Page 99 of The Honorable Texan
“Would you look at this, it’s Bandit!”he exclaimed, showing it to a fascinated Mrs.Lewis.“See the scar on his back where he got caught in the corn sheller that time?”
“So it is!”she said.“Hello, old fella!”She actually petted the vile thing under the chin.
“How can you touch that thing?”Meredith groaned.“It’s a snake!”
Mrs.Lewis glanced at Rey.“Reckon we should tell her that he used to live in the house?”
“Probably not,” Rey suggested, aware of her whiteface.“I’ll just stick him up in the loft.Come on, Bandit, I’ll put you in a safe place.”
Meredith was holding both chill-bump laden arms with her hands and shivering.
“There, there,” Annie said gently.“He wouldn’t bite you unless you provoked him.He’s very gentle.”
“If you say so.”
“I do.Now you go back in there and get the eggs.Don’t let Rey see how frightened you are.Trust me, he’ll take advantage of it.You’ll find rubber snakes in the refrigerator, the blender, the washer…”
“No!”Meredith exclaimed, horrified.
“Just grit your teeth and go back in the henhouse,” Annie suggested.“Quick, before he comes back out.”
Meredith took a quick breath and gave Annie a miserable glance, but she did as she was told.
Her skin crawled when she had to pick up the basket and gather the eggs, especially the ones the snake had been curled around.Now, every time she went to the henhouse, she’d be shivering with apprehension.
You’ve looked at gunshot wounds, accident victims, every sort of horror known to human eyes,she told herself firmly.The snake wasn’t even lacerated!So get it done and move on.
She did, walking back out into the sunlight with a full basket of eggs and a forced look of composure on her soft face.
Rey was waiting for her, leaning against the bumper of the truck with his arms crossed and his hat pulled low over his eyes.
She didn’t dare look at him for long.In that indolent pose, his lean, muscular body was shown to its very best advantage.It made her tingle to think how it had felt tobe held against every inch of that formidable frame, to be kissed by that long, hard mouth.
“You get thrown, you get right back on the horse,” he said with approval.“I’m proud of you, Meredith.It would be hard for even a ranch-born girl to go back into a henhouse where a snake had been lurking.”
She took a slow breath.“We don’t face things by running away from them, I guess,” she agreed.
His eyes narrowed under the wide brim of the hat.“What are you running away from, Meredith?What is your father running away from?”
She clutched the basket to her chest.“That’s nothing that you need to concern yourself with,” she said with quiet dignity.
“You work for me,” he replied.
“Not for long,” she pointed out.“In another week or so, I’ll be a memory.”
“Will you?”He lurched away from the bumper and went to stand just in front of her, a tall and sensual threat.His fingers touched her soft mouth lightly.“Those bruises still look pretty fresh,” he pointed out.“And you did ask for a month’s leave, or so you said.Did you?”
She grimaced.“Well, yes, but I don’t have to stay here all that time.”
“I think you do,” he returned.He bent and drew his mouth slowly over hers, a whisper of a contact that made her breath catch.He smiled with faint arrogance as he stood up again.“Anything could happen,” he drawled.“You might like ranch life.”
“I don’t like snakes already.”
“That was a fluke.They’re generally hibernating by November, but it’s been unseasonably warm.Spring is generally when you have to watch where you put yourhands.But you don’t need to worry.I’ll protect you from snakes.And other perils.”
“Who’ll protect me from you?”she asked huskily.
He raised an eyebrow.“Why would you need protection?”he asked.“You’re well over the age of consent.”
