Always a Lady (5 page)

"I'm not going to say I've forgotten what you said, Lane. I just want you to keep your distance from me. Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am. Are you ready?"

"Yes." Lily sighed. She wished with all her heart that Case hadn't done this, but she didn't know how to refuse without causing a big fuss that would simply call attention to the incident all over again. "Just let me get my purse and my list."

Lane watched the gentle sway of her hips beneath her red slacks as she walked away, and when she came back with her belongings, he snuck a quick look at the thrust of her ample breasts against the matching sleeveless blouse. They walked silently to the station wagon. Lane quickly ran to open the door to the passenger side and stood back for Lily to be seated.

She rolled her eyes heavenward, prayed for this day to be over soon, and stared out the window as Lane slid under the steering wheel.

"We're on our way," he said cheerily.

Lily's refusal to answer him didn't dampen his spirits one bit. He had her to himself all the way to town, as well as all the way back. There was plenty of time to soften her up.

The only problem with Lane's plan was that Lily wasn't in on it. She hadn't volunteered one remark the entire trip. She finally answered his questions with single syllable responses and managed to infuriate him to the point of explosion.

"We're here," he snapped, as he pulled into the parking lot of a huge supermarket. "How much time do you need?" he asked. "I'll pick you up when you say."

Lily looked down at her watch, scanned the list in her hand, and answered.

"Give me a couple of hours." Lily slipped out of the car and quickly shut the door, anxious to get away from the constant barrage of sly looks and innuendos that she'd had to endure all the way to Clinton.

"I'll give you more than that, miss high and mighty," Lane muttered, as he drove out of the parking lot and headed for a local bar. He needed fortification and nerve for what he'd planned, and Lane always found that in a bottle.

"Boss," Duff said, as he walked back into the barn scratching his head. "Miss Lily's already gone. One of the men said he saw her leaving in the station wagon nearly a half hour ago."

Case looked up from the calf he'd been doctoring and frowned. "Was she by herself?"

"Nope," Duff answered. "Someone was driving, but they couldn't tell who it was."

Case shrugged. He didn't think much of it, but all the same it puzzled him. Who would take it upon himself to chauffeur Lily into town and chance angering him by shirking assigned work? The answer was almost on his lips as Case straightened up and started to look around, checking to see who was not at their duties, when one of the men ran into the barn shouting at the top of his voice.

"Boss, that damned herd bull is out again and madder than hell. I guess he thinks we're stealing all his girlfriends."

Case dropped everything and motioned for all the men to come on the run. The bull was big and the least trustworthy of any animal he'd ever owned. Every year he made himself a promise that he'd sell the cantankerous animal and buy another one with a better nature. It wasn't safe to have such an animal on the place. But every year the calves he got from the sire were such fine ones that he kept giving the dangerous animal another chance.

"Get the hot shot," Case yelled at Duff.

They rounded the barn and saw the angry animal, head down, pawing huge clouds of dust in the air with his forefeet as he bluffed and bellowed his way toward the pen where the cows and calves were being separated.

Duff went after the portable electric prod as several other men loosened their lariats. It took almost an hour before the bull was under control and back in his pen. By that time, Case had forgotten to check and see who had taken Lily to town.

Lily sat on a stack of fifty pound sacks of dog food and looked out the supermarket windows, watching for Lane and the ranch station wagon. She'd been waiting for nearly thirty minutes past the promised time. Finally, she saw the wagon pulling into the lot. She frowned as Lane swerved sharply, narrowly missing a woman and child pushing their cart across the lot. She looked around for the bag boy, motioning to show him that her ride had finally arrived.

It took Lily and three boys to push all the carts full of food she'd purchased. She'd estimated enough to last the week. They had them outside and ready to unload when Lane finally pulled up in the loading lane.

"Hey, pretty lady," he called loudly, as he stepped out of the station wagon and staggered toward her. "Load her up. We got places to go before I take you back to the salt mines."

Lily gasped and felt bile rising in her throat. He was drunk! Just the thought made her panic. A drunk had nearly ended her life. There was no way on earth she was getting into the car with him as driver. She motioned for the bag boys to wait.

"Lane, let me drive. You've been drinking."

"Hell, yes, I've been drinking. I'm ready to party," he said loudly. "And you're not driving me anywhere. When Lane Turney takes a woman out, he does the driving . . . got that?" He staggered and stared, daring Lily to refuse.

She did.

"I'm not getting into the car with you in this condition," she said sharply, not caring who saw her predicament. "Please. You don't know what you're doing. Let me drive. I won't tell. I just can't ride with you like this."

The tremor in her voice was evident, but Lane couldn't have cared less about her fears or anyone else's safety, including his own.

"Fine," he said. "Then walk home. See if you can find someone else who'll look at that face long enough to give you a ride."

Lily turned her head away, refusing to give in to the pain of his words. They were nothing but the words of a drunk. They couldn't matter to her. Her life was what mattered.

"I'm sorry," Lily said to the bag boys who'd witnessed the entire episode. "Would you please push all this back inside out of the heat? I'll have to call the ranch for someone else to come."

They quickly pushed her purchases back inside with Lily close behind.

"Excuse me," a woman said, and put her hand on Lily's arm to get her attention.

Lily turned around to face one of the uniformed grocery checkers who'd been working on the aisle next to the one she'd used earlier.

"I couldn't help overhearing your troubles," the woman said. "My name is Debbie Randall. I know Case Longren and I know that he won't stand for this. I get off for lunch in ten minutes. If you don't mind waiting, I could run you home on my lunch hour."

Lily's eyes widened with surprise as the woman spoke, and then she sighed with relief as the answer to her predicament practically fell into her lap.

"That would be wonderful, Debbie," she said. She held out her hand. "My name is Lily. Lily Brownfield. I'm the new roundup cook at Longren Ranch."

The small, curvaceous woman gave Lily a quick but gentle once over, ignored the side of her face with studied aplomb, and then smiled. "I figured as much. Shoot. You'd be doing me a favor just to let me take you. That Case Longren is some hunk, hunh? I never pass up a chance to give him a hard time. Unfortunately, that's just about all he will let me hand out, if you know what I mean."

She laughed, deep and easy, and motioned for Lily to resume her seat on the stacked sacks of dog food.

Lily smiled back, watching with interest as the sexy little woman went back to finish her shift. She wondered as she watched her work if she and Case had ever dated, and then she wondered why she cared. It was none of her concern if Case Longren went to bed with every woman between here and the moon. She stifled the thought of Case . . . in bed . . . period. That man was too big and wild for her taste. That's what she kept telling herself all the way back to the Bar L.

THREE

Case came out the front door of his house, paused on the porch, and ran a hand through his thick, black hair. Frustration oozed. He kept trying to decipher the puzzle of why Lily left with someone other than Duff. But there were no answers shouting to be heard, only the bright, hot blue of a cloudless sky, a hummingbird darting in and out among the heavy, flowering morning glory vines on the trellis beside the porch, and the constant but distant lowing of cows searching for their newly weaned calves.

He sighed, jammed his hands deep into the front pockets of his Levi's, and kicked at a clod of dirt on the porch step with the toe of his boot. Dammit, he wished Lily would come down the driveway right now with that cool, touch-me-not expression and ease the worry in his belly. He looked long and hard toward the driveway and beyond, scanning the near-flat horizon. He saw nothing that would ease his mind.

The phone rang inside the house and Case spun around, letting the screen door bang sharply behind him as he hurried toward the den to answer it.

"Hello."

He yanked the receiver to his ear, hoping that the voice on the other end would be the same one who'd awakened him in the night two weeks earlier and turned his world upside down. But it wasn't Lily. And the caller did not have good news.

A station wagon belonging to the Longren Ranch had just been involved in a wreck on highway 183 north of Clinton. Case felt the bones in his legs turn to jelly as he sank backwards in his easy chair and closed his eyes. The deputy sheriff who was calling continued to relay his news.

"Is it bad?" Case whispered, and then cleared his throat, trying to swallow the panic that was setting in. "Were there any injuries?"

"Yes," the man began, "one. The ambulance is on the way to Clinton with the victim, but I don't know the extent of injuries."

Sweet Jesus, Case thought. He couldn't face the idea of Lily suffering anymore. She'd been through so much. And then it occurred to him . . .

"Is the injured person a man or a woman?" he asked sharply.

"Have no idea," came the reply. "I'll let you know more when I know more, Case."

"Yeah, right,'' Case answered. "And thanks a bunch for calling, buddy. You don't know how much this means to me."

Case hung up the phone. He was shaking and wanted to break something. He didn't know what to do first, head for town, or wait for the sheriff's call.

Lily!

Suddenly everything in his world just came into focus as he realized that she might no longer exist in it. The realization was not bearable. He hadn't known her much more than a week, but if he wasn't mistaken, he was falling in love with Lily Brownfield as surely as God made little green apples. If she was the one injured in the accident he might lose her before she ever knew she'd been found.

"Hey, Boss," Duff shouted through the screen door, unaware of the calamity that had just taken place. "Someone comin' down the driveway. Looks like that purty little grocery checker's car. What's her name . . . Debbie?"

Case staggered to his feet and wiped a shaky hand across his face. He didn't have time for visitors, especially persistent females no matter how pretty. He needed to get to the hospital now! He couldn't wait for the deputy's phone call. It might be too late.

"Oooh, goody," Debbie grinned. "The big man himself is waiting for us on the porch."

Lily's stomach gave a half-hitch and then settled back into position. Why did the sight of those broad shoulders, long legs and narrow hips give her such a jolt? She didn't even want to think about the expression on his face. It usually just made her nervous.

Case Longren always seemed to see right through her fake composure to the hurt and bitterness beneath. She didn't like that. It made her face what she'd become, and she didn't think she liked that either. Lily didn't used to feel sorry for herself. In fact she had froyoied upon people who used their handicaps or personal tragedies to gain sympathy. Now she caught herself in the same frame of mind and knew she should be ashamed. She kept telling herself that there were many people who were much worse off than she. But every time she looked in a mirror that was hard to remember.

Debbie pulled to a stop right in front of the house and was out of the door, waving a cheery hello before Lily had time to comment.

"Hey, big man. You and Duff come give us a hand. I think Lily here just bought out the store."

Lily! Thank you, Lord! He didn't know why and he didn't know how, but he'd never been so relieved.

His legs worked all right. They carried him safely off the porch and all the way to the car toward Lily. But Debbie stepped in his path, forestalled his purpose, and promptly threw her arms around him, giving him a real, down-home hug.

"Hey, big man," she teased, "I haven't seen you at any of the local night spots in weeks. Have you taken a vow of celibacy I don't know about?"

Case turned at least three shades of red, and, still in Debbie's arms, he stared blindly over her head into the coldest green eyes he'd ever seen a woman wear.

"You're home," he managed to mumble at Lily.

"Obviously," Lily drawled, stared pointedly at Debbie's lush body plastered against him, and walked into the house with her arms full of sacks, leaving the others to follow suit.

"Don't be mad at her," Debbie teased. "She kinda got stuck between a rock and a hard place. I just offered her a bit of neighborly help. Didn't hurt that I'd get to see you, too."

Her words were brazen, but her heart was gold and Case knew it.

"I don't know why she's with you, but I'll owe you, Debbie Randall, for the rest of my life."

"Shoot," she grinned. "It's no big deal. Lily can tell you the whys and wherefores. I've got to head back, or I'll be late for work.

"Is that the last of the groceries?" Debbie asked, as Duff made his third trip to the car.

"Yep," he groaned, staggering from the weight and disappeared into the house.

"Then I'm off. Don't be a stranger, Case, honey," she called.

Case stood and watched Debbie disappear in a cloud of dust and then turned and walked toward the house. .