by Lass Small
Andrew did not melt. He smiled at the enthusiastic greetings to Mrs. Keeper’s niece. He knew Cynthia was a friend of his love. She was there for JoAnn? That was nice.
Andrew thought JoAnn looked a little odd. He asked her again, “You okay?”
Still in shock, she stared at Andrew. He could look at something else besides Cynthia? What was the matter with him? And she squinted her eyes earnestly to see if he was real and honest.
But what honest man could drag his eyes away from Cynthia? Why could Andrew just look not at Cynthia but at her so earnestly and ask, “Honey, are you all right?”
She nodded in an undisciplined manner.
He stood by JoAnn and put his supportive arm around her wilted form. She needed the support. All she could think of was that Andrew had survived meeting...Cynthia. How incredible.
And she figured it out. He was immune because he thought of no one but—himself.
Uhhhh... If that was true, why was he so concerned about—her? He was holding her scared, stupid body and keeping her from slithering down to the floor in a puddle. Andrew had survived meeting Cynthia!
JoAnn was having some trouble assimilating that. Even now, JoAnn met erstwhile boyfriends who still asked, “How’s your friend Cynthia?”
JoAnn always said, “Just fine.”
“She married yet?”
JoAnn would reply sadly, “Not yet.”
And the guy would walk away, undoubtedly looking for a phone to call Cynthia.
Mina Keeper figured that if Cynthia was that big a fluke in luring Andrew, there was no reason, at all, for her to hang around. It had been proven that Andrew hadn’t been distracted by Cynthia. If Cynthia could not catch Andrew’s attention, then it must be that Andrew was zonked by...JoAnn?
He’d been concerned with—JoAnn. He had!
Mina had thought she’s solved JoAnn’s rejection of Andrew just with the arrival of Cynthia. Now the Keepers were in deeper with Andrew, suddenly completely involved with and dedicated to...JoAnn!
Quite frankly, that did not make any sense at all.
Mina chewed the inside of her lip and wondered what on earth was going on that she had so little control over anything!
Andrew told the wilted JoAnn, “Do you want to hang around here, or would you go with me to find my dog?”
“Buddy.” Her mouth managed that in a first crack in the clearing of her shock.
He nodded, watching her.
She stared at Andrew.
He smiled just a tad and then he inquired, “Want to go along?”
That time, it was she who nodded.
With her agreement, he took her hand and turned away from the blinding Cynthia. Then the two just slid out of the mass of people and went on off.
Andrew was dressed to ride, but he noticed JoAnn was not. So he had to guide JoAnn to her room so that she could change clothing.
He sat on the delicate lady’s chair. He found and discreetly read the newspaper given to each room, like a hotel would do.
JoAnn went into the closet in the bath area to choose her shirt and trousers and change into them.
She stared at herself in the mirror. Why hadn’t Andrew been zonked by Cynthia? And her naked face looked back at her, still in shock. She ascertained that actually, he was not interested in any woman. That was probably so.
He didn’t like women, he hadn’t to begin with. Now he was using JoAnn as a shield against other females. That was probably so. She would have to be careful that he didn’t hide behind her skirt—slacks, that is, and pretend he was enamored with—her. Yeah. Sure.
Men are really very careful. She had seen men who loved women who didn’t have any means. Having used the women, the men had withdrawn from them and married money. Women with money. Had Andrew found out about her grandmother’s gift to JoAnn?
That was probably why he’d finally become stringently courteous with her? He knew she had money. How had he known? No one knew. She had never mentioned it for that very reason.
She had never before seen a man reject Cynthia. It hadn’t seemed to boggle Cynthia—at all!
JoAnn put on makeup. She did her lashes. Then she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She exchanged serious regard with the mirror. Soberly, she slowly shook her head, chiding such foolishness.
But she didn’t wipe the lipstick all off.
Why was that?
And looking at herself, she knew she wanted Andrew’s attentions. She wanted him to hold her close against his hard body. To kiss her. To take her to his room and make love with her.
How come she’d changed her mind about Andrew? Why not her room? He was there right then. Why not strip and walk into her bedroom and stand, startled, and say, “Oh! I forgot you were here!” And she’d put her hands over...her cheeks. And he’d throw the newspaper aside and his breaths would be harsh! Then he’d—
Good gravy, she was a real lamebrain. She was a fool.
There in the bathroom, she considered her mirror image and, under her clothing, she shrugged her shoulders as she accepted that she was a fool.
She left the bathroom and went through the small dressing room. It held the closet on one side for clothing, and the drawers on the other side. The door had a mirror. She watched herself open that door and she went into the bedroom,
There was Andrew, reading the newspaper. He didn’t even glance up! If she had been naked, she’d probably have to tear the newspaper from his hands and throw it aside and shock him.
He’d probably frown as he retrieved the paper and he’d say, “I haven’t finished that article!”
Umm-hmm.
Andrew rose as she entered. He put the paper on her nightstand by the bed as he said, “Would you save this for me? The maid will probably take my paper when she cleans the room. I’d like to finish that article.”
And JoAnn said, “Yes.” Her voice was meek. That made her push out her lower lip as she squinted her eyes a tad. Was she becoming docile? How disgusting. She would not be...docile.
She found her riding gloves and hat. Then without saying another word, she went to her room’s hall door.
He was there, and he opened the door for her. He didn’t bow, but he did smile at her. “You look great.”
She tilted her head back and asked in a deadly manner, “Great? Fat?”
He looked down her body and his eye wrinkles were folded so that no untanned skin showed. He said, “You could lose—”
She gasped.
“—maybe an ounce.” He licked his lips and raised his eyes to her face.
Slowly, she was amused. She lifted her eyes to his face and found him watching her with amusement.
This was the man who’d been impossibly rude to her. Could she believe he could change to this delight...and not change back to being as he’d been?
She would see.
She said, “Put on a hat. We’re going to look for Buddy.”
“Are you sure your guest won’t mind you leaving?”
“This is not my house. I did not call her to come to see me. I think it’s more important that I help in looking for a lost dog.”
“I’d appreciate the company.”
She assured Andrew, “Cynthia will not need to beg for company.”
So Andrew tilted his head and asked kindly, “Would she like to join the search?”
That stopped JoAnn. She replied kindly, “It’s your search. If you would like others along, it could be wise to do so.”
“Wise.” He tasted the word.
“The more eyes there are, the better luck you might have.” She’d flung down the gauntlet.
Was the “luck” for the dog, or was it for another kind of catching?
Then she said, “We both know the area. Perhaps if you took Cynthia with you, I could find someone else to go with me. That way—let me finish—we could have two searches at the same time.”
That was a gauntlet down if ever there’d been one.
Andrew wasn’t exactly sure how to ha
ndle this firebrand. He looked at her, and he knew he wanted to be with her. She was someone he needed to know. Another woman wasn’t what he wanted. Just her.
Very kindly, he said to JoAnn, “Maybe one of the men could take Cynthia out as they looked around for Buddy?”
She responded, “I’m not that acquainted with the crew. I don’t know what their schedules are. You could ask one of the adult Keepers. I’ll go on out.”
Seriously, he asked, “Wait for me.” Well, that wasn’t a question. It was an order. He told her to wait for him.
She looked at her watch and said, “I’ll give you fifteen minutes to get back here.”
He grinned and went to her door. She noted then that it was closed. A real gentleman did not close room doors when he wasn’t married to the lady. She tilted her chin up and said, “My door was closed.”
“I didn’t want anybody else in here.”
“—so you could read in peace?”
His grin began. His eye sun-wrinkles closed up and he said, “Yeah.” Very amused.
She said flippantly, “Shame on you.” And she opened the door. She said, “While you’re setting up the other searchers, I’ll just go on.”
“Where will you be?”
And she readily replied quite seriously, offhand and dismissively, “Out in the third quarter. To the east of here. We’ve done the north and west.” She started through the door.
He said, “Drop portions of your shirt. Birds eat bread.”
She stopped and looked back in order to soberly consider him. “Yes.” With that nothing reply, she went on off.
But Andrew contacted Cynthia and she was concerned for the dog and agreed to get someone to go out with her to search for the dog. Andrew did a very good drawing of the dog and gave search directions on a piece of paper.
Cynthia was not only concerned, she was eager for the search. She liked dogs. She didn’t want her aunt to spend the day racking Cynthia’s brain for gossip or who all was doing what all. And she was ready to get out of the house.
“Get a hat,” Andrew called back to Cynthia.
“I’m a TEXAN, boy, I know them thar things.” But Cynthia’s words were lost; Andrew was already gone.
And having been thoroughly informed by Mrs. Keeper, Cynthia thought, “... with JoAnn. Andrew was anxious to be with JoAnn. How interesting.” Andrew had been in a hurry. Knowing JoAnn as she did, Cynthia smiled. Smart girl! She was handling this odd man just right.
Cynthia tilted her head. Probably JoAnn was the only woman around who knew how to bring such a man up-to-date. She would.
Then Cynthia went off to garner whatall women would be delighted to spend the day out and about with her.
Cynthia was fun. She was alert. She garnered the women who were, indeed, delighted to be included. She ended up with at least a dozen. And they were good-lookers. Not only did they look good, but they’d also look for the dog.
Cynthia’s bunch called and whistled and scared the hell out of a whole herd of longhorns who were precious and cared for and nobody ever startled them...but the women did.
The herd stampeded. They did. With their great horns and those low hanging things on their stomachs in jeopardy, they were fragile.
Now how is a longhorn crew going to get hostile to a bunch of darling women? The women were shocked and wanted to help regather the herd. They did! One of the men took off his hat as he tried to control his excited horse, and he said, “Thanks anyway. We’ll see you all later and tell you what all these beasts do.”
Then he put his hat back on his own head and slid the catch up the strings to keep his Stetson on his head. He rode off in the dust after the whistling and calling of earnest men, almost covered by the sounds of thudding hooves.
It was a very stimulating encounter for the women, and they were quite animated.
The men had vanished into the dust.
Cynthia had a very difficult time not throwing back her head and howling with laughter. But the women were very involved. They really looked for the dog. They whistled and called and looked. They were quite earnest.
No one found the dog Buddy.
There was no clue at all as to where he could be.
So Cynthia extended her visit in order to help look for the lost dog. She was given a room that was marvelous, and she had all the attention she could possibly endure. She was kind, busy, and she knew exactly what she needed and how to organize the groups.
The next day’s hunt was equally intense.
But they didn’t find the dog...anywhere. They whistled and called and looked, but Buddy was nowhere around, in that area, at all.
So Cynthia went home. She was not a loser and it irritated her that she had engagements that she needed to fulfill. That’s what she got for being so perfect. She told Mina, “I’ll be back.”
With Cynthia gone, everybody took a day off. They were exhausted. The crew chided Mina Keeper, “That Cynthia is hell-bent! She rode us down to a nub!”
Another hand protested, “Huntin’ isn’t riding thataway.”
And the first hand retorted, “We wasn’t riding. We was lookin’!”
Mina Keeper replied, “Yes.” And she went to her room and to her bed with a cool cloth for her forehead.
There would be a snowball in hell before Mina called on Cynthia again.
The crew lost no time in hunting—farther. They looked for any evidence of anyone being on the tableland. They had not forgotten the enormous bullet that had killed the pilgrim Andrew Parson’s horse. And a serious group spread out and went on beyond, still looking, and also trying to solve who had fired that shot to kill the horse under the limping Andrew Parsons.
The female group was so cheerful and calling to each other, in their search for Buddy, they had irritated the very hell out of Andrew. He was glad Cynthia was gone.
He said to JoAnn, “Now we can quietly go around and look for Buddy.”
JoAnn replied, “We were lucky to find those people and let them help us.”
Andrew noted that she felt a partner in the search. Did she feel like a partner with—him?
She said, “The only place left, where the dog could be, is in the town.”
It wasn’t actually a “town,” it was just the casually bunched houses where the crew lived, but they had a grocery, a library!...but no town hall—as yet.
Somehow thinking of Buddy being in town had not occurred to Andrew. Thoughtfully, he said, “Yeah.”
The dog would go where he could find a garbage can. He would need to eat. No. Buddy would not do that. He was a good hunter. He wouldn’t eat from a garbage can.
Andrew considered his life of obsolescence. He knew more than she did about Buddy. He said, “We’ll see.” He didn’t want to discourage her. He wanted to be with her. To share. How strange. He looked at JoAnn and saw her as a miracle.
Andrew considered when had he ever thought a woman was a—miracle? Handy. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Available. Yeah. But JoAnn as a miracle. He’d never tangled with a miracle before then. He frowned and chewed his lower lip.
She thought he was discarding being with her. It was his choice. Damn. Well, now was as good a time as any. She—
“Would you go into town with me? We could ask around and see if anyone’s seen Buddy.”
He wanted her along? Well, he probably needed somebody with him. This was a hard time for a man who’d lost such a dog.
So the next morning, after breakfast, the two mounted their horses and with no anticipation, at all, they rode gently into the living area just south of the ranch house.
There was some distance. Maybe a couple of blocks if it was a city. The Keepers kept thinking their offspring would build houses near to theirs. None of the last two generations had done that. They’d gone off on their own, leaving the rancher of them, at home. None of the others wanted to share. They were an Independent Bunch.
Keepers were thataway. Generally one would stay. He’d be the jewel of the bunch. The one who wanted to
work the ranch. Like Tom Keeper. He was the one to keep there. He was the one who was interested in the Place.
He loved it. If he didn’t keep having to go look for a woman, he wouldn’t have to leave the place. But he wanted children. So he wanted a woman who’d not mind living out there.
He’d found a couple along the way who would have been willing to share a place in town, but none wanted to live so far out on the tableland.
So it was Tom who went with Andrew and JoAnn into the little settlement of hands and families to look for the dog Buddy.
Andrew said, “He’s a hunter.”
Tom nodded. “We’ll find out if he’s been around here.”
Neither Tom nor JoAnn inquired as to why the dog had vanished.
Tom suggested, “Let’s go by Rip’s first He’s a pilot and knows Buddy. He flew him out to you.”
Andrew nodded as he replied, “I remember he kept the dog while I was in hospital.”
Tom mentioned, “Yeah.” Then Tom remembered Andrew’s sister. She had moved in with Rip. Tom wondered if going to Rip’s house was maybe not a good idea. He said, “We can go to Paul’s and ask if he’s seen Buddy. Paul has the eyes of a hawk.”
And Andrew said, “I’d like to see Rip. He was very kind to us.”
Tom became a little anxious. Did Andrew know that Lu was living with Rip? She’d been to the big house quite a few times. Tom couldn’t remember her being there much lately. She might not know the dog was missing. But she would understand her brother’s probable response to her staying with Rip.
So Tom sweat. How could he ask if Andrew knew that his sister was staying with Rip? How could he approach that subject? He wouldn’t say anything. He’d be surprised.
Tom asked, “You got a gun on you?”
Andrew was startled. “No. Why?”
Tom said, “We have a law about the guns being worn around here.”
“You’re wearing one.”
“I’m a Keeper. I can do that”
“Isn’t that taking on rules that are obsolete?”