Luck Be a Lady - Cathie Linz [41]
“Why are you holding that ugly teacup?” Pepper asked as she joined them beside the car. Her long platinum hair blew in the breeze, as did the neon-lime green hair bow that matched her neon-lime jacket and capri pants.
“She wants to take the cup with her,” Rowdy said.
“You’re welcome to it, girl. I meant to toss it in the trash years ago. Hey, I’m sorry things didn’t work out with the marriage thing. I hope ya’all come back and visit us again sometime.”
“I’d rather poke a stick in my eye,” Logan muttered under his breath.
“You drive careful now, you hear?” Pepper added.
Megan briefly wondered why Pepper seemed to be channeling Granny from The Beverly Hillbillies, before deciding she really didn’t care to know the answer.
“Be sure to tell your friends about us as a tourist destination,” Pepper shouted out.
Logan rolled his eyes. “Right. Like that’s going to happen.”
Megan elbowed him from the passenger seat. “Be polite.”
“They’re lucky I’m not pressing charges against them.”
“We didn’t sabotage your car so you’d stop here,” Chuck said. “I hope you believe me.”
“I believe you,” Megan said.
“We’re leaving now,” Logan stated.
“I hope you enjoyed your stay at the Queen of Hearts Motel,” Pepper said.
“Yeah, it ranks right up there with the Bates Motel,” Logan said.
“Good luck,” Rowdy said, waving them off.
The elderly trio stood there and watched them leave. Megan knew because she couldn’t resist turning around and looking. “I hope they’ll be all right.”
“Stop waving at them. You’re just encouraging their bad behavior.”
“Rowdy told me the shotgun wasn’t loaded.”
“So that makes it all okay?” Logan said.
“No, I told him it didn’t.”
“Well, then that’s peachy,” he said sarcastically. “As long as you and Rowdy made up. Your stay worked out fine. You left the place loaded with old clothes and an ugly teacup.”
“It’s not ugly. And you should be counting your blessings instead of complaining.”
“How do you figure?”
“We could be returning to Las Vegas as a married couple.”
“Now there’s a scary thought,” he said.
“Not that it would have been legal anyway.”
“Yeah, but who needs the hassle.”
“Right.” Nice to know that he considered her a hassle. But then, could she really blame him? After all, she was the one who’d talked him into helping her, who’d insisted on tracking down Fiona. And if they hadn’t been out at the Butterfly Ranch, the Chevy wouldn’t have broken down and left them stranded in Last Resort.
“It is now Monday morning,” Logan said, “and we’ve been gone since Saturday night.”
“Technically, it was early Sunday morning. It was past midnight when I got into your aqua car.”
“It’s blue, not aqua. And it’s not just a car.”
“It’s a classic Chevy 1957 Bel Air.”
“That’s right. You need to show proper respect.”
“It’s a nice car.”
“Nice? Nice is for wimps. Not for a baby like this.”
“Will your friend be upset that we put so much mileage on it?”
“It’s not like we drove all the way to Reno and back. And he trusts me to take good care of her.”
There was that word again. Trust.Hard to earn, and even harder to restore.
Megan also noted the way Logan’s voice softened when he talked about the car, as if it were a living being.
Take good care of her. Logan had actually taken pretty good care of Megan during their time together, starting curbside back at the Venetian when he’d rubbed her arms against the chill of the night air. And then there were the more sensual touches—sliding a strand of hair behind her ear, almost kissing her last night, and totally making out with her this morning . . .
Being held at gunpoint and then tossed into the storage room “jail” had distracted her from thinking about that kiss and those caresses. But now that she was in the car with him, there was no escaping the memories. Megan hoped she wasn’t blushing.
Sure, they’d talked about it in the storage room. But Logan clearly hadn’t bought her excuse that she’d still been asleep when she’d let him kiss her. As excuses