Page 1 of Rainwater
Chapter
One
Jennifer Horn stood her ground, daring Jay Butler to hit her. The sun-drenched parking lot sweltered in the late-morning heat, ripples of hot hazy vapor rising from the black asphalt like steam from an overheated kettle. The wind blew swirling dust around the lot, rattling the leaves on the trees with a dry papery sound.
A crowd had formed to watch the quarrel between the two prominent Silver Creek citizens. Jay’s angry voice rose in pitch and the people watching stirred nervously as he raised his hand to slap her. She could almost feel the sting from the anticipated slap. Backing down hadn’t even occurred to her.
Her eyes shifted to Tucker who stood behind his father, his eyes bleak and filled with dread. The boy’s body was rigid and ready to spring forward. Jennifer implored him with her eyes to stay put. If he interfered, Jay’s wrath would be turned solely on him and she couldn’t bear that. Her eyes slid to the nervously shifting crowd.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
A hand came out of nowhere to clasp Jay Butler’s wrist, and a solid barrier stood between her and Jay, eclipsing the sun.The stranger towered over her, and Jennifer noted that his deep husky voice was soft with menace.
The anxiety that had churned in her stomach when Jay raised his hand slowly disappeared. And when the stranger moved sideways, bringing Jay with him, she stared up, searching out his eyes. Her father had told that she could always gauge a man by his eyes, but this one wore mirrored sunglasses, his eyes concealed. He had on a black Mexican-style hat with shiny silver conchos decorating the band. Two thin chords were cinched tightly under his dark stubbled chin.
If it weren’t for his long, black hair and the missing gun belt that would look natural strapped to his lean hips and strong thigh, he would look like Clint Eastwood inHigh Plains Drifter.
He even stood like a gunslinger.
Her eyes traveled over the rest of him as he glared at Jay with threat that even she felt. With Jay’s wrist tightly manacled in the stranger’s powerful, black-gloved hand, Jennifer felt suddenly and unexplainably safe. Even the crowd behind her seemed to settle down at the stranger’s appearance.
As the standoff continued, Jennifer’s eyes roamed over him again. A tan mackintosh with a brown leather collar reached almost to dusty, scuffed black snakeskin boots complete with spurs.
A rodeo rider, she wondered silently. He wore a blue chamois shirt, the top three buttons undone, showing off his elegant tanned neck and the beginnings of a smooth chest. Black jeans clung to his body, revealing hard male strength, and she recognized the gold belt buckle for what it represented. Yeah. A rodeo rider.
“Get your hands off me, chief!” Jay snarled as he tried to jerk his wrist free.
Jennifer saw Tucker stiffen. His soft mouth pulled into a grimace, and she felt more sorry for the boy than she could evershow. She knew Tucker would never accept her sympathy. He was too proud.
She sighed softly and shook her head. “Jay, you’re such a jackass.”
The stranger smiled, a soft upturning of his mouth. He shot her a sidelong glance. “A woman with backbone?”
Seeing the two men together, she realized what a dandy Jay was compared to the plainly dressed stranger.
Jay’s blond hair was curly and short. He was as fair as the stranger was dark, and he looked soft compared to this tall man. Whereas Jay was stocky and heavyset, the stranger was cool, lean and sleek like a panther. Jay wore brand-new blue jeans that had never seen a day’s work and a flashy red cowboy shirt with black piping. A gold bracelet sat on one wrist while the glint from a gold watch could be seen on the other. A wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The only jewelry the stranger had on was a small gold hoop in his ear with a little dangling golden feather and a watch with a turquoise band.
There was something sohonestabout his appearance, she thought. A hardworking man without vanity who dressed for comfort and ease of movement. No wolf in sheep’s clothing, just pure wolf.
As for Jay, he had more brazenness than brains.
Couldn’t Jay see the wild danger in this man? Couldn’t he feel the power emanating from him like the heat rising from the asphalt?
“You want to call the sheriff, ma’am?” The soft, husky drawl of the stranger’s voice was enticing, hypnotic. It flowed over her like warm honey.
She noticed that he never took his eyes off Jay.
“No. Let him go,” she finally responded, disgusted with Jay and his public display of temper.
The stranger didn’t just let Jay go. He shoved him away from her.
“Why don’t you go and pick on someone your own size, cowboy?” the stranger drawled as he squared his shoulders and placed his black-gloved hands on his hips. He slowly perused Jay, one hand moving to the stubble on his chin. “I reckon I’m too big and she’s too small.”
The insult struck home and Jay puffed himself up like a peacock. “Why don’t you go to hell?” he said between clenched teeth.
“I’ve already been there.”
