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Then his hand was gone. Despite the burning protest in her arm and bent leg, Megan stayed in her position, hoping his magic touch would return. When that didn't happen, she glanced at Justin. Both his hands lay on his chest. His expression hadn't changed at all.
She placed the cake in the basket, then humphed loudly and sat back against the tree. Irritation fed the passion inside of her until she was overheated. She wanted to scream at him, or kiss him. She contented herself with glaring at him.
"You would tempt a saint," he murmured.
She almost didn't catch the words. When she did, it took a moment for them to sink in. Her ill temper extinguished as quickly as it had flared. Justin was certainly no saint. He was the best kind of sinner.
"Thank you," she whispered.
In the center of the clearing, Mr. Greeley called, "Go!"
The straggly line of children began to move forward. Bonnie was on the end closest to them. Megan smiled as she watched her. Bonnie held the spoon out in front of her. The egg wobbled back and forth with each step, but didn't fall. Megan laughed.
"Good for you, Bonnie!" she called. The girl looked up and grinned.
"Is she winning?" Justin asked without opening his eyes. He bent his arms at the elbow and rested his head on his hands.
"No, but she's having fun. Go to sleep."
He mumbled something and sighed deeply.
Megan ignored the temptingly masculine picture he made and looked back at the racers. The first accident had already occurred with one of the children tripping and dropping his egg. Bits of shell and yolk scattered everywhere. A couple of the little girls shrieked and jumped out of the way. Bonnie glanced at the commotion, but kept going forward. Parents started standing up and cheering.
A girl of four or five dropped her egg, splattering her white dress. She promptly sat down and started to cry. Her older brother swerved over to talk to her. He got in the way of another child who tripped and, on the way down, bumped a little boy in short pants out of the race. The boy struggled to stay on his feet. His egg teetered precariously before slowly rolling off the edge of his spoon and dropping directly on top of Gene Estes's polished black shoes.
Megan clamped her hand over her mouth to hold in her chuckle of amusement. She glanced around at the crowd, but everyone's attention was focused on the crying little girl and the fallen boy next to her. Megan looked back at Gene.
Her eyes widened with disbelief. Her brother-in-law, the admired minster of the town of Landing, grabbed the boy by his arm and scolded him. She couldn't hear the words, but he pointed to his shoes and shook the child. There was something tight and ugly in the man's face. He turned his head as if trying to see who was watching, then backhanded the boy across the face. The child fell to the ground, too stunned to cry. Gene said something else, then walked away.
Megan stared at the child, then at her brother-in-law. He was standing beside Colleen and calmly wiping his shoes. As she watched, he even smiled. As if nothing had happened. As if he hadn't hit the child. No one else seemed to have noticed. She returned her attention to the boy. He'd started to cry and ran over to his mother. Megan didn't recognize her. She must be one of the new settlers, a farmer's wife. She had probably been in the general store, but Megan didn't know her name.
The boy rubbed the side of his face, then pointed to the minister. The mother frowned. She shook her head and grabbed the boy by the ear, pulling him away.
"She doesn't believe him," Megan said.
"Who doesn't believe whom?" Justin asked, his voice sounding sleepy.
She rose to her knees. "That woman. She doesn't believe what her son is telling her, but I saw him."
Justin yawned and raised himself on one elbow. "Saw what?"
"A boy dropped his egg on Gene's shoes. Gene scolded him, then hit him across the face with the back of his hand. He knocked the boy down, then calmly walked away as if nothing had happened. When the boy tried to tell his mother, she didn't believe him."
Justin frowned. "I understand his being upset about the raw egg, but that reaction seems a little harsh for our esteemed man of God."
"I agree.'' Megan stood up and looked around the crowd. She wanted to find that mother and tell her the boy wasn't lying. She started in the direction they'd gone.
