Small Town Romance Collection: Four Complete Romances & A New Novella

by Brown, Carolyn

  Angel looked out at the setting sun's reflection in the water and thought she could probably come to this place every night for two weeks. Even if Clancy decided where they would eat every night, they'd still get on their separate airplanes and go back to Oklahoma. If at the end of two weeks, Clancy Morgan asked her to go to Tishomingo and eat at the Dairy Queen in front of all his home town friends, then she might be really impressed.

  "Surprise me," Angel said, without looking at him. Two dolphins arched up out of the ocean and made graceful dives back into the water. "Did you see that?" she gasped. "It was absolutely beautiful."

  "Not as beautiful as you," he said honestly, having a hard time taking his eyes from her bare shoulders and graceful neck. Lord, he would love to nuzzle in the softness below that strapless dress, but he knew it would take several days before he could even begin to think in terms of a physical relationship, no matter how badly he wanted to feel her warmth next to him. Hell, he might finish two weeks of heartache and long, cold showers, then fly back to Oklahoma without one single kiss. The only thing Bonnie had promised was two weeks; she hadn't seemed to be promising any miracle.

  "You're blind," she snorted and decided to change the subject quickly. "So how long have you known Red and Anna?"

  "Since I was a little boy. Red was my dad's friend and business partner. But my mother sold Dad's shares to Red right after Dad died," Clancy almost reached across the table to touch her hand, then decided not to take a chance.

  Angel didn't answer, and turned her head back to the sunset and the water. What would they talk about for two whole weeks? They'd shared something special ten years ago and she'd never let go of those feelings, but how could two adults build even a temporary relationship on the past? And she had to admit that there hadn't been all that much to it. Clancy would drive to the creek and she'd wait, quivering inside and eager for his kisses, until he got there. Then he'd take her hand and they'd make love under the tree branches. Afterward they usually went skinny-dipping in the warm water, sometimes to return for another session of insatiable teenage sex, sometimes to dry off and go home . . . always by the back roads but never down Main Street, because someone might see him with her and report it all back to Melissa.

  "Penny for your thoughts." He dug in the pocket of his slacks and put a shiny copper penny at her fingertips.

  "Cost you more than that." She smiled. "You better eat hearty and get ready for the big golf match, because you're goin' to lose. And did you already buy wine? If not, get two bottles, because I really like good wine."

  "I'll buy enough to fill the bathtub, my lady, if it makes you smile like that. Now tell me about Conrad Oil Enterprises again. There's not an oil well anywhere near that lonesome old pumper on your property." He tipped the glass of iced tea back and guzzled more than half of it before coming up for air.

  "Everyone thought I was crazy as old Troy," she laughed. Remember him? He used to walk up and down the streets in Tishomingo and he wore at least five watches on each wrist and blue plaid shorts."

  "And a yellow checked sports coat and a big, wide tie with purple polka dots," he finished for her. "Gee, I hadn't thought about him in years. Remember how he used to hang around in front of the Armstrong Clothing Store? One day I asked him why he just stood there doing nothing, and be told me it was so everyone in town could see him. I didn't even crack a smile. I just nodded and went on."

  "But he wasn't crazy enough to be put away." Her eyes sparkled in the candlelight. "Which is what Allie said about me. She was ready to throw me out in front of a semi on a four-lane highway and she was my best friend. She said that I could dig to China with a teaspoon and not find a tablespoon of corn oil, let alone crude. But I followed my hunch and it paid off. The president of the bank in Denison told me the only reason he was loaning me the money was because he'd always wanted a little place in the country, and when the bank foreclosed on my mortgage, he was buying it."

  "Good Lord!" he exclaimed "You sure had a lot of adversity."

  "Yep." She nodded.

  The waiter brought their food and refilled their glasses, then disappeared again as Angel continued. "I was fresh out of college and no one offered me a job that I wanted, so I took my savings and hired a driller. That's how I started Conrad Oil. I could've gone to work for Red and Anna after that. Red said he'd pay big bucks for me to sit behind a desk and tell him when I had a hunch, but I wanted more than that. I wanted a business so all of my friends could work together . . . and I got it. The next year we incorporated Conrad Oil Enterprises. I hold the majority stake in the company and the girls all own shares, too," she said between bites. "This is good food. I told you I was hungry. I can eat like a fieldhand and I'm not one bit bashful about it," she added.

  "Good," he nodded. "I like a woman who isn't afraid to chow down."

  "What about you? Are you happy teaching? Funny, I always thought you'd go into the oil business somehow."

  "Well, Red's been after me for a while to work for him. Says I shouldn't waste my science degree. I thought about it, but I don't know. Teaching is fun. I like the kids and I like having summers off so I can fool around." He winked at her and Angel pretended she hadn't seen it. "I don't have to depend on a salary for my major income, thanks to the investments my dad left me. Say, do you want me to go to work for your competition?" he asked.

  "Do whatever the hell you want to do," she said. "Right now, I just want you to finish eating so we can play golf and drink wine," she teased right back.

  It was after eleven when they finished the second round of golf. True to her word, Angel won the first round. Clancy barely came out the victor of the second game, and he was prided himself on both his miniature and golf games. His ex-wife Melissa had hated both. She had never wanted to learn any game that took her outside where it was hot and she might chip a nail or break a sweat.

  But it wasn't fair to compare Melissa and Angel. They were as different as two women could be.

  He looked over at her. Angel seemed pleased with her win, but she was silent as they drove back to the motel.

  Clancy parked the rental car in the spot marked with his room number, reached over the seat and picked up a brown bag. Angela smiled when she heard the tinkle of crystal glasses. Well, she'd whipped him at one round of golf, and if he was still as poor at drinking as he used to be, she might whip him at drinking, too.

  "Wine on the beach," he said when he opened the door for her. "Two glasses, one bottle. Half a glass and I'll be snoring, so there will be plenty for you," he explained as he took her hand and led her across the road to the sand, which glistened in the dark, even though there wasn't a moon.

  He sat down on the sand and pulled her down beside him, then let go of her hand to take off his shoes and socks. He rolled up his khaki trousers haphazardly until they could go no further, just below his muscular thighs. "Got another one of those white thingy-jigs?" he tapped the plastic ring that held one side of her dress high. "Tie up the other side and take off those shoes and we'll go wading before we have a toast to the moonless night."

  "I'm not afraid of getting my dress wet," Angel said.

  "Oh, yeah?" Clancy scooped her up in his arms as if she weighed nothing and waded out into the ocean. "How much is it worth to you to keep it dry?" He pretended to almost let go of her.

  "Clancy Morgan, if you drop me, I swear you're going to get wet, too. Don't forget that summer at the dam," she taunted right back.

  "How could I forget that summer?" he nuzzled the inside of her neck, as he'd wanted to do all evening.

  "Oh—" She pushed his face away, and flipped out of his arms. Just as she hit the water, she grabbed both of his legs and brought him down beside her, dousing both of them.

  "You vixen," he blubbered when he surfaced in the knee-deep water.

  "Don't threaten me if you don't want to get wet," she said sweetly, then sat down. "Being wet with clothes on isn't so bad. Now, I want you to sit beside me and tell me just exactly what is it y
ou intend to prove or not prove in the next two weeks," she said bluntly.

  "Prove?" He backed up until he was sitting in water so shallow he could feel the sand shifting under him every time the wavelets swelled in and ebbed back out. "What are you talking about?"

  "I want to know why you're here. And why you're romancing me. I'm a grown woman now, and you might not like me when you get to know me this time. Do you just feel guilty about our baby? You never knew him, not even for the nine months he was mine. Don't feel like you've got to pay for your mistakes. You can't change the past and neither can I."

  He reached across the wet sand to touch her hand. "Hey, I know that. But right now I'm trying to deal with feelings I didn't even really know I had. Ten years ago my hormones ruled my brain, and I was young and just plain stupid. Now, I guess I'm a little smarter. I want to get to know you again, Angel. And I'd want to know you even if we hadn't been together back then. You're one exciting woman."

  "Thanks." She looked him in the eye, reassured that he wasn't shooting her some practiced line.

  "I believe we have wine to celebrate our first evening together again." He lay back on the sandbar, reached as far back as he could, and grabbed the sack. "And wineglasses." He pulled out two cut crystal, stemmed glasses wrapped in white linen napkins. "One bottle of rare, vintage Asti from the vineyards of Italy, personally stomped just for us by purple-footed peasants."

  She giggled and a thousand stars lit up in his soul. It didn't matter if there were dark clouds hanging low in the sky or that he didn't know a thing about Italian vineyards, his heart lightened just listening to her laugh. Maybe he'd send all her friends at Conrad Oil bouquets of roses tomorrow morning, just for giving him the chance to be near Angel again.

  "To new beginnings." Clancy poured for both of them, handed her a wineglass by its slender stem, and clinked his glass to hers. He downed the mouthful of sparkling wine in one gulp.

  She swished the wine around until its fragrance wafted up to her nose, then sipped it delicately. "Mmmm," she said. "Now I intend to enjoy every single little bubble, not send it down my throat like a shot."

  "Well, that's the only way I can get it down. I still don't really like wine, or beer, or bourbon. I've never acquired a taste for any of it," he admitted honestly.

  She tasted the sparkling wine again. "Suit yourself. But I think a glass of Asti on a sandbar on a moonless night is pure heaven."

  Warm seawater sloshed up to her hips, billowing the skirt of her dress, and then the wavelet receded, leaving ripples in the sand where they sat. Clancy watched the tiny sand crabs pop up and try to bury themselves again in the soft, wet muck before the next wavelet washed over them.

  Oh, to be able to sit forever in such peacefulness, he thought. No meddling friends, no interference. Just blissful solitude as he watched her sip from the crystal wineglass he'd provided.

  "Then are you going back to Oklahoma City to teach, or will you resign and work for Red?" She held the wineglass up to the faint light from the motel behind the dune, and admired the rising bubbles through the ornamental cuts in the crystal. "You never did say," she added.

  "I don't know. But I can't keep Red dangling and feel right about it. I asked my mom for advice. She said to follow my heart just the way she's following hers and let the rest of the world be damned."

  "Oh?" Angel finished her wine, and gently placed the crystal glass far enough away from the water's edge so it wouldn't be washed out. She gathered a handful of wet sand and let it slip through her fingers.

  "She and Tom Lloyd are getting married today in San Antonio. They wanted it to be just the two of them for the wedding, but they plan on celebrating in style when we all get back."

  "Tom Lloyd? You mean the—"

  "Yep, Tom Lloyd. The maintenance supervisor at the cemetery. Seems she met him while she was out there tending to Dad's grave, and they got to talking. He lost his wife a while back and he was lonely, too."

  "But—" Angel's voice held so much confusion he had to chuckle.

  "I know," Clancy nodded. "Shocked me, too. Know what she told me? She said she didn't need money and she didn't care what her friends thought of him. Tom makes her feel special and Mama says everyone can get used to it or go to hell."

  "Well, I'll be damned," she gasped.

  He laughed. "You know, I thought she'd die a thousand times if I ever told her about you and the baby. Guess I was wrong about that, too!"

  Angel sat still for a while, letting Clancy's news sink in. Tom Lloyd had taken care of the cemetery in Tishomingo seemingly forever. His wife had been her grandmother's friend, and had sometimes helped her clean houses when Granny got behind. Angel could remember thinking that Tom was the tallest man in the whole world when she was a little girl, and even when she finally reached her full height of five foot whatever, he still seemed like a kindly giant. He had never raised his voice and she remembered that he'd always kept his jet-black hair, which probably had gray streaks in it by now, combed straight back without a part. But he was still only the maintenance supervisor at the cemetery—and Clancy's mother Meredith was probably one of the richest women in all of Johnston County!

  "I reckon there'll be talk in Tishomingo about that," she said finally.

  "Yep, I imagine there will be." Clancy lay back on the sandbar to look up at the sky. Only when he looked up he didn't see the sky. He saw straight up the full, flowing skirt of a woman with long, thin legs, who was wearing black lace underwear.

  "Hello, Clancy," a familiar voice said, and the soft feeling of contentment which had warmed his heart turned into a jagged edge of cold ice.

  "Melissa. What are you doing here?" He jerked himself back up into a sitting position, well away from her.

  "Who's your little friend?" Melissa said sarcastically.

  Angel didn't turn around, but she did take her eyes off the distant horizon where the water and the dark sky met. Of all the times for Clancy's ex to show up, she thought bitterly.

  "I said, what in the hell are you doing here?" Clancy asked again with a cutting edginess in his voice.

  "Don't use profanity with me," Melissa replied prissily. He sighed. How on earth had she even known where he was? In less than a month she'd shown up on two sandbars just to torment him.

  "Folks back home said you'd come down here for a little vacation, and I just thought you might like some company. Actually, I had a hunch that you'd come down here to drink in secret. If your little habit is getting out of control, I'd really like to help you. It breaks my heart to know that I can still make you so unhappy after all these years." She fidgeted with the silver bracelets on her wrist, sliding them up and down with a clatter that annoyed Angel no end. Melissa simpered at her. "But I see you've picked up a bottle to drown-your sorrows, and a beach bunny. Aren't you going to introduce me?"

  "Why?" Angel stood up, her soggy dress clinging to every luscious curve of her body and making Clancy work hard not to suck air just looking at her. "He shouldn't have to introduce us, Melissa. After all, you and I were in school together for thirteen years. I remember you very well. But maybe you don't remember me . . . I'm Angela Conrad."

  Nine

  "Of course I remember you," Melissa said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "You were the one who was screwing around with Clancy."

  "I loved him when all you did was tease him. All you saw in Clancy was an easy meal ticket, and a handsome groom to stand beside you at your picture-perfect little wedding," Angela said in the same cloying tone of voice Melissa was using.

  "Hey, Melissa. It's not as if I asked you to come down here. But I have a suggestion for you. Shut up." Clancy slowly got to his feet, dread filling his entire body. It was over now. Angel would fly home tomorrow morning and he'd never, ever see her again, and he couldn't blame her. She was her own woman now. She didn't need this kind of aggravation in her life.

  "Of course you didn't ask me to come down here, darling." Melissa turned away from Angel as if it were beneath consideratio
n. "But I figured you should be the first one to know some very special news. Our news. It'll change your mind about things."

  "Don't tell me you flew all the way down here to tell me you're getting a divorce from Daniel," Clancy said disbelievingly. "Hey, I remember when you divorced me for him, and I didn't care any more by that point. What makes you think I'd care now?"

  "Oh, hush," Melissa giggled, still ignoring Angel who was standing only a foot from her. "Did you know that Tishomingo is buzzing right now about your mother? Why, my mama is horrified that Meredith Morgan is marrying old Tom Lloyd. Here your dear daddy's only been gone four years and she's taken up with a man like that." Melissa was obviously trying to change the subject, but her smirky tone of voice hadn't changed.

  "Melissa?" Clancy's voice had an almost threatening tone. "You still haven't told me how you found me here." Angel watched the scene between them, transfixed, as it were from one of those soap operas her granny had felt compelled to watch every day of the week.

  Melissa pouted.

  "Oh, all right. Meredith has my friend Christy house-sitting for her while she and Tom are off on their honey-moon. "She dragged out the last word as if she were a kid with a new dirty term that she was showing off in front of the whole playground. "Christy found a note that had the name of your motel and the phone number here in case of an emergency, and she told my mama. And I caught the next flight out, right behind you, to tell you the wonderful news I just mentioned."

  "I don't give a damn if you bought me the winning ticket in the Texas lottery. You can have the zillion dollar jackpot all to yourself. Just so long as you leave me alone." Clancy picked up the bottle of Asti and the two wineglasses. "You're nothing but bad news, Melissa. So just trot back to the airport and catch the next flight home. Come on, Angel. I'll walk you to your door."

  Melissa stomped her foot in the sand, practically falling off her high-heeled sandal when she did it. She put her hands on her waist and glared at him, as if a look could change the way he felt about her. It had worked—years ago. When she got this mad, he used to stop and listen, but something was different tonight. She felt as if she'd lost the control she'd had over him for all those years.