Scarlet Fever - Hill Country 2 (10 page)

Returning to Alex, who had been waiting patiently, she headed to the check-out counter.
 
Thankfully, the charges went through on her card and they loaded up.
 
“What else do you want to do while we’re in Austin?”
 

She looked at him her eyes twinkling.
 
“Annie’s ice cream?”

There were five Annie’s Ice cream shops in Austin, so Alex had no trouble finding one.
 
“What flavor, babe?”

“The darkest chocolaty chocolate you can find.”
 
He laughed at her request, but did his best to fulfill it.
 
“Now what?”
 
He was being so sweet.

“Will you drive by the capitol building?”
 
She knew that there would be no overnight trip to Austin after the wedding, so this would have to do.
 

“Do you want to park and take a tour?”

“No, driving by will do.”
 
He did, and Scarlet got up on her knees, so she could see as much of the beautiful building as she could.
 
“It’s gorgeous.”
 
Alex enjoyed seeing his hometown through her eyes.
 
He drove by the beloved University’s forty-acres, pointing out the infamous tower and the huge football stadium where Bobby played.
 
They couldn’t drive down Sixth Street, but he showed her what he could and she enjoyed every moment, mostly because she was with him.
 
It was at that moment it hit her.
 
Her days with Alex were numbered.
 
Her days were numbered, period.
 
Total dismay clutched her insides like a vise.
 
She wrapped her arms around her middle and tried to hide her sudden inability to breathe.

“What’s wrong?
 
Are you hurting somewhere?”
 
Alex looked at her with concern, ready to pull over to the side of the road if she needed to.

“No, somebody just walked over my grave.”
 
She really didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded good.
 
Attempting to steady her nerves, she focused on the billboards that lined I-35.
 
One caught her eye.
 
“Look, Alex.
 
A Civil War battle display is going to come to Austin!”
 
The Civil War was one of her greatest interests.
 
“I wonder what that’s about.”

“Are you intrigued by the Civil War?”
 
Alex looked at her sort of funny.

“Obsessed.
 
I read everything I can get my hands on about it.
 
I even have a few artifacts.”

Alex ran his eyes up and down her shapely body.
 
“Are you for real?” he asked her, fascinated.

“What do you mean?”

“We have so much in common, it’s sort of scary.
 
I love the Civil War.
 
The display that’s coming to the capitol next month is one of my pet projects.
 
I’m on the Austin Historical committee and the Civil War is my main focus.
 
This display that you saw advertised is concerning one of the last battles that took place in the war, and it happened at the Palmetto Ranch near Brownsville.”

“John Salmon Ford was the commander.
 
He was a Mexican War veteran, former captain of the Texas Rangers and one time mayor of Austin.”
 
Her recitation of those little known facts amazed Alex.
 

“Will you marry me?”
 
He was joking, maybe.
 

“Don’t tempt me,” she laughed.
 
“You’ll never guess what I have in my collection.
 
Not in a million years.”

“What’s that?”
 
He couldn’t get enough of looking at her face.

“I have a presentation sword that was given to Lt. Col Porter Cox in recognition of his killing of Bloody Bill Anderson.”

He was suitably impressed.
 
“I know who Bloody Bill was.
 
He sometimes rode and fought with Quantrille’s Raiders.
 
How in the world did you get your hands on that?
 
It must have cost a fortune!”

“I don’t have any money,” she scoffed.
 
“This little old man at church was a first-class Civil War collector.
 
He had no family, and I adopted him, more or less.
 
I visited him every day and when he got sick, I helped take care of him.
 
We spent many hours discussing the siege of Vicksburg, Sherman’s march to the sea, Gettysburg – everything you can think of – and when he passed away, he left me the sword.”

Alex took her hand in his.
 
“You are a very sweet person.”
 
He squeezed her hand.
 
“But, I am so jealous.
 
The sword that killed Bloody Bill Anderson!”

“If I’d known that you were into the Civil War, I would have brought it to show you.”

“I would love to see it.
 
You can bring it next time,” Alex said with confidence.

Next time.

She knew there would be no next time.

“Let’s go home, sweetie.”
 
He brought her hand to his lips and she almost cried.

************************

It was a good thing the kitchen at Lost Maples was huge, because Scarlet needed every square inch.
 
Delicate roses and hydrangeas made of tasty fondant were spread out everywhere.
 
Twice, Scarlet had snuck out and lay down for just a few minutes.
 
She was careful to not let anyone know that she wasn’t feeling well.
 
Annalise was on cloud nine, and Scarlet was determined that she would
 
do nothing to put a damper on the excitement.
     

Alex had company business to take care of, but he had kissed her before he left and whispered in her ear that he couldn’t wait to come home to her.
 
Their trip to Austin that morning had been a revelation for Scarlet.
 
Alex’s interest in her was genuine.
 
She didn’t understand it, but it was.
 
He had been sweet, attentive and genuinely interested in everything she had to say.
 
It hadn’t been a real date; there had been no time.
 
Rushing back to work on wedding preparations had curtailed the time they had to spare, but still, it had been wonderful.
 
Plus, she wasn’t blind; she could see that he had been in almost a constant state of arousal when they had sat close in his burnt orange Hummer.
 
Alex wanted her.
 
That was a heady thought.

************************
  

Finally, every flower was made and had been carefully boxed up in anticipation of gracing the three-tiered wedding cake.
 
There was even a chocolate longhorn to grace the groom’s cake, in honor of Ethan and Annalise’s alma mater.
 
Her sister had taken pity on her and had volunteered to clean up the kitchen.
 
There was no slowing down, however, more seed pearls were waiting to be sewn on and there was a little more work to be done on the maid of honor’s dress.
 
Cecile Fairchild, the maid of honor, was Annalise’s agent.
 
The steamy romance novels that came from Annalise’s fertile imagination had kept both of them hopping for years.
 
Scarlet had never met Cecile and she was anxious to do so.
 
It was important to Scarlet that Annalise have friends and loved ones that would be with her for years to come.

The media room seemed too lonely, so she went to the family room and sat down under a wide window which let in ample light.
 
Sitting on the floor, she leaned back against the wall and settled in for several hours work.

************************

“There’s my girl.”
 
At the sound of his voice, Scarlet’s heart warmed.
 
She looked up at him, always amazed, anew, at how truly handsome he was.
 
Joining her on the floor, he claimed her lips in a hard kiss.
 
Noticing that her hair was unbound from the braid, he ran his fingers through the luscious curls that hung almost to her waist.
 
“I love your hair.
 
It’s going to look gorgeous spread out on my pillow.”
 
Ripples of awareness flowed over Scarlet’s body causing her nipples to pebble.

“You left this on my desk.”
 
Scarlet looked at what he had in his hand.
 
It was her notebook.
 

“Wait.”
 
She started to reach for it, but it was too late.

“I found this odd list.
 
Scarlet, do you have a tattoo?”
 
He had her bucket list in his hand.
 
It was out of order, but if he kept looking, he would find out that her number one desire had been to seduce one Alex Stewart.
 
Scarlet didn’t know whether to cry or run.

“Yes.”

“Where?”
 
Swear to God, he licked his lips.

“On my bottom.”
 
He closed his eyes and sighed.

“What is it?”
 
He still had his eyes closed.

“A red rose, like my name, Scarlet Rose.”
 
What was it with men and tattoos?

“You have a little red rose on your butt?
 
Let me see.”
 
He was as serious as a heart attack.

“No!” she huffed.
 
Then she laughed.

“Just a peek?”
 
He was so darned cute.
 
Scarlet rose to her knees and turned her back to him.
 
Pulling her jeans down a little ways, she held the back open so he could glance down on her hip.
 
Alex groaned.
 
“Damn!”

Scarlet sat back down, quickly, once again reaching for the list.
 
“Not so fast,” holding it over her head.
 
“There may be more interesting stuff on this list.”
 
He began to peruse it, chuckling here, asking questions there.
 
“What is this list, anyway?
 
A glorified to-do list?”
 
Before she could answer he had shuffled the papers so that the first page was on top.
 
“Bucket list – 100 things to do before I die.”
 
That wasn’t enough to cause him to question, until his eyes rested on the first item.

“Make love.”
 
His eyes flew to hers.
 
“Scarlet, what’s my name doing here? And it’s crossed out.”
 
He looked back down at the paper.
 
“Escort service.
 
And it’s marked out”

He turned the papers over, reshuffled them and looked at her hard.
 
“Explain.
 
Did you come here looking for sex?
 
If not from me, from a gigolo?
 
I don’t understand.”
 
Scarlet paused, just looking at him, trying to determine if he was angry.

“I wanted to know what it was like to make love with a man.
 
Just once.”
 
There was no inflection in her voice, she wasn’t looking for sympathy.

“Why is my name crossed out?”

“It was just a day dream; the whole list is mostly just a wish list.
 
When I got here, I realized that I couldn’t go through with it.
 
I changed my mind.”

“Why, because of the stupid things I said?”

“No because you’re so beautiful.”
 
She looked down, unable to watch his face, afraid of what she would see.

“I’m glad you ditched the escort service idea, that’s just stupid.
 
Why didn’t you want to take the time and find someone and cultivate a relationship with them?”
 
Scarlet blanched.
 
He was talking as if he had never held her close, never whispered warm suggestive words to her that had turned her insides to mush.