(Buchanan-Renard #2) Mercy by Julie Garwood

Author:Julie Garwood [Garwood, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Lwas a quarter to seven when Theo and Michelle ached The Swan, and the place was hopping. Old vans and rusted-out

pickups sporting rifle racks and bumper stickers almost filled the parking lot. I'd rather be fishing seemed to be the bumper sticker of choice, but the one that caught Theo's eye had the word Gator-Aid painted in bright fluorescent letters. When he

looked closer, he noticed the picture of an alligator with a Band-Aid. He didn't know what that was supposed to mean.

He also noticed there weren't any brand-new vehicles in the lot. If there was any doubt that it was a poor area, the proof was

all around him. Some of the pickups looked as though they belonged in a junkyard. But if he'd learned Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

anything while in Bowen,

it was that people made do with what they had.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked him as she led the way around a dented gray van.

"How hard it is to scrape a living here," he answered. "But you know what? I haven't heard any complaints."

"No, you wouldn't. They're too proud."

"Did I mention you look pretty tonight?" he asked.

"In this old thing?"

This "old thing" was a short V-necked blue-and-white-checked sundress that she'd spent twenty minutes deciding upon. She'd spent another twenty minutes working on her hair. She wore it down around her shoulders, and it curved softly around her face. She'd worked hard curling it to make it look as though she hadn't. Then she'd added some blush to highlight her cheekbones, and brushed on a tiny bit of lipstick and gloss. When she realized she was becoming compulsive about her appearance—she'd changed in and out of the sundress three times—and that all the primping was for him, she stopped.

"When someone gives you a compliment, you're supposed to say thank you. You look pretty tonight,"

he repeated, "in that 'old thing.' "

"You like making fun of me, don't you?"

"Uh-huh."

He'd lied when he'd told her she looked pretty, but he couldn't put into words how he'd felt when she'd come downstairs. Dynamite came to mind. Breathtaking was another adjective he could have used, but the one word that kept repeating in his head he was too embarrassed to say. Exquisite.

She would have had a field day with that compliment, he thought. And what was the matter with him?

He was silently waxing poetic. Now, where had that come from?

"It's a sin to make fun of anyone."

Theo opened the door for her, then blocked her entrance while he read the hand-printed sign on the wall. "No wonder it's so crowded tonight. It's all-the-beer-you-can-drink night."

She smiled. "It's always all-the-beer-you-can-drink, as long as you pay for each glass and you don't drive. The locals know

about it."

"Something smells good. Let's eat. God, I hope it's not spicy."

"Since it's Wednesday, you can have fried catfish and french fries, which I'm sure your arteries will love

..."

"Or?"

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"French fries and fried catfish."

"I'll have that."

As they zigzagged their way to the bar, Theo was stopped more often than she was.

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