The Outlaw's Lady. Laurie Kingery

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СКАЧАТЬ and said, “It was very nice to meet you, Mr. Parrish, but perhaps I’d better get back to my job. There were several other guests who wanted their photographs taken before I leave today.”

      Now Taylor took a quick step forward. “Now, Tess, I didn’t mean for this barbecue to be all work and no play for you! The party ain’t half over, so there’s plenty of time for you to get to know Sandoval a little better. Why not let him get you some lemonade and y’all go sit down in the shade and get acquainted?”

      “I…I really should do what you hired me to do before I stop to enjoy myself, Uncle Samuel,” Tess protested, “or I can’t take the fee we agreed upon.” She pulled a folded sheet of paper from the pocket of her skirt and brandished it at her uncle, almost as if it were a weapon. “There are still several names on my list….”

      “Actually, I was interested in having a photograph taken myself, Miss Hennessy,” Sandoval said suddenly, “if you think you would have time today. If not, I could perhaps make time to come to the shop Sam tells me you have in town,” he offered. “It would be a present to my mother, whose birthday is coming soon.”

      She hesitated.

      “Who’s next on that list?” Sam demanded, grabbing the paper away from her with the boldness only an old family friend could get away with. “Ah, Sissy Dawson. Why, she’s much too busy flirtin’ with Fred Yancy’s youngest pup to be bothered sittin’ still right now,” he said, jerking his head in the aforementioned Sissy’s direction. Just as he had said, Sissy was giggling and fluttering her eyelashes at a young man who looked utterly captivated by her antics. “Why don’t you take Sandoval’s picture right now?”

      Her eyes darted to Sandoval, then back to her godfather. There was no way she could politely refuse. “I…I suppose I could do that,” she said at last. “Very well, Mr. Parrish, please make yourself comfortable on that chair and I’ll just prepare another collodion plate…”

      “Tess, Lula Marie’s motionin’ for me to come over and meet somebody,” Taylor said, “so I’ll just leave you two together. Make Sandoval look handsome, mind—his mama thinks he is, and nothing I could tell her will convince her otherwise,” he added with a chuckle, giving them a last wave as he strode away.

      Tess started after his departing figure with obvious dismay.

      “Relax, Miss Hennessy, I do not bite,” Sandoval assured her, amused.

      She stared at him, her lapis lazuli-blue eyes widening. “I never thought that you did,” she began, but he interrupted her before she could deny it further.

      “I will cooperate fully, better than any of your other subjects today, so you will be rid of me in half the time.”

      He enjoyed the flash of amusement that curved her lips upward. He liked the way her lower lip was fuller than the other, and the way she was biting it just now with straight white teeth as if to hold back a laugh. He wanted to make her laugh some more.

      “Well, you’d hardly have to do much to behave better than those Dupree girls, Mr. Parrish. They were fidgety before, but once they spotted you, they became impossible.”

      Was it a test to see if he enjoyed the admiring glances of women? He’d seen the silly chits eyeing him, but they held no appeal. It had been this woman he’d come to meet.

      “Ah, well, there’s no accounting for taste, is there, Miss Hennessy?” he said lightly.

      She met his gaze as if she weren’t quite sure how to take his remark. “Just make yourself comfortable, Mr. Parrish,” she said, gesturing toward one of the two ornately carved chairs she had been using all afternoon for her subjects.

      “We have been introduced, Miss Hennessy. You may call me Sandoval.”

      Tess Hennessy did nothing to indicate she had heard him, merely moved the second chair away from the one in which he sat, and ignored his murmur that he could have done that for her. “I’ll just be a few moments preparing the plate,” she said, disappearing once more under the canvas hood.

      “So you are called Tess, not Teresa, Miss Hennessy?” he asked, trying to keep her talking while all he could see of her, from his vantage point in the chair, was her navy-blue skirt. “It suits you.”

      “By my family. Uncle Samuel is my godfather, so he has that privilege, too.” As you do not on such short acquaintance, he knew she meant. Her voice was muffled by the heavy fabric, but he didn’t miss the starch in it. Sandoval smiled inwardly at her attempt to put him in his place. Tess Hennessy had the tart tongue to go with the fiery hair that the knot at the nape of her neck barely restrained anymore. He settled into a pose, staring back at the camera with a half smile. He let her direct him in how to hold his head, where to put his hands. When she announced that she was finished, he stood and told her he would pick up the finished product in three days at her shop.

      “But…perhaps you didn’t understand. I can have it done by the end of the day for you, Mr. Parrish,” she said, taking a step after him. “It will come complete with a matte and protective folder.”

      “Ah, but your grandfather tells me one can also purchase frames at your shop, custom-made for the picture by your assistant. I would like a frame suitable for the picture, a gilt frame, if that is possible?”

      “Of course, we can make such a frame for it,” she said. “You said you will pick it up on Tuesday?”

      Sandoval nodded. Had he imagined the slight heightening of color in her cheeks when she realized she would see him again? “Would late morning be convenient?”

      “I’ll expect you then, Mr. Parrish.” Her voice was brisk, businesslike. A prelude to goodbye. She stared down at the notebook she’d taken out to note the appointment.

      He wanted more than that from her, despite his realization that mutual interest might complicate things. “If you like,” he went on, “I’d be honored to take you to lunch at the hotel across from your shop. I’m told they have good food.” He said it to gauge her reaction to him. Both of them would be many miles from Chapin by then, if all went according to his plan.

      Her chin jerked up again. “I…I don’t know…I’ll have to think about it,” she said.

      “Very well, Miss Hennessy. Until Tuesday, then.” He felt her eyes upon him as he strode away.

      

      “Aren’t you done yet, Tess?” Amelia Hennessy shouted through the heavy canvas of the developing tent. The sudden sound caused Tess to straighten quickly and bang her head on the support post, exacerbating the pounding headache she already had. She didn’t know why her mother thought she had to shout, as if the canvas were a six-foot-thick adobe wall.

      “No, not quite, Mama, why?” Tess replied, purposefully vague, though she was brushing varnish on the last picture. If she left at the same time as her parents, her mother would insist on critiquing the party with her—who had worn what, who had been flirting with whom, the quality and quantity of the food, and so forth—which would require Tess to drive her vehicle abreast of the victoria. After spending most of a day with social chatter droning into her ears, Tess was looking forward to being alone with her thoughts. She already knew what—or rather whom—she was going to think about.

      “It’s late. Your father and I are ready to leave.”

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