Love on the Line - Deeanne Gist [73]
The more time he spent with Duane and Necker, the more they took him into their confidence. Never, however, had they involved him in their escapades or betrayed their involvement with Comer.
Pursing his lips, Necker nodded. “Let’s go, then.”
Luke grabbed Honey Dew’s reins and the three headed toward Cottonwood Lane. He hoped Georgie had gone to bed like he’d told her. If she was on that porch with her broom, he just might strangle her pretty little neck.
A few minutes later, the outline of her picket fence and tiny cottage came into view. They circled round to the back, but of course the decorated carriage was missing.
“What the devil?” Duane turned in a circle, scratching the back of his head and knocking his hat askew. “It was here earlier. I helped the doc deliver it myself.”
“You know anything about this, Palmer?” Necker asked, his voice low.
Nodding, he propped the ax against a tree. “Georgie was fretting about the float when I returned from repairing a line on Main Street. I didn’t pay much attention, though.”
Finishing off his beer, Duane flung it into the foliage. “Had yer mind on other things, huh?”
Luke shrugged. “Maybe.”
Necker sighed. “Well, come on. She couldn’t have taken it far. Let’s spread out.”
They searched for thirty minutes, looking behind every house and shed, down every alley within easy walking distance, but of course didn’t find it. As Luke had predicted, they weren’t willing to extend their search any further than the immediate area.
“What’re we gonna do?” Duane asked, the three joining up at the corner of Georgie’s property.
Necker pulled his lips into a thin line. “I’m thinking.”
Duane picked something off his tongue, then wiped it on his trousers. “What if we go inside and give her a little scare?”
Luke tensed. Exactly what constituted “a little scare”? he wondered.
“Those weren’t the instructions,” Necker replied. “We’re to destroy the float.”
“But the float ain’t here.”
Much as Luke wanted to ask whose instructions they were following, he kept quiet.
Necker sighed. “Scaring her won’t do any good if she don’t know why.”
“What about them hats?” Duane asked. “We could burn up them hats all those ladies made.”
Luke stilled.
Necker lifted one corner of his mouth. “We could at that.” He looked at Luke. “Where does she keep the hats?”
“Inside,” he answered.
“Where?”
He hesitated. “Her bedroom.”
Duane cackled, rubbing his chest. “Well, ain’t that a pretty thought.”
Luke grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him forward. “She’s mine, Duane. And until I say otherwise, nobody goes into her bedroom unless it’s me.”
Duane snarled. “Listen, Palmer, we only included you ’cause we needed your horse. We don’t need ya no more, though.”
Necker gave Luke a speculative look. “Ya willing to burn those hats, Palmer?”
He wasn’t about to leave Georgie at their mercy, even if it meant burning the hats himself. “I am.”
“Well, let go o’ Duane, then.”
He released the boy.
Duane stumbled back, catching himself before falling. “What about me? What if I wanna burn ’em? What if I wanna go into her bedroom?”
“You ain’t man enough to handle her,” Necker said, dismissing the sputtering boy. He pinned Luke with his gaze. “Every last one of ’em has to be burned.”
“That’ll take a while,” Luke said. “There’s more than you can count.”
“He just wants to linger in her bedroom,” Duane complained.
Luke refused to let himself be riled. He needed to protect Georgie. If that meant putting up with Duane and demolishing Georgie’s pet project, then that’s what he’d do.
“Children, children,” Necker crooned.
“Well, I don’t wanna stand out here twiddlin’ my thumbs while he has all the fun.”
“No, I don’t suppose ya do.” Taking a bandana out of his pocket, he began to tie it around his nose. “And neither do I. We all go in.”
Luke kept his voice level. “I need to borrow your belt and jacket.”
Necker paused. “Belt?”
“For my overalls. If I belt them and cover them with a jacket, she won’t recognize them for what they are. But if I simply put a neckerchief over