In Shining Whatever (Three Magic Words Trilogy #2)(25)

She retrieved her purse before they went inside, just in time to hear the ringtone that told her Mary was calling. She tried to sound cheery when she answered, but her hello came out flatter than her energy level.

"Where are you? Are you at the house?" Mary asked.

"I'm at Hart's ranch. I brought him home since he had no transportation, and helped him do the chores. We just got back to the house"

"Then stay there. Don't leave. Promise me," Mary said.

"What's the urgency?" Kate asked.

"There's a tornado on the ground between Breckenridge and Hart's ranch, about three miles south. If you start home you'll go right through it, and it's tearing up the area pretty good. We're watching it on the television set here at the restaurant. Besides, the hail and wind is horrible."

"How fast is it moving?" She put her hand over the phone's mouthpiece. "Turn on the television. There's a tornado between here and Breckenridge"

"Slow," Mary said. "It's going northwest like normal, so I don't think you'll get hit there except for the squall line. Just stay put"

"I can't believe you are telling me to do that," Kate said.

"Hart Ducaine don't scare me like a Texas tornado," she said. "Take care and call me before you start home."

"I will." Kate flipped the phone shut.

"Want the grand tour before I take a shower and shave?" he asked.

"Of course, and do it fast in case the lights go out. I want to know what I'm running into," she said.

"We're in the kitchen, as you can see. Grandma remodeled the year before she died, so it's fairly modern. Everything is only about twenty years old, anyway."

Kate took stock of the oversize country kitchen with a small wood table and four chairs in the center. A window above the sink overlooked the backyard, but all she could see at that point was driving gray rain. Cabinets circled three areas, with a bar separating the kitchen from the formal dining room. A bigger table, covered with a hand-crocheted cloth and surrounded by ten chairs, took center stage in that room. A corner buffet filled with good China and special dishes sat beside an enormous window that went from ceiling to floor.

"When it wasn't raining, Grandpa could sit there and watch his cattle grazing out beyond the yard fence. Grandma said that was the reason they had a rail fence instead of something more solid. He liked to look at his cows. Through this arch is the living room/foyer/den/office/library." Hart pointed as he talked.

A stone fireplace covered most of the west wall. The six-inchthick oak mantel held family pictures that went back a hundred years or more. Kate wanted to take time to hear all the ancestor stories, but Hart steered her down a hallway door to the north of the fireplace.

"This is the wing I use. It's got two bedrooms and a bathroom. The one that breaks off on the other side of the fireplace goes into a hallway with four bedrooms and two bathrooms. That's the guest quarters. They were going to have a whole bunch of kids, but Daddy was their only chicken. So they used that guest wing for buyers at the cattle sale once a year. Since you've got to stay until the storm is over, you want to get a shower and borrow a pair of my pajama bottoms and a T-shirt? It would be a lot more comfortable. Maybe you'd even have time for a little nap before we see the sun again."

It sounded tempting, and she couldn't think of a single reason why she shouldn't sleep through the wind and rain. "I'd love to. Just show me the way."

"You can have one of the other bathrooms in the guest wing. This is the bedroom I claimed when I came home. Can't bring myself to sleep in Grandma and Grandpa's room. I'll have to clean it out someday, but I haven't been in any hurry." He opened the door into a room with an antique four-poster bed, deep plushy rugs covering areas of the shiny hardwood floor, a dresser with an array of his belt buckles and personal items arranged on the top, and a chest of drawers with a picture of him on the last bull he'd ridden.

He removed a pair of plaid pajamas and a T-shirt from a dresser drawer and handed them to Kate. "Follow me, and I'll show you the bathroom. I think there's a toothbrush in the drawer in there. Grandma was a wonderful hostess and kept extras of everything in case a buyer forgot something."

She followed Hart down a hallway with open doors on each side, showing off bedrooms that looked inviting to a sleepdeprived woman.

He stopped at a door and stood aside. "This one has a shower over a tub, so you can have a choice. Don't fall asleep and drown. Want me to wash your back?" He grinned.

"Jethro Hart," she said.

"Just checkin' to see if you would remember to double-name me. Man, you don't even let down your guard when you're tired, do you?"

She shut the door firmly in his face and locked it as loudly as she could. She turned on the water to fill the tub. If she fell asleep, so be it. Thunder hammered down on the house and the lights flickered. She hoped the hot-water tank was gas powered and not electric. Lightning zigzagged so close to the house that it lit up the room through the lace-covered tiny bathroom window facing the west.

Maw Maw Miller would have a pure Cajun hissy fit if she knew lightning was jumping around like ants on a hot griddle and Kate was getting into a bathtub of water. According to her, water drew lightning as bad as trees and cats. A sane person didn't stand under a tree; they didn't allow the cat in the house; and above all, they did not take a bath in a storm.