Kiss an Angel(18)

Oh, Lord, she thought. Flayed to death for a Twinkie.

“Well?”

“It, uh— It won’t happen again, I promise you. But they didn’t have any special marking on them, so there was no way I could tell they were yours.” Her eyes remained riveted on the whip. “And normally I wouldn’t have eaten them—I never eat junk food—but I was hungry last night, and, well, when you think about it, you’ll have to admit I did you a favor because they’re clogging my arteries now instead of yours.”

His voce was quiet. Too quiet. In her mind she heard the howl of a rampaging Cossack baying at a Russian moon. “Don’t touch my Twinkies. Ever. If you want Twinkies, buy your own.”

She bit her bottom lip. “Twinkies aren’t really a very nutritious breakfast.”

“Stop it!”

She took a quick backward step, her gaze flying up to meet his. “Stop what?”

He lifted the whip, thrusting it toward her. “Stop looking at this like I’m getting ready to strip the skin off your backside, for God’s sake. I had to put leather dressing on it, and I was just putting it away.”

She released one long breath. “You don’t know how glad I am to hear that.”

“If I decide to whip you, it won’t be over a Twinkie.”

He was doing it to her again. “Stop threatening me right this minute, or you’re going to regret it.”

“What are you going to do, angel face? Stab me with your eyebrow pencil?” He regarded her with some amusement, then walked over to the bed, where he pulled out the wooden case beneath it and laid the whip inside.

She drew herself up to her full five feet, four inches and glared at him dead on. “I’ll have you know, Chuck Norris himself gave me pointers in karate.” Unfortunately, it had been ten years ago, and she didn’t remember a thing, but that was neither here nor there.

“You don’t say.”

“Furthermore, Arnold Schwarzenegger personally advised me on a physical fitness program.” If only she’d taken just one of his suggestions.

“I hear you, Daisy. You’re bad to the bone. Now move it.”

They hardly spoke at all during the first hour of their trip. Since he hadn’t given her nearly enough time to get ready, she had to do her makeup in the truck and fix her hair without her blow-dryer, which meant fastening it back from her face with a pair of art nouveau combs that looked pretty but didn’t work very well. Instead of appreciating the difficulty of the task and giving her a little cooperation, he ignored her request to slow down while she applied her eyeliner, then had the nerve to complain because a teeny bit of her styling spray happened to get in his face.

He bought her breakfast in an Orangeburg, South Carolina, truck stop that was decorated with copper kettle lights and wall arrangements of shellacked bread loaves. After she’d eaten, she sneaked into the rest room and smoked one of her three remaining cigarettes. When she came out, she noticed two things. An attractive waitress was flirting with him. And he wasn’t doing one thing to discourage her.

She watched him cock his head, then smile at something the waitress said. She experienced a pang of jealousy at how much more he seemed to be enjoying the waitress’s company than he enjoyed hers, but she was still prepared to ignore what was happening until she remembered the promise she’d made to honor her vows. With a sense of resignation, she straightened her shoulders and made her way to the table where she gave the waitress her brightest smile.

“Thank you so much for keeping my husband company while I was gone.”

The waitress, whose smiley-face name tag read kimberly, seemed a bit taken aback by Daisy’s friendly attitude. “It was—that’s okay.”

Daisy lowered her voice to a loud whisper. “Not everyone has been so nice to him since he’s gotten out of prison.”

Alex choked on the mouthful of coffee he’d been about to swallow.

Daisy leaned down to thump him on the back while she beamed at Kimberly’s shocked face. “I don’t care how much evidence the state presented. I’ve never for one moment believed he murdered that waitress.”

This started Alex choking all over again. Kimberly quickly backed away. “I—excuse me. My next order’s up.”

“Run along,” Daisy said gaily. “And God bless!”

Alex finally had his choking fit under control. He rose from behind the booth, his expression even more ominous than usual. Before he had a chance to say a word, she reached up and pressed a gentle finger over his lips.

“Please don’t spoil this moment for me, Alex. It’s the first time since our wedding ceremony that I’ve gotten the best of you, and I want to enjoy every precious second.”

He looked like he was going to strangle her. Instead, he tossed several bills onto the table and pulled her from the restaurant.

“You’re going to be grouchy about his, aren’t you?” Her sandals slid in the gravel as he dragged her toward the truck with its ugly green trailer in tow. “I just knew it. You’re the grouchiest man I ever met. It’s not becoming, Alex; it really isn’t. Whether you want to accept it or not, you’re a married man, and you really shouldn’t—”

“Get inside before I spank you in public.”

There it was again, another of his maddening threats. Did that mean he wouldn’t spank her if she did as he said or that he simply planned to spank her in private? She was still mulling over the whole unpleasant concept when he started the truck. Moments later, they were back on the highway.