Mistletoe Mayhem: Clean Historical Western Cowboy Romance Novel (Dawson Chronicles Book 1) (10 page)

              Sawyer watched in fascination as she took lipstick from her purse and put a little on.  When he finished wiping away any trace of lipstick, she combed his hair so that it was neat again.  “There.  All back together like nothing happened.”  She carefully slid off his lap and he was amazed by the ease with which she did it.  She put her coat back on and started the car.

              She held out a hand to him.  “Let’s seal the deal with a handshake.”

              Sawyer shook it and started to laugh.  “Are your parents aware of what you’re really like?”

              “No.  And they’re not going to be if you want my help.  I love Ma and Pa so much.  I really do, but I have a side of me that they wouldn’t understand,” she said.

              Sawyer saw a glimmer of sadness in her eyes.  “I didn’t mean to upset you, Renee.  It’s just that it’s such a surprise.  I’m not gonna say anything to them.”

              Her smile returned.  “Good.  Well, I’d better get you home so you can rest that ankle.” 

              They pulled out onto the road and Sawyer asked, “Wanna go to the Halloween party with me?”

              Renee grinned.  “I’d be delighted to, Mr. Samuels.”

              “Good.  I’m going as a pirate with a peg leg.”

              “Oooh!  I could be a lady pirate or maybe a damsel in distress.”

              They talked about their costumes, but all the while, Sawyer wondered what sort of plan Renee had in mind.

              “I don’t want you to go there,” Hope said to Renee.

              Renee calmly continued dressing.  “And how old were you when you went there with Pa?  Twenty-one, I believe you told me.  Only two years older than me.  Besides, Pa will be there and I’ll be with Sawyer.  There are bouncers, and Jake has no trouble shooting a gun if necessary.  I’ll be perfectly safe.”

              Hope crossed her arms over her chest as she watched Renee put her hair up in a stylish chignon.  When had her little girl grown up?  This beautiful, intelligent young woman almost seemed like a stranger to her.  “Why does Sawyer want to go if he can’t dance?”

              “Well, he wants to see Pa’s show.  It’s been a while, you know.  And he thought he might strike up a poker game.  I’ll be his lady luck,” Renee said.  “I’ll dance with Pa and some of the other nice men we know.”

              Hope felt a headache threatening.  “Don’t dance with strange men and stay close to Sawyer.  I don’t like this one bit.”

              Renee said, “Don’t worry, Ma.  No man is touching me that I don’t know.  If it’s not someone like Jake and so forth, they won’t get the chance.  I guarantee you that.  Please don’t worry.  I know how to stay safe.  A girl can’t be too careful.  Is Pa ready?”

              Hope said, “Yes.  He’s waiting for you downstairs.”

              Renee saw how worried her mother was and hugged her.  “Ma, I promise to be careful.  Nothing will happen to me.  You’ll see.  I’ll even be home before Pa since I have work in the morning.  You’ll be sitting up waiting and I’ll tell you all about my evening.  Doesn’t that sound nice?”

              Hope laughed and shook her head.  “You’re as bad as your father when he’s trying to convince me of something.  All right.  I’ll try not to worry too much.”

              Renee kissed her cheek and hurried downstairs.

*****

              It was a busy Friday night at the Watering Hole and Jake Henderson, master bartender that he was, kept the booze and the good times flowing.  His son, Andy, worked there now, too, and they took turns dancing with the ladies whose beaus or husbands didn’t like to dance.  Andy had inherited his father’s dancing abilities and he was a popular dancing partner.

              Jake saw Sawyer come in with Renee.  “Sawyer!  How are you, son?  How’s that ankle comin’ along?”

              “I’m good, sir.  Dr. Walker is happy with it, so I guess it’s doing ok,” Sawyer said.

              “Renee, don’t you look pretty tonight?” Jake said.

              “Why thank you, Mr. Henderson,” she said.

              “Now, whatever you’re drinking tonight is on the house,” Jake told Sawyer.  “Nothing’s too good for our soldiers.”

              Renee said, “Why don’t we get settled and I’ll come back and get our drinks?”

              “Good idea,” Sawyer said.  “Thanks, Jake.”

              It was hard to make their way through the barroom because everyone wanted to talk to Sawyer.  Renee played her part, smiling, laughing, and visiting even as she looked around for Brody.  Finally, she and Sawyer found a table and sat down.

              “Do you see her anywhere?” Sawyer asked.

              “Not yet, but I’m sure they’ll be here soon.  Skip said that Joey told him that Jared had asked her to come here tonight.  I didn’t know until he told me this morning, which is why I asked you on such short notice,” Renee said.  “Oh!  There’s my man,” she said, leaning close to Sawyer.

              Brody walked over to the bouncers’ table with a couple of mugs of beer.  He sat one down in front of Rick Westlake, who looked like he was asleep.  He sat with his chair leaning back against the wall, his beat-up brown leather hat pulled down over his eyes.  This was deceptive because he was wide awake, merely listening to the bar with his keen hearing that often picked up trouble before anyone else did.

              Renee watched Brody sit down, her eyes traveling over his tall, muscular form with hunger.  He wore his blond hair long and his sapphire-blue eyes scanned the barroom for signs of misbehavior.  Just as they rested on her, Renee let their gazes meet for just a few moments before turning away.  Then she made a point of looking back over her shoulder at him, happy to find him still looking at her.

              Standing up, she asked Sawyer what he wanted to drink.

              “Just a beer.  I’d better not get soused with having a bum leg,” Sawyer said.

              “Good idea,” she said.  “I’ll be right back.  Are you all right?”

              “I’m fine, thanks,” he said, looking around.

              She patted his shoulder and moved away, leaving him alone.  He felt a jolt of surprise when Jared suddenly appeared in front of his table with Devon.

              “Hi, Sawyer,” Jared said.  “It’s good to see you.  I haven’t really had a chance to talk to you since you’ve been back.”

              “Good to see you, too,” Sawyer lied. 
Here we are at odds over a girl again and I’d like to throw you right through that wall.
  “Having a nice time?”

              Jared saw the angry light in Sawyer’s eyes and barely kept from smiling. 
It’s just like Willa all over again.
  “Oh, yeah.  A great time.  Right, honey?”

              Devon blinked a little. 
Honey?
  “We sure are.  It’s a shame you can’t dance, Sawyer.  I hope you won’t be bored.”

              Sawyer’s eyes narrowed.  “Oh, no.  I won’t be bored.  My lady is very, very entertaining.  Oh, here she comes now.”

              Renee returned with their drinks, smiling at the other couple.  “Well, hello there.  Ready for some dancing?  Looks like the band is getting ready.  You’ll probably want to go get a table before they’re all taken.  See you later.”

              Sawyer looked from Renee, who made a little shooing motion to Jared and Devon, to the other couple.  He hid his smile over Devon’s angry look behind his beer mug.  Renee sat down, looping an arm around Sawyer’s.

              “Did you make any progress on your project today?” she asked as though the other couple wasn’t there.

              Jared moved off with Devon, but Sawyer could tell that Devon seemed reluctant.  It seemed as though Renee’s plot was succeeding so far. 

              Joe finished rounding up all of his musicians, who always seemed to stray off at the last minute, and the band got started.  Seth Samuels, his son, J.R., and his cousin, Luke, all played fiddle, spelling each other so they could take turns dancing.  Zoe, who played banjo, did the same thing with one of Seth’s other sons, Nate.  Luke’s wife, Jamie, sang with Joe, and Ben played piano. 

Joe was known for collecting musicians for the band, and when he’d discovered that one of their new bouncers, Patch Salazar, played guitar, he’d immediately pressed him into service.  Joe and the Gang, as they were called, was a versatile group and played a wide variety of songs and styles.  They performed everything from hillbilly and ragtime and some of the older Victorian songs that people still liked.

Once the music started, Switch came to collect his daughter, who was very fleet of foot.  They’d danced together since she’d been little and their steps were practiced and effortless.  Although he was clumsy in other ways, Switch had good rhythm and footwork.  Renee adored her father and always loved dancing with him. 

Since the war had started, cloth for dresses and skirts was harder to come by and more expensive, so women’s garments were made shorter to save on material and money.  Therefore, a good portion of the lower calves were now visible and Renee took full advantage of this, turning a little more quickly than necessary so that her skirt lifted a little higher, showing off her long, shapely legs almost up to her knees.  Every so often, she threw a glance at Brody and saw that he was watching intently.

Sawyer tapped his good foot along to the beat, wishing he could dance, but he was glad that Renee was having a good time.  She and Switch laughed together and acted silly from time to time, purposely bumping into one of their friends to make them miss a step.  Sawyer smiled.  Switch just couldn’t resist clowning around.

He started pretending to step on Renee’s feet and she played along, making Joe laugh at their impersonation of the way Rick danced.  The bouncer had no rhythm and no one liked dancing with him because he invariably stepped on his partner’s toes at some point.  Rick saw them and laughed while they both grinned at him.

Devon watched Sawyer laugh at Renee and tried to squelch the jealousy inside.  Renee was pretty and funny, but she just couldn’t see her and Sawyer together romantically. 
You just don’t
want
to see it.  Mama was right.  If I want Sawyer, I have to fight for him.  I’ll be damned if she’s going to win!

As Switch and Renee danced, she accidently bumped into a man who was near the edge of the dance floor.  His whisky sloshed out of his glass.

“Hey!  Watch it, girl!” he said.

“Oh, my gosh!  I’m so sorry,” she said.  “I’ll buy you another one.”

“Why don’t you just go home where you belong and then you won’t be underfoot?” he said with a sneer.

“Excuse me?  I just apologized to you.  There’s no need to be rude,” she said.

He advanced on her.  “Oh, yeah?  I’ll be rude all I want, you little twit.” 

He made the mistake of shoving her.  He never saw Switch’s right hook coming.  It connected with his jaw, which clicked together loudly from the force Switch put behind the blow, and he went down in an unconscious heap.  The band stopped playing.  Switch started jumping up and down a little while he held his hand.  It was the first time that anyone had seen him hit someone on purpose.

“I think it’s broken!” he shouted and then aimed a hard kick at the unconscious man’s side.  “You put your hands on my little girl and you broke my hand, you jackass!  You’re just lucky I’m not good with knives or I’d skin you alive!” 

He kicked the guy again before Rick pulled him away.  It had taken him a couple of moments to get there because he’d been laughing so hard.  A lot of people were because Switch was the most nonviolent person around, so seeing him knock out a guy who outweighed him by forty pounds with one punch was something they’d never thought would happen.  No one who’d witnessed it would ever forget it, either.

Joe laughed so hard that he couldn’t breathe, let alone sing.  Finally, he sucked in enough wind to shout, “Hey, Switch!  I’d say that was the best show you ever put on, son!” which made everyone laugh even harder.

Even Switch laughed as Ben tried to examine his hand.  It was hard when both of them shook so hard with laughter.  Renee stayed right with Switch, very concerned over his hand.

“I can’t believe you did that, Pa,” she said, smiling.

Switch said, “No one picks on my kids or my wife.  I don’t care who they are.  People can say anything they want to about me, but they’d better not mess with my family.”

Ben grinned.  “Amen.  I’d say that everyone knows that now, Switch.  It’s not broken, but it’s sprained badly.  I’ll go get some ice for you.  Just sit here.”

“Ok,” Switch said.  “Are you ok, honey?  Did he hurt you?”

“No.  I’m fine.”  She hugged him.  “My hero.”

He returned her embrace with his good arm.  Ben came back with a wine bucket filled with ice and had Switch put his hand in it.  He also gave him a couple of aspirins.  Sawyer beckoned for Switch, who carried his bucket of ice with him over to Sawyer’s table.

“That was one sweet punch, Switch.  That guy deserved it,” he said.

“Thanks.  That’s the first time I ever hit anyone.  Well, I hit Bobby Whitcomb when I was in fourth grade, but I wasn’t aiming for him, so it really doesn’t count,” Switch said, smiling.

Renee said, “Pa, why don’t I take you home?  I don’t think you should do a show tonight.”

His hand was killing him.  “You’re right.”

“I’ll go get our coats,” Renee said.

Sawyer stood up and suddenly found Devon by his side.

“Are you all right, Mr. Keller?” she asked.

“I will be.  Ben said it’s just sprained.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Devon said.

Renee returned with their coats.  “Oh, Devon.  I’m glad you’re here.  Would you mind taking Sawyer home?  I’m taking Pa home so he can elevate his hand and keep ice on it.  I can get him there quicker if I don’t have to swing out by their ranch.  Would that be all right with you, Sawyer?”

“Sure,” Sawyer said.  “Whatever helps.”

Switch said, “I’d be all right just that long.  No need to trouble Devon.”

Devon said, “I don’t mind at all.”

“What about Jared?” Sawyer asked.

“Actually I brought a separate car since he lives all the way out past town and I live in the other direction,” she said. 

“Oh, ok,” Sawyer said.

Renee kissed Sawyer’s cheek.  “I’ll see you tomorrow.  Careful going home.”

Sawyer nodded.  “You, too.  Take care, Switch.”