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that I had no experience, but he put me to work with an old veteran cowhand named Cal Lucas who
taught me ev- erything I know about cattle."
She grinned. "It took guts to do that."
He laughed. "I guess so. I bluffed a lot, although I am a good mechanic. Then I got in with this Sunday
merc crew and went down to Africa with them one week on a so-called training mission. All we did
was talk to some guys in a village about their problems with foreign relief shipments. But before we
could do anything, we ran afoul of government troops and got sent home." He sighed. "I bragged
about how much I'd learned, what a great merc I was." He glanced at her as they drove toward San
Antonio, but she wasn't reacting critically. Much the reverse. He relaxed a little. "Then one of the drug
lords came storming up to Mr. Parks's house with his men and I got a dose of reality--an au- tomatic
in my face. Mr. Parks jerked two combat knives out of his sleeves and threw them at the two men who
were holding me. Put them both down in a heartbeat." He shook his head, still breathless at the
memory. "I never saw anything like it, before or since. I thought he was just a rancher. Turns out he
went with Micah Steele and Eb Scott on real merc missions overseas. He listened to me brag and
watched me strut, and never said a word. I'd never have known, if the drug dealers hadn't attacked. We
got in a firefight with them later."
"We heard about that, even up in San Antonio," she said.
He nodded. "It got around. Mr. Parks and Eb Scott and Micah Steele got together to take out a drug
dis- DIANA PALMER 77
tribution center near Mr. Parks's property. I swallowed my pride and asked to go along. They let me."
He sighed. "I grew up in the space of an hour. I saw men shot and killed, I had my life saved by Mr.
Parks again in the process. Afterward, I never bragged or strutted again. Mr. Parks said he was proud
of me." He flushed a little. "If my father had been like him, I guess I'd still be at home. He's a real man,
Mr. Parks. I've never known a better one."
"He likes you, too."
He laughed self-consciously. "He does. He's offered me a few acres of land and some cattle, if I'd like
to start my own herd. I'm thinking about it. I love ranching. I think I'm getting good at it."
"So we'd live on a cattle ranch." She pursed her lips mischievously. "I guess I could learn to help with
branding. I mean, we wouldn't want our kids to think their mother was a sissy, would we?" she asked,
laughing.
Harley gave her a sideways glance and grinned. She really was fun to be with. He thought he might
take her by the ranch one day while she was still in Jacobsville and introduce her to Mr. Parks. He was
sure Mr. Parks would like her.
Five
The restaurant Harley took Alice to was a very nice one, with uniformed waiters and chandeliers.
"Oh, Harley, this wasn't necessary," she said quickly, flushing. "A hamburger would have been fine!"
He smiled. "We all got a Christmas bonus from Mr. Parks," he explained. "I don't drink or smoke or
gamble, so I can afford a few luxuries from time to time."
"You don't have any vices? Wow. Now I really think we should set the date." She glanced at him under
her lashes. "I don't drink, smoke or gamble, either," she added hopefully.
He nodded. "We'll be known as the most prudish couple in Jacobsville."
"Kilraven's prudish, too," she pointed out.
"Yes, but he won't be living in Jacobsville much DIANA PALMER 79
longer. He's been reassigned, we're hearing. After all, he's really a fed."
She studied the menu. "I'll bet he could be a heart- breaker with a little practice."
"He's breaking Winnie Sinclair's heart, anyway, by leaving," Harley said, repeating the latest gossip.
"She's really got a case on him. But he thinks she's too young."
"He's only in his thirties," she pointed out.
"Yes, but Winnie's the same age as her brother's new wife," he replied. "Boone Sinclair thought Keely
Welsh was too young for him, too."
"But he gave in, in the end. You know, the Ballenger brothers in Jacobsville both married younger
women. They've been happy together, all these years."
"Yes, they have."
The waiter came and took their orders. Alice had a shrimp cocktail and a large salad with coffee.
Harley gave her a curious look.
"Aren't you hungry?" he asked.
She laughed. "I told you in Jacobsville, I love salads," she confessed. "I mostly eat them at every
meal." She indicated her slender body. "I guess that's how I keep the weight off."
"I can eat as much as I like. I run it all off," he replied. "Working cattle is not for the faint of heart or
the out- of-condition rancher."
She grinned. "I believe it." She smiled at the waiter as he deposited coffee in their china cups and left.
"Why did you want to be a cowboy?" she asked him.
"I loved old Western movies on satellite," he said simply. "Gary Cooper and John Wayne and
Randolph Scott. I dreamed of living on a cattle ranch and having 80 THE MAVERICK
animals around. I don't even mind washing Bob when she gets dirty, or Puppy Dog."
"What's Puppy Dog's name?" she asked.
"Puppy Dog."
She gave him an odd look. "Who's on first, what's on second, I don't know's on third?"
"I don't give a damn's our shortstop?" he finished the old Abbott and Costello comedy routine. He
laughed. "No, it's not like that. His name really is Puppy Dog. We have a guy in town, Tom Walker. He
had an outland- ish dog named Moose that saved his daughter from a rattlesnake. Moose sired a litter
of puppies. Moose is dead now, but Puppy Dog, who was one of his off- spring, went to live with Lisa
Monroe, before she married my boss. She called him Puppy Dog and figured it was as good a name
as any. With a girl dog named Bob, my boss could hardly disagree," he added on a chuckle.
"I see."
"Do you like animals?"
"I love them," she said. "But I can't have animals in the apartment building where I live. I had cats and
dogs and even a parrot when I lived at home."
"Do you have family?"
She shook her head. "My dad was the only one left. He died a few months ago. I have uncles, but we're
not close."
"Did you love your parents?"
She smiled warmly. "Very much. My dad was a banker. We went fishing together on weekends. My
mother was a housewife who never wanted to run a cor- poration or be a professional. She just
wanted a houseful of kids, but I was the only child she was able to have. She spoiled me rotten. Dad
tried to counterbalance her." She DIANA PALMER 81
sipped coffee. "I miss them both. I wish I'd had brothers or sisters." She looked at him. "Do you have
siblings?"
"I had a sister," he said quietly.
"Had?"
He nodded. He fingered his coffee cup. "She died when she was seven years old."
She hesitated. He looked as if this was a really bad memory. "How?"
He smiled sadly. "My father backed over her on his way down the driveway, in a hurry to get to a
meeting."
She grimaced. "Poor man."
He cocked his head and studied her. "Why do you say that?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]