Silas leaned into Zach and in low voice said, “I suspect it would be worth it to die like that.”
Maddie barely heard Zach’s soft reply. “It’s how I plan to go.”
*
Shortly before dusk, the band started warming up, and Maddie put Jesse to bed in Ruth and Jeb’s room. She stepped carefully over blankets and pillows Daisy had laid on the floor for the neighbors’ younger children. Away from the noise and commotion, Zach’s sister would watch over them while their parents enjoyed the dance. She hadn’t even complained, knowing she was being entrusted with a serious responsibility.
Maddie laid Jesse in his crib in the far corner of the room. Her stomach fluttered with nerves at the thought of leaving him there, and she thought she might throw up from the fear.
“Don’t worry,” Zach said, his hands warm on her upper arms. “Daddy’s got the hard liquor in the kitchen. As long as that holds out, there’ll be a solid barrier of men between Jesse and Derek. And Daddy laid in extra to make sure the kitchen ain’t ever empty.”
Maddie leaned over to kiss Jesse’s plump cheek. “I love you, Charlie Brown.”
As they made their way back to the barn, strains of country swing mingled on a light breeze with the scent of burning tobacco from the area Jeb had set aside for smokers.
Zach pulled her onto the edge of the floor and led her through the steps. When the song ended, he pulled her to him and kissed her, his hands dropping to her bottom to snug her in close against his loins.
The sound of a group of young cowboys near them, whooping their appreciation, pushed them apart, faces flaming.
Zach guided Maddie to the refreshment table. Sol stood next to it like a guard, watching couples dance past. “Don’t touch the punch,” he warned them. “Gideon spiked it earlier.”
Maddie took a glass of lemonade. Zach went for the soft cider. He kissed her lightly after she’d downed half the glass. “Mmm. Lemon cider. I like it.”
The band’s pattern was to play three or four fast songs, then a slow one to give everyone a break. When they started Garth Brook’s
The Dance
, Zach took Maddie’s glass from her and pulled her onto the dance floor.
“I like this,” he said into her ear. “I get to hold you with everyone watching and no one can say a thing about it.”
“Just don’t get too frisky,” Maddie warned him, “or your mother will be beating you with everyone watching, and no one will say a thing about that either.”
Zach spun her across the plywood floor. “Christ! There’s Georgia, dancing with Peter Talbot. Wonder if he brung her. That’ll have Sol’s tail in a knot.”
“Why?” Maddie turned her head, seeking Sol’s blond ex-wife. Maddie spotted Georgia held close in a tall cowboy’s arms. She still looked like a golden goddess in her form-fitting jeans and cream colored cowboy hat. Georgia filled out her western shirt in a way Maddie could never hope to do short of getting serious breast implants. “You said they’ve been divorced for years.”
Zach shook his head. “That don’t mean nothing. He ain’t never got over her. Everyone in the family knows he’s still hot for her.”
“Does she know?”
Zach shrugged “When he gets crazed, he tells her it’s coz of Eden. That he don’t want whoever Georgia’s seeing playing daddy to his daughter.”
“And that works?”
“It’s had limited success,” Zach said dryly. “Do you want to meet her?”
“I don’t think so. She’s the kind of girl who’s always intimidated me.”
“Yeah, she’s got a pretty intimidating rack.”
Maddie slapped his shoulder. “Zach!”
“Okay. How about ‘she has a pleasantly developed bosom’?”
“That’s not any better.”
“Doesn’t matter what I call it; she still draws men like bears to a honey tree. Believe me, I don’t envy Sol. Keeping other men away from Georgia is a full time job.”
“So you’re happy to settle for someone less attractive,” Maddie said, unaccountably annoyed.
Zach’s eyes narrowed. “There ain’t no good way to answer that. Let’s just say I know how to set a mean bear trap, so you best be careful where you step.”
“You’re starting to sound like you’ve bought into our cover story.”
The song ended and they stopped to applaud the band who announced they were going to pause for the cause.
“C’mon,” Zach said, taking her hand. “You need to be seen.”
Zach started introducing her around. The neighbors were generous with their congratulations and seemed willing to accept Maddie into their inner circle.
“Do you know everyone here?” Maddie asked as they left one group.
Zach shook his head. “There’s bunch of young folks from town. That’s what we wanted. If it was only folks we knew, Derek wouldn’t feel comfortable enough to try to slip in.”
“What if he doesn’t?” Maddie asked, her stomach tensing up. “What then?”
Zach stopped and met her eyes. “Let’s worry about that if it happens. You just keep your eyes peeled.”
“The men are all wearing hats. It’s hard to tell about anyone from more than a couple of feet.”
The band was still on break when they made a trip to the house to check on Jesse to ease Maddie’s mind. They found Ruth watching over the children.
“I sent Daisy out for an hour or so. She’s too young to miss all the fun,” Ruth said.
Reassured that Jesse was still safe, Maddie and Zach went out through the kitchen where Jeb and his peers were keeping company with Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, and Johnny Walker.
It was fully dark out. Even with the tiki lights Jeb had set up earlier lighting the way, they stepped carefully as they made their way back to the barn.
At the refreshment table, Maddie’s hopes of not having to face Sol’s gorgeous ex-wife died a quiet death.
“Hey, Zach. Congratulations.”
Zach and Maddie turned as one. “Hey, Georgia. This is Maddie, the light of my life.”
Politeness demanded Maddie take Georgia’s extended hand. It was a snap judgment, Maddie knew, but Georgia looked like the kind of woman who never had a moment’s insecurity. Or if she did, Maddie couldn’t imagine her showing it.
“I was beginning to think there weren’t any women who could snare any of the McKnight boys.”
“I guess that puts me in pretty exclusive company,” Maddie said as Zach enfolded her from behind. She managed to keep her natural resentment of Georgia out of her voice.
Georgia laughed. “Okay. I can see you’ve heard all about the wicked ex-wife who ran away screaming rather than be part of the family. It’s not quite that simple, but you’ll figure that out eventually. In the meantime, on behalf of my daughter,” she looked pointedly at Zach, “who
is
part of the family,” her gaze returned to Maddie, “welcome to the McKnight clan. I hope you do better with Zach than I did with Sol. I really do.”
“Thanks.” Maddie breathed a little easier. Georgia was nicer than she’d expected.
The band started up again with a line dance and the tall cowboy she’d danced with earlier came and claimed Georgia.
People started to flow like a river around them, heading for the dance floor. Suddenly, Maddie felt overwhelmed by all the strangers. Derek could pass within inches of her, and she might not know it until it was too late. She turned into Zach’s chest. His arms wrapped protectively around her.
“This isn’t working. I can’t find him in this crowd. And he won’t make a move in front of this many people.”
“I know.”
“Then why are we doing this?”
Zach took a deep breath. “Don’t get mad, okay? We didn’t tell you about this because we didn’t want you to be nervous and tip our hand.”
If his words were meant to reassure Maddie, they failed miserably. Full of dread, she pulled away from him, so she could look up into his face. “Tell me about what?”
“I’ll tell you in second.”
His brother Gideon was standing next to the refreshment table, watching the dancers. Zach sent him to find Sol with the message that it was time.
Zach put his arms around her. “Put your arms around my neck,” he instructed her. He kissed her casually. They maintained the pose, striving to look like a couple in love, talking about things just between the two of them. Instead, Zach started telling her how they planned to draw Derek into the open.
“There’s gotta be bait. An easy path to Jesse would look too suspicious, even if you’d agree, which you wouldn’t. That leaves you. He’s gotta know you’re his best shot at getting to his son.”
“You’re going to send me out there alone, aren’t you?” She knew he heard the quaver in her voice.
“No. We don’t want him skittish about it being too easy. You and me, we’re gonna slip out like we’re looking for a place to be alone. If he’s here, we’re betting he’ll follow us. But we ain’t never gonna be alone. Sol, Gideon, Jake, and Daddy are all gonna be nearby, and I’ll be with you every step of the way, but I’ll be the only one Derek will see. He wasn’t afraid of Vince; he probably won’t be too concerned about me.”
Maddie swallowed hard then took a deep breath. “Let’s do it.”
“We gotta wait a few more minutes. Give Daddy and the boys time to get out there and get settled.” He positioned them near the open end of barn and pulled her against him, resting his chin on the top of her head, while they waited. When the band started another line dance on the notes of the last one, Zach tilted her chin up and kissed her soundly. His free hand pulled her against him.
When he let her go, she said, “Even now?”
“Well, yeah, but that’s not why. If he’s looking, he’ll see us near the doors, looking all hot for each other. Even if he doesn’t see us slip out, he’ll figure out we’ve gone somewheres to be alone.” As he talked, he put an arm around her waist and pulled her outside.
He hustled her to the corner of the barn, where he dropped his bandana, the first of a trail of bread crumbs.
They rounded the barn and headed off toward the hay bales stacked at the far end of the corral. Zach hung her bandana off the tines of a baler as they passed.
In low tones, he told her, “Me and the others, we got this covered, but if I tell you to run, you head for the house. If you don’t have a straight shot at it, go around the corrals. If you need to, you can cut through that corral there”—he held his hand close to his body when he pointed, where no one but Maddie could see—“but not the corral where Old Smokey is. He’s kinda territorial, and he’ll chase you. Bulls are faster than you think, and he’ll stomp you if he catches you.”
Maddie nodded.
When they got to the hay bales, Maddie realized there were actually two stacks. Maybe two hundred bales were in the farthest one, but the McKnights had chipped away at the other one as they fed the livestock they had corralled until it was a quarter of its original size. The remaining bales were stacked a good foot over Zach’s head.
Just around the corner, between the two stacks, he backed her up against the bales. With one hand, he set his hat on top of the end bale. As the other fished around between two bales, he said, “Now our job is to act like we’re not aware of anything but each other.”
Maddie’s eyes grew wide when she saw the revolver he pulled from a crack between the bales. Zach’s shoulders hitched forward as he stuck the barrel down the front of his jeans. “I want you to understand that this is the only time I’m ever gonna say this: don’t be grabbing for what’s in my jeans. I’d hate for this to go off accidental like.”
As scared as she was, when he snuggled his body up against her, pinning her against the bales, Maddie couldn’t stop herself from asking, “Is that a gun in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?”