Tempting the Ringmaster (A Big Top Romance)

by Aleah Barley

  All of his self-control had gone straight out the window. He’d been willing to risk everything, including the responsible reputation he’d spent so many years building, for just one touch.

  Did she know what the kiss had meant for him? Or, had the importance slipped past her with the excitement of the elephant?

  “It seems to have worked,” Marta said. “You went and nabbed her when you got the call. That’s pretty smart work for a Tyler.”

  “Belle was with me when I got the call.”

  “With you?” Marta wiggled an eyebrow dramatically. “Like, with you?”

  “With me,” Graham let it slip before he could stop himself. Belle had almost given him a heart attack when she’d told Theresa that they were on a date, but he could have handled the fallout. The waitress was young and impressionable, easily mistaken.

  Marta was sharp as a tack, and she had a direct hook up to Buck Falls gossip pipeline. The news that he’d been hanging around with a sexy circus performer in a short dress would be all over town in a matter of hours.

  There’d be hell to pay. His father… Tiffany… they’d all want to know exactly what was going on, and they wouldn’t be pleased.

  What if someone told Trevor? He grimaced at the thought of his nephew’s questions.

  Belle was only a one night stand—her position with the traveling show meant she could only ever be a one night stand—but he wasn’t sure how to explain the concept to a seven-year-old.

  “Good to hear.” Marta slapped him on the arm. “It’s about time you started dating again.” She turned and started to shuffle back towards the house. “I’m going to go put the kettle on. When you’ve got Tiny settled, you can come back for tea. I expect to hear all about it. And,” she cackled wickedly, “if you don’t stop by, I’ll just have to make everything up.”

  Belle waited until Marta’s door was firmly closed behind her before letting out a long breath. “I thought I had problems with the clowns, but—”

  “Want to trade?”

  “Not for all the herbal tea in Buck Falls.”

  “Marta’s not your problem. Tiny is.”

  The elephant had returned to the flower garden. It was eating something pink. Graham hoped it wasn’t an azalea.

  “What are we going to do with her?”

  Belle shrugged. “Don’t you have some form of animal control in this town? Call the dog catcher.”

  “The dog catcher’s name is Ernie Pyle. He’s eighty-six years old, and he threw out his back catching kittens last spring. He refuses to retire.” Graham took a deep breath. “You’re going to need to take her.”

  * * *

  “I can’t have an elephant hanging around the circus. I don’t have the experience, the permits, or the insurance.” Every elephant Belle had ever seen had traveled in a specially tricked out semi-truck. She didn’t have the money to spend on that kind of equipment, and she didn’t have the time to come up with a better solution.

  The circus was only supposed to be in town for the weekend, just enough time for four performances: Friday night, Saturday night, and twice on Sunday.

  “We can’t take her,” Belle insisted. “You’ll have to find another option”

  “You mean someone else in town with experience wrangling elephants? I’ll get right on that…Trust me, I know every man, woman, and child in Buck Falls. The closest any of them have come to seeing an elephant is the fifth grade field trip to the Detroit zoo.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “You’re the only option.”

  “It’s impossible. The circus is leaving first thing Monday morning.” As soon as she figured out where they were going next. “We can’t take her with us.”

  “Stay,” Graham said.

  One word that made her gut clench and her stomach churn. She sucked in a breath. He wanted her to stay?

  “Just for a few weeks,” he continued, and Belle’s heart resumed beating. He didn’t want her after all. He just needed someone to babysit the elephant.

  He didn’t have a choice.

  “I’m not running a charitable organization,” Belle said.

  She’d be lucky if the circus made it through the lean season the way things were. The half dozen places she’d reached out to—looking for a place to spend the winter—had all gotten back to her with lot quotes that far exceeded her ability to pay. She couldn’t waste money hanging around the middle-of-nowhere.

  “The shows this weekend will cover the lot rent, put a little extra in our pockets, but there aren’t enough people around here for anything more than that. I won’t dig into my savings to pay for another week at the fairgrounds.”

  Graham raised an eyebrow. “You think it’ll take an entire week for you to find a place for Tiny?”

  “At least one. Maybe more.” She didn’t know much about rehoming stray elephants, but she couldn’t imagine it was something easily accomplished; otherwise Tiny’s owner wouldn’t have just dropped her off in the middle of the night. “I can’t afford it.”

  “What if I got the fairground rent fee waived?”

  “I thought you wanted us gone.”

  “Sweetheart, nothing would give me more pleasure than to see your tires hit the road, but I’m between an elephant and a hard place. If you don’t take Tiny, she’s going to end up in my garage. Poking around in my things. You really want to be responsible, when she starts huffing gasoline?”

  It would almost be worth extending their stay, just to keep that disgruntled expression on Graham’s face. It was about time he learned that he couldn’t control everything.

  Belle crossed her arms in front of her chest thoughtfully. “You said something about free rent?”

  “My aunt’s on the committee that runs the fairgrounds. I could probably get her to let you stay there for another week. Maybe two,” he said begrudgingly.

  Two weeks of free rent was a nice offer. Belle forced her expression to remain calm.

  She considered the downside. Staying at the fairground would mean staying in Michigan—in October—which would mean listening to a never-ending flood of complaints about the cold and the rain.

  What if it snowed before they made their next jump? She’d only ever moved the circus twice during a snowstorm—once when her father had insisted they perform at a spring festival in Maine and once during a freak September blizzard in Indiana—and neither time had been pleasant.

  Staying in Michigan could be a disaster.

  It could also be the break that the circus needed to make it through the winter. Two week's rent wasn’t much of an emergency fund, but it was more than she had. If she was lucky, she might even be able to extend his invitation even further. If they could stay for two weeks then why not three? Why not make it a month? Her heart beat double time at the thought.

  “Free rent, and none of my people get arrested.”

  “I can’t make that promise, Belle. If someone does something wrong then—“

  “For the fight,” she hurried to correct herself. “None of my people gets arrested for fighting with you last night.”

  It hadn’t been a fight. It had been a beating. It would serve the clowns right if he came back with warrants for every single one of them.

  Unfortunately, she couldn’t let that happen.

  “Done.” Graham nodded.

  “Good.” Belle began to rummage through her pockets, looking for her cell phone. “My lot manager has some experience with elephants. I’ll give him a call.” She checked the time on her watch then double-checked it on her cell phone just to be sure. It was later than she’d thought—close to eleven o’clock—the time had flown by.

  “This is only a temporary situation,” she warned the policeman. “Elephants are wild animals. They belong in the wild.”

  “Somebody taught her how to dance. I don’t think she’s going back to Asia.”

  “No, but she could go to a zoo or a rescue, someplace with space for her too run around.” Belle dialed Frank’s number from memory, not wait
ing for him to say hello when the line clicked on: “Frank, you’re not going to believe this.”

  She took a few minutes to explain the situation, and then a few more minutes to reassure the old man that some towns person hadn’t slipped a mickey in her drink while she was out.

  She wasn’t hallucinating.

  It really was an elephant.

  When she was done explaining, she stabbed the end button on her phone and slid the device back into her pocket.

  “He’s on his way,” she told Graham before turning slightly to look out at the quiet pastureland.

  The city of Buck Falls was larger than she’d originally thought. There’d been all sorts of buildings in town—including places that had clearly been built in the last ten years—but out near the town line she could almost imagine what the place had been like a hundred years ago when their major industry was still agriculture.

  Farmland stretched out in every direction, worked by people who’d grown up on the land, people whose families had real roots in the community, living in the same place forever until the soil colored their blood.

  “Which house is yours?” she asked.

  Graham shifted slightly, clearly not wanting to turn his back on the elephant.

  “There,” he squinted slightly, pointing into the darkness. “That one with all the lights on is mine. It’s got a ton of land. I rent some to one of my neighbors to run his cows on. The rest is apple trees. I’m not much of a farmer—the orchard was there when I moved in—but it’s something else in the summer time. All those blossoms, in September, the air smells so damn sweet. This year, my sister-in-law says she is going to pick them all for cider, apple sauce, that sort of thing. She’s made a pretty good showing of it so far.”

  Belle stared across the long stretch of darkness, past a crowd of trees, towards the gnarled farmhouse with the flickering lights. It had probably started out pretty enough, but somewhere over the years people had stopped paying attention to design and started sticking additions on every which way. There was a part that almost looked like a castle—stone, with a turret stuck on the side that would keep Petra occupied for days—but most of it was wood.

  It wasn’t the kind of mess that got built overnight. Something like that took generations.

  “Let me guess,” she said. “It’s the house you grew up in. You lived there all your life? Your parents, your grandparents—“

  “My family’s place is in the center of town. It’s a center hall colonial. I bought the farmhouse when I got back to town eight years ago.”

  Belle blinked of surprise. “When you got back to town? Where were you?”

  The way Graham talked about Buck Falls, Belle had figured that he’d never left the county. There was no answer.

  “College?” she guessed, but he wasn’t that young… not unless he’d gone to graduate school afterwards. “Prison?”

  “Nothing like that.” Graham coughed. “I—uh—did some traveling when I was younger. Bummed around for a couple of years. Joined the Navy.”

  The navy. That explained the tattoo she’d seen on his hipbone the night before. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember. She’d been slightly distracted at the time—by his ripped abs and his gun—but she seemed to recall an anchor and an eagle.

  He hadn’t been just any seaman. He’d been a Navy SEAL.

  “You wanted to fight the good fight?”

  “Not really.” He shrugged. “Not at first. When I was young, I was pretty wild. I couldn’t wait to get out of town. So, I went to college. I partied every night and slept with the entire cheerleading team. The summer after I graduated, I took off and ended up in New York City. You ever been there?”

  “I’ve been everywhere.” She’d never left the country, not like someone who’d been in the Navy. She corrected herself hurriedly, “I’ve been all over the United States.”

  “New York’s a great city, but it can be rough. I was looking for trouble, and—by god—I found it. My first month there I got in a new fight every night. I spent my second month drunk. I think. I don’t really remember. My third month, I joined the navy. I wanted to see the world, to meet interesting people.” There was a slight pause. “I never wanted to come back here.”

  “What happened?”

  “Things changed,” his words slowed, like he was picking and choosing what to tell her. “My sister-in-law got pregnant. The chief of police was thinking about retirement. The farm was for sale. I came back and got a degree in criminal justice.”

  Right. Belle frowned. They had more in common than she’d thought. They’d both left home when they were younger—looking for something more than they had—and they’d both come back.

  Only, Graham’s friends and family had welcomed him with open arms. They brought him freaking casserole and lemon bars.

  The closest she’d get to a pastry at the circus would be a pie to the face.

  “Sounds like everything worked out perfectly.”

  “Nothing’s perfect, but it’s pretty good.” His hand darted out to grip her wrist in the darkness. There was a moment’s pause, with only the sound of a happily munching elephant to interrupt the silence. “I know this is a little much… you’re going to have to forgive me. I haven’t gone on many dates since I left the Navy, I’m a little rusty.”

  “How many is not many?”

  “You’re the first.”

  Oh, damn. Belle couldn’t breathe or think, not with wave after wave of lust and desire rushing underneath her skin.

  This was not a good idea. She did not belong with this man.

  He was a cop—for goodness sakes—a fine upstanding policeman with a family and a place in the community. She was only in town for two weeks—at the most—and then the circus was heading off to greener pastures… Wherever that might be.

  They didn’t belong on a date together. They didn’t even belong on the same planet together. They came from two different worlds, and that’s where they belonged.

  And if Graham’s touch sent a sizzle down her spine unlike anything she’d ever felt? It was probably just a result of too many hormones and too little sex. She’d have the same reaction to any stud with high cheekbones, a determined jaw, and pale blue eyes that seemed to pierce her soul.

  Nothing to worry about.

  It was only ever supposed to be one night.

  Tomorrow, she’d find someone else to make out with, someone more her speed, someone she wouldn’t leave behind when the circus made its next jump.

  Someone like Blue, the circus’s fire breather and safety chief, he was totally hot. She’d always thought of him more like a brother—or a relatively close cousin—then a potential life partner, but things could change.

  She mentally drew up a picture of the safety chief; tall and handsome, with the kind of broad shoulders that would make most women swoon. She tried to picture herself kissing him.

  Okay, not Blue, but there had to be someone else. Anyone else.

  And then Graham Tyler did something completely unimaginable; he kissed her. His mouth moved hot against her lips as his hands gripped her hips and pulled her in tight. Her knees went week and all thoughts of finding another man evaporated into thin air.

  She didn’t want anyone else.

  She wanted Graham.

  “Everything’s going to be alright,” he promised, and for one long moment she actually believed him.

  The rumble of a truck on the road interrupted their kisses. The vehicle parked back near Graham’s patrol car, and Frank got out. The old man grumbled to himself as he moseyed down into the yard, nattering on about fool circus owners who couldn’t tell the difference between cows and elephants.

  Then he saw Tiny.

  “Damn.” He put a hand to his head, adjusting his old woolen watch cap. “She got a name?”

  “I’ve been calling her Tiny.” Belle separated herself from Graham before the lot manager could see them together. “She seems to like azaleas.”

  “I don’t sup
pose she’ll fit in my truck,” Frank said. “But I’ve got some carrots in the back. You know if she’s trained?”

  “She dances on command.”

  “Good, then I can tell you what to say to coax her along back to the circus.” Frank turned slightly towards Graham. “We’ve got it all covered. You can go.”

  “Right.” The police chief shifted back and forth uncomfortably, like a school boy breaking in new shoes. He looked down at Belle, his lips turning into a slight frown like he wanted to say something—or do something—but he wasn’t sure how. “I’ll see you again soon?”

  “Ha!” Frank laughed. “Vacation’s over. We’ve got a show to put on tomorrow. No more lollygagging and flitting off for fancy dinners. It’s time to get back to work.”

  The old man was right. It was time to say goodbye to Graham Tyler and his breath stopping kisses. Belle had things to do, promises to keep, and elephants to handle. “It was a wonderful night.”

  Graham nodded, and a moment later he was gone.

  Chapter Five

  “Step right up! Step right up! Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys!” The circus’s barker roared. “Children of all ages! Get your tickets now to see the most marvelous show on earth. Barnaby—I mean—Belle Black’s Black Shadow Circus.”

  The big man pirouetted through the crowd in a pair of slinky yellow pants and a matching pinstriped vest. The hat perched on top of his head tumbled off every so often, but it never reached the ground as he skillfully manipulated it back onto his head.

  Trevor’s eyes were the size of dinner plates. When Graham’s nephew had asked if they could go to the circus that afternoon, the police chief hadn’t been able to think of a single logical reason why not. Especially when his nephew looked up at him with those big blue eyes—just like his mother—and that crooked smile on his face—just like his father.

  Graham should have tried harder.

  If looks could kill, he’d have been dead several times over on the way from the parking lot.