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She glanced toward the bar. Her younger sister, Mel, was looking decidedly violent just now. Leaning on the hardwood, watching them through narrow eyes. Her short, dark hair and pixie-like features hid an explosive temper and a body to match.
Maya felt warm all over in spite of that cold surveillance. Then she frowned at Caleb as a thought occurred to her. “Are you okay to drive?”
“I’ve only had two beers all night, hon. And the second one’s still half full.” He nodded toward his mug on the table. “But how about you?”
“It’s my birthday,” she said, and that was her only reply.
He frowned. Then he looked at her empty mug on the table, and she could almost see him mentally counting how many beers she’d had tonight. Then, licking his lips and sighing deeply, he looked at her again. He said, “As much as I hate to say this, Maya Brand, I think we ought to call it a night. Tell you what. You show me where I can get a room for the night, and we’ll continue this tomorrow.”
She lowered her head, thinking that she didn’t want the night to end so soon. But it was a good sign, she thought.
It said a lot about his character. “You’re a real gentleman, aren’t you, Caleb Cain?”
“I try to be.”
She nodded. “Okay, it’s a deal.”
* * *
“So who, exactly, is that stranger?” Mel asked, when Maya carried the empties back to the bar. Caleb had gone to the fireplace for his hat and his shirt, and gone out to start up his truck.
“Hell, sis, he was just a man. Had a flat, changed it in the rain and came in to get warm.”
“Well, shoot, since when do we have body heat on the menu?”
“Melusine Brand, you hush up!” Vidalia said. She came out from behind the bar, slipping an arm around Maya’s shoulders. “You okay, hon? You look a bit flushed and flustered.”
“Fine. Tired, but fine.”
“That young man…he new in town?”
She sighed. “Just passing through,” she said. And if her regret was audible, she couldn’t help it. “He’s looking for a room. I said I’d show him the way to the boarding house.”
They all looked up at her, silent, eyes wide.
“I’llshow him the freaking boarding house,” Mel said, balling up her apron and slamming it down, starting around the bar.
Maya grabbed her shoulder, halting her in her tracks. “I’m pushing thirty, Mel. If I want to spend some time with a man, it’s my choice to make.”
“But…but—”
“She’s right, Melusine.” Vidalia spoke with authority, and Mel calmed down. She didn’t like it. But she backed off.
Then Kara popped out of the kitchen and said, “What’s going on? Did someone call a family meeting and forget to tell me?”
“Maya met a handsome stranger,” Selene said. She was sitting on a bar stool to the right, playing around with one of those decks of cards she was always messing with. “And now she’s going to show him the way to the boarding house.”
Kara’s eyebrows went up. “The one I saw you dancing with, Maya?” she asked.
Maya nodded.
“Wow. What a hunk.”
“Shut up, Kara,” Mel snapped.
“He’s your soul mate, Maya.”
They all turned at once to see Selene leaning over and staring down at her tarot cards, which she’d laid out in some strange pattern on the gleaming mahogany bar.
