People Will Talk (16 page)

"You have to do more than try," Nora
threatened, allowing the distraction of his presence to lift her
anxieties. There was too much riding on the meeting this
afternoon.

She followed him to his Jeep.

All around them, birds chattered, saturating
the warm air with the sounds of spring. As Bret started the Jeep,
Nora stretched her arms up, filling her lungs with the scent of
grass.

A foolish sense of contentment flooded her as
they drove out of the barnyard. It was the same sensation she'd
carried with her since making love with Bret under the tree. Only
her anxiety about getting the land ruffled her bizarre sense of
well-being.

Her life had never been more disrupted or
uncertain. She lived under her mother's roof, unable to afford a
place of her own, the people of Stoneburg were still convinced she
was a hussy, and she'd lost her heart to a man who would only hurt
her.

She lifted her face to the rushing wind. So why
she did she feel so thrilled just to be alive?

As they jounced down the dirt road, rutted by
rains, Nora turned to study Bret, trying to temper the idiocy he
caused in her. She'd been burned by a man before. What made her
feel any more safe this time around? Her reverie ended as the Jeep
bounced over a rut in the road, the movement lifting her out of her
seat.

Bret pulled the vehicle to a stop where the
gravel drive met the blacktopped road.

"How do you know about this place?" she
asked.

He shrugged. "I drive over that way sometimes.
I know a couple of people who live in Bluegrove."

"I saw you out riding General this morning,"
Nora volunteered, shoving back her windblown hair as he turned the
Jeep away from Stoneburg.

"Yeah. Just getting a little work
out."

"You looked good. I can see why the two of you
have won the Association race so many times.

Bret grinned. ''I'm not a bad rider, but
General's the fastest horse in six counties."

"Chessie's pretty good too," Nora said with
pride. "I bet we could give you a run for your money."

He glanced over, surprise on his face. "You
think so?'!

"Don't be misled by Chessie's manners," Nora
warned him. "She has a great heart."

''I'm sure she has," Bret laughed. "But it'll
take more than that to catch General"

Nora made a face at him. "You're so
cocky."

"Maybe so." He threw an arm around her
shoulder, the other hand carelessly controlling the Jeep. "I tell
you what. Let's have our own personal race. And the winner gets to
have his or her wicked way with the loser."

"You might be surprised," she
warned.

"Possibly," he said, grinning at
her.

Nora looked away. He obviously didn't believe
she and Chessie were any competition. Leaning back against the
seat, she let the subject drop. The day was too perfect to
argue.

They sped along the quiet country roads, the
occasional pickup truck pulling courteously onto the shoulder to
allow them to pass. Farm-to-market roads webbed the countryside, a
tangle of turns leading from Stoneburg to Bluegrove in the next
county.

Nora leaned her head back against Bret's arm,
soaking in the warmth of the moment and refusing to allow herself
to worry about the meeting later this afternoon. The sun streamed
down with a faint sizzle as it hovered near the pitch of the
arching blue sky. The whip of the wind felt good against Nora's
skin as they neared Bluegrove.

"The piece of land we’re looking at is just
west of town," Bret said as he turned the truck again.

"This is quite a way from where I am now," Nora
reminded him. "Most of my riding students are east of
287."

"That's the nice thing about Texas. People are
used to driving with all this wide open space."

Within a few minutes, Bret turned off the
highway onto a dirt road with deep, water-filled ruts.

The barn was visible from the road. A
ramshackle gray structure with boards missing, it didn't look like
a bargain.

She held her tongue as they jolted down the
short, obviously unused drive. Although there were two other small
buildings next to the barn, Nora couldn't see a house anywhere
nearby.

Bret pulled the Jeep up in front of the barn.
"Well, this is it." He got out and walked around to her side,
holding out his hand. "Let's go in. I don't think they keep it
locked."

"I wonder why," Nora said under her breath as
he towed her toward the structure.

"I know it doesn't look like much now," Bret
conceded as he dragged the barn door open. "But there's potential
here and even the Turner property needs a lot of work."

"True. But not nearly as much as this place
does." Nora peered through the dim light at several inadequate
stalls.

"But you could probably get this place
cheaper," he argued. "And you'd have more money for repairs. Let's
look it over."

Nora followed him, picking her way around the
debris that littered the wooden floor. Sunlight streamed through
holes in the roof, the dusty shafts filtering down to illuminate a
huge, splendid spider web.

Drawing in a sharp breath, Nora stepped
back.

"I...think I've seen enough," she groped her
way gingerly back toward the door. Stepping out into the sunlight,
she breathed a sigh of relief.

Bret followed her, pausing to shoulder the barn
door shut. "Okay. There'd be a lot of clean up."

"Clean up?" she echoed incredulously, glancing
back. "This place needs a wrecking crew. Or a strong
wind."

"You're being negative," Bret chided. "Come
around back. There's a great place for a riding ring."

Nora followed him, grateful for her jeans as
she clambered over grass and weeds that reached up to her knees.
The area behind the barn was level and open, not counting the
weeds.

"Well?"

"It's a nice clearing," she admitted. "But in
and of itself...I mean, it would have to be mowed and plowed, a
fence put in .... "

"You'll have to do some of that with the Turner
place, too."

"You're giving me such a hard sell, I have to
believe you're sure Mrs. Turner is going to reject my offer," Nora
said dryly, as he lead her around the barn to where the Jeep
waited.

"Not necessarily," he said. "I think you're
relying too much on getting that particular land. It never hurts to
look."

"I've looked," Nora said, bending to scratch
her ankle above her short hiking boots. "Can we go now?"

"I just want to show you one more thing." He
climbed back into the Jeep. "Come on. We'll drive down to
it."

Nora got in and hung on as Bret veered off the
waterlogged drive and headed the Jeep over a field alongside the
road. They jounced over the soft surface, the Jeep engine straining
and whining as the wheels slipped.

"Exactly what are you showing me?" she shouted
over the noise of the engine.

"A creek. It runs right through this
place."

The Jeep slipped to the right and hung for a
moment, its wheels spinning before catching harder
ground.

"Maybe we should go back," Nora said, spotting
bigger puddles as the ground sloped to the valley where the creek
ran.

"We're almost to the road," he said. "There's a
bridge I want you to see."

Hanging onto the windshield with one hand and
her seat with another, Nora waited until the Jeep had come to a
stop at a flat place not far from the creek. Trees grew thickly
around the creek bed, their roots gravitating to the source of
water.

Water rushed and bubbled over rocks, the
shallow banks almost overflowing from the recent rains. To their
right was the main route to Bluegrove, spanning the little stream
by means of a picturesque stone bridge.

With the Jeep engine turned off, the only
sounds to be heard were a delightful mixture of gurgling water and
the song of birds. A damp carpet of new grass spread underfoot and
the bright hue of tiny leaves sprang out from the branches
overhead.

Nora glanced at her watch. A little over an
hour until her appointment. "It's really beautiful, but why didn't
we just drive down the road?" She gestured at the blacktop not
eight feet away.

Bret grinned. "We get a better angle this
way."

"Maybe so," she conceded, staring at the brown
stains gathering around their footsteps, "but the ground is really
wet."

“
Just a little surface mud. Hey,"
he whispered suddenly, "we could go skinny dipping!"

Nora shifted out of reach. "We'd
freeze."

"You wanted to take a bath before you see Mrs.
Turner." He stretched out a hand as she backed away,
laughing.

"No playing around. You promised to get me back
on time."

He sighed heavily. "So I did. Okay, but I think
we're missing a terrific opportunity."

Nora thought so too, but she didn't dare agree.
Before she knew it, Bret would have her flat on her back, naked as
the day she was born, locked in an ecstasy she had to give
up.

Climbing back into the Jeep, she waited while
he came around to join her. The engine roared to life and they
rolled forward an inch or two when he pushed the clutch down. Nora
grabbed at her seat again preparing for another rackety
ride.

Shifting into first, Bret gave the Jeep some
gas. The tires slipped on the grass and mud, the rear end sliding
to the right.

Nora looked down in alarm, spotting a slick
muddy patch under the wheel nearest her.

"Oh, no." She pivoted to face Bret.

"Relax." He stepped on the gas pedal again,
trying to rock the Jeep out of the growing rut.

"I have to make this appointment."

"I know." He frowned. “Just hang
on."

Minutes ticked past as he wrestled with the gas
and the steering wheel, trying first one direction and then
another.

"Here," he thrust the Jeep in neutral, "you
give it the gas while I push." Jumping out, he went around to the
back.

Nora nervously clambered into the driver's
seat, reluctant to drive the beast and unsure how to do what he
wanted.

"You do know how to drive a stick shift, don't
you?"

"Yes," she said. "But I've never driven a
Jeep."

"Same basic principle," he said. "Just go
forward."

"Well, I'm not going backwards when you're
standing there," she snapped.

"That's a relief," he said,
laughing.

"Can we just get going?"

"Sure. One-two-three, go."

Nora stomped on the accelerator. The engine
bucked under her, whining and roaring, shaking the Jeep, but not
moving.

"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!"

She swiveled around to look and, despite her
growing anxiety, she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.
Bret was covered in mud from head to toe.

"Oh. Oops." She tried to keep the smile off her
face.

"Yeah, oops." He wiped a glob of mud from his
cheek and slung it away. "Just give it gas gently this time.
"

"Okay." Nora glanced at her watch again, and
groaned. The minutes were ticking away. They just had to get out of
here.

"Now." Bret called out. "Gently."

She pressed down on the gas pedal,
concentrating to keep herself from losing patience with the stupid
vehicle. Weren't Jeeps supposed to be able to go
anywhere?

"Okay, okay," he yelled out again. "This isn't
working." He slogged around from behind the Jeep looking like he'd
been dipped in chocolate.

Nora didn't even smile, her anxiety over the
appointment keeping humor at bay. "What now?"

"Now I try something different." He bent down
and rummaged under the driver's seat. "Have you seen a rope or a
chain in here? I usually keep one under this seat."

"No." She ducked down, eagerly helping him
look.

"How are we going to use a chain?"

"There's a winch on the front of the Jeep," he
pointed out, reaching back to explore behind the seat. "If we have
a chain, we can hook it around a sapling and pull the Jeep
out."

Nora glanced in the direction he gestured,
noticing for the first time that when the rear wheels slipped
toward the road, the front end pivoted toward a grove of small
trees.

"But I'm not finding the damn
chain."

The frustration in his voice comforted her
some. At least he was taking this seriously.

Bret straightened and went around to the
passenger side. "Where the hell is that chain? There's nothing in
here. No chain, no rope." He searched a few minutes longer before
standing up and staring into space as if scrutinizing his mind for
the answer.

"Surely there's something in here," Nora bent
to look under the seat, panic rising in her. After a moment she
gave up, a helpless, doomed despair starting to creep in. She had
to make that appointment with Mrs. Turner, and that was
that.