by Lass Small
“I wonder if anyone will ever be able to drive it again.” She was woeful.
And he comforted her, “It’d just gotten a little wet. Nothing fell on it or battered it.”
“Oh.”
Then he changed the subject with some determination. “Would you like some more tortillas?”
She was hesitant. “Do you know that Goldilocks hasn’t ever given us tortillas for breakfast?”
He was solemn. “Your family has been deprived. You’re in for a treat.”
The egg was fried solid so nothing could leak, and the bacon was crisp. Lauren eyed the chili sauce with some hesitation, but Kyle was cautious with the neophyte. He rolled the ingredients into the hot tortilla, and handed it to Lauren.
It was delicious.
She had, for Pete’s sake, three of the combination. It was a good thing the storm was past. She was free to leave.
She glanced over at Kyle.
He was watching her with serious eyes.
The rising sun was determined to show through the tiny holes in the eastern, disintegrating clouds. How TEXAS of it.
She went to the back door and opened it. It was cool outside. Not the bitter storm cold, but just cool. The breeze was determinedly balmy. She saw it was having an effect on the snow. So soon. The snow would be melted by the end of that very day.
How sobering. How could she claim to be trapped there without any snow? Of course. She didn’t have her car. She turned to Kyle. “Does your car work?”
He thought of the gem in the shed. “No. Something went wrong, and I’ve been trying to figure it out.”
“I’ll call Goldilocks.”
“I don’t think they’ve fixed all the lines yet. It’s being called the Storm of the Century.”
“Goldilocks said that.”
“Want another tortilla? I made a batch.”
“I would like to be able to stand up and to try to walk a little. What with one thing—” him “—and another—” the food “—I find walking rather odd.”
“I’ll carry you. Where do you want to go?”
She smiled on him. And a brief sunbeam came into the room. It had been there for a while; he just thought it was her smile that had brightened the room.
From the other side of the table, he asked her very nicely, “Will you marry me?”
“You’ll have to ask Daddy first. I’ve already told you that.”
Being a pushy, obstinate man, he pushed, “But are you willing?”
“I suppose that would enter in. I do like you. I love the way you use my body and-”
He sighed. “That’s just sex.”
“We probably need to see if we rub nicely in other ways.”
His eyes were vivid. “How?”
She chided, “I was speaking of parties, lunches, golf, that sort of thing.”
“I’m lousy at golf. I can’t find any real reason to follow a ball around a mowed land with cups—hidden—here and there.”
“People play golf so that they can bond.”
“I suppose.”
“If golf doesn’t grab you, what does?”
“Rodeos.”
“Those are absolutely dangerous. I forbid you participating in such madness!”
He loved it. “Well, okay.”
She brightened. “Promise?”
He was careful to appear reluctant. “Okay.”
She leaned to him and kissed his ch- Mouth! He was quick! She said, “You darling! I know it would be tough for you, but I am so glad you understand. If you were hurt, I’d be upset.”
So would she be…upset. He hadn’t been in a rodeo since he was twenty-five and finally realized binding the horses and bulls thataway was mean and what he was doing was a tad stupid!
But she didn’t know that and she smiled so tenderly at him that he had to get up and scoop her from the chair and sit down with her on his lap. That dumb Homer was vividly alert, but Kyle was in control.
Kyle was no dog. He was a good man.
He said, “I haven’t had much experience with daddies. How do I approach yours?”
“We need to know each other better.”
“That again.” He sighed dramatically.
That was when she became serious about him. There had been his care and tolerance of the dog. His care and tolerance of her. His intent attention. His willingness.
She would have to know how he was when he wasn’t so hungry for her. She would have to see how he was with her family. With her friends. And she said, “We need to know each other better. Three days in a snowstorm are too unique. We need some normal time.”
Dramatically, he put his hands into his hair and leaned over as if in pain as he said, “I knew it! You are a stickler!”
She loved it.
“What would your mama think if you took me home to her and said, ‘This is my old lady.’“
And Kyle replied kindly, “She’d say, ‘Thank the Lord he’s legit.’“
She tilted her head, squeezing her lips into a bud to keep from laughing. She managed to comment quite steadily, “She knows you.”
“She’s been after me to get married ever since I was about sixteen.”
“Sixteen!”
“She wanted me out of the house, legit. She couldn’t run me out—to get rid of me—and not have everybody know she was fed up with me. Any female knowing all that just might hesitate getting involved with me.”
“What…all…were you doing?”
He was open and honest. “Being reasonable. She was a dictator. She wanted us to do things right then and we had other things to do. She didn’t understand anything at all.”
“Like—?”
“The pin ball machines, girls, the computer dungeons and dragons—”
“Yes.” She was compassionate.
“And what she wanted was shoveling out the barn and cleaning out the well and things like that there.”
“Mothers are insensitive.”
“My dad sent me to sea for a year when I got to be twenty and decided to run my life my way.”
“Did it work?”
“Yeah. How would we be with children?” And he waited for her reply.
She honestly considered for a while. And he allowed her the time. Then she slowly replied, “Probably just like our parents.”
He nodded soberly. “Just lately, I’ve noticed some of my dad’s thinking mixed in with my own. His logic pushes right into my head and takes control! It is the weirdest thing I’ve ever experienced.”
She sighed. “I’m more like Goldilocks.”
“I’ve got to meet her and see what I could be getting into.”
“Ah-HAH!” she ah-hahed. “I knew it! You’re sexually tired and now you’re backing out!”
He shrugged. “My sex-cleared brain has mentioned there’s more to rubbing together than just sex.”
She laughed.
If ever there’d been any question in his mind, that one response of hers would have washed such away.
Then he mentioned in a warning, “Your daddy could pull me through a knothole.”
“Pay him no never mind. Seeing him is just a courtesy. Just don’t argue with him. He can outargue anybody. Tell him what you want him to know, and don’t tell him everything he wants to know. Don’t bare your soul. Just let him know we’re interested in each other.
“And for Pete’s sake, don’t tell him we’ve known each other…intimately. It’s none of his business. If Daddy knew, he’d go through all his closets and the attic looking for the gun. It was really Mama’s Alamo ancestors. She should have given it to the museum some long time ago. It’s in mint condition. It works, if you have the correct loading materials.
“My daddy’s people were out west and heard about the Siege of the Alamo. That great-granddad brought his two sons riding in. The war was over by the time they had heard and could get there but it was night when they did get to the Alamo. A nervous Mexican had given up his arms but his had a lance. As horseriding men came
through his area, the Mexican threw the lance at them and hit my great-granddaddy, who was eighteen at the time.”
And she sighed as she added, “Isn’t it baffling how wars never seem to solve anything?”
He was serious. “Maybe it’s an implant-population control solution.” And he inquired, “What else do you think about when you’re alone and bored?”
She considered. “It depends on why I’m alone and bored.”
“Does it happen often?”
She supplied, “Waiting for my sister who is always late. She can’t figure out what to wear.”
“One of my brothers has a wife who’s like that.”
And they talked about all sorts of things. They gave opinions and found they could be on opposite sides without being hostile. They found they mostly agreed. They grinned at each other.
They watched the taggle ends of the storm leave them.
They didn’t mention the fact that the storm was leaving, they tried to distract each other from knowing. Recognizing that fact would mean the end of their time together. That magical three days of Paradise. She would have no reason to stay. And he had chores.
Then some of his crew came back. They were in the barnyard, noisy and tired. Kyle had to go out and talk to them.
At some distance back from the window, Lauren watched as Kyle met with the other men. They looked at the house. They leaned forward to hear what he said, but they kept looking at the house. Kyle was talking about her.
The men were curious. Kyle was gesturing to the barn and on beyond to the hill where their quarters were. He was telling them to go get some sleep.
Well, he was telling them to go someplace else, not to the house.
Lauren was thankful for that much. It was bad enough to be caught in a house alone three days with a man, and nobody else was anywhere around. They’d know she had to have been there since just before the storm had hit. There’d been no other way for her to get there through the snow.
She’d been in that house—with Kyle—for three days. Three whole, almost entire days.
The men would wonder about what all they had—done—together.
And how could she not blush and be cool like she’d not been fooling around with the man who had been with her? How could she handle it?
Probably not at all well. And she couldn’t face them with calm coolness. She’d blush. She was grateful Kyle was smart enough to funnel the men off to their quarters.
Men gossip.
Men tell things to other men and her daddy would be hearing about all this in probably just something like fifteen more minutes! Just watch. The phone would start ringing there at Kyle’s. And all sorts of people would be saying, “Uh, is Lauren Davie there?”
And her daddy would probably be at least the second call. He’d more than likely be the firstAnd the phone rang!
It had begun.
Lauren’s face was stark. She felt the blood all drain down into her feet. That would probably burst her shoes. And more than likely, with her blood all in her feet, she would probably faint.
How would Kyle react to her white, bloodless body, and scarlet feet, lying on his kitchen floor?
He’d probably take her out and bury her on the plain where he found her. That way, he wouldn’t have to cope with explanations.
The phone finally quit.
Kyle walked different as he came back to the house. The only description she could find was that he appeared cocky. Well, he was certainly that.
She didn’t open the door for him. It was enough that he’d told the men she was there. If she then had the door open for him, they’d think she was his slave…already.
Of course, she was not his slave. Not in any way. She was her own independent self.
Kyle came into the house, and she stood across the room and said nothing.
He told her, “We lost a cow somehow. Nobody can find her. All the other beeves had a nice walk and are coming back with the rest of the crew. They’ll look for the cow along the way.”
Seriously TEXAN, she stated, “In that storm, only one cow lost is not a bad deal.”
“Every creature is precious.” Kyle was steadily watching her.
“I need to go home.”
“Your car can be delivered here. I’ll call the garage.”
Watching him earnestly, she said, “I appreciate the fact that you were smart enough to call them. Thank you.” She did not want it delivered there. It would make it so blatant where she’d been for three days. She asked her host, “Is it at all possible for you to take me to my car?”
He was very serious. “I’d be honored. You left your keys in the car.”
She admitted it in a convoluted manner, “I hadn’t thought I’d not be right back.”
He nodded seriously, “People tend to think that way. How soon are you coming back here?”
She lowered her lashes. He figured she was going to lie. He waited, watching her.
She told Kyle, “I have to check in at home. Could you come to dinner on Friday?”
His smile was slow but it was such a wonderful beaming look. “I would be honored.”
“It’ll be ghastly for you,” she told him earnestly, shaking her head. “I’ll have to mention where I’ve been these three days and how I’ve come to know you. They’ll all be so curious about you.”
He grinned. “Tell them about knowing me when I was in your court, back then, at the Fiesta. We’re old acquaintances.”
Her eyes opened and she looked at him as if he was a genius and not the sly dog he actually was. She said, “Good thinking. I’ll do that.”
He got his car from the shed and drove it around to the front door of the house. He had a hard time opening the front door because nobody ever used it. But the front door was on the other side of the house and he didn’t want the yahoos out behind there to be straining their necks to get a glimpse of her.
As they drove along toward the garage, it was without much conversation. And she wondered if the magic was gone for them. Would reality ruin what they’d had?
What, exactly, had they had? They’d taken a lot of time to introduce her into the varieties of sex. It had been a crash course. Fast, quick, intense and multiple specific lessons.
She looked over at Kyle. It had been remarkable. He was so sweet. The whole three days, he’d been so darling. He could still walk.
Think of her being alone with him all that while. How had her guardian managed it? And her guardian made a really snotty sound in her ear.
So the cosmic happening hadn’t been the maneuverings of her guardian after all. Who had been responsible? What brilliant spirits had contrived for Kyle to find and rescue her in those awful, potentially tragic circumstances? Without him, she could have eventually frozen to death.
And her guardian admitted to that part.
Lauren looked over at the skillfully driving Kyle. “Have I thanked you for saving my neck? God only knows what would have happened to me if you hadn’t found- I forgot to get the pod! It’s still on the table!”
He reacted with a perfect surprise. “Well, I could bring it into town the next time I come.”
“On Friday?”
“If I bring you the pod, your parents could well inquire how I managed to get it.”
“Uh-oh.”
“We’ll think of something.” And he smiled at her. If she hadn’t seen the wickedness in his eyes, he would have looked benign and helpful. He had deliberately not reminded her of the pod.
Ten
Kyle drove Lauren along the road that led from his house. He instructed her in exactly where she was, so that she could come back to him. If she would. Now that she’d had a wild sexual experience from a skilled man—and liked it—would she go berserk or would she feel attached to him?
Since Lauren would pick up her own car at the garage, at the crossroads, there was no reason for Kyle to follow her home. But before they got to the garage, he pulled onto a weedy, two rutted, side track and stopped. He sat ba
ck and quite seriously looked over at her and said, “You haven’t thanked me properly for saving your neck.”
And she sassed, “I’ve done nothing else! I’ve been on my back every single minute, just about.”
“You ate, sitting at the table.”
“On a pillow,” she reminded him prissily.
“I was being courteous and kind.”
She grinned at him. “You’ve been an attentive host. You will note the word?”
“Did you want to be ignored?”
She shook her head.
He said, “I’m going to miss you.”
“Come see me.”
He coaxed unfairly, “Why don’t you just stay out here, with me?”
“My momma would have a conniption fit.”
“What’s gonna happen to you and me?”
She did ask, “You’ll come to dinner on Friday of next week?”
“I’ll be there. What time?”
“Papa always eats exactly at six. He’s a pain in Momma’s neck.”
So Kyle looked off in the considering way of men, and he said musingly, “I can see eating at six.”
“It’s an uncouth hour.”
His voice was smoky as he told her, “With you, no hour is uncouth.”
“Your compliment was smooth and just right.” She nodded and her face was smug.
He promised, “I’ll try to remember what all my momma tried to grind into my head all those early years ago.”
“I know of your momma and your sisters. I was too young for them at that time. Now, we might be friends.”
“They’ll love you.” He smiled at her. “Or I’ll break their necks.”
“My family will take up with you like you’ve lived in our bosom all of our lives.”
He said thoughtfully nodding, “I can handle bosoms.”
“Watch it.”
“I do. I do.” But his wicked eyes laughed at her. He was so amused by his teasing.
Earnestly, Lauren told Kyle, “The only one you have to watch out for is my daddy. He’s just so hard-nosed and difficult and dictatorial. I don’t see how momma has ever put up with him all these years.”
