Just before daylight the trailer was finally quiet. Using the dim light of the moon, she found the number of a cab service in the directory under the phone on the nightstand. Very gently she crawled out of the bed and slipped into her lace dress. She firmly resisted the temptation to kiss him on the forehead and eased out of the trailer to patiently wait on the porch for the taxi.
She drove from the church parking lot to the motel where she’d stayed the night before and changed into traveling clothes. She checked out at daybreak, gave the rental car back to the Hertz folks, and waited for two hours until she could board her plane, taking her back across the state to Amarillo.
The next month she went back to college for her junior year. She hadn’t even finished the first nine weeks when the doctor confirmed her suspicions. She was pregnant. She couldn’t believe it. Chances of pregnancy the first time out of the chute were slim to none - or so she’d thought.
Beau Luckadeau wouldn’t even remember her name. He sure wouldn’t remember that night she laid in his arms and saw a whole galaxy of stars explode as they made wild, passionate love. He certainly wouldn’t want to be forced into a marriage with a woman who was so easy all he had to do was kiss her and she fell into bed with him. Not even if that woman was carrying his child. Whoever said you didn’t get pregnant the first time had cow chips for brains and even though the idea of abortion flitted through her mind - to save the family from embarrassment - she didn’t think about it very long. She had acted without a lick of common sense, and now she’d pay the fiddler for her actions.
She’d gone home at Christmas and told her family she was pregnant. In April, Katy Scarlett Torres had been born in Canyon, and before she was a week old, she’d had the whole Torres family wrapped firmly around her little finger.
Milli remembered that night in Louisiana often but she’d never uttered a word about Beau Luckadeau. She’d come close to having a full-fledged heart attack when she turned to find him cussing a blue streak about his precious bull. Thank goodness there hadn’t been the faintest sign of recognition in his eyes. She’d just have to be very careful that he didn’t see too much of Katy. Because if he ever looked at her close, he’d have to be blind as a bat not to know he was looking at his own child.
THREE
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“I THINK I’LL JUST STAY HERE WITH KATY,” MILLI said when the talk got around the supper table about the Spencers’ barn dance. “She’s not quite used to the place.”
“She’ll be fine with Hilda. You need to get out and socialize with the folks. Bet you haven’t been dancing in months. The Spencers have a barn dance four times a year. We have one four times a year and the Bar M has one four times a year. So we’ve got something going once a month to keep us all from going plumb crazy. Katy will be asleep most of the time we’re gone anyway, and Hilda’s been rocking her to sleep for her afternoon nap, so she won’t be afraid.” Mary didn’t leave room for argument.
Besides, Mary wanted to see Beau and Milli in a social setting. She’d noticed the sparks when he shook her hand out in the backyard, and she also saw the sheer fear in Milli’s eyes. It was as if a magnet drew Milli to him while her good sense wanted her to bolt and run like a jackrabbit. It was the first time in all her life that Mary Torres had ever seen her granddaughter fear anything, anyone, or anywhere. She could ride a bull, barrel race with the best of the best, and make her little airplane do stunts that took a person’s breath away. So why would she be afraid of Beau?
Milli nodded, afraid to put up too much of a fuss, and listened halfheartedly all through supper about cows and who would be at the dance. It would probably do her a world of good to see Beau dancing and flirting with his girlfriend, Amanda, who was as worthless as tits on a boar hog according to Hilda. Even that thought couldn’t conjure up a smile.
Later, she opened the closet doors and stared at the hangers without seeing anything. Finally she pulled out a pair of tightfitting jeans and a sleeveless, turquoise and hot pink westerncut shirt and tossed them on the bed. She chose turquoise and diamond stud earrings and a small T-drop necklace encrusted with diamonds hanging on a gold chain. She tied her long, dark hair back with a turquoise bandanna, and lightly dusted her nose with powder.
“Long as I can keep him from recognizing me, I’m fine. But what the devil difference does it make, anyway? He was so drunk he probably doesn’t even know he spent part of a night with anyone. He just woke up the next day, grabbed his aching head, and thought he’d had a dream. Probably even a nightmare, because I sure didn’t know what I was doing. Just whatever came natural when a girl is mad as the devil and hotter ‘n the furnace door in hell.”
Jim whistled through his teeth when she came down the stairs. “Whooeeee! If you don’t cause a couple of fights out behind the barn tonight, I’ll be surprised.”
She lit up in a brilliant smile - but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Oh, Poppy, you just love me. Besides, cowboys don’t fight over women like that anymore.”
“Yep, I love you, but I ain’t blind. And don’t fool yourself darlin’. Cowboys still draw lines, spit on their knuckles, and decide who’s goin’ to court a goodlookin’ woman. Mary, let’s go visit the neighbors and show off my favorite granddaughter,” he said.
“Poppy, I’m your only granddaughter other than Katy,” Milli reminded him.
“Yep,” he said. “And when she gets to be twenty-three years old you might have to move over and she’ll be my favorite. But tonight you’re the fair-haired child.”
Milli laughed, her spirits lifting. “Fair-haired? That’s something you sure can’t ever call me. Maybe you can call Katy fair-haired, but I’ve got too much of your blood showing through to be your fair-haired baby. I’m a black-haired, brown-eyed Mexican.”
A live band played country music from a platform in the south end of the Spencers’ biggest barn. Fresh hay covered the floor and several couples were already out on the floor when Mary pushed Jim in his wheelchair through the doors and settled him in front of a table. She kissed him on the forehead and said she’d find him a tall glass of tea to sip on while he listened to the music.
“I don’t want tea,” he said. “Bring me a longneck beer.”
She shook her head. “Not with your medication. In a couple of weeks you can have a beer, but not now. Remember: no alcohol or dancing.”
“Don’t remind me,” he groaned. “I feel like an invalid. No dancing, no beer, no nothing.”
“You’ll survive, and just think how much fun it’ll be when you can dance again,” Milli said when Mary headed toward the refreshment tables. “I’m going to the ladies’ room and don’t you be flirting while I’m gone.”
When she came out, she stopped in the shadows. She had spotted Beau right away, dancing with a tall, fair woman who must have been Amanda. The woman looked as out of place as a hooker in the front row of the church in a revival meeting. She wore a pink business suit with highheeled shoes to match, and a triple strand of pearls around her neck. Her expression told everyone there that she’d as soon be in bed with a migraine as dancing the twostep with Beau.
“Oh, well,” Milli muttered under her breath. “That’s his stupid business.”
A voice behind her made her jump. “Talkin’ to yourself? It’s all right. I like to stand back and watch things myself. Sometimes I’ve even been known to mutter a bit. Ain’t seen you in a few years, Miss Milli.”
She hugged the man. “Buster, you come near to scarin’ me into heart failure. Thought I was the only one hiding in this corner. Tell me what’s been going on with you and Miss Rosa and all the crew. And how’s Alice?”
“Poorly. Alice don’t know anybody. Ain’t much use in goin’ in that place to see her anymore. She’d rise up and shake the liver outta that boy out there if she knew he was courtin’ that woman. Amanda ain’t ranchin’ material. She’s liable to be the ruin of Beau,” Buster frowned.
“
Why?” Milli asked.
“Just something I feel in my bones and see with my eyes. But even if I was stone-cold blind and couldn’t see a thing, I could still feel it. Just look at her, Milli. She’s window dressing for town livin’. Boy’s smart about everything but women, but when it comes to them he ain’t got a lick of sense. You better get on out there on the dancin’ floor. Pretty girl like you don’t need to stand in the shadows all night. I’ll dance the first one with you and then I’ll step aside and watch the young fellers beat a path to your side. You sure are a pretty sight.”
“I’ll just stand here and watch,” Milli said.
Buster grabbed her hand and pulled her out in the middle of the floor, then picked up her hand and put it on his shoulder. “Over my dead body. Now smile and make this old man feel real good, just thinkin’ he’s done beat all the goodlooking feller’s time with the prettiest woman in the barn.”
Beau looked over Amanda’s shoulder and saw Milli. Buster looked as if he had died and gone straight to heaven. A surge of jealously filled Beau from the silvertipped toes of his light-gray eel cowboy boots all the way to the top of his feathered-back blond hair. His eyebrows knit into a solid line across the top of his big, round blue eyes, and his square jaw set in a firm line. Two forces battled inside him and all he could think was run… and run.., and run. He needed to go out to the back forty or to Lake Murray, lie flat on his back, and sort out all these crazy emotions. He hadn’t been so confused since the night Darrin got married. The night he met the lady of his dreams: Amelia Jiminez.
He remembered leaving her side for a minute at the party after the wedding.
“Who’s that beautiful woman?” he’d asked an older relative.
“That’s one of the Jiminez girls’ daughters from west Texas. Those Jiminez girls were all pretty. The grandfather married a white woman, and they had three or four girls, or maybe it was five or six. A whole passel of them, anyway. Seems like she might belong to the oldest one.”
Here he was about to ask Amanda to marry him and a spitfire from west Texas falls out of the sky to torment his mind and body. It was just because she reminded him of the lady at the wedding, and she was nothing more than a figment of a drunken imagination.
What was it Buster said? Milli was full of spit and vinegar. Well, he could sure enough believe that. Even when he’d dreamed about her last night, she’d been a pure witch. She’d had that rifle on her shoulder and was looking down the barrel, just daring him to take one step toward her. He had awakened in a cold sweat with desire surging through his veins. He’d wanted to take the gun away from her and kiss her fiercely to see if he’d get the same response as he did when he kissed Amelia that hot Louisiana night. He’d reminded himself one more time that Amelia didn’t even exist except in his imagination. It was a long time before he went back to sleep.
Amanda wanted to finish the silly dance, put in enough of an appearance to keep Anthony from getting angry, and then plead a headache so she could go home. Lord, she hated these backwoods boonie affairs, and as soon as they were married, they’d never go to another one. That was a fact, and they could drag out the stone, chisel the words into it, and prop it up beside the ranch house porch post. Country music gave her a headache and the only thing she hated worse than barns was that old ranch foreman who was dancing with the darkhaired gypsy-looking woman.
After she and Anthony were married, the foreman would be the first thing to disappear from the ranch.
God, she hated the way he looked at her. Even the six months she planned to stay married to Anthony before she filed for divorce and took half his property was too damned long to put up with that old man.
A tight little smile turned up the corners of her mouth - but it didn’t last long. Buster tapped Beau on the shoulder and said something. Then suddenly Amanda was dancing with the old man.
Beau put his hand on Milli’s back and a strong jolt of chemistry rattled around in his tall, lanky body like a dynamite blast in the side of a rocky mountain. “Miss Torres? So how’s Jim today?”
“Fine.” Her heart pounded.
“You know, it seems to me like I’ve met you somewhere before. I used to come to the Bar M when I was just a kid - did I see you here back then?”
“No. I visited Granny and Poppa every summer, but I never met you here,” she said honestly. He danced well and she fit into his arms as well vertically as she had horizontally. High color filled her cheeks at that thought.
The song ended and Beau tipped his hat to Milli. Thank you for the dance. Be seem’ you around.”
You’re a fine dancer. It was my pleasure,” she said.
Amanda wasted no time crossing the floor and grabbing Beau by the arm. “Anthony, take me home and don’t you ever ask me to dance with that old fool again. You know how I feel about him. He stinks like tobacco and cheap shaving lotion and I hate him.”
Milli wanted to slap the woman until she was cold for talking about Buster like that and had to hold her hands tightly behind her back. The Bar M was in big trouble if Beau didn’t wake up soon.
“Now, Amanda, darlin’, don’t say things like that about Buster. He’s been on the Bar M so long he’s family. Stay a little longer, honey. I’ve got a surprise for later. And please call me Beau,” Beau pleaded.
She tossed her blonde hair back with a sweep of the hand. “Only an hour. I’m going to sit at that table and in an hour I’m going home. And I will never call you Beau. It sounds like a redneck hick name. You’ll always be Anthony to me.”
He put his arm around her and started to lead her to the floor. The singer crooned a song by Martina McBride, “Safe in the Arms of Love.” Amanda set her pink, highheeled shoes firmly in the fresh hay and refused to be led back to the middle of the barn.
“Dance with me again?”
“No, I’m sitting down until you are ready to take me home. This is not my idea of a social outing. You know I hate these things.”
He shook his head. Surely, she would change when they were married. Given a little time she’d be shopping in the western stores for something new to wear to the barn dances once a month, and she’d get excited when a new baby calf was born. She’d learn to like Buster and love Rosa and maybe after this next year she’d even be ready to quit teaching and stay home to raise their son. The. first one would be a boy, and probably all the rest after that. Luckadeaus just didn’t throw girl babies. As much as his mother would like to have a granddaughter, it wasn’t about to happen. Luckadeaus made boys, and that was a fact.
Looks like that woman is feelin’ as out of place as she looks,“ Jim whispered to Mary. ”I sure wish that boy would boot her on out of his life and find someone who’d fit in with his way of livin’ a little better. She’s (Tot dollar signs in her eyes instead of love.”
Mary nodded but didn’t say anything.
A young man stopped at their table and tipped his hat toward Mary and Milli. “Evenin’ Mr. Jim. How’s the hip? Like you to meet Cindy. She goes to school with me. Folks has got a little spread up over by Lone Grove. I saw where you had a fence cut the other morning. I should’ve stopped and fixed it, but I didn’t have my fencing stuff with me. Did you get it taken care of?”
Jim nodded. “Pleased to meet you, Miss Cindy. Make this boy bring you over to the Lazy Z and we’ll show you around.”
“I’ll do it. Hear you raise some white-faced cattle. My dad likes that brand, too. He’s got a few Angus, but he’s partial to the white face. We had a calf last week and I had to crawl out of bed at four o’clock and help pull the stinker. It was a fine heifer, though, and I’m glad we could save it,” Cindy said.
“Well, we gotta get on around the room and make Cindy known. Both my sisters, Amy and Rachel, are comin’ in next week for a visit, you know. I expect they’ll run over to say hello. Ask Hilda to brew up some peach cobbler and I’ll even come with them.” Tyler Spencer patted Jim on the shoulder and the two young people went on to the next table.
Milli t
ried to watch the dancers. She tried to listen to the band. She tried to think about cattle, Wild Fire, West Texas - anything but Beau. But it didn’t work. She watched Amanda pull away from him and start toward th ladies’ restroom on the south side of the barn. Milli was still itching for a catfight, so she followed her. Amanda and a redhaired woman were both leaning toward the mirror above the lavatory, reapplying mascara, opening their eyes wide and seeing nothing but their already caked eyelashes. Neither of them appeared to know that the door had opened and there was another woman in the restroom. Milli went into the first stall, put the lid down on the potty, and sat down.
“So how much longer you stayin’?” The redhead asked.
Amanda’s voice was high and shrill. “One hour. Not a minute longer, Brenda, and I wouldn’t agree to that but he said he had a surprise for me. I figure he’s going to propose tonight, so I’ll stay around for that. If he doesn’t, then I’ll be damned if I ever come to another one of these country bumpkin affairs. God, I hate the whiny country music and the smell of hay. Only thing I hate worse than country music and barns is kids.”
“And you a schoolteacher?” Brenda chuckled.
“Yep, but I can put on a fake show for the administration and send the little urchins home at three thirty. And I don’t plan on being a teacher all my life. It was just something to get me through college while I looked for a husband.”
“What do you intend to do after the wedding? He’s got a ranch, you know,” Brenda asked.
“And he can keep his ranch. God knows, it makes enough money - I damn sure don’t want him to give it up. But he can commute every day from Ardmore if he’s going to sleep with me. I’ve got a sweet little brick house in mind. Not too big, just two-story with a triple garage with the maid’s quarters over it. Only time I’m living on that ranch is while the paperwork goes through for us to buy something else. And that half-wit foreman of his is getting his walking papers the first week. I’ll live here a month and then we’re going to town. Six months after everything is signed and legal, Anthony is giving me half of his kingdom. Then I’ll go looking for a sophisticated husband number two. By the time I get to number five, I might even marry for love.”
Lucky In Love Page 4