Touching the Moon Page 13

  The ladies blew into the room like a gale force wind and completely dominated all conversation from that point on. They were curious about her and the evening began to take on an interrogatory edge.

  Yes. She liked South Dakota. No. The winters weren’t so bad. No. Even the blizzard was a good experience – she ended up as an assistant baseball coach as a result. Yes. She missed Virginia, specifically the beach and the peanuts, in that order. She attended Virginia Tech. She liked singing. She’d knocked $10,000 off her student loans since she’d been moonlighting with the Copper Pigs. Yes, she thought Dan was a handsome, wonderful guy. And clever. And thoughtful. And funny. No, she wasn’t afraid of Gray Walker. Not anymore. Yes, she really did keep a pet wolf. No, she wasn’t afraid of him either. No, her family wasn’t upset about her moving out west. No, they wouldn’t be visiting. They weren’t close. No, she had no intentions of moving back east.

  By the time they had stuffed the last envelope, Julie was a little shell-shocked from the polite yet friendly rollercoaster of an inquisition. After she had said her good-byes, Dan escorted her out to her car.

  “Oh,” she said turning abruptly and feinting a return into the building. “I forgot to tell the ladies my shoe size!”

  Dan chuckled. “If there was a question they didn’t ask, it was because they already knew the answer,” he said good-naturedly. “They just wanted to get to know you.”

  “Yikes!” said Julie. “Get to know me! All that was missing was the bare room with the light bulb!”

  “Well, here’s a question for you. The last one.”

  “Shoot.”

  “What’s up with you and Gray?”

  “We’re friends.”

  “Good friends?”

  “Tracking in that direction.”

  She drove home distractedly. In fact, her driving was so sloppy that she had to mentally rein in her thoughts and focus on the road. She had almost sideswiped a trashcan and taken out a traffic cone. It had been such a long day that she almost ran over the wolf that was waiting for her in her driveway.

  “Holy cow,” she said, leaping from the car. “Big Boy!”

  He bounded over to her, sniffing her intently. “What is it?” she asked, “You crazy beast.”

  But he was all over her, smelling her intently.

  “Oh,” she said, trying to put two and two together. “I’m not upset.” She pushed against his massive chest. “I laughed until I cried tonight. You are smelling happy tears.”

  He touched his nose to hers and stared her in the eyes. She pulled back uneasily. “You smell Gray on me, don’t you? Well, remember the scent.” She wrapped her hand around his snout and applied a little pressure. “You are not to harm a hair on his body,” she said, looking directly into his eyes. “You may growl all you want at others, but not at Gray.”

  When she released him, he sat before her with what she swore was a grin. She sighed, assessing him critically. “So, do you want to spend the night?”

  Yep. That wolf could grin. She was sure of it.

  19

  The drive home from Pierre was a long, but not so long that Julie couldn’t tackle it after the closing dinner festivities. She had dialed into the classic country station on her radio and was absently humming along as she cruised down the black expanse of roadway.

  It was a moonless night and the skies were dark. Gray was right about driving under such conditions. Her eyes scanned the roadsides for deer, fox, bear, and elk. She didn’t want to hit anything.

  In fact, she was so busy scoping for critters that she didn’t see the nail- studded piece of plywood lying in the middle of road. She was on top of it before she could react. There was no way to avoid it. Construction cones flanked the right shoulder and an on-coming truck made it impossible to swerve left.

  Two tires blew completely. She gripped the wheel tightly, fighting for control and rode the adrenaline rush as she pulled to the side of the road. Too fast. She’d been driving too fast.

  She slowed the car as she passed the construction site, then sidled off to the shoulder, her mouth cotton. She took a shaky breath and fumbled her cell phone, dropping it on the floor by her feet. She fished for it for what felt like an eternity, finally finding it underneath her accelerator.

  Irritation compounded her fright, and she took a deep breath in an attempt to mentally adjust her attitude. There was no hurry home.

  She dialed AAA on her cell and waited for the tow truck in the silent dark, watching the stars wink out. Clouds were moving in and she fidgeted uncomfortably. A stiff wind was picking up and she worried about rain. On the plains, when it fell, it fell hard. It fell in buckets.

  A couple of hundred feet up the road was a rather seedy biker bar. The neon sign flashed XYZ. She watched the rough crowd come and go, catching a cacophony of karaoke on the wind each time the door opened.

  She sat in the dark and thought about calling Gray, but he had a Sioux Council meeting that evening. She didn’t want to interrupt him to get an “I- told-you-so.” She hung her head while gripping the steering wheel and wondered if Gray was an “I-told-you-so” kind of guy, but then she was too ashamed to find out.

  By nine o’clock, road rescue had wrenched her car up onto the flatbed. Normally, she’d have ridden shotgun with the tow-truck driver, but the young man disturbed her. When he introduced himself as Luke Skywalker, she had smiled, but she didn’t like the way the man averted his face or looked down when he spoke to her. His eyes always stopped at her chest. Her outfit wasn’t overtly sexy, but it was overtly feminine. The skirt, although a ¾-length strait-line, was slit to mid-thigh. And the blouse, although long-sleeved, was tailored and dipped a little low. A discrete lace camisole covered her skin, but it didn’t hide her curves. She felt naked under the man’s scrutiny.

  With a sick feeling of unease, she popped the trunk and removed her leather duffle bag. “I’ve got a friend en route to pick me up,” she lied. “I’ll pick up my car tomorrow at the garage.”

  “You gonna stand on the roadside in the dark?” he asked.

  “No,” she replied, tossing her head at the neon. A large group of people poured out of the front door and she waved to them. In their drunken stupor, they waved back. “I’m going to get myself a beer at that bar and wait for his arrival. Should be any minute now.”

  Actually, she had done no such thing, but she put as much conviction and confidence in her voice as she could. The tow truck driver’s reaction was hostile and belligerent. He looked at the crowd of drunken bar patrons, then climbed up into the truck and peeled out recklessly, spewing gravel in his wake.

  She stood for a moment in silence and wondered what to do. She was midway between Cottonwood and Wasta and a significant distance from home. On a quick and decisive huff of air, she dialed Elliott Rand. He was on the line quickly.

  “Julie!”

  She hesitated. “Hey, I’m in a bit of trouble, Elliott. I was in Pierre for a veterinary conference today and was driving home. I ran over some nails and blew out two tires. I’ve got AAA, and they sent a tow truck. Unfortunately, I think that if I had gotten into the cab with the driver, I’d be six feet under tomorrow.”

  “What?” His voice was flat.

  “Call it intuition, call it paranoia. I opted out. So I’m about a couple of hundred yards from a biker bar on Route 14, suitcase in hand. With what I’m wearing, I’m going to get into trouble if I go into the bar, and I’m going to get wet or get eaten by a bear or a mountain lion if I don’t. I don’t know what to do. Can you come get me?”

  “Hang tight. Just give me a minute.”

  He put her on hold and was back on the line in short order. “Go to the bar. I’ve called Dan. Dan has called a cop-friend in that county who is heading over to pick you up. Dan’s unfortunately in the middle of a very messy homicide.”

  “What?”

  “I know. Contrary to outward appearances, it’s not always pot luck dinners and church socials around here.”

  Sh
e paused. “Thanks, Elliott. But you should not have troubled Dan. If I wanted to trouble Dan, I would have troubled him myself.”

  “He’s troubled enough by you, Julie. Trust me. I did what I should have done. Dan’s plan is sound. Be safe. Be careful.”

  “No worries. It’s a public place, right? What harm can come?”

  She walked to the garishly lit building and stepped inside. It smelled of stale beer, rancid fry-oil and cigarettes. She closed her eyes briefly and moved toward the bar as inconspicuously as possible. Right. How to be inconspicuous moving through a biker bar in business attire with a suitcase in tow?

  She felt the eyes turn upon her, but she ignored them and grabbed an empty bar stool. The barkeeper was Sioux, and he turned his dark eyes upon her in question.

  “Could I have a vodka tonic with lots of lime?”

  He nodded silently.

  Wine wasn’t going to get her through the next half hour. “Is there place for my bag behind the bar?”

  He nodded again and took her luggage from her as if it weighed nothing. He must be related to Gray, she mused. She had about a three-minute interval of silence before the first man approached her. She took a deep pull on her drink.

  “I’m waiting for someone,” she said.

  He didn’t buy it. Neither did the others.

  For the next twenty minutes, she fielded questions and deflected full- disclosure. No last name. No occupation. She was in the health field. Traveling. Flat tire. Too many rough and tumble cowboys were closing in on her personal space. Some were gently touching her. It was fleeting contact, like little gnats you can’t see or catch.

  She was beginning to get properly panicked when another Sioux pushed his way into her space and introduced himself. She opened her mouth to speak, but he spoke first.

  “I’m Officer Running Deer. Is your name Julie?”

  She frowned in confusion. She knew this man. He was her short-stop’s father. Why was he acting like they were strangers?

  He showed a badge because he was in plain clothes. “I’m to take you into protective custody. May I have your full cooperation?”

  “Absolutely,” she said slowly. She slid off of her barstool and turned to take care of her tab. The barkeep shook his head and handed her her suitcase.

  “No monies owed,” he said quietly. She smiled at him and stuffed ten dollars in the tip jar. Her male admirers went silent and gave The Law a wide berth. She gave the more aggressive man in the bunch a lethal look. “I told you that I was waiting for someone.”

  He paled and his eyebrows shot skyward. “We were just making nice with the lady,” he said to Officer Running Deer.

  “No more,” said Running Deer. He ushered Julie out of the bar and into his squad car.

  She took a deep breath after she was buckled in and released her pent-up nervousness in a shaky sigh. “Tom?”

  “Yes?”

  “Why did you act like you didn’t know me in there?”

  “Because those white boys would not have let an Indian leave with the likes of you unless it was official.”

  Julie groaned.

  “Just FYI, Julie Hastings, you were not in the most enlightened spot on planet earth tonight.”

  “Yeah,” she said softly. “Thank you for saving me. I needed saving.”

  He grunted and picked up his radio. “Barbara, patch me through to Officer Keating, please.” There was some dead, crackly air time, then Dan came on the line. Tom powered on the windshield wipers. It was beginning to rain.

  “Dan,” said Tom Running Deer, “I’ve got one Julie Hastings in protective custody. Good call, that. Very good call. I’m off shift and on my way home. I’ll transport her back. Take care of that homicide. No worries here.”

  “Thanks, Tom. I owe you,” came the response. She could hear Dan’s stress and strain over the air waves. He sounded rough.

  Tom signed off, then turned to Julie. He was accusatory. “Why didn’t you call Gray?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Why didn’t you call Gray?”

  “I would have, but Friday is his counsel night.”

  “Julie, you are more important to him than counsel night.”

  She was caught off guard. “I was trying to be respectful of his obligations.” But there was more to it than that. He had warned her. She hadn’t listened and, in the end, her pride wouldn’t knuckle under to her need.

  “So you called Dan?” He was trying to be neutral, but failing in the attempt.

  “No,” she said, her feathers ruffled. “I called Officer Elliott Rand. I was hoping to call in a favor. He owes me one. I was hoping he’d come fetch me. Instead, he called Dan who obviously called you. So here I am.”

  “Julie,” he said. “I have to be honest with you. I’m not taking you home tonight.” She pivoted in her seat and stared at him as directly as her seatbelt would allow. “I am taking you to Gray.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you have some damage control to do tonight,” he stated simply.

  “Tom,” she said, trying to control her anger. “I need you to explain.”

  “I’m sure that by now, Gray has heard all about your flat tires and your adventures at the XYZ bar.”

  “I didn’t have any adventures at the XYZ bar. I had a vodka and tonic.”

  “The bartender is Sioux. I’m sure he called Gray to tell him what was up with one very well-dressed Julie-on-her-own, especially since he knows that this particular Julie belongs to one Gray Walker.”

  “I do not belong to Gray Walker,” she said hotly.

  “Gray thinks that you do.”

  “He does? And why is that?”

  “Because you’ve slept with him.”

  Julie froze. “What?” Her mouth was cotton-dry.

  “Julie. Gray is Sioux. True Sioux. It doesn’t matter if you slept together platonically or not.”

  “It was a blizzard and it was cold. And how do you know about this?”

  “All of Fallston knows about you and Gray and the hunting cabin. What you need to understand is that there was a time when the simple act of sharing a buffalo robe was a matrimonial act, sex or not.”

  “A buffalo robe?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  She shook slightly as she remembered Gray’s dark eyes searching hers in quiet question as he laid the buffalo robe atop the bed.

  “I didn’t realize that what I was doing was anything more significant than trying to keep us both warm.” Her voice was a whisper.

  “I know, Julie,” said Tom. “Except—”

  “Except what?”

  “Except that Gray has considered you his woman since the blizzard. Please listen to me.”

  She did her best, but her ears were ringing.

  “He will be very hurt by the fact that when you were in trouble, you called Dan and not him.”

  “But I didn’t! I called Elliott!”

  “Dan or Elliott, I’m just telling you how it’s going to go down.”

  She tried to quiet her breathing.

  “I can tell you right now that he’s going to be even more upset when he hears about that slick biker boy with his hand on your thigh.”

  “The touch was not welcomed.”

  “I know. I was there. Changes nothing.”

  “This is ridiculous.”

  “He’s going to be upset. Just talk to him. Explain it to him.”

  Within a heartbeat, Tom’s cell phone chimed and he spoke softly into the receiver. “I take it that your meeting is over,” he said. There was a moment of silence. “Pull over on Manor Road. I’ll find you there.” Julie watched him terminate communication. The rain was falling heavily. It was more of a solid sheet of water than drops.

  “You know, Gray is one of my best friends,” Tom announced. “I’m happy that he’s found you.”

  Julie turned and looked out the window, seeing nothing.

  “I know you’re probably sitting there wondering why on earth you ever got involved w
ith that big, silent, protective Sioux in the first place.”

  Julie grunted softly.

  “Well, if you opt out now, Julie, you’ll be ruining the chance for a lot of happiness for the both of you. That man worships the ground you walk on. He’d do anything to please you. That kind of emotion is something you just don’t find often. In fact, some people never find it. Never know it. Not ever.”

  Tom hit the blinker and pulled off to the side of the road behind Gray’s SUV. The rain was hammering the car. The noise was deafening.

  Gray popped out of his automobile and opened the passenger door then trotted to the passenger door of the squad car as Julie unbuckled her seatbelt. He scooped her up and raced back to the car, depositing her gently on the seat.

  Tom met Gray at the rear bumper and handed him Julie’s overnight bag.

  “She’s upset,” he said cryptically.

  Gray nodded. “Thanks, Tom.”

  Gray hopped back into the SUV and eyed Julie carefully. “Sorry about the rain,” he said.

  “Not your fault, Gray,” her voice was tight and she closed her eyes in an effort to consciously relax.

  “Sorry about the flat tires.”

  “Not your fault either.”

  “Sorry about the XYZ bar.”

  Julie groaned and closed her eyes. He reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze.

  “You’re upset.”

  “And scared and angry and wet and tired and cold,” she added. Her stomach growled fiercely.

  “And hungry,” said Gray.

  “Yeah.”

  She watched him out of the corner of her eye. He didn’t look agitated or jealous or obsessively possessive. She shook her head. Either Tom blew this incident all out of proportion or Gray was a very good actor.

  “Julie?” He spoke so softly that she could barely hear him over the frenetic slapping of the windshield wipers. “This is very bad driving. I’m going to take you to my home tonight, not yours. It’s closer.” He paused. “Is that okay?”

  Her heart began to pound.

  “Please say ‘yes’”.

  She was quiet a moment. “Yes.”

  “I’ll fix you something to eat.”