Drive-By Daddy & Calamity Jo

by Cheryl Anne Porter

  That voice washed over her in a warm, resonant wave. “Why, Miss Quillan, thank you, but no, I’m only telling my friends about the strategies I’ve picked up over the years.” His gaze traveled over her obviously checking out the V-neck of her sweater and the swell of her breasts.

  Darn, she thought. Case had been right. Remembering Case made her focus on why she was there.

  “There is a subject, though, that I’ve studied in great detail,” he said, giving them all a serious look.

  Jo’s familiar tingle ran up her arms. Uh-oh, she thought. Here comes the pitch.

  “It’s called cosmogony and it’s a pure science, one that other scientists have ignored.”

  So now he was a scientist? Interesting, but she still didn’t quite catch on to how it tied in with his Way of the Unbroken Man and his investment counseling, or why it held such appeal for Charlotte, who seemed to be responsible in large part for the big crowd tonight.

  He continued to talk. Jo found herself so caught up in it that she forgot to be wary. For a few seconds his whole idea of earth and space seemed to make sense. It wasn’t until after he stopped talking that she wondered what he’d actually said. Trying to pin down the truth and the science in his ideas was like trying to hold a soap bubble in place by driving a nail through it.

  The others gathered around seemed to feel none of her qualms. Somehow he’d managed to say something that would be of interest to some of the ladies. Many of the true eccentrics had interests in science, though they usually skewed the facts to suit themselves and their own theories and they preferred to be the ones on the giving end of scientific information. In fact, they insisted on it.

  “I’m having a meeting for my new friends at my house tomorrow evening. Anyone who would like to come is welcome.” He beamed that two-hundred-watt smile at them all.

  Many of the women nodded to each other and began making plans to attend as they walked away. Freida and Charlotte departed as well, though somewhat reluctantly, leaving Jo and Harold standing with Martha and Jo’s aunt Millie on the front steps of the building.

  Martha looked at her two friends and said, “Jo, Millie, maybe you should write up an article for the paper about the meeting.”

  Beside her, Jo saw Harold start visibly.

  Millie said, “I’m afraid it’s too late for the Ingot this week, Martha.”

  Harold recovered himself smoothly and asked, “The paper?”

  Jo could tell that he wanted to sound interested, mildly amused, but she heard a note of worry in his tone. She tried to smile in a reassuring way while thinking, Yeah, buddy, you should be worried.

  “Millie and her husband publish it and Jo is their star reporter,” Martha said, beaming at her young friend. “Why, it was only last week that she wrote an excellent report on the repairs to the high-school roof.”

  Smiling weakly, Jo said, “Thanks, Millie. I’m glad you liked it.”

  Harold looked at her as if he’d just received a gift. The edge of worry in his voice melted away. That all-enveloping smile of his reached out to wrap around her. “You write about local happenings, then? How sweet.”

  Sweet? It was on the tip of Jo’s tongue to say that she was on the verge of a career as a hard-news reporter, that she was going to blow the lid off stories that would rock the world of journalism. However, she thought better of it when she recalled that he was the story she was currently working on.

  Instead, she gave him a fatuous smile and tried an out on him. “I try,” she said, simpering the tiniest bit.

  Martha and Millie exchanged puzzled glances while Harold gave her a long, slow look, all but licking his chops as he examined her. Jo did her best not to shudder too visibly.

  “Perhaps you’d allow me to take you to dinner tomorrow evening before the meeting at my house?” Harold suggested. “I would love to hear all about your little job.” He took her hand again. “Although I doubt that you’ll want to write about me and my humble efforts to help people find the truth in themselves and their place in the universe.” The heat in his eyes willed it to be so.

  Jo almost spat the words “little job” right back at him, but thought better of it. He was very anxious to make sure she didn’t write about him and he thought he could charm her into agreeing with him. That was a challenge she couldn’t ignore. Before she could respond, she heard a soft, deep voice behind her shoulder. “You ready to go home, Jo?”

  She glanced around, and then down. Case stood on the steps below her, looking up with adoration in his eyes.

  Uh-oh, she thought. He was in doofus mode again. How did he make that killer jaw of his go slack like that? And that vacant look in his eyes clearly said, “nobody’s home.”

  He ducked his head and asked, “Are you ready, Jo?”

  Knowing she had to play along with this, she finally found her voice. “Yes, Case, I am.”

  To gather her thoughts and stall for time, she introduced him to Martha and Millie.

  He came up the steps eagerly, gave them a toothy grin, and his sack-of-wet-laundry handshake as if he was pathetically grateful for any crumb of attention.

  This guy is wasted as an investigator, Jo thought. He should be an actor.

  “Well,” Case said, doing that chicken-pecking-for-grain dip again. “I’m here to walk Jo home. I mean, if that’s all right. You know, a beautiful girl like you shouldn’t be out by yourself.”

  No kidding, she thought. Not with guys like you running around.

  “Now see there, Jo,” her aunt broke in with a beaming smile. “You don’t have to worry about no one wanting you, not with two nice men like this begging for your attention. I know you loved Steve and he broke your heart by dumping you the other night at the Copper Pot, but you can’t stew about it. You’re still young and beautiful.”

  “Thanks, Aunt Millie,” Jo said weakly. She looked from Millie’s loving smile to Martha’s interested eyes, to Harold’s speculative expression, then back to Case’s vapid and adoring gaze. Get me out of here, she thought.

  Harold pushed himself forward and took her hand. Once again she was on the receiving end of his intense blue gaze. “Shall we say tomorrow evening for dinner at the Lotus Blossom? I hear the food there is exceptional.”

  “Yeah,” Case broke in. “Especially their barbecue.”

  Harold gave him a look that asked why this goof was interrupting, but the good-natured blankness of Case’s smile seemed to reassure him. He turned his attention back to Jo and he took her hand once again, pressing it to show her how interested he was.

  Her smile felt frozen. What kind of signal was Case trying to give her? Should she go out with this guy? Was she willing to do so only to get a story? What if he had more on his mind than talking about investments? It was obvious he did. Oh, help. She took a deep breath and hoped she was doing the right thing.

  “I’d love to, Dr. Purdy,” she said, tittering brightly. “That would be so…exciting. I’ll meet you there. Shall we say at six, since your meeting begins at eight?”

  His eyes flared with interest, then his expression settled into smugness as if he were congratulating himself on his persuasive powers. “That would be fine,” he purred.

  “Gee, mister, you’re really lucky to have a beautiful lady like this go out with you,” Case said, but Jo, who was beginning to know him, heard an edge to his voice. “I feel honored that she’ll let me walk her home.”

  Harold gave him a when-you’ve-got-it-you’ve-got-it look, kissed the back of Jo’s hand, then placed his jaunty hat on his head and strolled away.

  Millie and Martha gave simultaneous sighs of delight. “What a gentleman,” Martha said. “If my ex-husband had been such a gentleman I wouldn’t have had to get rid of him. See, Jo, not all men are cads like that worthless Steve who—”

  “Broke my heart.” Why did she even fight it? And why did everyone insist on feeling sorry for her? “Yes, I know.” She cast a sidelong glance at Case. “Some men are not at all what they seem.”


  Case grinned as if she’d paid him a vast compliment. He ducked his head and gave her a shy look. She rolled her eyes at him then said good-night to Millie and Martha and, taking his elbow, started up the street.

  When they were out of earshot, she tried to pull her hand away, but he clamped it close to him, and closed his own hand over it. “Now, now,” he said, his voice returning to normal. “We can’t take a chance that someone will see you trying to get away from me. Paying attention to someone like me will make you look good. After all, I’m a pathetic loser, grateful for your attention.”

  “And I’m a brainless twit who has a date tomorrow night with a con man.” As they walked beneath a streetlight, she glared at him.

  “Hey, that was your idea,” he protested. “I didn’t tell you to accept.”

  “Then what was all that stuff about the delicious barbecue at the Lotus Blossom?”

  “I was only quoting what you’d told me.”

  Horrified, she stared at him. “You mean you weren’t sending me some kind of signal telling me to go out with him?”

  “Hell, no. Why would I do that?”

  Jo took him by surprise by jerking her hands away and throwing them in the air. Then she punched him. Hard.

  “Ow.” He rubbed his arm. “Why’d you do that?”

  “Because we’re having a serious communication problem here. You’re supposed to be the boss, remember? You insisted on it. I’m supposed to be following your orders exactly and that’s what I thought I was doing.”

  “Well, I didn’t mean you had to go out with the guy.” Uncomfortably, Case stared at her. He didn’t want her to go out with Purdy. Purdy worked some kind of magic on people, especially women, and he didn’t want to see him work it on Jo. He didn’t want Purdy near Jo. The thought gave him heart palpitations.

  “Does he have a phone at that house he’s renting? You can call him up and cancel.”

  “I’ll do no such thing.” She turned and began stomping down the street once again. Maybe she was being ridiculously stubborn, but now that she’d made the date, she was going to keep it. Her professionalism was on the line.

  Genius, he thought. Now you’ve made her mad. He’d be darned if he was going to go chasing after a woman, one who’d agreed that he was the boss, one who was supposed to do what he said.

  “Great,” he muttered, and loped along behind her until he caught up. She started up the steps, but he whipped around in front of her and stopped one step above, blocking her path.

  “There’s no need for you to go out with him to help in this investigation.”

  Jo pushed past him and paused on the next step so that they were at eye level. “There’s every need. I can learn something useful. I do have some skills as an interviewer, you know.”

  She hurried up a few more steps, but he barreled around her again and stopped her. “I’m not questioning your skills as an interviewer. I’m saying you don’t need to do this. We can get the information we want without letting that smarmy jackass ply you with barbecue.”

  Even in the dim glow from nearby streetlights, he could see the anger flashing in her eyes. She brushed past him, moved up a couple of steps so she was once again in the dominant position. She leaned toward him until they were nose to nose.

  “Maybe it isn’t simply the interview I want. Maybe I’m interested in more than finding out what con game he’s playing. Maybe I’d like to go out with a refined gentleman…”

  “He’s a con man! Which you acknowledged not five minutes ago.”

  “…or at least one who pretends to be a gentleman,” Jo shot back. “Some people can’t even pretend.” With a toss of her head, she started away, but he reached up and whirled her around, tumbling her into his arms and fastening his mouth on hers.

  7

  HE DIDN’T BOTHER with seduction. This kiss came out of nowhere, straight into the moment. It exploded between them.

  “Gentleman?” he muttered, his mouth hot on hers. “I’ll show you a gentleman.” Only he didn’t. This kiss was raw, powerful, pulling her into a vortex. No gentleman would kiss like this.

  “Case…I…” She gasped for air.

  “Shut up,” he growled, pulling her more tightly against him “Just shut up.”

  For once, she obeyed, clinging to him. But that was like trying to grasp fire in order to be protected from the heat.

  With his mouth on hers, Case ran his hands around her waist, up and under the edge of her sweater. He had to touch her skin, to make her feel what he was feeling; the hunger and need that had been prickling at him for two days now. He had to taste her, so his lips crushed hers, his arms pulled her flush against him. Vaguely, he thought she must be as stunned as he was, her arms stiff as if she’d received a shock and couldn’t move. After a moment, her hands came up to cup his jaw and hold him in place. Her mouth ravaged his. Desire, hot and hard, linked with exultation that she wanted him as badly as he wanted her. It was maddening. She was maddening.

  Jo’s breath was clogged somewhere between her chest and next week. She couldn’t remember how to breathe, couldn’t even recall why she’d want to. The only thought in her head was to prolong this kiss.

  He tasted wonderful, exactly as she’d suspected he would; warm, enveloping, sensual.

  Delightful. If she wasn’t so annoyed with him, she might actually enjoy this, she thought dizzily, standing on tiptoe, kissing him for all she was worth.

  “You irritate the hell out of me,” he murmured against her mouth, then nipped at her lips until she opened for another kiss.

  “I…ca-can’t stand you, either,” she responded, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and spiking her hands through that sable-soft hair of his to hold him still for her enjoyment.

  “You don’t do what I tell you to.” His lips skated across her jaw and his teeth nipped at her ear.

  “You’re so darned bossy.” She turned her face so that his lips couldn’t avoid hers. How could he be soft and hard at the same time? she wondered. How could he be so delicious that she wanted to pull him inside her and so aggravating she wanted to kick him down the steps?

  Excitement vibrated through her even as she thought that this was crazy. They were standing on the stairs between two streets. Anyone could walk by and see them, be shocked by them.

  “You’re not going to dinner with that jerk,” Case growled. He’d tugged her sweater up and his hands encircled her ribs. Her skin was the softest thing he’d ever touched. He was desperate to touch her all over.

  “Yes I am.” She shuddered with longing and her own hands dove down his back and began tugging his shirt out of his jeans. Just a moment, she thought desperately. Just a moment more and she’d touch him the way he was touching her.

  When she tangled her hand in the hairs dusted across his stomach, then looped her fingers in the waistband of his jeans, he groaned as if she were killing him, gulped for air, branded her with his mouth once again, and then panted, “I’ll bet you throw a baseball like a girl.”

  “Wha-a-at?” Stunned, she stared up at him.

  “Sorry,” he wheezed, fighting for air, blinking and shaking his head as if he was coming out of a fog. “I had to say something to stop this.”

  “Oh! Well, you started it!” Realizing where her hands were, she snatched them away, stepped back, and began straightening her clothes. Appalled, she looked around. What had they been thinking? What had they been doing?

  She cleared her throat, and quickly scanned the staircase and the streets above and below them.

  Case smoothed his hair. He could still feel her fingers entwined there. For a minute, he’d forgotten why he was in Calamity Falls at all. He’d forgotten what they’d been talking about. Oh, yeah. They’d been arguing. No surprise there.

  He took her arm and propelled her up the steps. “Come on. I’m taking you home. We’ll finish this conversation in private.”

  He was hustling her along so fast that Jo’s feet only touched the ground about every third ste
p. She didn’t have enough breath left from the kiss and the dash toward home to tell him to slow down.

  When they finally reached her house, Case waited impatiently while she unlocked the door and then he hurried her inside.

  She stopped in the middle of her pocket-handkerchief-sized living room, turned to him, and said, “We’re going to argue, aren’t we?”

  He released a frustrated breath, ran his hand through his hair once again, and said, “Yeah, we are.”

  “Well, that’s fine,” she muttered. “That’s just fine. In that event, I need food.” She tossed her purse down on the sofa, kicked off her shoes, and went into the kitchen.

  She could cook, she thought furiously as she started searching for the ingredients for brownies. It always soothed her to mix up huge batches of something deliciously sweet.

  That phrase made her think of Case’s mouth. No. Sweet wasn’t good. She slapped the cupboard door shut.

  “What are you doing?” Case asked, watching from the doorway as she banged pots and pans around, then slammed the cupboard door shut.

  “I was going to bake brownies,” she said, lifting her chin in a way that dared him to make something of it. “I always bake when I’m mad.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes.” She nodded, then paused. “Or at least I used to. The last time I did it, though, I nearly set the kitchen curtains on fire.”

  “Baking brownies?” Now laughter was edging his mouth.

  She waved a hand at the antiquated range. “It’s a gas stove, okay, and the burner wouldn’t light, so I was trying to light it with a candle, and I set it on the stove top for a minute, and the flame got too close to the curtains, and…”

  “I get the picture,” he said, moving into the room. “So, I guess you didn’t do this the other night when Steve…”

  “Dumped me while we were having dinner at the Copper Pot and broke my heart. Only he didn’t break my heart.” She paused. How odd that mention of Steve didn’t give her that sick little twist of the stomach she’d been feeling since Monday night. Was it possible that Case’s kiss had done that? No, that wasn’t possible. Forcibly, she got her mind back on track. “No. I maintained my dignity. I came home, had some wine and decided to change my life.”