Best Kept Secrets(114)
of passing time indoors comes immediately to mind."
He kissed her more firmly, and expertly parted her lips.
But when his tongue touched hers, she recoiled. "No, Junior.
'' She was angered by the impropriety of his kiss and
shocked by its failure to stir her sensually.
His kiss didn't cause her veins to expand and her blood
to pump through them with a new, feverish beat. It didn't
cause her womb to contract with a craving so severe she
didn't think it could ever be appeased. It didn't make her
think that, God, if he didn't become a part of her, she was
going to die.
About all Junior's kiss did was alert her to the fact that he
had misinterpreted her friendship. Unless she stopped it now,
some dangerous groundwork, disturbingly reminiscent of the
past, would be laid.
She eased her head back. "I need to work, Junior. And
I'm sure you've got work to do, too.'' He mumbled profanely,
but conceded with good humor.
It was as he stepped back so she could get into the car that
they saw the Blazer. It had crept up on them, and was now
only a few yards beyond the hood ornament of the Jag.
The driver, whom they could see through the windshield,
had his hands folded over the steering wheel and was watching
them from behind opaque aviator glasses. He was sitting
dangerously still and unsmiling.
Reede pushed open the door and stepped to the ground.
"I've been looking for you, Alex. Somebody told me you'd
left the courthouse with Junior, so I played a hunch and came
here."
"What for?" Junior asked touchily, laying his arm across
Alex's shoulders.
"We've located Fergus Plummet. One of the deputies is
bringing him in now."
"And that gives you the right to interfere with our date?"
"I don't give a shit about your date," Reede said, his lips
barely moving. "She said she wanted to be there when I
questioned Plummet."
"Will both of you please stop talking about me as though
I'm not here?" The tension that had arisen between the two
of them because of her was untenable. It resembled the triangle
between them and her mother too well. She shrugged
off Junior's arm. "He's right, Junior. I want to hear what
Plummet has to say for himself."
"Now?" he whined.
"I'm sorry."
"I'll come with you," he said brightly.
"This is official. Duty calls, and I'm on the state payroll.
Thank you for lunch."
"You're welcome." He gave her a soft peck on the cheek
and said, loud enough for Reede to hear, "I'll call you later."
'"Bye." She rushed toward the Blazer and climbed in,
though her high heels and slender skirt posed some problems.
Reede pretended to be impervious to her difficulties. He sat
behind the steering wheel glowering at Junior while Junior
glowered right back. The second her bottom landed in the
seat, Reede floored the accelerator.
When they reached the highway, he swung onto the macadam
with enough impetus to plaster Alex against the passenger
door. She gritted her teeth and hung on until he
straightened out his turn and they were speeding along the
center stripe.
"Have a nice lunch?"
"Very," she answered crisply.
"Good."
"Are you upset because you saw Junior kissing me?"
"Hell, no. Why should I be?"
"Exactly."
Secretly, she was glad he had arrived when he had. The
interruption had relieved her of having to turn Junior down
flat. Feeling a trifle guilty over that, and trying to set things
back on a professional track with Reede, she asked, "Where
did they find Plummet?"
"Right where I suspected. He was hiding inside one of his
deacons' houses. He came up for air, and one of my deputies
nabbed him."
"Did he come peaceably?"
"He's no idiot. He's only being questioned. We really
can't make a formal arrest yet. They should beat us to the
courthouse by just a few minutes."
As moods went, Junior was in the black hole of Calcutta.
There was no peace to be found anywhere, though his Jag
streaked through the streets of town at an indiscriminate speed
in pursuit of it.
Angus was on his back. His mother was on his back because
Angus was. Last night she had sternly commissioned him to
get off his ass--not in those terms, exactly--and do something
that would make his father proud.
Sarah Jo found the idea of having Reede Lambert back at
ME untenable and, using a harsher tone than she had ever
used with him before, told her son that it simply must never
happen.
"Angus wants you, not Reede."