." And her friend had reiterated that countless times. Olivia would give Amy the shirt off her back and vice versa. They were closer than sisters. "But she's married now and they need space, time alone. I'm staying in Kyle's room tonight to give them privacy." Olivia's ten ranch hands lived in two cabins separate from the main house on the property, Amy's brother being one of them. "I'll figure out something permanent before they return from their honeymoon." Somehow.

Dad stiffened. "What do you mean, you're staying with Kyle?"

"As if you haven't embarrassed us or yourself enough, you want to bring your brother down, too?" Mom shook her head, disgust twisting her thin lips. "Living in a house with all those men." She'd all but left the word "whore" out of her statement, yet it was heavily implied.

Nakos inhaled. Hard. Nostrils flared, he clenched his fists on the table. "If you're so concerned, perhaps you should help your daughter by giving her somewhere to go instead of laying insults at her feet." The low timbre of his voice was barely above a whisper, but steel laid underneath, cutting in its intensity.

Frozen, Amy stared at him in shock while he and her parents had a glare-down.

Nakos wasn't a man of many words. Typically, he only spoke when it was absolutely necessary. Yes, they were the best of friends, and yes, he'd defended her before. Yet, in this case, he knew better. He wasn't going to change her parents' small minds by reminding them she was their blood. That had never mattered. Not when she'd been a girl and certainly not now.

A few years ago, she would've been the first person out of her seat and speaking her mind. But her I-can-handle-anything, tell-me-whose-ass-I-need-to-kick persona had died when she'd said I do. It wasn't coming back. That was the day her give-a-shit broke, the day hope began its slow suffocation. Up until that point, she'd been darn good at faking it. Except the age-old mantra hadn't worked because she never did make it.

"I will not allow her to step foot in our home after what she's done." Dad shook his head with finality.

Her first offense had been marrying outside of church. They'd had no money for anything more extravagant than the courthouse. Her second being the divorce. Yet she'd been a pariah long before either instance. And that was a memory she'd buried, where it would remain for all eternity.

Not for the first time, she studied them, wondering if they'd ever loved her. She'd inherited her dark hair and narrow face from her father, but her eyes were a more potent shade of her mother's. Curvy body type, too. Both their gazes cut to Amy as if Nakos wasn't worth the bother to further respond. And that nailed it home. The only thing she had in common with these people was a physical resemblance.

Dad sniffed. "You made your mistakes. Live with them."

Yeah. She'd asked for her husband to stop paying the mortgage and wrack up thousands in credit card debt. She'd asked for him to beat her to a pulp, then shove the barrel of a 9mm in her face. And she'd asked him to destroy the one thing she owned that brought her any pleasureher photography equipment. It was just a silly hobby. Still, she'd saved for two years doing odd jobs to buy the camera. One swing of Chris's hammer had shattered itand herto pieces.

Nakos rose so fast his chair tipped over. "Dance with me, Ames." Not a question. A demand. And very unlike him. His gaze slid to hers, beseeching. Without words, he implored her to get him away from the table or he wouldn't be responsible for what came next.

She glanced around, realizing the first dance was over and other couples were on the floor. When she refocused on Nakos, she got hung up on the long lashes fanning his black eyes. They were the only thing offsetting the cavern of dark intensity, softening his features a smidgen.

"Please." He held out his arm, waiting, then lowered his voice to a whisper. "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."

Oh God. Only he would use a Dirty Dancing reference. The fact he even remembered the line from all the times she and Olivia had made him watch the movie was astounding.

Amy laughed, offering a quick smile of apology to his parents for deserting them, and took Nakos's hand.

He led her to a cleared area of the barn and pulled her to him. Close enough to draw his heat and breathe in his earthy scent, but not so their torsos touched. One warm palm settled low on her back as his fingers clutched hers in the other hand.

Suddenly nervous, she followed his lead to the ballad playing. After the service, he'd rolled the sleeves of his white shirt up to his elbows, revealing his corded forearms, and unbuttoned the first few notches by his neck. He'd also tied his long, silky hair in a low ponytail and reclaimed his black Stetson he rarely went without.

"I swear, Ames, if you weren't a product of those two idiots, I'd hate them more."

She breathed a laugh. "Don't let them get to you. They're judgmental and not worth the frustration."

"They hurt you, and that's uncalled for."

They'd been hurting her all her life. She'd grown used to it. "I'm fine."