Dance With A Gunfighter by JoMarie Lodge Page A

"I guess a lady would never say anything like that."
    The fine lines at the outer edges of his eyes crinkled,
softening his features, and making her stomach flutter with how handsome he
was. "I’ve got to admit, I’ve never heard one."
    She dropped her eyes. "There are times I wish I knew
how to act like a lady, Jess." She felt him draw back as if wary, and
hurried to explain. "I mean, even if I didn’t ever use that
knowledge, because after all, there’s no need to be lady-like when you’re going
to kill four men, but still, it’s something I wonder about." She averted
her head, embarrassed by her admission. She couldn’t help but remember seeing
him kissing the dancehall girl at the Crystal Palace--Clara, she had learned
her name was. She had never gotten any indication from Jess that he even liked
Clara, yet he kissed her.
    "You’re fine, Gabe." His voice was harsh.
"Just the way you are."
    "I don’t think so," she murmured. She couldn’t
look up at him, yet her gaze couldn’t pull away completely. His hands rested on
the blanket, his fine-boned hands, not the square, burly hands of most of the
ranchers she knew. But instead of the smooth, soft hands he once had, they now
were dark from the sun, with newly formed calluses and cuts and nicks from
construction work. "McLowry..."
    "Yes?"
    Being coy wasn’t her style, but sometimes it was hard to
forge ahead. Still, she wanted to know. "What is it that women do to make men take notice of them?"
    The shocked look on his face told her how peculiar he
regarded her question. "What do they do? "
    Her heart two-stepped. "To make men like them."
    He sucked in a deep breath. "I never thought about it
much."
    "I shouldn’t have asked," she said quickly.
"I didn’t mean to embarrass you."
    "Me?" His voice sounded a little too high.
"Not at all." He took on a pedagogical tone. "If I were to give
it some thought, I could give you an answer. Well, right off the top of my
head, one thing you find when a woman’s around a man she likes is that she
just...well, she sort of sashays."
    "Sashays?"
    "You know."
    Her hopes sank. "No, I don’t."
    "Well..." He stood up and took a quick look
around as if to be sure no one was near. "Kind of like this." He put
one hand on his back hip, elbow bent and pointed outward, then walked around in
a circle, swinging his hips like the pendulum on a grandfather’s clock.
    The sight of the tough gunfighter, who had men cowering
when he walked down the street, awkwardly trying to swing his hips, caused Gabe
to burst out laughing. He kept it up until she doubled over, holding her stomach
and laughing hard. It felt good to laugh like that. She hadn’t laughed since
her family was killed.
    McLowry tumbled onto the blanket and laughed right along
with her.
    He was close, close enough that if she reached out, she
could touch him. "If I ever did anything like that," she said,
composing herself again, "I’d scare them all away for sure!"
    "Them?" he asked.
    "All my future beaus."
    "Ah," he said lightly, his smile vanishing.
"Them."
    He put his hat on the ground and stretched out, flat on
his back, his arms folded and tucked under his head like a pillow. His
expression was hooded, his eyes staring off at clouds that coiled like wisps of
clotted cream. She wished she knew what he was thinking.
    She stretched out beside him and rolled over onto her
stomach, propping herself up on both elbows. Blue eyes met hers.
    Her gaze explored his face, taking in each feature until
she memorized every inch of his golden-tanned skin, sweet butter mustache, and
winged eyebrows. She found the shape of his nose perfect, as were the planes of
his cheeks, and the line of his lips. She had never seen a man so handsome.
    "What else can a woman do, Jess?" The words
tumbled from her lips and now hung in the air, expectant. She prayed he
wouldn’t say she was wasting her time even asking such a question, that there
was nothing she could ever do to interest a man in her. To