Town Social Page 20

  She tensed her body, prepared to lunge forward and fling herself between Teddy and the snake if necessary.

  The snake's triangular head wavered into view, mouth slightly open to show deadly white fangs and a black forked tongue flickering in and out. Sunny began to pray.

  A loud explosion sounded, and the snake's head disappeared in a flash of goriness. Sunny leapt for Teddy, catching her in her arms and dragging her several feet away. Sobbing, Teddy buried her face in Sunny's skirts and Sunny clutched her frantically. Scattering pebbles and small rocks, the snake's headless body writhed and tumbled. It had to be at least six feet long and as large around as Sunny's upper arm.

  The scream caught in her throat finally broke free and shattered the air. Jerking Teddy into her arms, she stumbled backwards, carrying the child with her.

  "Easy, Sunny."

  She hit the solid wall of Jake's chest and his soothing voice cut through her terror. Turning and shoving Teddy into Jake's arms, she clung to both of them, her body shaking with receding panic as Jake gathered them close.

  "Thank God," she murmured. "Thank God. How did you know?"

  She felt him lay his cheek against the top of her head. "I was looking for you," he said. "I spotted Rowdy and headed this way. The dog suddenly froze and started growling low in his throat, or I would have just kept right on walking and pushed that snake into striking when I appeared."

  "That wonderful, wonderful dog," Sunny said.

  Teddy wiggled between them. "I want to see Rowdy. Where is he?"

  Sunny stepped back, but Jake kept a firm arm around her waist, drawing her to his side while he held Teddy in his other arm. Teddy shifted around, and they saw Rowdy crouched close to the snake's still trembling body, ears flat against his head and growling low and viciously.

  "Rowdy," Teddy called around a sob. "Rowdy, come here."

  The little dog glanced at her, then back at the snake. His lips drew back in another snarl, baring his white teeth. It reminded Sunny way too much of the vicious fangs so close to Teddy only a moment ago, and she tossed Jake a pleading look.

  "The snake can't harm him," Jake assured her. "The bullet smashed its head."

  "I know, Ranger Jake," Teddy said. "But I need to tell Rowdy how thankful we are. And I ain't gonna go near that snake to do that."

  "I understand." Jake raised his voice. "Rowdy! Here, Rowdy. Come!"

  The little dog whined once deep in his throat, then scrambled to his feet and bounced over to them, tail wagging and tongue hanging out. Jake let Teddy down and she knelt at their feet, grabbing Rowdy in a fierce hug and burying her face in the ruff of fur on the brown and white neck.

  "You's a wonderful dog, Rowdy," she said. "Just the bestest dog in the whole world."

  Sunny bent down to pat the dog's head, receiving a slurpy tongue in her face in return for her own thanks. She cupped Rowdy's face and stared into his deep brown eyes.

  "Teddy's right, Rowdy. You are the bestest dog I've ever known. And you're going to have your very own plate of food at the picnic this afternoon."

  Teddy raised her head and giggled. With the resilience of a child, she was already recovering from her fright. "You gonna let him eat off one of our good plates, too, Miss Sunny?" she asked.

  Sunny returned her smile and said, "I'd like it a lot if you'd start just calling me Sunny from now on, darling. And Rowdy can eat off whatever he wants and have as much as he wants. Until his tummy is so full we have to carry him home."

  "Me, too, Sunny?" Teddy asked with a shrewd grin. "I seen lots of goodies on the desert table. Can I just eat off that table?"

  "You, young lady," Sunny admonished, waving her index finger, "can...." Her voice faltered and tears misted her eyes. She grabbed Teddy in another tight hug. "You are so precious to me, Teddy. Have I told you today how much I love you?"

  Teddy patted her on the back. "Nope, not today. And I'm all right, Sunny. You don't have to cry. Thanks to Rowdy and Ranger Jake, we's both all right now. But I love you back just as much, too."

  Sunny sniffed and rose to her feet. "Promise me you'll never come out here alone, Teddy. I shouldn't have brought you with me today. I wouldn't have, if I'd had any idea how dangerous it was."

  "I promise, Sunny. Now, can I go on back to the social? Suzie oughta be there by now, and her and me thought up a way at church last Sunday to make some money for your Cu...Cultural Center. We're gonna charge the town kids who don't have ponies of their own a penny apiece to ride Suzie's pony."

  "That's a very good idea, Teddy. But we'll all go back together," she said firmly. "I don't want you walking through these rocks alone."

  "All right. I'll get the bucket of cow patties."

  She raced over to the bucket and picked it up, then started skipping back toward the church in the distance. When Jake proffered his arm, Sunny gratefully accepted it, and they strolled after Teddy and Rowdy.

  "I don't know what to say," she said, gazing into the whiskey eyes beneath the shadowing hat brim. "If you hadn't come...that shot...you saved Teddy's life. That snake was large enough for the amount of venom it had to have killed Teddy."

  "You looked to me like you were the one who probably would have been bit," Jake answered. "You were ready to fling yourself between Teddy and that snake. And I've never been so damned glad in my life that I'm a good shot."

  Looking ahead to assure herself Teddy hadn't gotten too far away, Sunny squeezed his arm. "Well, thank you seems pretty tame for what I really want to say, but it's all I can think of right now. Thank you, Jake. Thank you so much for being there."

  "I'd like to always be," she thought she heard him murmur, but when she glanced back at his face, he nodded toward Teddy.

  "What the heck were the two of you doing out here digging up cow patties? They planning on having a chip throwing contest as part of the social? And if they are, why the hell didn't one of the men come out here and get them for you? You and Teddy had no business out here alone."

  "Cow patties?" Sunny's voice rose in shock. "Teddy called them that a minute ago, too. But the note said they were mushrooms — desert mushrooms. Teddy didn't tell me any different when I told her what we were after."

  "Mushrooms don't grow out here," Jake denied. "They need wet, shady ground. Although I've seen a few toadstools manage to get an inch or so tall in a fresh pile of manure after a spring rain. Still, they had no business sending a woman out to gather that stuff."

  Sunny pulled him to a halt. They were close enough to the church now to hear the sounds of revelry, and when Teddy peered back at them, she indicated for the little girl to go on with a wave. Teddy and Rowdy took off at a galloping run.

  Sunny thinned her lips. Even before asking, she knew she wasn't going to like the answer. "Tell me what cow patties are," she said grimly.

  Jake slipped his thumbs in his gunbelt and cocked his head. "You really don't know?"

  She denied it with a shake of her head.

  "Well, they're cow sh...uh...manure. Or horse manure, like you were griping about being in the streets in town. It dries out in the sun and the cowboys even use it for fire fodder sometimes, because it burns pretty well. Up in the prairie states northeast of us, the sodbusters used to burn buffalo droppings back when the herds were huge."

  "I've never seen anything like what I've been shoveling up out here in the Liberty Flats streets!"

  "Gets trampled too fast," Jake said with a shrug. "Other horses going by, wagons running over it. It doesn't last long enough in the streets to dry out."

  "Ohhhh!" Sunny untied the chin ribbons on her chip straw bonnet, dragged it off and used it to fan her flushed face. "Someone obviously set out to embarrass me! I can just imagine how the whole town would have been laughing at me if I'd carried that bucket of cow...cow...cow stuff into the middle of everyone and told them 'here's your mushrooms!'"

  Jake choked on something and she peered at him. His jaws were clenched, and he appeared to be staring at the sky, though she had no idea how he
could see up with that hat brim in the way. A funny snort escaped his nose, and her own jaws grew rigid at what she suspected was his suppressed laughter.

  "Jake," she warned.

  He lost it. His shoulders convulsed and a deep belly laugh roared into the air. He threw back his head, then bent forward clutching his stomach, all the while guffawing as though someone was tickling the devil out of him. Tapping her foot faster and faster, she fumed as she watched him. If she had that bucket of cow patties, she's toss one in his face right now!

  Looking for a stick or something else to beat that darn devil straight out of him, she glared around the ground. When he stood upright for an instant and wiped the heels of his hands across his eyes, she saw a smear of moisture on his cheeks and realized he was wiping away tears of laughter. When he saw her watching him, his chest shook with another chuckle, then his laughter roared free again.

  Dropping her hat, she fisted her hands and raised them at him. Holding out his hands defensively, he shook his head and backed away, his laughter continuing unsuppressed.

  She reached down and grabbed her hat. Flinging herself at him, she battered his head and shoulders with the chip straw bonnet. "Quit it!" she raged. "Quit it right this minute or I'll stuff this hat down your throat to shut you up!"

  Continuing to chortle, Jake protectively raised his arms and she beat on them with her bonnet. Suddenly comprehending how ineffectual her blows were, she stilled and glared at him.

  The corner of her mouth flickered in a tiny tick. She thinned her lips to a firm line. A bubble burst in her chest. She crossed her arms over it. Jake tipped his hat brim up with a finger and glanced at her. She flounced around to give him her back, but a snort of laughter avoided her clamped teeth. Slipping a look over her shoulder, she met his mirth-filled whiskey eyes and collapsed into most unlady-like snorts and guffaws of her own.

  Straightening, she wiped at her eyes and peered over her shoulder. His gleaming whiskey eyes met hers and he quirked a raven brow. "Desert mushrooms?" he teased.

  Her giggle bubbled forth again. Skirts flying, she swiveled around, beating on him once more with her bonnet. "That's what...the note said...they were!" she gasped around her laughter.

  He grabbed her bonnet away, holding it out of her reach over his head. "Cow patties," he said with a grin.

  "Give me back my bonnet," she demanded. She jumped for it, missing and landing with a wobble. Grabbing his brawny forearms for support, she stared into his face.

  "Don't you dare tell anyone," she ordered, realizing her mistake at once when an assessing look shadowed his whiskey eyes.

  "Well, now," he drawled. "What's it worth to you for me to do that? I figure I ought to get something back in return for doing something as important as keeping my mouth shut. And don't forget. I killed that snake for you."

  ***

  Chapter 16

  Sunny jerked her hands from his arms as though she'd just touched the hot Texas sun overhead. Her shoe heel slid on a smooth stone, and Jake grabbed her waist to steady her.

  "Easy, Sunny," he murmured.

  "You sound like you're talking to your horse when you say that to me," she grumbled. But she made no move to pull away from him.

  Jake chuckled under his breath. "You're a heck of a lot prettier than my horse."

  When she opened her mouth to admonish him, he broke in, "I can say that to you even as a friend, can't I? I'm just being honest — telling you one friend to another. You're not one of those fluttery females who simpers and pouts, pushing for compliments from a man. You know darned well you're pretty — beautiful even."

  Contemplating his words, she stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. His gaze immediately dropped to her mouth and a grin quirked the corner of his mouth.

  "Well, maybe you pout, but it sure doesn't look like a prissy pout to me," he said. "Looks more like a kissing pout."

  Becoming aware of tiny spasms on her rib cage, she realized his thumbs were slowly stroking, moving back and forth, while his fingers imperceptibly tightened their hold. Such insignificant movements for the response her skin was giving. Skitters of pleasure crawled upwards, even past the point where his long thumbs missed the undersides of her breasts by a good inch. Her breasts grew heavy in response, tips puckering against her bodice as though chilled despite the blazing heat of the day.

  How on earth did he do that to her? She needed to tell him to stop, but that would only call his attention to her reaction. She swallowed against the dryness in her mouth and tried to form a suitable reply to whatever he'd said. What on earth had he said? Something about a kiss.

  "I...." She cleared her throat, which felt like a clump of those feathery cactus prickles had lodged in it. "Is that what you want in return for keeping quiet about the desert mushrooms?" she managed when she finally recalled the focus of their discussion. "Just a...a kiss? A friendly kiss?"

  He tilted his head and bent down a fraction of an inch, way too little of a distance to account for the strain she felt growing between their lips. Her toes curled, resisting the urge to push her upward and close the distance between them.

  "I guess I'd consider a kiss proper compensation," he said, lowering his head a fraction more. "Just between friends, you know."

  She lifted her arms, settling them around his neck. The backs of her fingers brushed the silky strands of black hair, which were damp with sweat from the hot day, and one index finger sort of coiled all on its own, winding a spiral around it. Her toes uncurled to support her when she stretched up to meet him, eyes closing with a dreamy sluggishness.

  Jake dropped his head, pecked her briefly on the mouth and then released his hold on her waist. He stepped back and her arms fell nervelessly from his neck as her eyes flew open in shock. Traitorously, her lips remained pursed and slightly open, yearning for the fulfillment her mind had promised them.

  Blazing anger filled her, way hotter than the Texas day, and she clamped her jaws to trap the nasty retort flashing through her mind. A friendly kiss, he'd said. And that was darned sure all he'd given her! She didn't have a reason on earth to scream at him for depriving her of what she had expected — something more along the lines of the other kisses they had shared — the other kisses that had been prior to their mutual vow of friendship. Still she clenched her teeth even harder, until her face muscles ached with strain.

  Jake reached up and raised his hat, running his other hand through his hair then settling the hat back into place with a tug on the brim. Stunned into senseless stupidity, she could only watch his movements, her mouth gaping like a fish tossed onto a riverbank.

  "We better get on back to the social," he said. "Ready?"

  "N...no!" she sputtered. Closing her eyes to shut out the smirk on his face, she took a deep breath. She'd be damned if she'd let him get the better of her! Somehow, with an exhaustive effort, she forced her mouth into a friendly smile.

  "I mean, yes, of course I am," she said, opening her eyes and composing her face into what she considered a serene facade. She scanned the ground, spying her bonnet several feet away. Her cheeks flushed when she recalled sailing it away with a flick of her wrist just before she reached for Jake's neck. She took a wobbly step, paused and mentally told her unsteady legs just what she'd do to them if they betrayed her, then swept over to the bonnet.

  Calmly retrieving it from the ground, she lifted it to her head and tied the chin ribbons, only getting her finger caught once briefly in the bow. "Coming?" she called in a sticky sweet voice as she strolled toward the church.

  It was a second or two before she heard his footsteps behind her, and she started making innocent conversation the moment he came up beside her.

  "I do believe everyone for miles around has come to support the social. Just look at all the people. And even the children are doing their part. Did you hear Teddy say she and Suzie were going to charge for rides on Suzie's pony?"

  "Don't know why I wouldn't have heard her. I was standing right there."

  "But i
sn't that sweet of them?"

  "Yeah, sweet."

  The curt tone of his voice made her glance to the side. He walked with his elbows cocked behind him, fingers stuck in his back pockets. As most of the other men in town had, he'd dressed up somewhat for the social, though he still wore his ever-present brace of pistols. Instead of his usual denims, he wore a dark brown pair of trousers, and his light tan shirt was pulled taut against his chest by the angle of his arms.

  His brown string tie hung loose, and she halted as soon as she spotted the fluttering ends.

  "Jake, you need to knot your tie. Heavens, it's entirely improper for you to go around with it loose like that. Here, let me fix it for you."

  She was extremely proud of herself when she stepped up to him and quickly knotted the tie into place. Catching her tongue between her teeth with the tip of it barely peeking between her lips, she studied her creation. Giving the bow a little pat of satisfaction, she turned and strolled on. They were at the edge of the activities now, and she gazed around, trying to decide which one interested her the most.

  "I think I'll go check on the food preparations," she decided aloud. "Maybe I can snitch a little bite. The smell of that roasting steer is delightful, but it's making my stomach rumble. Is it the mesquite wood that's making it smell so good?"

  "Probably."

  "Jake, do cheer up, won't you? We worked hard to plan this social, and I want everyone to have a nice time today. You seemed in such a good mood a few minutes ago, and I can't imagine what's given you the grumps. But you go on and find something fun to do." She peered up at him and tapped his arm with her fingertips. "Go on now. And try to have fun."

  Jake nodded. "Fun. Yeah, I'll go have some fun."

  He sauntered away with his usual cat-like stride, and she watched him go. In deference to the company of the ladies in the crowd, some of the men wore proper suit jackets even in this horrible heat, but she didn't condemn Jake for not wearing his. Just then she noticed his trousers were pulled as tightly across his backside as those darned denims fit him.