“Dammit!” Mercy swore when she saw the church youth director’s vehicle in the driveway. Cody was at the house again. She had no intention of going out with him again. He was a sweet guy, but there was no zing—not like she’d had with Hunter. Her folks had invited him to Sunday dinner the week before, and it was evident that they’d be happy if she would give him a chance. After all, he was a “good guy,” the youth director at their church, and had never been married. He didn’t chew wintergreen gum or smell like he’d fallen into a vat of cheap aftershave. He was attractive, but his actions reminded her way too much of Brent.
Cody had called on Monday to ask her out, but she made an excuse. On Thursday, he had shown up at the house to play dominoes with her folks, and of course they needed a fourth hand. The sly looks and smiles, meant to melt her heart, just made her more stubborn, and she didn’t even offer to walk him to the door at the end of the evening. And now it was Friday, and he was waiting in her parents’ porch swing, when all she wanted was to unwind in a long, hot bath. She hopped out of the car, grabbed her purse, and didn’t even bother to tug down her bright blue tight miniskirt.
“Hello, Mercy.” Cody waved. “I thought I’d kidnap you for a hamburger and a movie.”
“I don’t think so,” a familiar voice said behind her. “Mercy’s already spoken for this evening.”
“Hunter?” She turned abruptly. Her heart was suddenly in her chest, and her knees went weak. She almost took a couple of steps forward and wrapped her arms around him. “No, I am not going out with you, Cody, but I’m not going anywhere with you, either, Hunter.” Her pulse raced so fast that she could hear her heartbeat in her ears. “What are you doing in Floresville?”
Hunter nodded toward Cody. “Do we have to discuss it in front of him?”
“We have nothing to talk about,” she said. “I’m going inside. If you want to sit on this porch until you starve to death, then that’s your business. But I hope you’ll both be gone when I look out tomorrow at noon, which is when I intend to wake up.” She slammed the front door as she disappeared into the house.
She threw her clothes on the floor, ran a deep bath topped with frothy bubbles, pinned her hair up, and sank down until the water was up to her chin.
“It’s good enough for both of them,” she grumbled. “Hunter should have called, and Cody should have stayed away.”
“Mercy?” Her mother knocked on the bathroom door, then opened it and came in. “You’ve got a couple of tomcats out on the front porch.”
“I know,” Mercy said.
“What are you going to do about them? They both look furious,” her mother said.
“I’m not doing anything about them. They can kill each other for all I care. If one dies and one leaves, don’t tell me which one is alive. I don’t want to know.” She closed her eyes, but a vision of Hunter popped into her head and they snapped open.
“You never could lie,” her mother said. “But if you don’t want to take care of your problem, then I will. Just remember you had a chance,” Deana told her.
Mercy had really thought she could face Hunter and not even experience a little, bitty flutter in her heart, but she’d been dead wrong. When she had heard his deep voice behind her, she had come close to falling into his arms.
Mercy heard someone rumbling around in her bedroom, but she didn’t care if her mother was putting away laundry or just waiting for her to come out of the bathroom. This was one problem she had to solve herself.
“Mercy!” Her mother knocked on the door for the second time and didn’t wait to be asked in. “Your bubbles are going flat, and the water must be getting cold.” She opened the vanity drawer and took out a makeup kit and Mercy’s toothbrush.
“What are you doing?” Mercy sat up, not caring if her mother saw her naked from the waist up. “That’s my toothbrush, and you’ve got your own makeup.”
“Yep, I do.” Deana nodded. “Where is that special stuff you use to clean your face?” She opened the medicine cabinet door and reached in. “Oh, here it is.”
“Mother! What are you doing?” Mercy got out of the tub, wrapped a big towel around her dripping body, and followed her mother into the bedroom.
“I’m taking care of your problem, daughter! I’m tired of you moping around here, so you’re going to settle this thing with Hunter once and for all. I want my daughter back, so kill him or kiss him.” Deana threw the items into the suitcase she’d gathered up in the bathroom and snapped it shut. “Now get dressed. There is a point where a mother has to hand the reins to the daughter and tell her to ride the horse or fall on her face. That point has come. It’s time for you to ride this horse or else sell it to the glue factory and forget it. Life’s too short.”
“What are you talking about?” Mercy grabbed a pair of blue jeans from her closet.
“Get dressed in a pair of jeans and a shirt and meet me on the porch.” Deana picked up the suitcase and shut the bedroom door behind her.
Hunter sat down in a ladder-back chair and didn’t intend to move until Mercy came out of the house. Cody shrugged and walked away after fifteen minutes, leaving him alone on the porch to wait. He looked up when the door opened, but it wasn’t Mercy who opened the door. It was a tall woman who introduced herself as Mercy’s mother.
“How did you find my daughter?” she asked. “Have you been stalking her?”
“No, ma’am,” Hunter answered. “One of the little ladies at her church called me. She said that the preacher had her forwarding address, and they gave it to me. I really need to talk to her. I’m miserable with the way things were left between us.”
“You drove all the way out here just to talk?” Deana asked.
“Yes, and then I’m on my way back to Acala for a few days to help out my friend in his cantina,” Hunter answered honestly.
“I see.” Deana smiled. “You stay right here. I see Mercy’s dad coming home from his golf game. Talk to him while I get things arranged for you.”
Hunter stood up and introduced himself when Bob Spenser got out of his truck and walked up onto the porch. “I’m waiting on Mercy to come outside and talk to me,” he explained after they had shaken hands.
“Deana will fix things. She’s good at that, and she’s never been wrong before, so I trust her judgment. You just wait right here, and don’t give up.”
“Thank you,” Hunter said. “I appreciate that.”
“I’ve got her ready.” Deana rolled the suitcase out the door. “If you make me sorry I played a part in this, Hunter Wilson, I will personally shoot you right between the eyes and then feed your sorry carcass to the buzzards. You had better not betray my trust, no matter what happens this weekend. I’m not used to giving my daughter to some stranger to carry off for three days.”
“And that goes double for me,” Bob declared as he followed his wife out on the porch.
“Yes, ma’am.” Hunter nodded. “I give you my word. I’ll keep Mercy safe.”
Hunter felt the cold air of Mercy’s anger when she came out on the porch. Her hair hung in wet strings around her face. Her red tennis shoes weren’t tied, and her T-shirt clung to her still damp body. Hunter felt like the poor old coyote who had just found a way inside the henhouse, only to have to face off with the farmer’s shotgun.
“What is going on?” She glanced down at her suitcase.
“I told you to take care of your problem or I would.” Her mother’s tone didn’t leave room for argument. “You’re going away with Hunter for the holiday weekend, and you will resolve this one way or the other. Either way, I expect you to be back to your old self when he brings you home to us.”
“I’ve got a job interview—” she started.
“And Monday’s a holiday, so it’s not on that day,” her mother reminded her.
“What if I would rather be with Cody?” Mercy asked.
“Then on Monday night, you can call Cody and tell him you’re ready to see him,” Deana answered. “He’s quite taken with you, but no man wants to walk around in the shadow of an old love. Cody deserves better than that. But right now, you two have to work things out one way or the other.”
“I’m not going anywhere with Hunter, and that’s a fact.” Mercy sat down on the swing. “I’m too old for you to make decisions for me and too old to be kidnapped. I’m staying right here.”
“Scared?” Hunter asked.
“I’m not scared of the devil himself,” she declared.
“I think you’re scared of your feelings,” Hunter said.
“Oh, yeah?” She jumped up and faced him. “I’ll show you that I’m not scared, and by the time this weekend is over, you’ll wish I’d never walked into Sancho’s Cantina. You might even put me on an airplane and send me home rather than bringing me back yourself.”
“I might.” He picked up the suitcase and headed for his truck. “Nice meeting you folks, and thank you for trusting me.”
Mercy might forgive her parents someday, but as she strapped her seat belt she vowed that she would never forget this. She refused to look at Hunter as he drove through town. But then she didn’t need to look at him to know what he looked like. All she had to do was close her eyes, and the back of her eyelids became a television screen where every single memory involving Hunter Wilson played out.
“You turned the wrong way,” she snapped when he veered off the highway to the south instead of north. She’d assumed that they were going back to the spread in Denton to take care of their differences. He probably had another big barn dance planned. Maybe she’d feed him to Kim a bite at a time, and then play up to another cowboy.
“Nope, we’re going on a little three-day holiday. That’s where all this started, so we’ll settle it there. Tonight, we have reservations in a motel in Odessa. Tomorrow morning, we head for Acala and spend Saturday, Sunday, and Monday until noon at Sancho’s Cantina. My friend Mickey and his wife wanted a few days off to fly to Boston. They’ve got exciting news for his folks. Maria, Mickey’s wife, is pregnant, and it’ll be his parents’ first grandchild, so they wanted to tell his parents in person.”
“Stop this truck right here. I’ll hitchhike home. I’m not about to go back to that godforsaken place. I hated it there. And I’m not playing barmaid in a cantina, either, so stop or I’ll jump.” She grabbed the door handle.
He patted her shoulder. “Mercy, I promised your parents I’d bring you home safe and sound. I’d planned on taking you to dinner tonight and making you listen to me, but when I told your folks I was on my way to Acala, your mother said I should take you with me and we’d have time to resolve whatever our fight was about. It sounded like good advice to me. And your mother threatened to shoot me if I didn’t do right by you. You’ve definitely got her temper.”
Mercy folded her hands over her chest and stared straight ahead. At least her mother had offered to shoot him, but Deana would have to stand in line, because Mercy was claiming first dibs on that.