She could have told Jake that there was nothing to work, not yet. But if she could get Asa to kiss her again, maybe there could be.
Grumpy and Happy. That combination could work. All she needed was a fairy godmother with a wand.
No, that was another story. Still, Pop always told her that a little strategic alteration of the truth could be beneficial. That had been his method of handling her mother when they forgot something they’d been directed to remember under threat of death by hanging or worse.
Besides, Sarah wasn’t sure that somebody hadn’t already taken a hand. How else could anybody explain her and the deputy, or the kind of fire that ignited when they touched? She’d better hurry. Asa might decide to come by instead of calling.
On the way home, Sarah was stopped at the mailbox by her mother, Alice. “I like your man, Sarah. It’s about time you got serious about somebody.”
Sarah looked at her mother in shock. For the last two years her mother had been so involved in her new husband that Sarah had seen little of her. “My man?”
“Yes. He stopped by, said he wanted to check the security, something about you leaving money under your mat.”
“He is worried about me.”
“Well, I just thought I’d let you know that he looks like an upright, stable kind of man. Just what a woman needs.”
Sarah let those words play through her mind as she drove up the road and pulled in beside the barn. Stable. Just what a woman needs. Somehow that smarted. Because she knew that her mother was comparing Asa to her father and her father was coming up short.
She hadn’t thought it out, but now she could see that somehow she’d blithely assumed that Asa would loosen up. But maybe she was wrong. There was no question that they were mismatched, just as her parents had been. And Sarah had seen what happened in her parents’ marriage.
Sarah wasn’t like her mother. She never would be that proper and ladylike. She was like her father, living each day to the fullest without worrying about the next.
But Asa made plans. Asa was orderly and directed. Asa was like her mother.
The invitation to the festival was a perfect example. Having made his decision to invite her to attend, he proceeded to carry it out by calling Sarah, laying out the plan, outlining the schedule and giving her a time when he would call for his answer. The man was totally organized. He’d set a goal and he was halfway to reaching it.
By the time Sarah ran her bath and climbed in for a long soak, she’d come to the conclusion that learning to fly blind into the sun was beyond Asa’s ability, and making lists and setting goals were equally foreign to her.
As she dried herself, she kept an ear trained on the phone. When Asa hadn’t called by seven-thirty she began to worry. She ate a sandwich and went to work on the safe, trying new combinations of numbers to open it. No luck. By eleven o’clock she still hadn’t heard from Asa and she hadn’t opened the safe either. She gave up, put out the lights, and went to bed with the latest book by her favorite mystery writer, first making sure the phone was pulled over to the bed.
She watched the minutes tick by, planning what she would say to Asa when he called, and if she should let him know how worried she’d been. She admitted to herself that she was disappointed. She wanted to see him. She wanted to be with him. Why hadn’t he called?
Sarah had never chased a man. She hadn’t wanted to. Other than her high school sweetheart, there hadn’t been a man who interested her. But something told her that if she wanted Asa Canyon she was going to have to do the pursuing. There were ways. She’d just never bothered to learn them.
The only trouble was, she didn’t know what the ways were. Sarah knew just one method to go after what she wanted, and that was with honesty and openness. Of course she’d already done that. She’d told him she wanted him. She’d gone to his cabin and kissed him. What else could she do?
Maybe that was the problem. Maybe she was too forward. Men liked being in charge and Asa was more manly than most. Maybe what she needed to do was be subtle. Maybe she needed to talk about this with her mother. Alice was the soul of propriety. Surely she could coach Sarah into being a proper lady who waited until she was asked before throwing herself into a man’s arms.
That’s what she’d do, first thing in the morning. Sarah snuggled down and turned off the light. She might have to act like a lady tomorrow on her official, proper date with Deputy Canyon, but she could be as wicked as she wanted in her imagination. And right now she could wonder all she liked about what color of underwear Deputy Canyon was wearing.
When she was a little girl she used to say, “I’ll close my eyes and count to ten, then I’ll get what I want.” Sarah closed her eyes and began to count.
It was very late when the phone rang. Sarah dived for it, knocking it in a clatter to the floor.
“Hello, Asa?”
“Yes.”
“What’s wrong?”
“How do you know something’s wrong?”
Sarah could hear the weariness in his voice. “Because you didn’t call when you said you would.”
“Sorry. I don’t usually do that.”
“I know. What happened?”
“There was a murder. I’ve been on the case all night.”
“You? I thought the police department handled that.”
“Not if it’s in the county.”
Sarah relaxed, cradling the receiver against her ear and stretching lazily. “You’re tired, aren’t you? Come over and I’ll give you a back rub guaranteed to relax you.”
The sleepiness in her voice instantly brought a picture to Asa’s mind, a picture of her in bed, a picture of the two of them in bed. There was nothing soothing about that.
“I think not,” he said tightly. “If you give me a massage the last thing I’ll want to do is relax. Just talking to you is stimulating enough.”
“Are you sure? I could make some coffee.”
“Sarah, darling, there’s something about you and coffee that is, well, let’s just say I’m considering taking up drinking tea.”
“With lots of cream and sugar.”
They were speaking nonsense, but the words didn’t matter.
“I like the way you sound when you’re waking up,” he said. “Your voice is all husky and warm.”
“I wish you’d reconsider and come over. You sound so tense and weary.”
“I am tense and weary. Murder always does that to me. I have to go now, Sarah. They’re waiting for me down in the lab. I just wanted to make sure that you would go to the festival with me today.”
“You’re still going?”
“The department agreed to have this booth. We have to serve black-eyed peas and cornbread whether an old vagrant is murdered or not.”
“Serve peas and cornbread?” Sarah laughed lightly. “I can’t see you cooking.”
“I’ll have you know, I’m a good cook. But today I don’t have to make the food, just put it on a plate. I told the Sheriff that you’d give us a hand.”
“I’ll give you anything you want, Deputy,” Sarah said softly.
“Oh, lady—” Asa groaned and dropped the receiver back on its base. She would. He had no doubt of that. And he wanted what she had to give. How long was he going to be able to refuse? How long was he going to tempt himself with the question? How long was he going to be able to keep up a casual relationship with this woman without admitting that he was addicted to her? What kind of fool was he becoming to stand here grinning in the middle of the station?
“Hey, Canyon, did you notice the old guy has no thumb on his right hand?”
“Yeah,” he said to the detective who’d just wandered in. “And he’s awful pale, too, like someone who’s been sick, or in jail.”
The next morning Sarah surprised her mother by joining her at breakfast. Though it was Saturday, Alice’s husband, Robert, had gone down to his law office to dictate some letters. Alice was already dressed and drinking her second cup of coffee when Sarah took her old sea
t at the table.
“Would you like an omelet, Sarah?” Alice asked.
“No, I think what I want is some mother-daughter talk, if you don’t mind.”
“I’m flattered,” Alice admitted, trying to hide the pleasure in her voice.
“It’s about Asa.”
“I thought it might be.”
“He’s a lot like you, Mother, and you know how I am. I’m afraid that we don’t fit together very well.”
Alice filled a cup with coffee and put it down on the table before Sarah. After staring at her for a long time, she said, “That’s what my mother said about your father and me.”
“Granny?” Sarah could barely remember her grandmother.
“It didn’t matter. We were in love. Each of us was sure that the other would change.”
“But you didn’t, did you?”
“No, we tried, but we didn’t. People have to be what they are, I think, or they’re very unhappy.”
Sarah left her chair and walked over to the window. “That’s what I thought.” She opened the door and started to go out.
“No, Sarah, you don’t understand. Being different didn’t make us love each other less. It just made the loving more intense. I might have changed our lives if I could have, but I would never have chosen a different man.”
Sarah drove down to the shop half expecting to find Mr. Grimsley. She didn’t. She was beginning to think that she wasn’t going to hear from him again. It wouldn’t be the first time somebody brought something in and never came back for it. But she had the impression that Mr. Grimsley was very anxious about his safe. She was beginning to be a little anxious herself. Dynamite might be the only answer.
After waiting an hour, working on various projects, Sarah gave up. She left a note taped to the window and went home. It was Saturday and she had a festival to go to.
No luck on the safe, Mr. G. Still working on it. Call me.
By eleven o’clock she had dressed and undressed three times. The dress she’d started with made her look very proper, but she’d never be able to serve black-eyed peas wearing that. Next she’d pulled on cutoffs and a T-shirt, which she discarded as being too informal. Now she was wearing a short, full-cut red cotton knit skirt with a matching red top that left her midriff bare. A pair of red canvas tennis shoes and white socks completed her outfit.
She wouldn’t have any trouble getting into Asa’s truck dressed like this.
When she heard the horn blowing she ran to the hayloft doors and pushed one side open. Asa was standing beside the truck looking up at her. Sarah felt her heart slam against her rib cage.
“Ready?”
Ready? One look at him and she knew that was the right word. His gray eyes seemed lighter this morning, more in tune with the clean-shaven face and the neatly combed dark hair. He was wearing jeans, formfitting ones that covered the tops of western pointed-toe boots. His plaid shirt was red and he wore a bandana tied at the neck.
Oh yes, she was ready. She was so ready that she was tempted to catch the rope pulley and swing out of the loft.
“Want to come up?” she asked brightly.
He actually grinned, running his fingers through his hair, mussing it as if he was embarrassed to be seen smiling. “I think that would be a mistake.”
She disagreed, but now wasn’t the time to argue. Instead, she closed the door and cast a guilty look at the safe. Tomorrow she’d spend all day on it until she got it open.
When she stepped into the sunlight Asa swallowed his grin, along with his breath. The short skirt she was wearing flared out like a tennis dress and he wondered how he would get through the morning. “What do you call that, whatever it is you’re wearing?” he asked.
“It’s just called mix and match separates. Nothing special,” she answered, beginning to understand that the day was going to be another test in different life-styles. “Why? Don’t you like it?”
“I’m not sure. It’s certainly different.”
“If you’d rather, I’ll go back and put on a dress.” Sarah slid across the truck seat and leaned toward him. She would change her clothes if he insisted, but she’d make him sorry he asked.
“Eh … no. Whatever makes you comfortable,” he managed to say.
Sarah gave Asa a quick kiss before she moved back to her side of the truck. “Where’s your badge, Deputy?”
“Today I’m off duty,” he replied.
“Somehow I can’t see you serving black-eyed peas in a park, Deputy Canyon.”
“Oh? I’ll have you know that once I worked as a short-order cook in a club called the Lucky Nugget in Vegas.”
Sarah gave him her best “I don’t believe you” look. “What were you doing there? You don’t look like a gambler.”
“I’m not. I only take chances on myself.”
Sarah could believe that. Taking a chance was releasing control and she already knew that Deputy Asa Canyon was always in control of his own fate. “What did you cook?”
“Chili and beans, steaks, burgers.”
“Somehow I can’t visualize you behind a stove.”
“It didn’t last long.”
“What happened?”
“The manager fired me. He didn’t like my recipes.”
“What was wrong with them?”
“I used real meat in the burgers, and prime steaks on the grill. People started to eat instead of drink and gamble. Food wasn’t as profitable.”
“And cheaper cuts and more beans would never be acceptable for you, would they?”
“You got it, Sarah. If a man is going to do a thing, he ought to do it well. By the way, I picked up some spare lumber yesterday. I’ll make you another shelf or two in your pantry so that you can organize your food better.”
“Asa, I hate to tell you, but I don’t have that much to organize. I’m more into fast food. Since I don’t cook I don’t need to know where anything is, do I?”
Asa started to reply, then caught sight of her expression and concentrated on his driving. She couldn’t see the value in keeping her pantry in order, but he’d teach her. There were so many things he could share with her when she relaxed and stopped trying to be such a rebel.
When? What was he thinking? This woman would never be any more practical than she was now. She didn’t know how and wouldn’t want to be if she did. He didn’t know why he was even thinking along those lines. He didn’t even know why he was still here.
The Cobb sheriff’s department wasn’t where he belonged, at least not forever. He’d only taken the job because Jeanie had needed him. Now she was gone. Sooner or later he’d have to get back on track.
Sarah didn’t need him. Sarah wasn’t his responsibility. Sarah was a breath of fresh air, and bottled air lost its potency. He never wanted her to lose that special zest for life that she carried around like an aura.
This morning she was wearing a different perfume. It was crisp, lightly sweet, like the fragrance of a meadow of wildflowers. He could almost picture her in the springtime, in the mountains. She’d be standing by a running stream, surrounded by rhododendrons, waiting for … him.
By the time they parked in Asa’s reserved space at the sheriff’s department just off the courthouse square, Asa was wondering what he had started by inviting Sarah to come along. She couldn’t help but see this as a date. She couldn’t mistake his interest either.
Sarah hadn’t commented on being called for duty at the Sheriff’s booth. She wasn’t quite sure what Asa expected from the day. She finally decided that trying to formulate a plan that would please Asa was foolish. Even if she made one, she was unlikely to follow it.
By now Asa surely knew what kind of person she was. She couldn’t be something she wasn’t, and neither could he. Today would be a good test of whether or not their relationship could survive the outside world.
She gave a quick little sigh. Their relationship. Dare she even go that far? Yes, she decided, she could. And this was the start. Where they went from here, she couldn�
��t control and neither could Asa. They would just have to follow the winds of chance. Because, whether or not Asa wanted to admit it, they’d stirred up a whirlwind and every time they were together the intensity grew.
By two o’clock everybody in Cobb County had brought their plate for a ladle of the Sheriff’s special black-eyed peas. Sarah had added a chunk of hot cornbread and a greeting. More than one of the local ladies had come through for a second helping and an invitation for Asa Canyon to join them. He thanked each of them, then said he’d check with Sarah about attending. Once Sarah’s name got officially linked to Asa’s, Asa’s line shortened. Sarah’s friends kept on with the wisecracks and warm hellos.
“Do you really know everybody in the county, Sarah?”
“No, there are always a few newcomers. But sooner or later, I get to know most of them.”
Perspiration was running down Asa’s face. His eyes felt like they were filled with dry sand. For all practical purposes he hadn’t slept since he’d met Sarah Wilson. He didn’t know why he was standing out here in the sun serving peas when he ought to be finding the murderer of the vagrant they’d found last night in the county park.
The autopsy was underway now. Ballistics experts were checking the bullets that had been fired into the body before it was thrown in the lake. Fingerprints were being run through the FBI headquarters in Washington and the victim’s clothes were being examined in the lab. Until the reports were in, Asa had been instructed to man the pot of peas at the festival.
He finally figured out that part of his reservations was because he wasn’t doing his job, and part of them was because he was tired of sharing Sarah with the world.
“What’s wrong, Deputy? Are you hot?” Sarah had moved closer to Asa, concern marring her sunny expression.
His gaze followed a bead of perspiration trickling down her neck, rolling past her collarbone, disappearing into the body-hugging stretch top she was wearing.
“Yes, I’m very warm,” he said.
“Then I think it’s time we had a break. Hey, guys,” she called to the officers kibitzing behind them. “Time for a shift change.”
Silver Bracelets: A Loveswept Contemporary Classic Romance Page 8
