by Gina Wilkins
“Why don’t you show me around?” he suggested, slipping an arm around her waist. He gave Jackson a bland, faintly challenging smile. “We’ll make it a foursome, shall we?”
Jackson grinned. “I thought my luck was too good to last at having these two lovely ladies all to myself.” He turned to Jill with a flourish. “Well, darlin’? Want to be my date for the rest of the festival?”
Jill rolled her eyes and sighed deeply. “Lacking any better offers, I suppose I must accept.”
Jackson groaned and slapped a hand to the embroidered chest of his white Western-cut shirt. “You wound me deeply,” he accused her. “But to be honored with your presence for even this short time, I will gladly suffer the edge of your tongue.”
He managed to inject just enough innuendo into the words to make Jill blush rosily and slap his hand. And then she haughtily declared that she wanted something to drink and swept him off to a refreshment booth, leaving Maddie and Case to follow at a more leisurely pace.
“Those two squabble like cats and dogs, don’t they?” Case observed, nodding toward Jill and Jackson.
Maddie smiled. “Always have. Well, almost always. They dated for a while in high school, actually.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No. It was Jackson’s senior year, and Jill was a sophomore. They seemed to be crazy about each other, but then they broke up when Jill caught Jackson making out with Linda Prince behind the gym. They didn’t speak for years. Jackson and Linda were married a couple of years later, but it didn’t last long. When they divorced, Jill was married to a guy she’d met through the bank. Then Jackson married someone else—another disaster, I’m afraid.”
“And now both Jill and Jackson are single.”
“Right. Jill claims she wouldn’t date Jackson again if he were the only single man in the state of Mississippi—she doesn’t trust him as far as she could throw him. But lately they’ve been spending a lot of time together, mostly because he is just about the only single man her age in Mitchell’s Fork.”
“Think they’ll make a match of it?”
Maddie shrugged. “Either that, or they’ll end up hating each other again. Who knows?”
“You’re staying out of it, right?”
“Far out of it,” she assured him. “There’s no quicker way to lose a friend—or two friends—than to get involved in their love life.”
“Wise observation. Personally, the only way I’d get involved in Babbit’s love life is if he made some misguided effort to include you in it. I’m afraid I’d have to get involved then. Strongly involved.”
Maddie looked at him suspiciously. “Why does that sound like a threat?”
Case managed to look dangerous and innocent all at the same time. “I can’t imagine.”
It didn’t take long for Case to get into the spirit of the Independence Day festival. He and Jackson started a more or less friendly rivalry over the carnival games, challenging each other at breaking balloons with darts, throwing basketballs into bushel baskets, tossing footballs through hanging tires and dunking the school principal, who took one look at the two men approaching with such determination and promptly resigned his seat in the booth. Both Maddie and Jill were loaded down with prizes before the afternoon was over. When her arms got too full to allow her to participate, Maddie stuffed them into the trunk of her car.
“Let’s go on some rides,” Jill suggested when the guys declared a draw to their macho-flexing competition.
“Anything but the roller coaster,” Maddie agreed with a laugh, then had to explain her Aunt Nettie’s traditional warning to Case.
He grinned. “I don’t suppose you’d dare disobey her.”
“Are you kidding? She’d send me to my room for a week.”
Case nodded sympathetically. “She’d probably ground me for encouraging you. To tell you the truth, Maddie, your great-aunt is the only member of your family who terrifies me.”
“And justifiably so,” she assured him with a laugh.
They passed a crepe-strung dais on their way to the midway. Three men stood to one side of it, watching the activities around them with obvious condescending indulgence. Case made a sound of distaste. “I suppose your sorry excuse for a sheriff thinks he’s keeping law and order at the festival?” he asked, nodding toward the uniformed man.
Maddie grimaced. “Of course he does.”
“I don’t suppose he or any of the others have noticed the three delinquents who’ve been running all over the park on four-wheelers.” He’d commented more than once how dangerous it was for Danny Cooper and his buddies to have the ATVs in the crowded fairgrounds, and the others had agreed, though Maddie had pointed out that at least the boys were staying on the outside of the crowd, riding their vehicles along the outer fences.
“Trust me,” Jackson muttered. “They’ve noticed. But you don’t really think they’re going to throw the Cooper kid out of the festival, do you? His daddy sponsored most of the activities here today.”
Case grunted his disdain, then looked back toward Sheriff McAdams. “Who are the two pompous-looking guys with him?”
“They don’t just look pompous, they are,” Jill said fervently, overhearing the question. “That’s Mayor Sloane and Major Cooper.”
“So that’s Major Cooper,” Case murmured, eyeing the man Jill had pointed out. “The man who owns half the town, hmm?”
“Only a third or so,” Jackson murmured, though he looked uncomfortable. Maddie knew that Jackson, like most of the other local businessmen, tended to tread carefully around the mayor and his buddy.
“What branch of the service was he in?”
Jill giggled. “None, Case. Major is his first name, not his rank.”
Three teenage boys stepped into their path, their four-wheelers abandoned for a while. Maddie almost groaned. Great, she thought. Now Case can get into a brawl with them right here in front of their ever-lovin’ daddies.
Case seemed determined to ignore Danny and his pals. He wrapped an arm around Maddie’s shoulders and pointed toward the slowly turning Ferris wheel. “Want to take a spin?” he asked her.
“Well, if it ain’t the spy guy,” Danny drawled before Maddie could answer. “Hey, Brannigan. Hear you traded your fancy Ferrari for a Jeep Grand Cherokee.”
Case paused, then looked over his shoulder. “Yeah,” he said. “Of course, I didn’t get as much as I should have for the Ferrari. It had some damage to the paint job.”
“Ain’t that a shame,” Danny commiserated with a cocky grin. His buddies snickered.
“Beat the crap out of ‘em, Case,” Jill whispered.
“Jill! Stop it!” Maddie chided, though she knew Jill was only kidding to try to break the tension around them.
“Hope nothing happens to your new wheels,” Danny said, challenging Case with his eyes.
“Someone will definitely pay this time if it does,” Case answered flatly.
Danny cocked his head. “‘S that right?”
“You can bet your front teeth on it.” Case sounded—and looked—so dangerous that Maddie swallowed. Both Jackson and Jill were looking at him in sudden surprise, and the few onlookers nearby blinked at the menace in the newcomer’s voice. Only an idiot, Maddie thought, would confront Case Brannigan when he looked like this.
“What’s going on here?” Sheriff McAdams demanded as he ambled toward them, his flabby belly pushed belligerently over his belt. Close by, Mayor Sloane and Major Cooper watched intently, scowling at the man who’d had the nerve to threaten their boys.
“Brannigan, you ain’t harassing these boys, are you? I told you, you got no cause to accuse them of messing with your car. You got no witnesses, no evidence, nothing. Now I’m telling you to leave them alone, you hear?”
Maddie gasped indignantly. “Case was not harassing these boys,” she protested. “Danny’s the one who was doing all the talking. Case just—”
Case’s arm tightened around her shoulders. “I do my own talking,” he
muttered.
“We don’t want any trouble, Sheriff,” Jackson said quickly. “We were just enjoying the festival.”
McAdams struck a practiced, weary-lawman pose that made Maddie ill. “You’d think a bunch of adults would have something better to do with their time than to play at the fair, but that’s your business, I suppose. Get along with you and don’t give me any more trouble.”
Case stood there for a moment, his eyes locked with the sheriff’s just long enough to make the other man start to look nervous. And then Case deliberately turned his back on the older man. “Let’s go,” he said, taking Maddie’s hand.
None of them looked back.
“Oh, man, Brannigan,” Jackson groaned as soon as they’d disappeared into the crowd. “You sure know how to win friends and influence people.”
“Well, I think he deserves applause,” Jill defended Case spiritedly. “Danny Cooper needs to be taken behind someone’s woodshed, and McAdams is a stupid, pompous jackass. Case doesn’t have to kiss up to either of them.”
Jackson flushed uncomfortably. “Yeah, well, he doesn’t have a business to run here,” he muttered. “He can pick up and leave at any time. Do I have to remind you that Cooper’s the biggest customer of your bank? You think Peacock won’t fire your butt in a minute if Cooper orders him to?”
“He’d better not try it!” Jill said, but she suddenly looked a bit wary.
Case shook his head. “This quarrel is between them and me,” he assured her. “Neither of you need to get involved.”
“It’s getting ridiculous,” Maddie said, though a cold lump had settled in her stomach with Jackson’s words. He can pick up and leave at any time, he’d said. Was it only an example—or an accurate prediction?
Ignoring the unpleasant question, she frowned at Case. “You’re too old to be feuding with a teenager,” she accused him. “And there’s no reason for you to get involved in a battle with McAdams. You should simply stay away from all of them. That’s what most of us around here do.”
“Undisciplined teenagers become adult criminals. And how can you ignore your own town leaders? What happens when you need police protection? Or input into your town government?” he demanded.
She shrugged. “We’ve managed to get by so far.”
He shook his head in disgust. “That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“I didn’t say you had to like it,” she reminded him primly. “Just accept it.”
He didn’t look at all convinced.
Maddie couldn’t help worrying.
* * *
THERE WAS A DANCE that evening. A country band provided music from a stage, while a hard-packed dirt arena served as a dance floor. “I’ve never danced outside before,” Case said as he swung Maddie around in a lively two-step to a song made famous by George Strait.
She smiled and spun easily in his arms. “You catch on quickly,” she complimented him.
He grinned. “Thank you right kindly, ma’am.”
She groaned. “Don’t try to talk with a Southern accent, Case. Trust me, it just doesn’t work for you.”
He laughed. “Whatever you say, Maddie.”
He said that a lot, she mused, swinging around him again. The funny thing was, she was starting to like it.
They sat out the next number, sharing a picnic table with Jackson and Jill, Maddie’s cousin, Lisa, her frequent escort, Charlie Campbell and Lisa’s teenagers, Jeff and Kathy. Case chatted easily with the others, making an obvious effort to fit in and be accepted.
Maddie noticed that he didn’t seem to mind all the questions he was asked. He explained repeatedly that he had worked in law enforcement for a time, but had recently retired, that he was thinking of starting an investment-counseling business, and that, yes, he was remodeling the Fielding place and planned to settle permanently in Mitchell’s Fork. Each time he said that, everyone looked speculatively at Maddie. It happened so often, it finally stopped bothering her. Let them speculate, she thought. She didn’t owe anyone explanations.
Jeff sat directly across the table from Case, and it was obvious that he thought of Case as a hero. Maddie thought she understood why. Jeff’s own father had walked out on them when Jeff was very small and hadn’t made contact since. Jeff wasn’t too crazy about his mother’s new boyfriend, whom Maddie thought of as pleasant, but a bit lazy and irresponsible.
Case, on the other hand, was a former DEA agent who’d been shot in the line of duty, an exciting, adventurous man who’d driven into town in a flashy sports car and purchased one of the biggest houses in the area. A man who’d come to town to “claim his woman”—an objective Jeff must have found dashing and romantic. Not only that, Case had taken on the bullies who’d been making Jeff’s school life so miserable. How could he not see Case as a hero?
It was getting harder all the time for Maddie not to think of him in much the same way, though Case’s stubborn streak was causing her some concern at the moment. She couldn’t help worrying that he was getting into a situation that could only end unpleasantly.
Several townspeople stopped by the table to surreptitiously congratulate Case on standing up to the sheriff—or to warn him not to do so again.
“You’re stirring up a hornet’s nest, boy,” Hank the barber muttered in Case’s ear, Maddie being the only one close enough to overhear. “You don’t want to go messin’ with Cooper and his men.”
Case only thanked the man for his warning and promised to be in the next week for a haircut.
“You aren’t listening to anyone, are you?” Maddie complained.
He smiled and leaned over to brush his lips across hers. “I’m listening,” he assured her. “Stop worrying about it.”
Innocuous as it had been, Maddie knew that light kiss had been seen and noted by several very interested observers. She cleared her throat and gulped the last sip of her cola.
The band went into a toe-tapping country-swing number and Jackson pulled Jill onto the dance floor. Maddie watched them, then chuckled when she saw her father and his schoolteacher friend doing a lively jig across the dance floor. She pointed them out to Lisa.
“They’re such a cute couple,” Lisa said with a smile. “Think you’re going to end up with a stepmother, Maddie?”
“I wouldn’t mind if I did,” she answered, knowing Case was listening with interest. “Mona’s a nice woman and Dad’s been alone a long time. She makes him happy.”
Case squeezed Maddie’s hand beneath the table, apparently in approval of her answer.
Lisa suddenly frowned. “Look who’s dancing beside them,” she muttered. “Mayor Sloane and his wife. That guy dances like he’s got a corncob up his butt, doesn’t he?”
Case laughed. Maddie sighed. “You’ve been spending too much time with Aunt Nettie again,” she accused her cousin, though she couldn’t help smiling a little. The mayor was a self-consciously stiff dancer. She knew he was only out there to make sure everyone could compliment him on fully participating in the town festival.
A flashbulb lit next to him, and Maddie shook her head when she identified the photographer as one of the two full-time reporters from the Mitchell’s Fork Weekly News. She knew whose picture she’d find on the front page next week. Of course, the mayor managed to get his picture on that front page every week. Usually shaking hands with Major Cooper or accepting a donation for some charity or another from him.
At least Danny and his buddies weren’t making trouble at the dance, she thought optimistically. She could hear the faint whine of their ATVs and the occasional crack-crack-crack of firecrackers. Heaven only knew what they were up to, but that wasn’t her problem—or Case’s, thank goodness.
“I think I’ll have another lemonade,” Case said, pushing himself to his feet. “You want anything, Maddie?”
“Lemonade sounds good,” she said, shoving aside the empty cup that had held watery cola.
“Anyone else?” Case asked politely.
“I’ll go with you, Case,” Jeff off
ered eagerly, jumping to his feet. “I want another hot dog.”
“Another one?” Case teased. “Where are you putting them, boy?”
“He has a hollow leg,” Lisa answered resignedly. “Two of them, actually. There’s just no filling him up.”
Charlie excused himself to go talk to someone he knew across the arena, leaving only Maddie, Jill, Lisa and Kathy at the table for a brief time.
The men were hardly out of hearing before Lisa turned to Maddie with a demanding question. “Well?” she said. “What’s going on with you and Case? Are you officially engaged, or what?”
Maddie made a face at her cousin’s nosiness. “Neither officially nor unofficially,” she answered. “We’re only dating.”
“C’mon, Maddie, I’ve seen the way the two of you look at each other. He’s crazy about you—and don’t try to tell me you don’t feel the same way about him. What in the world are you waiting for?”
“He’s a very nice man, Maddie,” Kathy said with a romantic-teenager sigh. “What are you waiting for?”
She didn’t know how to answer them. How could she explain that she was waiting for Case to tell her he loved her? To convince her that he valued her for herself, and not for what she represented?
How did she tell them that she lay in bed every night longing for him, and yet terrified that he would break her heart again? Her fears that he would soon grow tired of playing house and be off again in search of adventure, leaving her behind.
Even his defiance of Cooper and his cronies worried her. Maybe Case wasn’t worried about them because he didn’t really intend to stay in Mitchell’s Fork long enough for them to give him any trouble. Silly of her to think that, of course, particularly since he was working so hard on remodeling the house he said he wanted to make his permanent home. But still, she worried. And she waited.
She shrugged helplessly. “You wouldn’t understand,” she assured Lisa and Kathy.
Lisa looked at her perceptively. “Maybe I do,” she said slowly. “He’s...different from the other men around here, isn’t he?”
“Yes,” Maddie murmured, glancing at the refreshment booth where Case stood in line with giggling teenagers and soft-middled businessmen, young men in baseball caps and jeans, young mothers with small children clinging to their hands. He looked so lean and hard and dangerous among the ordinary citizens of Mitchell’s Fork, Mississippi. How could he, or anyone, believe he’d ever fit in?