Perilously Fun Fiction: A Bundle, Pauline Jones [top 100 novels of all time .txt] 📗

It was a madhouse inside. Wall-to-wall important people. Mickey almost recoiled. There was a surge and counter-surge in progress. The women were trying to get into the drawing room to see the Hepplewhites, while the men were trying to get out before they saw the Hepplewhites. Laughing, Luci pulled him between the two forces until they got to the stairs. Like a child, Luci sank down and peered through the banister.

“Look.”

Mickey sat down below her and saw Miss Weena at the front of a bunny hop line that extended back into the dining room.

“What?” He wanted to get her alone, not watch Miss Weena shake her aging booty.

“Wait for it.” Her hand gripped his, as if he might fall if she let go.

Miss Weena led her line toward the drawing room, her fluting voice coming in tiny pants over the noise. “Much nicer when it’s not frozen...”

“Well, I’m glad I didn’t miss that—” he began. Then he saw it. Or rather, saw him. Them. Felt a cold chill run around the over-heated room.

Gracie.

And Delaney.

At the end of Miss Weena’s line.

Luci’s hand gripping his kept him grounded while his thoughts spun off-center. How could it be? For a long moment, he wondered if he was having a heart attack, but his vision cleared when Delaney gave him that old, familiar, shit-eating grin and called out, “Not cracking up on me, are you?”

Then he and Gracie broke free from the line and he spun her in a circle, both of them laughing as they rose out of the crowd and up through the ceiling. Mickey wanted to call him back. As if he had, Delaney’s head reappeared. “We’ll talk later, bubba. You got some business to take care of.”

Then he was gone. But not gone. It took him three tries before he managed, “Did anyone else...see...”

“No, that was just for us.” Luci sighed. “They’re both so happy, Mickey. Gracie keeps talking about the ‘little life.’ And every night they sneak over to Boudreaux’s to watch the romance channel and smell popcorn.”

“Why...why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t think you’d believe me. Or even talk to me.” She seemed too interested in the carvings on the banister. “And we don’t have a phone...”

“I’m sorry,” Mickey said again.

Her smile lit up his heart as she slid across the stairs and leaned against the wall, stretching her legs out with a sigh. “I know it’s not the same, but it’s something, isn’t it?”

Mickey slid up next to her. “Yeah, it’s something. I don’t think he would have gotten over her. I’ve heard the Seymour women are hard to get over.”

Luci felt her heart speed up, then try to crawl out her throat at the sheer pleasure of being smiled at by him. He’d been so distant for so long, she’d been sure he’d never come back. Now he was here, just inches away and she couldn’t breathe from the look in his eyes. Everything around them slowed and got fuzzy around the edges, like an old romantic movie. The music wasn’t quite right, but that didn’t matter, because everything else was right. The guy. The moment. The smell of cake. It didn’t get much better, she decided with a sigh.

“So, does this mean the Seymour women are making a new family tradition?”

“I don’t know about the other Seymour women,” Luci said, throwing her heart over this fence and hoping he’d catch it, “but this one intends to.” Would he understand what she was trying to say?

He smiled and her toes curled up in her shoes. “I’m glad to hear it.” He hesitated, then said, “Been thinking of making a few changes myself. Giving up the bachelor digs, maybe find something with room for two?”

“What a couple of cowards,” Delaney said from above them.

They looked up to find Delaney and Gracie watching from the upper floor.

“I can see I’m going to have very little privacy from now on,” Mickey said.

“Just tell her you love her and kiss the girl! An Affair to Remember is coming on in a few minutes,” he urged. “Gracie wants to find out if she can still cry.”

“This is the nineties, Delaney,” Gracie pointed out. “Luci could ask him.”

“Well, I hope someone does something...” he broke off as Mickey pulled Luci up and headed for the front door. “Where you going?”

Mickey looked back. “Outside! There’s a magnolia tree that’s perfect for a proposal.”

“Mickey.” Luci dug in her heels. “There’s something I need to tell you before...”

“What?” She saw the dread form in his eyes.

“What I really do in Butt Had.”

“Oh?”

“I’m not a waitress. Or a dancer. Or an actress.”

“You’re not?”

“Well, only sort of. You see, I own half of a Dud ranch.”

“A...what?”

She grinned. “Was just making sure you were paying attention. Actually, it’s a dude ranch, with all the ‘e’s’ intact. As half-proprietor, I do all those things. And something else.”

She was so serious, Mickey felt the first pang of fear. “What?”

“I’m the sheriff.” She gave him a worried look. “I guess being a cop kind of runs in the family.”

Mickey shook his head. “A sheriff?”

“I have a badge and gun and a uniform and everything. Except deputies. It’s a small town.”

“How are they managing without you?” Mickey linked hands with her and pulled her close.

“The highway patrol’s covering for me.

“Well, they’ll have to keep on covering for you after I get you under that tree.” Mickey put his cheek against hers and inhaled as deep as his lungs would let him. “But if you can’t give it up, I hear the NOPD is looking for a few good cops.”

“It’ll be something to do until the babies come,” Luci whispered. “I figure if I’m gonna break tradition, I oughta go whole hog and just blow it outta the water.”

“Ross!” he heard his Captain and Luci’s father bellow.

They jumped apart.

“Dad!”

“Sir!”

“Going somewhere with my daughter, Ross?”

Mickey looked at her and smiled. “Just as far as the magnolia to propose.”

Pryce looked at Luci. She beamed. “How do you feel about being