he said sternly. “All ladies out of my truck. I ain’t taking you any farther than this.”
Cissy hesitated, but Hannah popped right out of the truck. “Fine,” she said. “I can get a better-looking, more polite and chivalrous ride, anyway. One that doesn’t poke his nose in my business and then laugh.”
“Archer laughed, I just—”
“Same thing. All you Jeffersons are alike. It’s your way or the highway. Well, I,” she said with a deliberate glare at Ranger as she tugged her leopard-print duffel from the truck, “don’t even think you’re that hot of a kisser.”
“Huh?” Ranger and Archer said at the same time.
“Now wait a minute—” Ranger began.
“Kisser?” Archer stared at his twin. “Did you kiss her?”
“Technically, it was a peck,” Ranger began.
“He pecked both of us, then,” Cissy inserted. “Only my kiss went beyond the peck category, I feel certain.”
“You kissed her, too? And they’re both riding in the same vehicle with you?” Archer grinned over the seat at his twin. “No wonder the atmosphere in here has been decidedly icy. Brr.”
Hannah didn’t want to hear about the kissing Cissy had gotten from Ranger, but knowing that the man was such a fast-and-loose kisser was the main reason she didn’t want to let her heartstrings get pulled any tighter. Obviously, her kiss hadn’t meant anything to him.
“I knew this was a bad idea. Cissy, I vote we call Jerry. Sooner or later, he’ll be by this way in his rig. We should have done that in the first place, I guess.”
Maybe, but she and Cissy had agreed between themselves that burdening anyone with their departure wasn’t fair. And, frankly, they were afraid they couldn’t say goodbye if they had to face down a couple of salons full of friends. And Cissy would have had to say goodbye to Marvella—no easy thing, considering Marvella would have thrown a fit.
But for Hannah, saying goodbye to Delilah would have been impossible. She couldn’t have said goodbye, and she wouldn’t have. In the end, she would have stayed—always captive to the hope that Ranger would return. Call. Ask her out. Remember their kiss.
Ranger crossed his arms at her, and Hannah felt her heart sink a little deeper in her chest. Did he have to be so handsome, even when he was being so dreadfully bossy? “Go,” she told him. “Head off. Don’t waste my time giving me the omnipotent eye.”
“The omnipotent eye,” Archer mused. “Isn’t that what Helga does to us when we put our boots on the coffee table?”
“Can I speak to you alone for a moment?” Ranger said to Hannah.
“I don’t see why—” she started, but Cissy gave her a shove and Ranger gave her arm a pull and she was heading off toward a picnic table with Ranger before she’d finished her sentence.
“Look,” he said, sitting her down on the plank seat. “Have you thought this through?”
She thought she heard concern in his voice, real concern, and it startled her out of her indignation. “Yes, I have. And you can stop looming over me like you know everything and what I know could fit into a thimble.”
He stared at her. “I’m not looming.”
Okay. So at over six feet he couldn’t exactly help his proportions. She’d wanted to be able to read his posture, and now she certainly could. “So. How long did you think about your road trip?”
“A while.”
“I don’t remember you mentioning it before.”
“We didn’t talk much.”
No, they hadn’t. Mostly, she’d wanted to kiss him. And that peck comment had hurt her feelings, because it had been more than that to her. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going into the military.” He gave her a most belligerent glare, daring her to laugh.
Which she did. “Okay, that’s it,” she said. “Get back behind the wheel and stop harassing me about my spur-of-the-moment plans.”
“Hang on.” He put his boot on the bench beside her and leaned forward. “I’m a man, and you’re a woman.”
She cocked a brow at him. “Continue. So far, you’re astounding me with your powers of observation.”
“What I’m saying is, it’s one thing for me to be heading off into the wild blue yonder. Joining the military is an honorable, responsible way to work through this phase of my life. You, on the other hand, are going off willy-nilly, shady-lady, to get a job as a card dealer in a floating casino. That is not a particularly admirable thing, not that I’m making any judgment calls here.” He held up a hand to ward off her rebuttal. “I just don’t know that it’s safe. And maybe you know that it’s not such a good idea, or you wouldn’t have snuck off like a thief in the night without telling Delilah.”
“You’re big-brothering me, and I don’t like it,” Hannah told him.
“Not exactly that,” he admitted. “Since I kissed you, I feel a bit more responsibility than the average Joe, I guess.”
“You called it a peck,” she reminded him, her indignation clear. “A peck. If you pecked me, what did you do to Cissy?”
“Now, Cissy,” Ranger immediately rejoined, leaning back to grin at her, “that girl can suck the lips off a man’s face. She takes a man’s breath and makes him feel that dying in her arms is a good thing.”
“Really!” Hannah hopped to her feet. “You know what? I’ve had enough of your bellyaching and your grousing. You get us to the state line, and that’ll be just fine, Ranger Jefferson. And you can just let the military have your sorry self. Maybe they can kick some sense into you.”
She headed toward the truck without waiting for him to reply. Ranger stared at her retreating red-tipped blond hair and saucy backside as she flounced off. He raised a brow. “Baby, baby,” he murmured. “I do believe that little gal is jealous.” And then he grinned.
RANGER QUIT GRINNING by the time Archer and Hannah decided they had something in common. Snug as two bugs in the back seat, they taught each other their best tricks at cheating in card games.
It was bad enough, Ranger thought sourly, that his twin was full of bad ideas and tomfoolery. Of course, it was all in the spirit of fun, under the guise of tricks, but he didn’t think it was a good idea for her to know any more tricks than she already did. Her repertoire was astonishing. Where did such a little spitfire learn so many sideways maneuvers?
Worse, he didn’t want Archer teaching her anything, card tricks notwithstanding. And he sure as hell didn’t like the repetitious, nerve-grinding, unnecessary bursts of laughter from the back seat.
Those two were becoming way too close for his comfort. And they were having way too much fun, playing reindeer games in the back seat while he sat up here like a chauffeur. Ranger’s teeth ground together. That’s what it sounded like: reindeer games. Childish. Immature.
