by Susan Shay
His seat was actually on the other side of Bella, where Drew sat. His father’s place card sat on the other side of Jazzy. Not bothering to look around, he rearranged the seating to his own satisfaction.
Just let someone say something about it. Anything at all.
Chapter Three
When they were finally all seated, he smiled at Jazzy. “You look gorgeous, Gypsy Dancer.”
She smiled, confident. “Not too shabby yourself, Doc. But I miss your holster and six shooter.”
The tension that had been growing along his shoulders vanished as he chuckled. “My mother always taught us boys not to take our revolvers to the table.”
“Your mother’s nice.”
He glanced to where his parents were chatting with another couple. “I think so, too. “
Jazzy tossed her head, sending her hair swirling around her shoulders. “We had a nice chat over coffee the other night.”
He took a deep breath, trying to catch the fragrance of her hair. Had it been fixed like that at the party? He didn’t remember it being that long. Ready for a little hands on—
Her words registered. “You had coffee the other night? With my mother? When?”
“A few nights after the Halloween party.” Jazzy’s smile broadened. “She came to a fashion show I narrated then invited me out for coffee. I really like her.”
Chase slid a glance toward his mother as he held Jazzy’s chair for her. How in the world had she known? With a light chuckle, he shook his head. The woman had radar when it came to her children. That was the only answer.
“What?” Jazzy asked as she lifted her gaze to his.
Again he shook his head. “I didn’t say that much about you. Any time I go to that type of function, she always asks if I’ve met any interesting women. I do my best to describe one or two to her so she won’t worry about me.”
Jazzy’s eyes sparkled as she laughed. “And I was the only one you met before you were called away?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged, trying not to look like too much of a loser. “I must have gone a little overboard, describing your costume. Or something. I didn’t want her to think I was totally oblivious.”
He glanced up with a scowl as Mack and Drew all but attacked the chairs directly across from them. “What are you two idiots doing?”
Drew blew him off with a typical laugh while he sat, but Mack planted an elbow on the table, rolled his eyes and leaned toward Jazzy. “He’s such an old man—has been since we were kids. If you want, I can move your place card so you’re over here, between the two sexy brothers in this family.”
Almost before he’d finished speaking, they heard a squawk. Carrie Everson, assistant to Judge Parker, the park administrator, rushed toward them. Wearing a dress that even Chase knew was years out of date, she propped her fists on her hips.
Her brown hair was pulled back by a clamp that sparkled as if it were covered with of every ounce of glitter from a Sunday school craft box. The hard shine of the clamp made her coloring even muddier, and with her hair skinned back, the length of her thin face was more apparent than usual. Her laugh, especially when near the judge, sounded like a neighing horse.
Wildly she flapped her hands in the air. “Have y’all lost your minds?”
What was she talking about?
When no one answered, she rammed her fists to her hips again. “You’re not supposed to sit there—the Honorable Dora Hanson is.” She bobbed the entire top half of her body toward Drew, whose mouth tightened and eyes widened in an effort not to laugh.
She stretched her already too long neck to look over him at Mack. “And Mrs. Hanson’s escort is supposed to sit there.”
Then she glanced at Chase’s side of the table and her mouth dropped. “You’re all messed up. Bella is the only one sitting where she’s supposed to. Chase, you should be next to her, and…and…”
Clearly too exasperated for words, she opened and closed her mouth several times. Finally she got a grip then made the mistake of stomping closer to Mack. “Move.”
****
I set down my glass of water when a woman started making a huge fuss about seating arrangements. Didn’t she know how stupid she looked doing that chicken imitation? And what an ass she was making of herself? After all, we’d paid a hundred dollars a plate to be there, with the possible exception of Dora Hanson and her escort, who were invited guests. What difference did it make where anyone sat?
Mack looked up at the woman and simply answered, “No.”
I almost burst my Spanx Power Panties right down the side.
Everything on the woman’s face opened—her eyes, her mouth, even her nostrils flared as far as they could. After a moment she regained control over her facial features, which would have looked better on a Shetland pony.
She started stomping her feet, first one then the other. If she hadn’t been dressed like something out of my college fashion history book, I might have been able to keep my amazement hidden. But she had on a full length pastel yellow shirtwaist dress with a self-belt, printed with long cords, keys and locks, and a box pleated skirt. No kidding—a box pleated skirt!
She must have had the turnout heavily starched just that morning, because as she marched, very little moved. Oh, the skirt swung with her, but the pleats barely expanded.
Then Mack did the unthinkable. He caught her by the wrist and tilted her onto his lap.
That’s when I lost it. And when I lost it, so did Chase, Bella and the rest of the table—even Dora Hanson, who’d taken a seat across from Doc’s parents.
The way the woman sputtered, you’d never have guessed she just been given one of the best seats in the house.
After extricating herself from his lap, she glared at him for a moment. Then seeing someone across the room, she threw her hand into the air and took off in that direction.
I sobered long enough to ask Doc, “Who’s that guy, hiding behind the white mustache?”
“That’s Judge Parker, administrator here at the zoo. He’ll calm Carrie down.”
“Judge Roy Parker?” I gasped playfully. “The hanging judge?”
With a half grin, he shook his head. “You’re thinking of Judge Roy Bean, down about Langtry, Texas. Judge Parker was the hanging judge, but he lived in Arkansas and his name was Isaac. “
I thought for a moment. “And what’s your judge Parker’s first name?”
His grin grew wider. “Judge.”
“What are you?” I asked, trying my best to sound sweet, which I never am. “Some kind of history buff as well as a veterinarian and geneticist?”
“Are you kidding? I almost failed history in school.” He slid down a bit in his chair. “I wondered the same thing you did, so I Googled him.”
Charmed by his wit, I had to remind myself he was a werewolf killer. How much did a man have to hate a species to dedicate his entire life to wiping it out? What could have happened to make him hate us so? A fang scarred girlfriend sometime in the past? A brush with one himself?
As if drawn by an invisible thread, Carrie followed the zoo administrator as he moved to the podium. He leaned toward the microphone until it squealed. “I’d like to thank y’all for comin’,” he said with a low-country drawl—the type that’s usually embellished. “Your support is what’s gonna make Safari Land a success. And I know it will be.”
He turned to the bird dancing woman, and spoke in her ear. Face flaming so red I thought it might explode, Carrie all but flew out of the room.
Judge Parker smiled affably at the crowd. “Just a little mix up there. Carrie will be right back, I’m sure.”
My mind wandered back to Doc and his research. How close was he to success? I could ask, but if I was too interested, he’d want to know why. He might even decide to do a little one-on-one eradicating. And I wasn’t nearly ready to take the taxi to that big shopping mall in the sky.
Judge started to look a little uneasy, standing at the podium without anything to say. The entire room knew the inst
ant he thought of something because his entire face lit up and his mouth dropped open as he sucked in a quiet “ah.” “Let me introduce a few notables tonight. At the head table is the honorable Dora Hanson, past governor of the fair state of Texas. Across from her are Doctors Bella Cannis and Chase Holliday, who we’re honoring.”
He went on around the room, introducing everyone who worked at the zoo. When he spoke, his mustache hid most of his mouth. If it hadn’t been for his chin bobbing up and down, I’d have thought it was a ventriloquist/dummy act. His matching eyebrows rose and fell like ocean waves. And when he was momentarily stumped for a name, he drove his hand through his hair, which made it stand on end.
Finally Carrie flew back into the room, skidding to a stop near Judge. He leaned away from the microphone again to tell her something. With her head bowed, she went to the nearest table and started handing out cards.
“Carrie is passing out volunteer cards for those of you who’d like to give more than just your dollars. They should have been at your plate when you got here.” He shot a scathing look at Carrie, who ducked her head even lower.
“If you’ll look at your card, you’ll see there are several areas where we could really use some help.” Then as if people who could afford to pay $100 for a meal couldn’t read, he started reading to us. “Docent—those are the people who can be counted on to give our visitors a tour of the facilities.”
Duh.
“Primates—monkeys. We can use some help in that area.” He looked up then one side of his mustache lifted as he gave us a half smile. “Those little guys can be a real handful.”
I expected the room to groan as I did, but most everyone chuckled politely. To keep from throwing something at him, I tapped my fingers on the table until Bella gave me a toe nudge to make me stop.
“Groundskeepers,” he continued. “Even though we’re a new facility, we already have problems with wild animals breaching our fences. Why, just the other night we had a wild wolf that wandered inside our compound. Put quite a scare into some of our people, too.”
I shifted in my seat and sent Bella a quick glance, but she gazed into space as if she weren’t listening.
Carrie came to our table last. She slapped cards down in front of us as if she were killing fire ants. When she reached past Mack, he ran a hand down her spine. She jerked erect as if she’d been zapped by a cattle prod. Rather than finish handing them out, she released them so they scattered across the table. With a nasty look at Mack, she turned on her heel and stalked back to her table.
The card was exactly as Judge had read it. There was no blank for filling in if you had another idea. So I reached for my bag, which was so tiny I’d had to decide between my lipstick pencil and my lip gloss when I left the house. I did have a miniature pen, thank goodness. After I filled in my name, address and phone number, I wrote the word, OVER across all the volunteer suggestions. On the back I wrote, “Veterinarian Clinic.”
Bella took my card before I could hide it from her. As she read, she lifted one eyebrow. “You gave them your office number?” she whispered.
“Well, yeah.” I lifted one shoulder in a shrug so she would know how important this was to me. “I keep the answering machine there turned on so I won’t miss the call.” As if my cell didn’t have voicemail.
“Right.” Bella knew me too well. “You just didn’t want to write down your mobile number where Norman might see it. And use it.”
“Do you blame me?” I murmured as I smiled pleasantly at the other people at our table.
Then she turned the card over. “The clinic? You want to help with sick animals?”
With a small frown, I nodded, trying to look as if her question hurt me. Deeply.
“You know there’s blood to clean up. And feces. And you have to actually deal with the animals. We don’t just pet kittens in there.”
“I know.” Wanting to be sure no one else could hear me, I leaned closer. “But I want to get into Doc’s lab. I need to know just how far he’s come with his research.”
“And you think you can do that while you’re volunteering?”
I nodded once. “If they want my help, I’m going where it will do me the most good. I’ll find out how far Doc is in his research…and I’ll see what, exactly, I can do about it.”
Bella frowned at me. “I’m not going to let you come in and destroy my career.”
I turned, looking her full in the face. “But you’d let him destroy me?”
She blinked hard as if fighting tears. “You know if he’d talk about it, I’d tell you. But he won’t. Not a word.”
****
I dreaded Bella’s talk as much as she had to. But when they brought the mystery meal, she ate hers as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Usually when she had a speech to make, she didn’t eat for the entire previous week. But tonight she ate, chatting with Doc’s brother or staring into space. What was it with her?
Finally they brought the dessert—pecan pie. Although she normally didn’t like pecan, she ate the entire piece. It was as if she were another person.
More than a little worried about my twin, I only ate a few of the nuts then shoved my plate away. Finally Doc got up to speak.
As he talked, I admired his blatant good looks and forgot all about my worries. Dark hair, a square jaw and broad shoulders were always a turn on for me, but a man who knew how to choose a tux and actually looked good in it finished me off like a short-on-minutes phone card and a long talk. While he spoke, he must have told a joke, because his eyes sparkled with mischief and everyone in the room chuckled.
That was when he focused on me. I forgot I was supposed to laugh. I may even have forgotten how to smile. It was all I could do to sit in that chair without sliding onto the floor. And talk about the buzz. It started up my spine, jumped to my shoulders and along my arms, and continued through all my bones, running in a stream throughout my entire body.
My first inclination was to drop my mouth open and pant, but I knew better. Instead I squeezed my hands tightly together under the table. I tried counting to get my mind off my body, but I kept losing my place. Every time he glanced my way, the buzz jolted up a notch and I lost the number I had in my head.
Finally his speech ended. During the applause, he looked only at me. Then he walked toward me and I knew in a matter of seconds he’d soon be in the chair next to mine.
I couldn’t breathe. The air that was supposed to go into my lungs was suddenly too thick to force inside. My heart pounded while I thought I would die from the lack of oxygen.
Then he was there next to me and I managed to force a wisp of air into my lungs. His father said something to him and his brothers laughed, but the buzz had reached my ears, making it hard for me to understand anyone’s words but his.
“Are you okay?” he murmured as he picked up his glass of water.
I nodded. Yeah, I was fine.
“Shh!” Spence hissed at us. “Bella’s going to speak. Now maybe we’ll hear something interesting.”
Doc smirked at him in a brotherly fashion. Spence shook his head then turned to watch Bella while he leaned on his fist, with his middle finger raised slightly above the rest.
Bella smiled brightly. The dress I’d helped her find, a black satin that could have been created for a twenties movie siren, gave her face a glow I hadn’t seen before. At least I assumed it was the dress making her sparkle. “I’d like to add my welcome to Safari Land tonight…”
She went directly to vet-speak, which numbed my brain like a shot of Novocain. Every now and then I heard a reference to “research” and “findings” until finally she said, “While we work very hard here, we also know how to play. To prove it, we’ve brought what we believe to be the best orchestra in Texas to play for you. And singing for us tonight is Dave Dorrell.”
The lights quickly dimmed to total darkness, accompanied by a loud gasp from several women and a few men, then at the opposite end of the room a light glowed softly, growing in intens
ity until we could see the small, twelve-piece orchestra. The music started and immediately swelled. Standing by himself in a puddle of light was a man with an easy smile. “‘I get no kick from champagne’…”
Doc’s mother got out of her chair. “Oh, Sam. I love that song.”
Spence walked quickly to Bella, whispered something to her, and led her onto the dance floor. They were followed by Sam and Beatrice. Mack even corralled Carrie and led her to the dance floor when Doc turned to me. “Did you enjoy the dinner?”
The music was magic. My breasts chafed against my clothing. My body pulsed in time to the hypnotic rhythm. My head was as fuzzy as if I had my hair shortened to a buzz cut. It was all I could do to keep from running my hand inside his jacket and across his chest so I could feel his heart beat against my palm. I wanted to feel his warmth, burning through me. I wanted to—
Oh, no. I was in heat.
It only happened once a year, and for me there was little regularity. But it was enough to kill a girl. With the swiftness of a fourteen-year-old boy, my sexuality turned hyperactive. I was attracted to tall, dominant males—and especially the good looking ones.
To say my body became sensitive to the touch put it mildly. I could feel it when a man looked at me. Knowing I was in trouble, I grabbed a glass of water and took a long drink.
What was I going to do? With a man as attentive and good looking as Doc sitting by me, I was in deep trouble. Just to be brutally honest, he could be the one in trouble. Left to my natural inclination, he would be.
The band started playing “The Very Thought of You” with Dave singing in his slightly gravelly voice.
“Come on.” Doc pulled me from my chair. I was tempted to wrap my arms around his neck right there next to the table, but I contained myself until we reached the dance floor.
When he put his arm around me with his hand on the small of my back, I slipped so close my breasts pressed against him. Then I glided my left hand up his arm and fitted my right palm against his. He tugged me even closer until my head nestled in the hollow of his shoulder.
