[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"You know what I mean." He turned and started out the front door.
She followed him, seething inside. He didn't want her, but he didn't want any other man around her,
either.
"I'll do what I please, Judd," she said haughtily.
He whirled at the front porch. "You put your name on a marriage license," he reminded her curtly.
"So did you, but that's not stopping you from doing what you want to!"
He lifted an eyebrow and went on down the steps to his truck. "The film people are coming back
Saturday to set up their equipment," he added. "The director's bringing Tippy Moore with him, and the
guy who's playing the cowboy Ranee Wayne."
She couldn't have cared less about the movie people. She hated the way Judd's eyes twinkled when he
mentioned Tippy Moore. The woman was internationally famous for her beauty. Christabel was going
to look like a cactus plant by comparison, and she didn't like it.
"I can hardly wait," she muttered. "Do they like pet snakes?
I'm thinking of adopting a black one and keeping it in the liv-ing room..."
"You be nice," he said firmly. "We need the money. There's no way we can fix the barn or buy new
electric fencing without that grubstake."
"Okay," she sighed. "I'll be nice."
"That'll be a change," he remarked deliberately.
"And that's just sour grapes because I didn't dress up and look sexy for you," she said, striking a pose.
"You can go home and dream about me in that red negligee, because that's the only way you'll ever
see it," she added.
He made a rough sound in his throat, something like laughter, and kept walking.
She stared after him with flashing dark eyes, wishing that Cash would drive up before he left so that
she could flaunt her date in front of him.
Daydreams so rarely come true, she thought wistfully as Judd climbed in behind the wheel, started the
SUV, and drove off with a perfunctory wave of his hand.
It was a full ten minutes later that Cash Grier drove up in his black pickup truck. It was a huge, new
vehicle with a spotlessly clean bed.
"Well, I can see that you don't haul cattle," she remarked as she went out to meet him at the bottom of
the steps.
"Maybe I just keep an immaculate truck," he chuckled.
He looked really good. He was wearing a black turtleneck sweater with a casual jacket and dress
slacks. His shoes were polished to a perfect shine. His dark hair was in a neat ponytail. He was easy on
the eyes.
"You look nice, even out of uniform," she pointed out.
He was doing some looking of his own, with eyes at least as experienced as Judd's. She thought about
the way Judd had kissed her and she flushed.
"You look a little uptight," he remarked. "Second thoughts about tonight?"
"Not a single one," she said firmly.
"Not worried about what Judd will say?" he persisted as he helped her into the truck.
"Judd said he didn't care," she replied. "He was here earlier."
Which explained her flustered look and the deep swell of her lower lip, Cash thought privately and
with some amusement. Apparently Judd was more jealous of his paper wife than Christabel realized,
and had made sure that she had a yardstick to measure men by. He had a feeling he'd never measure up
to the hero-worship she felt for her husband. But she made him feel good inside, young inside, and he
wasn't going to fall at the first fence because of a little competition.
She fastened her seat belt while he got in and fastened his own, his eyes smiling as he approved the
action.
"I have to tell most people to put their belts on," he pointed out.
"Not me " she said. "Judd taught me early that I would not ride with him if I didn't wear it."
"You've known him for a long time."
"Most of my life," she agreed. She sighed. "He's taken care of me for five years. It isn't that he's
possessive," she said defensively. "He just wants to make sure that I'm safe."
He gave her a rakish grin. "You're as safe as you want to be," he said.
She chuckled. "Now that's encouragement, if I ever heard it!"
CHAPTER FOUR
Shea's Roadhouse and Bar was about a mile out of Jacobsville on the road that went to Victoria. It was
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]