Luck Be a Lady - Cathie Linz [25]
Damn, his self-control was slipping badly. Not a good thing. He finished his food and stepped away from the counter and temptation.
“I need a little shut-eye. I’m going to stretch out in the backseat of the car.”
“Don’t be silly. You can stay in the motel,” Rowdy said. “We’ve only renovated one room, but it looks really nice and has a very comfortable king-sized bed.”
Logan shook his head. “No, really ...”
“Nonsense. I insist,” Rowdy said.
“What about the phones?”
“Nothing yet,” Rowdy said cheerfully. “But if there’s a change, I’ll let you know. Megan, you’re welcome to join him if you need to . . . uh, rest.”
She blushed. “I’m okay. Thanks anyway.”
“Would you like to see some of my costumes from the golden days of Las Vegas?” Pepper asked Megan.
Megan’s eyes lit up. “That would be nice. I don’t want to be a bother though.”
“You’re no bother, girl.” Pepper linked her arm in Megan’s and pulled her out of the café. “Let’s go. My house is right behind the café.”
Logan watched Megan walk away, noting the sway of her hips in the black dress she’d worn since the wedding. She should have looked rumpled after being up all night. Instead she looked . . . well, rumpled but sexy rumpled. Just-got-out-of-bed rumpled. Ready-for-sex rumpled.
Damn. He was getting hard again.
When would he learn that helping damsels in distress always landed him in deep shit?
“Ah, those were the days,” Pepper said as she gazed at her closet with wistful pride. “Vegas in the fifties. This is the costume I wore for my Marilyn Monroe impersonations. It’s a copy of the one she wore to sing ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’ in the movie How to Marry a Millionaire. Nice, huh?”
Megan nodded. The bubble-gum-pink satin evening gown was tight and strapless. The big bow near the back and the slit up the side were edged with black lace.
“I even have the matching pink elbow-length gloves,” Pepper said. “And, of course, the bling.” She opened a heart-shaped box containing a jumble of costume jewelry. “Not the real stuff, but still nice.” She held up a rhinestone bracelet to the ray of sunshine streaming in a side window before dropping it back into the box. “In the scene in the movie, all the other girls are wearing frothy full skirts with tons of tulle. Then there was Marilyn in this sheath gown. Such a stunning difference.”
“I’ll bet.”
“I read someplace that the actual pink gown Marilyn wore was made from upholstery satin and lined with felt. I don’t know if it’s true or not. But mine isn’t made that way. You can actually buy costumes of her dress online now. They aren’t as nice as mine, of course.”
“I’m sure they aren’t,” Megan said.
“What got you interested in vintage clothing?”
“My grandmother. She has several classic Chanel suits. They never went out of style. In fact, she wore one to the wedding.”
“I could never afford designer stuff,” Pepper said. “Too pricey. I’d rather have twelve dresses than one ritzy one. Not that I went for quantity rather than quality; I just picked stuff I liked. Same goes for men.”
Afraid that Pepper was going to drill her about Logan, Megan quickly said, “Did you ever meet Frank Sinatra?”
“No, but I met Dean Martin once. I bumped into him backstage at the Sands. And I saw Elvis Presley several times. The city is very different these days.”
“I imagine so.”
“I started out as a dancer, but I wasn’t very good at it. And those headpieces almost weighed more than I did. I kept losing my balance. But I was good at impersonations and singing.”
“You were a showgirl?”
“In the beginning, yes.” Pepper showed her a photo of a row of dancers who looked like the Rockettes. They wore skimpy red costumes and flashy feather-laden headpieces. “We showed a lot of leg for the 1950s, so our audience was mostly male. For the most part they weren’t rowdy unless they had too much to drink. Then I could relate to what the saloon girls here in Last Resort or over in Virginia City must have put up with during the silver rush. Did you know there