A Daring Vow (Vows) by Sherryl Woods

Beau, when he’d been struggling not to tell him off. She was absolutely certain now that he intended to toss her out without replying.
    Instead, he merely glared at her impatiently, then bent back over his work. A wise woman would have taken the hint. Zelda, however, wasn’t about to let it rest, now that she’d finally opened up the subject.
    “Taylor?”
    He looked up, scowling. “Damn it, I don’t have time for this. I hired you to work, not to cross-examine me.”
    “I can’t do the best possible job, if I don’t really know the person for whom I’m working.”
    “You’ve known me for the better part of the past thirty years,” he reminded her.
    She shook her head. “I knew you ten years ago. You’ve changed, Taylor. You used to be just as big a risk-taker as me, maybe even more daring. Now you’ve settled for boring. I can’t help but wonder why.”
    He tossed his pen aside. “Zelda, what’s this really all about? I seriously doubt whether you’re worried about how stodgy I’ve become. Besides, you’re here on a temporary basis, right? Maybe for one more week. Less than a year, if you decide to fulfill the terms of your mother’s will. I don’t see much need to confess all my deep, dark secrets to you.”
    “Who better to talk to than an old friend who’s leaving town?” she shot right back, angered by his assumption that she wouldn’t last one instant beyond the year necessary to satisfy the terms of the will. “I’ll take your secrets with me.”
    “How reassuring. I’ll keep that in mind if I ever feel the need to make a confession.”
    Zelda groaned and barely resisted the urge to shake him. Or kiss him until he looked as bemused as he had at her house a few weeks back. “Why can’t you stop being so evasive and just answer me? Is the truth so terrible? Maybe you could just start by telling me about Caitlin. In the past three weeks, you’ve never once mentioned her name.”
    A faint spark of warmth lit his eyes. “Seems to me you already know about her,” he said dryly as he glanced pointedly at the framed picture on his desk.
    “I know she exists,” she corrected, refusing to be baited. “I don’t know anything about her or about her mother.”
    “Frankly, I can’t believe no one’s filled you in,” he muttered. His gaze narrowed suspiciously. “Or is that why you’re asking, just so you can gloat?”
    “Gloat about what? No one’s told me a damn thing. In fact, everyone’s so tight-lipped, you’d think I was asking about national security. If you don’t want to talk about your marriage, then tell me about the election.”
    “Look it up in the local paper. There were plenty of stories at the time.”
    “I’ve worked for a highly publicized attorney in L.A. I know how the media can distort things. I’m asking for your version,” she said with exaggerated patience.
    Taylor uttered a sigh of resignation. “Damn it, you always were persistent,” he grumbled.
    She grinned, relaxing slightly. Victory was just within her grasp. She could sense it. She just had to reel him in. “Glad to know I haven’t lost the knack for it. I’m still waiting for an answer, by the way.”
    “I lost, okay?” he said, then added with undisguised bitterness, “That ought to make you happy.”
    The words were curt, but it was the bleak expression in his eyes that distressed her. Taylor rarely showed signs of his vulnerabilities. Whatever had happened had hurt him deeply. With anyone else that might have dissuaded her from pursuing the topic, but she sensed that Taylor needed to talk. He wouldn’t, unless she badgered him into it. So she kept at him, but her tone softened.
    “Why would that make me happy?” she asked, genuinely puzzled by the comment. “I always wanted what was best for you. Remember when we used to talk about how we would redecorate the White House one day? I believed in that dream, Taylor. Even when I knew I wouldn’t be the woman there with you, I still