The Last Cowboy In Texas (5 page)

“Well, I guess I can do that, but I have to hurry. I’ve got a date tonight and I want to have time to get ready.”

Feminine curiosity kicked in. Paige asked, “A date? Who’s the lucky guy?”

“Tom Fairfield.”

“You mean our old bookworm classmate? I didn’t think he-”

“He lives in Branson now. Owns a bookstore.”

“That’s logical for a guy like Tom. Well, you should have plenty of time.”

“Yeah. I’ll do it.” Missy got out and headed for the bakery.

* * *

They’d gotten coffee and cinnamon rolls.
Troy
watched, amused, as Aggie bit aggressively into her second roll. She wouldn’t keep that tiny waist for long if she always ate this way.

“Good, aren’t they, Aggie?”

“Fabulous. I’ve hardly eaten for three days. Sorry if I’m making a pig of myself.”

“You could never do that.” His eyes feasted on her ample ivory breasts barely contained by the skimpy halter. “I’ve been told a healthy appetite is a good sign.”

“A good sign of what?”

“That all systems are go,” he replied, giving her his classic smile.

Aggie raised her eyebrows and shrugged. “Umm.” She swallowed the last bite and wiped the corners of her mouth. “That was scrumptious. Now, where were we?”

“Agreeing to disagree, I think.” He continued to stare at her bosom.

Enjoying his fixation, she jiggled her breasts. “Oh. Well, I understand your need to make money,
Troy
. I really do. But you have to understand my need to protect those helpless little creatures. That’s my job. And my passion.”

“I can think of much better uses for your passion, Aggie.”

“I’ll just bet you can. Would you mind not staring at my chest?” When his embarrassed gaze lifted to her face, she said, “That’s better.”

“As for the Gamies, Aggie, they’re anything but endangered.” He paused to watch Missy take a seat near them. “They’ve been considered a pest around these parts for a long time.”

“How could anything so helpless be a pest?”

“For one thing, they multiply by the thousands each summer. So much so, we’ve been told they crowd out the crawdads along the creek beds.”

Aggie’s eyes brightened. “Really? Maybe I should include crawdads on the list, too.”

Oh, no.
An image of Aggie, dressed up as Mickey Mouse with a tall pointed hat, a broom, and water buckets, formed in his mind.
Is she another sorcerer’s apprentice?

“You’re mistaken about Gamies but you’re really wrong if you think crawdads are in danger of extinction. They’re everywhere. I meant they’re crowded out in Willow Creek.”

“Well, this sounds like a job for professionals. We can do a study and determine whether you’re right or not.”

“Fair enough. In the meantime, when is your Dr. Carlson going to arrive?”

“Not ‘til Monday. I hoped he’d be here today but he can’t get away from his...”

Troy
watched her eyes go strange as she choked off what she’d been about to say. “Well then, Aggie, the least I can do is treat you to dinner tonight. I’d like to show you
Flanders
hospitality if you’ll allow me.”

“I’d be delighted. Should I dress for the occasion?”

“No. Unless you’d rather go to Branson for the evening.”

“I’d like that sometime, but I think not tonight. Why don’t you pick me up at six? I’m staying at the only motel in Reeds Spring. Unit eleven.”

Troy
was distracted again by Missy, who’d just choked on her donut. “Uh, right. Unit eleven. Six, it is.”

* * *

They left after
Troy
paid the tab. Missy finished her third doughnut and scrambled to the window to watch where they went. Her eyes narrowed when
Troy
took the woman’s hand and held it for a moment, then raised it to his lips.

As soon as both parties were out of sight, Missy paid her bill and scurried off to the Herald. She went into the office breathless and had to sit for a moment, regaining composure. “You were right to have me spy on them, Paige. They had a little argument about the frogs. But she was smiling and really friendly. Then he asked her out to dinner.”

“And?”

“And she said yes. Told him to come to her motel room.”

“Really? Maybe our bad boy really does have enough charm to win her over.”

“Then he kissed her.”

“He did?”

“Yep.”

“Where did he kiss her?”

“Right on
Main Street
, in front of God and everybody.”

“I meant where on her body. On the lips?”

“No. He kissed her hand.”

“Oh. That’s different.”

“I thought so, too. Nobody kisses ladies on the hand anymore, do they?”

“Not around here.”

“You said she was from
St. Louis
?”

“Yep.”

“Paige, do you think they still kiss ladies on the hand in
St. Louis
?”

“They might.”

“But
Troy
isn’t from there. How would he know?”

“Instinct, Missy. The man has instinct.”

* * *

Troy
went back to his office wondering if he’d just put his head in a noose. Aggie Kingfisher was the last person he needed to be close to right not. But she was so damn sexy he couldn’t help himself.
Too bad Paige won’t flirt with me anymore.

Julie greeted him when he entered his office. “You have two calls waiting.”

“Who are they?”

“One is from a prospective client, Jason Tawdry, about your new project.”

“Right. He’s anxious to have first pick of the parcels as soon as they’re available. I’ll call JT right away. The other?”

“Some college professor from
St. Louis
. Said he’d heard you were up to your eyeballs in destroying natural habitat.”

“Was his name Carlson by any chance?”

“How’d you know?”

“I’ve heard of him. Did he want me to respond?”

“No. Said he’d be here first thing Monday. I took it from the way he said it, he’s planning to come to the office to challenge you.”

“No doubt.”
Troy
gave her a half-hearted grin. “Well, I’ll just have to be ready for him when the time comes. I don’t suppose he specified sabers or pistols, did he?”

Julie nearly came unglued. “What?”

“Never mind. Just kidding.” He went into his office and shut the door. This was bad. He’d have to work fast with Aggie if he was to stave them off. Dinner with her should be interesting.
Troy
smiled, his mind’s eye dazzled by her lightly freckled succulent boobs, and dialed Jason Tawdry’s number.

* * *

Paige thought about Missy’s date on the way home. Tom Fairfield had been their class valedictorian. He wasn’t bad looking, if you didn’t mind thick-lens glasses and a thatch of blond hair that never behaved itself. But smart; the man was smart.

Painfully aware of her lack of dates of any kind, her attention reverted to Aggie and
Troy
. The woman seemed so combative in defense of her discovery. How could she go to dinner with the very man who threatened the gamies with extinction?

And why would he, faced with potential financial loss if she were successful, want to spend time with her? Other than the fact that she was so disgustingly sexy?
Bingo!

Troy
, the old honeybee, had smelled the pollen and couldn’t help himself. Only this time he was the one who would get stung. She smiled at the poetic imagery and went into her home. About halfway up the stairs, she met her mother on her way down, red-faced and avoiding eye contact. Something was going on.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Oh hello, dear.”

“Are you all right? You look out of breath.”

“I—uh, I’m fine, sweetheart. I think I need a drink.”

Paige watched from the landing as Cil disappeared in the direction of the kitchen. Then she went on up to her room with the notion her mom had been up to something. Her parents used the downstairs bedroom to avoid the stairs. Paige occupied the second floor alone and did all her own housework.

Once in the bedroom she knew something was amiss. The comforter was rumpled like someone had been sitting on it, not neatly spread as she’d left it. One dresser drawer,
the
drawer
, was slightly open.

Her mom had been snooping on her!

Paige opened it fully and dug through her panties. The journal was there under them. Upside down and unlocked.
Maybe I should’ve found my own place to live, after all.

When she’d returned from college, she planned to get an apartment in town. Her parents had insisted she stay in her old room so she relented. And now, after the years she’d been back, it seemed so hard to even think of living alone.

One look at her manuscript and she saw the worn edges of the pages. This apparently wasn’t the first time they’d been handled. Funny, she’d never noticed before. She stomped down to the kitchen and confronted her mom. “You’ve been spying on me, haven’t you?”

“Spying? I don’t know what you mean, dear.”

“Oh, come on, Mom. I know you’ve been in my room. Why else were you upstairs? I found my journal in the drawer upside down and unlocked. You’ve been reading it.”

“I’m sorry, Paige. I shouldn’t have done that, but your writing is very good. You have nothing to hide from us.”

“Just the same, my room is private. How long have you known about my writing?”

“Quite a while. I went up to console you once after your father had given you a hard time. When I looked in, you were writing at your desk. I didn’t want to disturb your thoughts. The next day, I went up and found the journal.”

“But I always lock it.”

Cil smiled. “So you do. But you don’t hide things very well. The corner of your undie drawer was the first place I looked for the key.”

It was Paige’s turn to blush. “Well, now you’ve read it, what do you think?”

“I think it’s wonderful, sweetheart. You have quite a way with words. Of course you always have had. Your fantasies are so very feminine, I just love reading them. There is one thing I would change, though, in the story you’re writing now.”

“Really?”

“Honey, I doubt that a regency admiral, even a young dashing one such as yours, would lounge around the castle with his sword strapped on. If so, at least have him remove it before he lifts the lady into his arms and carries her to his bedroom. I can’t help worrying that he’s going to trip over the darn thing. Can you imagine a handsome man with a beautiful lady in his arms, tripping and falling with her? Not very romantic, would you say?”

Paige roared. “I hadn’t thought of that but, now you mention it, no. More of a slapstick comedy.”

“Other than that, I just love your writing. You should get something together and send it off to a publishing house.”

“I plan to, when my writing is ready. But Mom, I don’t want Dad to know anything about this. Especially the kind of stuff I write.”

“Your secret is safe with me, dear. I won’t tell.”