Clowns and Cowboys (A Miranda and Parker Mystery Book 3) (20 page)

Parker must have snuck out while the Ito’s were dangling in the air, Miranda thought, as she forced herself to appear relaxed and settled back in her seat. Made sense. It was the least likely time for Tenbrook to notice.

But it set her nerves on edge that he hadn’t told her when he left.

The country music blaring in her ears, she turned her attention to the show, keeping her eyes peeled for the ring master.

Ladies in scanty, glittery cowgirl outfits were dancing around the big mesh globe while two of the clowns pretended to haul the heavy contraption to the center of the ring. It was the guys on the ring crew doing the actual work, but the clowns panted and wiped their brows as if they had borne all the weight.

Tenbrook do-si-doed his way through the cowgirls, laughing and smiling until he reached a platform on the other side of the cage.

The music went low as he addressed the crowd. “Are you ready to witness one of the greatest events of the evening?”

“Yes!” the audience cried, along with shouts and catcalls.

“We’ve saved the best for last.” He gestured to the side of the cage and two ring crew members unlatched and raised a door in its side then lowered a ramp.

“First up, we have Pistol Pete Pierson and Wild Bill Boyle.”

There was a loud, echo of rumbling motors, and two guys came rolling down opposite aisles on dirt bikes.

They were dressed like cowboys, in jeans and spangled fringed vests and matching Stetsons. Their cycles were black with orange flames.

They revved their engines, rode around the ring under the spotlights a bit then headed inside the cage. The crew guys locked the door, the music got loud and they started to ride.

Miranda’s insides started to shiver with anticipation. This was the motorcycle act Sam had told her about. Way cooler than what she’d imagined.

First the two riders circled the lower part of the cage, each one opposite the other. Then one of them circled up, climbing the wall of the enclosure. The second rider followed. The music keeping time, the pair repeated the motion, looping up and down, up and down, higher, higher, faster, faster. Until they were riding horizontal—sideways around the center of the mesh globe—like two birds circling a nest.

The crowd cheered and Miranda’s heart beat in time to the riders’ revolutions.

Tenbrook chuckled into his mic. “Oh, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

While the first two were still going round and round, more engines roared from offstage and two more cycles rumbled down the aisles.

“Say hello to Texas Tate and Quick Draw O’Leary.”

The crowd cheered and shouted as the cowboys rode around the globe and waved. This pair sported lavender bikes and had on cinnamon colored vests and hats.

The crew raised the door and they puttered up the ramp and into the cage.

They hovered a moment at the bottom while the first two still circled the center, as if picking their time. The lower bikes began the same looping motion, back and forth, back and forth, like rocking chairs. Back and forth, back and forth, then up and into two slots between the first two riders.

How they found the right spots without banging into each other, Miranda couldn’t imagine.

Round and round they rolled while the music grew more frenzied. Another few circles and two of them—Miranda couldn’t tell which two—broke from the others and rode in higher circles closer to the top of the cage. One went one way. The other the other way, forming a big circular X. Round and round they went while the first two still looped the center.

How in the heck did they do that? Miranda wondered as the crowd whistled and clapped.

“Would you like to see more?” Tenbrook laughed as the crowd cheered. “Give a big hand to Mad Dog Danny and Johnny ‘the Cisco Kid’ Ferguson.”

Two more riders barreled down the aisle, this pair riding electric blue bikes and purple vests and hats. Miranda recognized one of them as Sam’s friend, Danny Ackerman. The pair entered the cage and joined the others, first rocking along the bottom, then zooming up to take their place in the mad swirl of riders. Six of them. Amazing.

But wait. Where was Sam?

Just as the thought formed in her head, Tenbrook’s laugh echoed in Miranda’s ears, sounding almost evil. “And last but not least, our very own star…Yosemite Sam!”

The crowd went wild. Sam sped into the ring and circled the cage, waving his hat to the crowd like a bronco rider in a rodeo.

The spotlight caught the joy on his painted face and set off the flaming Ferrari red of his bike. She didn’t want to admit it, but in his sparkling outfit of deep midnight blue, he looked sexy as hell.

As he drank in the cheers his eyes twinkled with delight. He was in his element.

“Sam! Sam! Sam! Sam!” the crowd began to chant. He was a star.

Miranda couldn’t help getting carried away with the excitement and joined in.

“Sam! Sam! Sam!” they kept on chanting as the door opened yet again, and the object of everyone’s attention rolled into the cage.

He rocked back and forth just as the others had, but somehow he made it seem more dramatic.

Up he went, then back down. Up again. Back down. He huddled on the underside a moment, peering overhead as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to take the risk. But the crowd kept chanting his name and finally he pushed off and joined the six other riders.

Round and round they blazed along the center, like an eclipse of frenzied moths around a flame.

Seven at once. Incredible.

The colors of the costumes blurred so you couldn’t tell one rider from another. The music got really wild and the riders broke apart and made impossible-looking formations. Crisscrossing orbits like neutrons in an atom that was about to explode.

They seemed to ride that way over ten minutes.

And then one by one, they settled back down until they all were at the bottom. The door was opened and each one rode out of the cage, greeted by thunderous applause. As they circled the ring on their bikes, the other performers jogged down the aisles and joined them.

Everyone was laughing and singing and dancing. It was the last number. A good-bye, farewell, hope-you-enjoyed-the-show song, designed to leave the audience with the last bit of glittery magic from the world of the circus.

The performers took their bows, applause died down, and it was over.

The lights went up and people started to head for the exits.

Shaking herself out of her reverie with some reluctance, Miranda glanced around. Parker wasn’t back yet. Damn.

She eyed the ring.

Tenbrook was at the far end talking up some audience members, probably working them for a bigger donation. Sam was a few yards away, signing autographs.

She couldn’t be obvious but she had to keep the ring master here in the tent just a little while longer.

She headed down toward Sam.

“What a show. What a performance,” Miranda called out.

Sam spun around to her, his green eyes gleaming with excitement, his face glistening with sweat and gaudy makeup that made him seem a little surreal. “Did you really like it?”

She waved her arms with enthusiasm that was only a tad exaggerated. “Are you kidding? You were amazing. How did you do that?”

“Practice.” He gave her a cocky grin. “And extraordinary talent.”

“Oh, bull.” She gave him a sock on the arm. “I bet anybody could do it.”

That earned her a playful scowl.

She glanced over Sam’s shoulder at Tenbrook. He was finishing up with his schmoozing, getting ready to leave.

She turned back to Sam, put a hand on her hip. “Bet I could do it.”

His brows shot up. “You think you could?”

“Why not? Want to give it a shot?”

It was the same sort of thing she used to say to him when they rode cycles around Phoenix. She always pushed him to do something risky. It was almost as if she had a death wish back then. Maybe she had.

He considered it a moment, eyeing her with teasing pleasure. Then he turned around. “Mr. Tenbrook, can you spot us a minute?”

Tenbrook’s bushy gray brows drew together. “What are you talking about, Keegan?”

“You’ll see.” He took Miranda’s arm, led her over to his bike.

They headed for the cage. Sam reached out to open the door. Close up Miranda could see it was made of heavy steel and held in place by a mass of thick cables.

Tenbrook galloped over. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Keegan?”

“It’s okay. She’s an experienced rider. And I’m just going to have her on the back.”

Miranda put on a pout. “Aw, I don’t get to ride a bike of my own.”

“Not the first time, sweetie,” Sam grinned, as if he knew he held all the cards.

Not quite all of them, Miranda thought. She shrugged. “Guess I’ll have to settle for that.”

“Keegan. UBT is liable for any injury—”

Sam shot out a hand. “I’ll take full responsibility, Mr. Tenbrook. Hop on, Miranda.”

She did and he revved up the bike and rolled inside before Tenbrook could say anything else.

A couple of dudes from the ring crew hurried over to latch the door.

“You got guts, Keegan,” one of them chuckled.

“That’s what they tell me, Jerry. Hold on tight, little lady.”

Miranda threw her arms around Sam’s waist and pulled them together in a hard squeeze around his solar plexus. “Don’t you ‘little lady’ me,” she whispered in his ear.

“Okay, ease up, now, Kick-Ass.”

“That’s better,” she laughed.

Sam began to roll the cycle back and forth, back and forth just like in the performance. Miranda’s stomach quivered with the motion.

Up and higher. A loop, and back down. “Wow,” she breathed.

She could feel Sam grin. “We’re just gettin’ started.”

Up again, a higher loop this time. And another. Another. Another.

And then they were sideways, riding around the middle. Miranda’s hair hung down and blew back as a dizzying thrill shot through her. The seats and faces below her blurred.

“Yaaa-hoo!” she shouted.

She heard Sam laugh. “But I’ve got more. Ready for this?”

He looped again, climbing higher. Higher. Up to the top. She was upside down for half a loop, then sideways, then straight again, then sideways again, then upside down. Round and round they went.

The motor roaring in her ears, she lost her equilibrium.

Figures had gathered around the outside of the cage. People were whistling and cheering. She started to giggle uncontrollably.

Sam’s circles began to narrow and he started to descend. By the time he settled back to the bottom and stopped, she was insanely giddy.

The door opened and they rolled out of the cage.

“That was wild, Sam. Thanks.” She fought to pull her hair out of her eyes as she climbed off the bike.

Glancing around as she got her bearings, she realized their audience starting to head out. Where was Tenbrook?

Sam dismounted and pulled down the kickstand with his cowboy boot. “You’ve always brought out the wild side in me, Miranda.”

“Yeah. Guess that’s mutual.” Nothing wrong with that, was there?

He took a step toward her. “I want to tell you something, Miranda.”

“What?”

She looked up, saw him reach out to her, felt his arms slip around her.

“This.” He pressed his lips to hers.

Her leg jerked in the automatic reflex of a groin kick, but she caught herself in time and held back. She didn’t want to hurt him.

Instead she let his lips roam over her mouth, sucked in the earthy smell of his greasepaint and sweat—and felt temptation. Suddenly she was back in Phoenix, ten years younger. Wild and free without a care in the world.

But that wasn’t who she was anymore.

She saw that now. Clearer than ever. Whatever she had once felt for Sam suddenly disappeared into thin air like a clown’s magic act. She was a different person now. For the first time, truly her own person. Why couldn’t she make Sam see that? She had a new life. She was married. She was a private investigator. She was on a case. His case.

Case.

Oh, my God. Tenbrook.

Her heart hammering with panic, she tore herself out of Sam’s embrace and glared over his shoulder.

Tenbrook was heading out the far exit.

Damn, she thought. But before she could go after him, a sharp, familiar shout pierced her ears.

“Miranda!”

She spun around and saw Parker marching toward her, the coattails of his dark blazer flaring behind him as he moved.

There was fire in his eyes.

“There you are.” Miranda messed with her hair as she uttered an awkward laugh. “Was that oil man interested in investing in our firm?”

Parker eyed her cautiously, but picked up the ruse without a second’s hesitation. “He’s considering it. In the meantime, we have work to do. If you’ll excuse us, Mr. Keegan.” He reached for her arm to lead her away.

“Good night, Sam,” she called over her shoulder, hoping he’d catch the accusation in her voice.

Sam looked so bewildered, he didn’t even reply.

As they headed up one of the deserted aisles she pulled out of Parker’s grasp, temper flaring.

“Knock it off, Parker,” she grunted under her breath. “There’s no reason to be so upset.”

“Oh, there isn’t?” The quiet fury in his voice made her shudder.

But she stood her ground. “I was doing my job. I had to distract Tenbrook before he left the tent.”

“By kissing Keegan?”

She stopped short, shot her arm out to halt his rapid gait and make him face her. “By doing the motorcycle act. It worked. Tenbrook would have left otherwise. It gave you time to get back.”

His expression was hard granite. It sliced her heart in two. “And kissing him was some sort of encore?”

She felt her face flush crimson a messy mix of anger and embarrassment. “That was an accident. I couldn’t stop him before he—”

“You couldn’t stop him?”

She shook her hands in the air in frustration. “No, I couldn’t.”

His laugh was part disgust, part pain. “This from a woman who regularly uses her martial arts skills to knock men on their asses.”