Kiss an Angel(58)

“Anybody in this circus will tell you I’m the most fair-minded manager they’ve ever worked for.”

“You do seem fair-minded.” She paused. “With everybody but me.”

“I’ve been fair with you.” He hesitated. “Maybe I wasn’t fair the night they had the cake party for us, but I was surprised, and—that’s no excuse, is it? I’m sorry, Daisy. I shouldn’t have embarrassed you like that.”

She studied him, then gave a small nod. “I accept your apology.”

“And I wasn’t mean last night.”

“I’d rather not talk about last night. And I want your promise that you won’t try to seduce me again tonight. I have some thinking I need to do first, and I’m going to do it on the couch.”

“I don’t know what there is to think about. You don’t believe in sex outside of marriage. You’re married. What’s the problem?”

“I’m circumstanced,” she pointed out gently. “There’s a subtle difference.”

He muttered a particularly nasty obscenity. Before she could chastise him for it, he jerked the wheel to the right and pulled into the Cozy Corner Truck Stop.

This time their waitress was sullen and well past middle age, so Daisy felt safe leaving him alone at the table to go to the rest room. She should have known better, however, for when she came out, he had struck up a conversation with a flashy blond sitting in the opposite booth.

She knew he’d seen her, even as she watched the woman pick up her coffee and slide over next to him. She even thought she knew why he was doing this. He wanted to make certain she didn’t attach any emotional importance to what had happened between them.

She gritted her teeth. Whether Alex Markov wanted to admit it or not, he was a married man, and all the flirting in the world wouldn’t change that.

She stalked over to a pay telephone on the wall not far from the booth where the blond was admiring his muscles. As soon as she had her temper under control, she picked up the receiver and kept it pressed to her ear while she counted to twenty-five. Finally, she turned back to her husband and called out, “Alex, darling! Guess what?”

He lifted his head and regarded her warily.

“Good news!” she chirped. “The doctor says this time it’s triplets!”



Alex was finally speaking to her again by the time they arrived at the new lot. As he climbed out of the truck and began unhitching the trailer, he told her she wasn’t going to be working with the animals anymore. Instead, she would start doing lighter duty, keeping the costumes mended, and, of course, appearing in spec every night.

She frowned at him.

“I thought you’d be happy not to have to work so hard,” he said. “What did I do wrong now?”

“Why did you wait until this morning to lighten my duties?”

“No particular reason.”

“Are you sure?”

“Stop beating around the bush and tell me what’s on your mind.”

“I feel a little bit like a hooker who’s just gotten paid for duties performed.”

“That’s ridiculous. I’d made up my mind about this even before we slept together. Besides, who says you’re the one who should get paid. I think I performed pretty damn well, too.”

She ignored his baiting. “I said I’d take over the menagerie, and I meant it.”

“I’m telling you that you don’t have to.”

“And I’m telling you that I want to.” It was true. From her experience with the elephants, she knew the work would be hard, but it couldn’t be worse than what she’d already survived. And she had survived. She’d shoveled manure until her hands blistered, hauled heavy wheelbarrows, been swatted by cantankerous baby elephants. She’d looked fear in the face, and she was still on her feet—battered, maybe, and certainly bruised, but still standing.

He regarded her with a mixture of incredulity and something that almost seemed like admiration, although she knew it couldn’t be that. “You’re going to see this thing through, aren’t you? You’re not going to run away.”

“I’m not making any long-term predictions. One day at a time is the most I can manage right now.” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and frowned. “All I know is that I have to do this.”

“Daisy, it’s too much work.”

“I know.” She smiled. “That’s why I have to do it.”

He gazed at her for a long moment and then, to her astonishment, dipped his head and kissed her. Right there, in the middle of the backyard as the workers bustled around them, as Brady and his sons practiced their acrobatics and Heather juggled, he gave her a deep, long kiss.

When they finally drew apart, she felt warm and breathless. He raised his head and glanced around. She expected him to look embarrassed by their public display, but he didn’t. Maybe he was trying to make up for the incident with the cake, or maybe his motivations were more complex than that, but for whatever reason, he’d let everyone in the circus know that she meant something to him.

She had little time to ponder the incident as she set about her duties in the menagerie. A young worker named Trey Skinner appeared and told her Alex had assigned him to help her with the heavier work. She had him position Sinjun’s cage in the shade and haul some hay for her, then she let him go.