Line of Fire. Julie Leto

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      Chapter Two

      “Hey, Sky.” Neil Anderson slipped into one of the last vacant chairs in the room. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you at one of these meetings.”

      What could Sky say? He didn’t attend town meetings often. Folks assumed he didn’t like schedules or agendas, especially other people’s. Nobody had ever thought to ask if he had some other reason. Tonight, he was here because his boss, Jake McKenna, who also happened to be his best friend as well as an exasperating man, had roped Sky into attending in his place.

      Neil said, “You must have heard that Jayne Stryker’s gonna introduce the new gal at the meeting, too, eh?”

      Sky’s eyebrows rose. Meredith was going to be here tonight? It certainly explained why the back room of Mel’s Diner was busting at the seams, and a good share of Jasper Gulch’s single men and a few married ones, as well, were balancing their cowboy hats on one knee.

      Jake was going to owe him, big time.

      Sky settled his shoulders more comfortably along the back of the old folding chair, and left his Stetson on his head where it belonged. For the sake of idle curiosity and the general heck of it, he glanced around. He recognized every face present, but he didn’t see Meredith.

      Luke Carson banged his gavel on the table, calling the meeting to order. He, his brother, Clayt, and their friend, Wyatt McCully, had been instrumental in placing the original ad in the local papers luring women to Jasper Gulch. All three of them were married now, Luke and Wyatt to the first two women who’d moved here, and Clayt, to Jasper Gulch’s own Melody McCully. The remaining sixty-some bachelors had done a lot of bellyaching about that, but then, a lot of those local boys did a lot of bellyaching about just about everything.

      The meeting went surprisingly fast. It wasn’t because the fine folks of Jasper Gulch were especially agreeable tonight. Sky had seen more than one man’s face turn red beneath the tan line where a dusty Stetson normally sat. They were on their best behavior. Sky suspected it had to do with their readiness to bring on the main attraction.

      He wondered what they would do if the rumor that Meredith was going to be here tonight turned out to be false. Sky happened to glance over his shoulder. The meeting went on around him, but he didn’t participate. The Jasper Gulch grapevine was batting a thousand, as usual. Meredith stood near the door, looking straight ahead, her throat convulsing as if she were nervous. It was strange, because his first impression of her hadn’t been of a shy woman. His first impression had been of an enchantress who knew her own mind, what she liked and what she wanted. She’d wanted him. Being wanted by a woman like her had been a heady sensation. A dangerous, heady sensation.

      Luke pounded the table with his gavel again. “Before we adjourn, Jayne Stryker has somebody she’d like you all to meet.”

      “Finally.”

      “It’s about time.”

      “I’ll say.”

      Chairs creaked as the majority of the men sat up straighter. A few hardy paunches were sucked in, belts were adjusted, and everyone generally tried hard to look casual. As far as Sky was concerned, they tried a little too hard.

      Jayne strolled to the front of the room. The woman had a walk that could stop traffic and a mouth that could, and had, singed the hairs of a good many of the local boys’ ears. “Folks,” she said, smiling wryly, fully aware that her quick wit and business savvy were exactly what this town needed. “It’s nice to see so many people who care about their community.” And then she launched into a lengthy update on the progress she was making setting up a mail-order catalog business in the old five-and-dime building. The members of the Ladies Aid Society listened with rapt attention. The boys fidgeted like the congregation on Palm Sunday.

      Sky glanced at Meredith, and saw that she was shaking her head and smiling at Jayne as if they shared a private joke. With a wink and a slight movement of her head that prompted Meredith to stroll toward the front of the room, Jayne said, “Everybody, this is Meredith Warner, Logan and Olivia’s aunt. I’m sure all of you have heard she’s opening an antique slash furniture store in town. I invited her to stop by tonight to tell you a little about it. I hope you don’t mind staying a few minutes longer.”

      Mind? It was what the men were here for.

      Meredith turned to face the crowd. She wet her lips, a serious mistake, unless it had been her intention to jump-start the men’s fantasies.

      “As Jayne said, I’m nearly ready to open my furniture, antiques and home furnishings store two doors down. I’m excited about that, but to tell you the truth, standing up here talking about it makes me nervous.”

      “Imagine us naked,” one of the younger bachelors murmured just loud enough for her to hear.

      “Oh, no,” she said, staring Ben Jacobs down. “I’m not going there. Nobody is going to imagine anybody naked.”

      She glanced around the room sternly, as if to make her point. Sky wondered if he’d imagined that her gaze had settled on him for an instant longer than on anybody else. He wasn’t imagining the change in the beating rhythm of his heart.

      “As I was saying. I’ve worked in several different fields in order to make ends meet over the years. That’s the funny thing about not knowing what you want to be when you grow up. You learn a lot about life and hone a lot of different skills in your quest to find your niche. Until moving here, I spent four years working as an interior designer for a large store in Minneapolis. Before that I was a seam-stress, an upholsterer and a painter—of СКАЧАТЬ