“Don’t worry, Sugarpuss. I’ll be back. I promise.”
Johnny had spread a clean blanket over the seat in the truck. After he started the motor, he reached for her arm and pulled until she moved over into the middle of the seat.
“This is a date. You’re not supposed to sit way over there.”
“Do all your dates sit this close to you?”
“Only the pretty redheaded ones.”
Kathleen’s breath suspended. “Where are we going?” She really didn’t care. This was all so new, so wonderful.
“To the Twilight Gardens.”
“The honky-tonk?”
“You got something against honky-tonks?” He grinned down at her. “You said you liked to dance.”
“I do. Emily asked me not to go to one because her mama did, and she didn’t come back.”
“That’s why we’re going. If Clara was there, we may be able to find out who she was with.”
“Didn’t Sheriff Carroll try to find out where she had been that night?”
“No, he closed the case. That’s why we’re going to nose around.”
“And you need me to do that?”
“Of course.”
Kathleen wrinkled her nose. “So you’re just using me as a prop for your sleuthing?”
“Pretty smart of me, huh?” His lighthearted words and his smile set her heart dancing.
“It’ll depend on how successful you are.”
Cars were parked in front and alongside the Twilight Gardens when they pulled in and stopped. Traveling neon lights, in a zigzag pattern, ran across the front of the building. A beer sign flashed in one of the windows.
“Here we are,” Johnny said, but made no attempt to get out. “This isn’t a very fancy place.”
“I didn’t expect it to be.”
“I heard what Grandon said today. Will you lose the paper if the merchants stop advertising?”
“Maybe. But we won’t go down without a fight. I’ll write a story about the reason for their boycott and spread it all over the front page. Our subscribers buy the paper for news as well as the advertisements. The merchants’ boycott could backfire on them.”
Johnny reached out to touch her hair. “Come on, my feisty little redhead. Let’s see what we can find out.”
Even coming in from the outside, Kathleen’s eyes took a minute or two to adjust to the dim lights. A row of booths surrounded a small dance floor where couples were swaying to a slow waltz. A big nickelodeon, with a rainbow of lights, stood at one end of the room and a bar at the other.
“Howdy, cowboy. That’s Johnny Henry, the
All-Around Cowboy
.” The voice came from one of the booths.
“Howdy.”
“Hey, Johnny. Good ridin’.”
“Thanks.”
Johnny steered her along the edge of the dance floor to an empty booth at the end. Kathleen scooted in, and he slid in beside her. They had a clear view of the entire room.
“You’ve got friends here.”
“Not friends. They saw me at the rodeo.”
“Do you come here very often?”
“A couple times a month when I want to get a cold glass of 3.2. Oklahoma only sells beer with 3.2 percent of alcohol. Some people go across the river to get stronger Texas beer. What will you have? Coke or beer?”
“Coke.”
Kathleen watched him as he went along the row of booths to the bar. He stopped a couple of times along the way to speak to people who hailed him. He spoke with the man behind the counter for a minute or two then returned with two bottles.
“Like I said, it isn’t fancy. No glasses.”
“That’s all right. I’ve drunk out of a bottle before.” Kathleen placed his hat on the seat beside her to move it away from the water left by the wet bottles. She wiped the neck of the Coke bottle with her handkerchief and took a deep swallow. “Whee . . . the fizz goes up my nose!”
As they watched the couples on the dance floor, Johnny reached for her hand. She folded her fingers over his, pressing her soft palm tightly to his rough one. Kathleen was as certain as she was breathing that this man would forever occupy a place in her heart. She shoved from her mind the knowledge that before the evening was over she must tell him that Barker Fleming would be in Rawlings the next day. He was going to be angry, and she dreaded that.
“Do you want to dance?” The soft inquiry brought her eyes to his. He was watching her with a half smile on his face. “Let your Coke sit a while and it’ll not be so fizzy.”
“Your beer will get warm.”
“You’ve not been paying attention, Miss Dolan. I finished my beer.”
“Oh, my goodness. I must have been daydreaming.”
“Come dance with me. ‘Springtime in the Rockies’ is a good slow one. Just right for an old cowboy like me.”
“You really are old, you know,” Kathleen teased as she slid out of the booth.
Johnny took her hand, put his arm around her, and drew her close. She allowed him to mold her body to his and gave herself up to his tight embrace. When he moved it was impossible not to move with him. Her hand on his shoulder slipped up until she could feel the hair at the nape of his neck. He pressed his cheek tightly to the side of her head. Her heart throbbed in her throat.
“You’re very soft and sweet tonight, Miss Dolan.” He tipped his head and his lips tickled her ear when he spoke.
“You’re full of blarney, fer sure, me boy,” she answered in a breathless whisper.
Kathleen’s eyes were half-closed, and for a short while she forgot that anyone else existed except the two of them. Johnny was a wonderful dancer. Their steps fit perfectly. Kathleen floated in a golden haze. He moved his head, and she tilted hers to look at him. His dark eyes were warm and his mouth slightly tilted at the corners. Emotion was there on his face. Was it love? Whatever it was, it had the power to stop her breath. His arms tightened convulsively when her lashes fluttered down. He pressed his cheek to her hair again, and they glided around the small dance floor to the strains of the slow waltz.
Johnny brought them to a halt when the music stopped. He took a step back, then lifted a hand to finger-comb the hair back from her temple.
“I like your hair. It reminds me of a sunset.” A slow smile lit his face. “Shall we try it again? You’re good at keeping my big old boots from stomping on your feet.”
“They didn’t even come close. You’re a great, I might even say magnificent, dancer.”
His arms closed around her and they began to move to the music coming from the jukebox. Bing Crosby was singing:
When the blue of the night meets the gold of the day, someone waits for you
—Johnny didn’t understand what he was feeling. He didn’t have words to describe it. There might not even be words. All he knew was that holding this woman in his arms was wonderful, different from anything he ever felt before.
The sheen of her fiery red hair, the delicacy of her profile, and the strength of her personality were enough to intimidate any man. To a dumb cowboy like him she was . . . unreachable. Yet here she was, in his arms and enjoying it. He wasn’t so dumb, he told himself, that he didn’t know that.
The music ended. They stepped back and looked at each other.
“Shall we go see if your Coke has lost some of its fizz?” Johnny’s lips felt stiff as he spoke. His hand rested at her waist as they walked back to their booth. He leaned over to speak to her after she was seated. “Will you be all right for a few minutes? Someone just came in that I’d like to speak to.”
“About Clara? Go ahead, I’ll be fine.”
Johnny crossed the room to where two young cowboys leaned against the wall. They worked on a ranch just outside of town, and both had participated in the events at the rodeo.
“Howdy, Buddy. Hi, Mack.”
“I’ve not seen you out here before, Johnny.”
“Showing my girlfriend the sights. Twilight Gardens is one of them.”
“She’s a looker, Johnny. But I guess the
All-Around Cowboy
has the pick of the litter, huh?” Buddy gave Johnny a good-natured slap on the shoulder.
“It helped,” Johnny said confidentially out of the side of his mouth. “Listen, fellows, I’m kind of in a pickle. Were you all here Monday night?”
“Yeah, we came by. It was kind of late.”
“Was Clara Ramsey here?”
The young men looked at each other. Finally one of them said, “Yeah.”
“Was she with someone?”
“If she was, you’d never know it. She was booth-hoppin’ all over the place. Even me’n Buddy could’ve taken her out for a while if we’d a had the price.”
“Here’s my problem, boys, and I don’t want my lady friend to know it. Clara got hold of my
All-Around Cowboy
belt buckle. I won’t tell you how.”
Buddy snickered. “You don’t have to. We’ve got a idey.”
“When they found her in the ditch, it wasn’t on her. I’ve got to think that she gave it to someone she was with, or sold it. I want to find that man and get it back.”
“Wish we could help you, Johnny. We met a couple of girls and you know—”
“Did you see her talking to anyone you know?”
“She was talking to everyone.”
“She sat in the corner for a while with Gus Webb,” Mack said.
“Gus Webb. Someone said the sheriff had run him outta town.”
“He might of, but he come back. He was here Monday night and again last night.”
“If he’s got my buckle, I’ll work him over till I get it back. Thanks, fellows. Keep this under your hats will you. I don’t want folks to think I was dumb enough to let some woman take it from me.”
“Sure, Johnny.”
Johnny went back to Kathleen. She moved to make room for him to sit beside her.
“Clara was here Monday night. I guess she was making a show of herself.”
“Was she with anyone?”
“Everyone, I guess. The boys said she was in a back booth for a while with Gus Webb.”
“Well, for goodness sake! Do you think he killed her?” “Not with that old car of his. Are you ready to leave? I’ve talked to the bartender. He won’t admit that she was even here. He’s afraid it’ll hurt business.”
Kathleen handed Johnny his hat, then took the hand he offered as she slid out of the booth. They walked along the side of the dance floor toward the door. As they passed the two young cowboys, Johnny winked. One of them snickered.
Gene Autry was singing “Be Nobody’s Darling But Mine,” as they left the smoke-filled tavern. Kathleen appreciated the clean, cool air. She held tightly to Johnny’s arm as they walked across the uneven ground to his truck. Once they were inside, she shivered.
“Are you cold?” Johnny asked.
“I should have worn my coat.”
“Come here.” She moved close to him. He put his arm around her and pulled her closer. “I’d like for us to sit out here for a while to see if Webb shows up, but I don’t want you freezing while we do it.”
Kathleen cuddled against his warm body. “You’re warm,” she whispered, snuggling her cold nose against his neck.
“You’re . . . sweet—” His voice was husky. “I may have to kiss you.”
“I couldn’t stop you. You’re bigger than I am.”
“In that case—” His fingers tilted her chin. His mouth was warm and gentle. Every bone in her body turned to jelly. His hands moved across her back and hips, tucked her closer to the granite strength of his body and moved his fingers over the soft mound of her breast. He continued to press sweet kisses to her moist parted lips before his mouth trailed to her ear.
Kathleen’s mind felt like it was floating. Primitive desire grew inside her, and she became helpless to stop it. She clung to him weakly, giving back kiss for kiss. He lifted his head, his breath warm on her wet lips.
“I’ve got to stop this while I can.” His voice was a shivering whisper that reached all the way to her heart.
They sat quietly. Johnny didn’t speak again until after his breathing had returned to normal.
“This is a good place to watch for Webb. We’ll see him before he gets to the door . . . that is, if we’re paying attention.”
Kathleen glanced up to see him smiling down at her. Without hesitation, she reached up and kissed him gently on the lips.
“That’ll have to do for a while.”
“You’re some woman. Why is it that you never married?”
“I never met a man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with—”
Until I met you, Johnny, my love.
“How about you? Have you ever been in love?”
“Not even close to it.”
“You’re a good dancer.”
“So are you.”
“Did you ever know an Irish lass that couldn’t dance?” she said sassily.
“Even if my ancesters did do a rain dance around a campfire, I had two left feet until Henry Ann took me in hand. Then after I came back from Kansas, I spent time at the McCabe ranch. Down there you can go to a dance once a week if you want to. The neighbors get together, clear the furniture out of one room, and wind up the Victrola. Ruth, Keith’s wife, danced with me and, after a while, I got to where I liked it.”