Kiss an Angel (17 page)

At the same time, he felt a reluctant spark of admiration for the mere fact that she was still on her feet. He remembered the way she'd held him off with the shovel and knew what a display of courage that had been for her. She'd surprised him today. Unfortunately, her small rebellion had simply prolonged the inevitable.

Why wouldn't she give up? He didn't know what hidden source of strength she'd found to get her this far, but it wasn't going to last and he refused to torture her. He fought against the softness inside him that urged him to relent, knowing that would be a cruelty instead of a kindness. The harder he pushed her now, the sooner she would face the truth.

He firmed his resolve by reminding himself that she was a thief, and regardless of the circumstances, that wasn't something he could forgive.

"The first show's at six. You're going on with the elephants."

"But—"

He spotted a scratch on the back of her hand and snatched it up to examine it.

"How long has it been since you've had a tetanus shot?"

She regarded him blankly.

"A tetanus shot. For infection."

She blinked, and she looked so drained that he had to resist the urge to pick her up and carry her back to the trailer. He didn't want to think about holding that small, soft body in his arms. If she hadn't stolen that money, she'd have spent the night in his bed, but as it was, he'd been so furious, he hadn't trusted himself to touch her. He hadn't wanted to touch her.

"How long since your last tetanus?" he said more sharply.

She gazed down at the scratch on her hand. "Last year. I cut myself when I was sailing on Biffy Brougenhaus's yacht."

Christ.
How could he be married to a woman who knew someone named Biffy Brougenhaus? The hell with her.

"Get some antiseptic on that," he snapped. "And be ready on time for spec or you'll be cleaning out the horse trailer, too."

As he stalked off, his scowl grew blacker. He'd always prided himself on his fairness, but she made him feel like a bad-tempered bully. He chalked up another black mark against her.

* * *

Daisy survived spec, mainly because exhaustion had numbed her to the embarrassment of appearing in public wearing her skimpy red costume.

Although Alex had told her to go on with the elephants, she'd stayed well behind them so that she looked like she was one of the Flying To-leas.

It had taken her forever to get herself clean, and her sore arms had protested every step of the process. She'd shampooed and dried her hair, then put on fresh makeup, following Alex's instructions to apply it heavier than normal. Between shows, she'd fallen asleep in the trailer with a peanut butter sandwich in her hand. If he hadn't shaken her awake, she would have missed her entrance After the last show, Neeco caught her as she was emerging through the back door, the name the performers gave to their entrance to the big top. "Help Digger get the babies back to the truck."

Digger didn't look as if he needed any help, but this was apparently part of her job, and she didn't want another failure for Alex to throw in her face. "I doubt I'll be much help," she said.

"They just need to get used to you, that's all."

She slipped into Alex's blue terry cloth robe, which she'd taken from a hook in the bathroom. Although she'd turned the sleeves up, it was still enormous on her, but it gave her some modesty.

The babies were just beginning to come out through the back door, and she approached Digger gingerly. "You don't need any help, do you?"

"Why don't you jist walk along with 'em, Miz. They're still skittish around you."

She reluctantly fell into step just behind Digger and several yards away from the elephants. She had no trouble picking out Tater since he was the smallest of the quartet, and remembering the swat he'd given her, she eyed him warily as he trotted forward holding Puddin's tail in the curl of his trunk. When they reached the picket line, Digger began to tether them.

"Come here, Bam. Watch me, Miz, so you can see how it's done."

She was so intent on what he was doing with Bam that she didn't realize Tater had sidled up behind her until she felt something moist tickle the side of her neck, just inside the collar of her robe. She yelped and sprang back from the elephant's outstretched trunk.

The baby elephant regarded her with a stubborn glint in its eye, took a step closer, and once again extended his trunk. Too frozen with fear to move, she stared at the two wiggling nostrils coming closer

by the second.

"N-nice Tater. N-nice elephant." She let out a frightened squeak as Tater burrowed into her neck, parting the front of her robe.

"Digger..." she croaked.

Digger looked up and took in what was happening. "You got perfume on?"

She gulped and gave a terrified nod. The very tip of Tater's trunk dipped delicately into the small space behind her ear.

"Tater's crazy about ladies' perfume."

"What," she gasped, "am I supposed to do now?"

Digger regarded her blankly. "Do about what?"

"T-Tater?"

"Well, I don't rightly know, Miz. What do you want to do?"

She heard a rusty chuckle. "She probably wants to faint. Isn't that right, Daisy?"

Alex came around from behind her, and she tried to summon up a bit of bravado. "Not—not exactly."

"You must be wearing perfume." He reached out and stroked Puddin'. Tater, in the meantime, emitted a happy snuffling sound and let the tip of his trunk nibble around the inside of the collar of Alex's robe to the base of Daisy's throat.

"N-nobody told me not to." To her dismay, the baby elephant began to nudge lower, toward the red sequined flames that made up the bodice of her costume.

She remembered the spritz of perfume she'd directed toward her breasts.

"Alex ..." She pleaded with her eyes. "He's going to— He's getting ready to touch my—" Tater's trunk reached its goal. "My breasts!" she squealed.

"I do believe you're right." He casually patted the elephant's trunk and pushed it aside. "That's enough, fella. You're getting too close to my property."

She was so startled by his statement she didn't notice Tater backing off.

Digger gave a wheezy chuckle and nodded toward the elephant. "Looks like Tater's fallen in love."

" 'Fraid so," Alex replied.

"With me?" She regarded the men incredulously.

"Do you see him looking at anybody else?" Alex replied.

Sure enough, the elephant was regarding her soulfully. "But he hates me. This afternoon he took a swipe at me and knocked me down."

"You weren't wearing perfume this afternoon."

Digger rose, his knees cracking, and headed toward the elephant. "Come on, boy. Yer girlfriend's not interested."

As Digger led him away, Tater gazed back at her over his shoulder, looking for all the world like a love-struck adolescent. Daisy was torn between fright and a fleeting sense of gratitude that at least someone in this awful circus liked her.

That night, she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the couch. She was dimly aware of Alex coming into

the trailer some hours later, and as she drifted back into sleep, she felt him pull the covers up over her shoulders.

9

Daisy stumbled up the ramp at ten the next morning. Her leg muscles screamed in protest with every

step, and her arms felt as if they'd been stretched on a torture rack. "I'm sorry, Digger. I fell asleep in

the truck."

Despite her exhaustion last night, she'd awakened sometime just before three from a dream in which she and Alex had been floating through an old-fashioned tunnel of love in a pink swan boat. Alex had kissed her, and his face had been so filled with tenderness that she'd felt herself melting into the boat, the water, into his very body. The sensation had awakened her, and she'd lain on the couch until dawn thinking about the painful contrast between her beautiful dream and the reality of her marriage.

When they'd arrived at this new lot in a High Point, North Carolina, strip mall, the trailer hauling the elephants hadn't yet appeared, so she'd stayed in the truck for a short nap. Two hours later, she'd awakened with a stiff neck and a headache.

As she reached the top of the ramp, she saw that Digger had nearly finished mucking out the trailer. Mixed with a sense of relief, she felt a stab of guilt.

That was her job. ' 'I'll finish up for you."

"The worst part's done." He spoke like a man who had long ago grown accustomed to getting the short end of life.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

He gave a sniff that told her he'd wait and see.

From her vantage point at the top of the ramp, she had a good view of the new site located between a Pizza Hut and a gas station. Most of the performers, Alex had told her, preferred the smooth, regular surface of a parking lot to grass, but setting up on asphalt also meant that the holes left by the stakes had to be repaired before they left.

As the stake driver thumped rhythmically in the background, she looked toward the backyard and saw Heather sitting in a lawn chair outside the trailer, with Sheba standing behind her putting a French braid

in the teenager's hair. Yesterday she'd caught glimpses of Sheba helping Heather with her gymnastics. She'd also seen the circus owner patching up one of the workers and trying to console the Lipscomb's six-year-old after he'd taken a fall. Sheba Quest seemed to be full of contradictions: a wicked witch with Daisy, earth mother with everyone else.

A feisty trumpeting brought her up short, and she looked down to see Tater standing at the bottom of

the ramp gazing adoringly up at her through his ridiculously curly lashes.

Digger cackled. "Your boyfriend's come to visit you."

"He's going to be disappointed. I'm not wearing perfume."

" 'Spect he'll have to figger that out for hisself. Take him over with the rest, will ya? They all need to be watered." He jerked his head. "Bull hook's right there."

She gazed at the object leaning against the side of the truck with loathing. At the bottom of the ramp, Tater trumpeted again, then began to turn in a tight circle, performing just as he did in the center ring. When he stopped, he lifted one leg and then the other in his baby's tap dance. Unless she was very much mistaken, he was showing off for her.

"What am I going to do with you, Tater? Don't you realize you scare me to death?"

Gathering her courage, she moved gingerly to the bottom of the ramp where she reached into the pocket of her jeans and gingerly extracted a withered carrot she'd found in the refrigerator and brought along just in case. Hoping he'd follow her if he knew she had food, she held it out with a trembling hand.

He extended his trunk and took a delicate sniff, tickling her palm. She stepped back, using the carrot as bait to draw him toward the others. He snatched it from her hand and carried it to his mouth, where it disappeared.

She watched in apprehension as his now empty trunk came toward her again.

"N-no more food."

But it wasn't food he wanted; it was perfume. He burrowed into the neck of her T-shirt searching for

the scent he loved. "S-sorry, fella. I—"

Swat!
With a dramatic squall of betrayal, Tater swiped her with his trunk and knocked her to the pavement. She let out a yelp. At the same time, Tater lifted his head and announced her treachery to the world.
No perfume!

"Daisy, are you all right?" Alex materialized out of nowhere and crouched down next to her.

"I'm okay." She winced from the pain in her hip.

"Damn it! You can't allow an animal to keep doing that to you. Sheba told me he knocked you down yesterday."

Naturally Sheba couldn't resist passing on a tidbit like that, Daisy thought, flinching as she shifted her weight.

Out of the corner of her eye, Neeco strode toward them. "I'll take care of this."

She sucked in her breath as he snatched up the bull hook. "No! Don't hit him! It was my fault. I—" Ignoring the pain, she scrambled to her feet and leaped forward to put herself between Neeco and Tater, but she was too late.

Horrified, she watched as Neeco struck the baby on the tender spot behind his ear. Tater squealed and backed away. Neeco advanced on him again, bull hook raised for a second blow.

"That's enough, Neeco."

She didn't hear Alex's soft words of warning because she was already throwing herself at Neeco's back. "Don't hit him again!" With a cry of indignation, she lunged for the bull hook.

Startled, Neeco stumbled and then, regaining his balance, cursed and spun around. As she lost her grip

on his shoulders, she felt herself slipping, but instead of falling to the pavement for the second time that day, Daisy felt Alex catch her under the arms. "Easy, there."

Sheba rushed up. "For God's sake, Alex, we've got newspaper people on the lot."

As he set her back on her feet, Daisy braced herself for a lambasting. To her surprise, Alex turned to Neeco instead. "I think Tater got the point the first time."

Neeco stiffened. "You know as well as I do there's nothing more dangerous than an elephant that's

turned on his handlers."

Daisy couldn't hold her tongue. "He's just a baby! And it was my fault. I wasn't wearing perfume, and

he got upset."

"Be quiet, Daisy," Alex said softly.

"He's a one-ton baby." Neeco's lips narrowed. "I won't let anybody who's working for me get sentimental about the animals. We don't ever take chances with safety. People's lives are at stake, and the animals have to know who's in charge."

All her frustration boiled over. "The animals' lives have value, too! Tater didn't ask to be stuck in this awful circus. He didn't ask to be lugged all over the country in a smelly truck, to be chained and shackled and paraded around in front of a bunch of ignorant people. God didn't create elephants to stand on their heads and do tricks. They were meant to roam free."

Sheba crossed her arms and lifted a sarcastic eyebrow. "Next thing you know, Alex, she'll be throwing

red paint at fur coats. Either control your wife or get her the hell out of my circus."