by Webb, Peggy
Jo Beth smiled at Colter. “He didn’t remember a thing. You’re safe here.”
His gaze raked over her. “I’m not too sure about that.”
Shivers crawled up her spine, and she couldn’t blame them on indigestion.
“I can guarantee it,” she said.
“I’ve found that life has very few guarantees.”
They assessed each other again, two wary wildcats, and then they washed up and joined her parents at the dinner table. Jo Beth discovered that Colter Gray Wolf was very adept at keeping dinner-table conversation interesting and lively. She guessed he’d had lots of practice at that sort of thing out in San Francisco. She also noticed that he was patient and extraordinarily compassionate when her father ventured off into one of his fantasies.
While her parents were in the kitchen getting dessert, she leaned closer to him.
“You have quite a bedside manner, Dr. Gray.”
“That’s what all the women say to me.”
“And a sense of humor, too, I might add.”
“In my profession, it helps.”
“I can understand that—dealing with hundreds of sick people. It’s hard enough dealing with only one. It breaks my heart to see Dad this way.” Instinctively her hand balled into a fist.
Colter covered her hand, which lay on the white tablecloth, and gently unclenched her fingers, one by one.
“He’s not in pain, Jo Beth. He’s not even aware that his words and actions are inappropriate and sometimes foolish. In your perception, he is a prisoner of his failing mind, but to him, everything seems normal. That’s a compensation of our Father Creator.”
“Other doctors have told me that, but none so beautifully as you. Thank you.”
“It’s the least I can do. After all, if you hadn’t come along, I’d probably have spent the rest of my natural life in that outdoor privy.”
Her smile was his reward, and almost his downfall. When she smiled she looked like a mischievous angel. He didn’t need any blond angels in his life right now. It was already complicated enough.
“Who wants cherry pie?”
Colter would be forever grateful to Sara McGill for chosing that moment to come through the door. If she hadn’t, he might have done something rash, such as run his fingers through Jo Beth’s hair to see if it was as silky as it looked.
Silas was not far behind Sara. “You wouldn’t believe the trouble I had getting those cherries. Why, I had to take my twelve-gauge gun and shoot the derned tree into submission. And while I was out killing cherries, I ran upon this Indian by the creek....” He stopped speaking in midsentence and looked at Colter. “Jezebel’s jewels! It’s Toronto! Jo Beth, hide in the closet. Sara, where’s my gun?”
Silas dropped the dessert plates to the floor, and then stared down at the broken dishes as if he couldn’t figure out where they’d come from.
Jo Beth turned to her mother. “Toronto?”
Sarah shrugged. “Yesterday, Rooster Cogburn; today, the Lone Badger.”
Hearing his name, Silas started around the table toward Colter.
Jo Beth intercepted him. “Now, Dad, this man is not Toronto. He’s our guest. Don’t you remember? Dr. Colter Gray.”
She caught his arm, but although he was seventy-six years old, Silas was still strong. He broke loose and launched himself at Colter.
“I took you prisoner. How did you escape?”
“Dad, I—”
Colter shook his head at her. He stood up and held the old man’s shoulders. “You were very brave to capture me like that. Most men don’t have the courage you do.”
“I’m brave, all right. You didn’t think of that when you got out of the outhouse to mess with my daughter, did you?” He twisted his head to look at his wife. “Sara, help me get this prisoner back in the outhouse where he belongs.”
“I’m begging you for mercy, Mr. McGill.” Colter spoke with the sincerity of a contrite prisoner. “You look like a just man. If you’ll let me leave, I promise that I will disappear into the desert, and you’ll never see me again.”
“We could have made a good team, you and me, but I didn’t count on you getting sweet on my daughter. She’s just sixteen. I don’t want some derned savage taking her captive.”
“I promise I will not take your daughter captive.”
“You won’t touch her?”
“No.”
“Then you can go.”
“Let’s seal the bargain with a handshake.”
Colter checked Silas’s pulse under the guise of shaking his hand. It was a little fast, but not alarming. And his eyes didn’t look so wild now. Cautiously, he released the man and stepped back.
Jo Beth started toward him, but he shook his head and continued his walk toward the front door. He didn’t even say, “Thank you for dinner,” for fear of setting Silas McGill off again.
He didn’t make a sound as he walked from the dining room and through the den. He moved so swiftly and quietly, they didn’t even hear the squeaky screen door close behind him.
Jo Beth stared after him for five seconds before turning her attention back to her father. He was sitting calmly at the table, cutting himself a huge hunk of cherry pie, his prisoner already forgotten now that he was out of sight.
“Have some pie, Jo Beth. And whatever happened to your guest? Didn’t he stay for dessert?”
“No, Dad. He had to leave early.” She glanced toward her mother. “Mom?”
“Go after him, darling.”
Jo Beth ran toward the door, stopping in the den long enough to jerk the Jeep keys off the top of the sideboard. By the time she reached the front porch, she was breathless. Nerves, that’s what it was.
In order to regain her composure, she leaned against a rough-hewn porch post and stared into the darkness. She sensed rather than heard the movement, and suddenly Colter was standing in the path of feeble light cast by the naked bulb on the front porch.
“I promised not to take you captive, but don’t tempt me.”
o0o
About Peggy Webb
In a career that spans 26 years, the Mississippi author has written almost 70 books. Writing as Peggy Webb, she pens romance and the popular, comedic Southern Cousins Mystery Series starring Elvis, the basset hound who thinks he’s the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll reincarnated. Writing as Anna Michaels and Elaine Hussey, she pens literary fiction. She has been on the romance bestseller list numerous times and has won many awards, including a Romantic Times Pioneer Award for creating the sub-genre of romantic comedy. Several of her romances have been optioned for film.
The Tender Mercy of Roses, 2011, written as Anna Michaels, is a Delta Magazine Top Five Pick, a Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club Featured Alternate. Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides, calls it “astonishing.”
Peggy is a member of Novelists, Inc., International Thriller Writers, and Romance Writers of America. She is excited about bringing her romance classics (originally published as Bantam Loveswepts) back to readers as E-books. The award-winning Touched by Angels and A Prince for Jenny are Kindle Top 100 bestsellers.
Follow the author on her websites: www.peggywebb.com, www.elainehussey.com and www.annamichaels.net and on Facebook as both Peggy Webb and Anna Michaels.
o0o
Other E-Books from Peggy Webb
Classic Romance (originally published as Loveswept)
Dark Fire
Touched by Angels (RT Reviewer’s Choice)
A Prince for Jenny, sequel to Touched by Angels
The Edge of Paradise
Duplicity (Rave review, RT Reviewer’s Choice)
Where Dolphins Go (RT Reviewer’s Choice, women’s fiction, optioned for film)
Night of the Dragon (time travel romance)
Christmas in Time (time travel, brand now, prequel to Only Yesterday)
Only Yesterday, (time travel, sequel to Christmas in Time)
Summer Jazz
The Donovans of the Delta Series:
&
nbsp; Donovan’s Angel (Paul Donovan’s story)
Sleepless Nights (Tanner Donovan’s story)
Hallie’s Destiny (award winning book, Hallie Donovan’s story)
Any Thursday (Hannah Donovan’s story)
Higher Than Eagles (Jacob Donovan’s story)
The Mississippi McGills Series (spin-off from Donovans of the Delta)
Valley of Fire (Rick McGill’s story)
Until Morning Comes (Jo Beth McGill and Colter Gray Wolf’s story)
Saturday Mornings (Andrew McGill’s story)
Romantic Suspense, originally published as Bantam Fanfare
Witch Dance
From A Distance
E-books Coming Soon
Only His Touch/Can’t Stop Loving You, (Second time around romantic comedy duo)
That Jones Girl (sequel to the Mississippi McGills)
Southern Cousins Mysteries, Peggy Webb (available in print and e-books)
Published by Kensington
Elvis and the Dearly Departed, 2008
Elvis and the Grateful Dead, 2009
Elvis and the Memphis Mambo Murders, 2010
Elvis and the Tropical Double Trouble, 2011
Elvis and the Blue Christmas Corpse, Oct. 1, 2012
Coming Soon
Southern Cousins Companion and Cookbook (digital only)
Jack Loves Callie Tender (prequel to the series, digital only)
Novels written as Anna Michaels (available in hardcover and e-book)
The Tender Mercy of Roses ( Gallery, Simon & Schuster)
The Language of Silence (Gallery, Simon & Schuster, coming soon)
Novels written as Elaine Hussey
The Sweetest Hallelujah (Mira, August, 2013)
