his lips. “Say no more—let’s go!” He slid his hand down to catch hold of Leigh’s and took off at a dead run toward the tables.
Hosea laughed. “I guess they’re hungry.”
They were alone! Angela forced a smile. “Yes. Hungry and energetic.” She started walking toward the tables. There was safety in numbers, and if she could just reach the crowd she could get away from him.
“Famous potato salad, and even more famous strawberry shortcake, huh? I’ve got to have some of that.”
Angela’s nerves tingled as Hosea fell into step beside her. She wiped her moist palms against her khaki shorts and stared down at the grass. “Then you’d better know, Pastor Stevens, that ‘famous’ is an exaggeration.”
“I hope not, Miss Warren. But, to be honest, it probably wouldn’t matter at this point. I’m hungry as a bear coming out of hibernation.”
Angela glanced up at him from beneath the brim of her baseball cap and her stomach went all jittery again. She jerked her gaze away from his face and took a deep breath. “Excuse me, Pastor Stevens, I have to get the whipped cream from my car.”
Veering off to the right, she headed for the parking lot to compose herself. She could feel his gaze following her all the way.
Millions of dollars. Had he really given up millions of dollars?
Angela leaned against a tree, sipped her iced tea and watched Hosea Stevens laugh, talk and hand out roasted corn to all comers. He couldn’t be more alien to her if he had suddenly grown fur and a tail. Her stepfather and Tony would have killed for that much money. It was inconceivable to her that this man had willingly given it up to obey the Lord.
Angela frowned and studied Hosea Stevens’s face. What had he answered Phil?…I gained riches beyond value. Did he truly mean that?
“What are you looking so serious, about? Don’t you know this is a picnic?”
Angela jumped and looked up at Alan Curtis, another church member. He smiled down at her.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. But you looked so solemn—and at least a thousand miles away.”
“No, I’m right here.” Angela gave him a polite smile and pushed away from the tree. “And now, I’m going over there, and try a piece of that coconut cake Emily brought. It looks wonderful.” She headed toward the dessert table.
“I don’t know about the cake—but I can highly recommend the strawberry shortcake.” Alan turned to walk beside her. “What do you do to those biscuits?”
“Ah, that’s a secret.”
“Well it’s a secret worth money.” He smiled again. “You could probably sell the recipe to one of those famous chefs for big bucks.”
“Why, thank you, sir.”
Big bucks. Millions of dollars. Angela lifted her gaze beyond Alan to the bonfire where the corn was roasting—to where Hosea was pulling back the shucks and handing it out to the laughing, chatting members of his congregation. No man willingly gave up millions of dollars. There had to be a reason.
She turned back to the table and gave Alan an absent smile as he handed her a piece of the coconut cake. She would find that reason when she got home. As she’d reminded Leigh, information was her specialty. For now, she’d stay hidden in the crowd at the table. She picked up a napkin and plastic fork and took a seat.
“Come on, Angela! They’re lining up for the water balloon toss, and we need another woman.”
Angela sighed and gave up as Leigh grabbed her hand and tugged her to her feet. There was just no way she could stay lost in the crowd with Leigh around.
“There’s Phil.” Leigh waved her free hand through the air to catch his attention as they trotted forward. “Here we are!”
Angela’s heart sank as she spotted Hosea Stevens lined up beside Phil on the other side of the open field. Leigh. This had her matchmaking fingerprints all over it. She stopped short. “Leigh, I don’t—” The shrill blow of a whistle cut off her protest. Leigh tugged her into place on the line.
“Well…now that we’re all here.” Walter Foster looked pointedly at Leigh and laughed when she grinned and curtsied to him. “Let’s begin.” He glanced around. “You all know the rules. You throw the balloon to your partner. When everyone has thrown their balloon, I’ll blow my whistle and you all take a step backward before your partner throws it back to you. You’re out of the contest as soon as your balloon breaks. Okay?”
There was a chorus of agreement.
“All right. Men…hold up your balloons! Ladies…check the color of your partner’s balloon. We’ve separated them so if somebody throws a wild one at you you’ll know in time to dodge it!” He glanced around to make sure everyone was ready while people laughed and shouted threats at one another. “Okay, last couple on the field wins all the extra balloons!”
He waved the half-empty bag over his head and hurried out of the cleared area to the accompaniment of the good-natured insults called out at the offered prize. When he reached the safety of the sidelines he turned and lifted his hand. Everyone quieted and looked at their partner.
“Ready…set…Go!”
Two dozen multicolored balloons wobbled through the air.
Angela caught the blue one Hosea threw to her, instinctively drawing her hands down and backward to ease the contact.
There was a sharp squeal to Leigh’s left. Another farther down the line.
Cold water spattered Angela’s sun-warmed legs as a balloon burst on the ground beside her. She jumped.
“Sorry, Angela, you got more of that than I did.” Sandra Collins laughed and trotted off the field with the other women whose balloons had broken.
The whistle blew. The remaining players took a step back.
Angela judged the new distance and threw the balloon to Hosea. Water splashed everywhere as wildly thrown balloons broke and spewed their contents on whoever happened to be in the way.
Hosea caught hers, then burst into laughter as another smacked against his shoulder and sprayed him with water. He held the dripping remnant of the wayward balloon out to Lou Harris. “I believe this belongs to you, sir?”
Lou accepted it with a bow.
The crowd laughed.
The whistle blew.
Angela stepped back. Hosea looked at her over the widening space. Thank goodness they were moving farther apart. She felt naked without the baseball cap. Lord, don’t let him remember. Please—
Whap!
Angela gasped as the blue balloon broke against her abdomen and cold water soaked through her cotton shirt and khaki shorts. Idiot! You closed your eyes. She shook her head at her foolishness, and tugged her wet shirt out away from her body. “Woo-hoo! Only three more to go and we win, Phil!” Leigh looked over at her friend
