Page 16 of Tied to Trouble

She fumed at the naked command in his deep voice, wondering if he had always sounded so stern, or if she was suddenly more sensitive to the nuance. Either way, she ignored it and kept walking. When her elbow was grasped and she was whirled around to face him, she stared at him in icy silence.

“I asked you to stop, Mandy, I want to talk to you.”

“No, you didn’taskme, Az,” she pointed out. “Youorderedme to stop. I don’t take orders from you.” She jerked her elbow out of his grasp, aware of her grandmother watching them from the service counter. The feel of his fingers lingered on her arm, stirring strange sensations in her lower regions. “What do you want?”

His eyes narrowed warily. “I wanted to see what you were doing tonight, and whether you would like to go to dinner with me. Sounds like you’re not interested. though.”

Mandy’s heart took an excited leap. She wanted to go with him, yet she didn’t. She was still angry with him for spanking her. Right now, she wanted to make him squirm. “I hadn’t made plans today, beyond swimming and sunbathing at Possum Lake, but I’ll have to check and see what Mom is doing,” she replied cooly.

Az’s dark brows took a downward dive like two spears slanting in. “You’re not going to Possum Lake; I don’t want you up there right now.”

Mandy stared at him in disbelief. “Excuse me? What did you just say?”

“I said, I don’t want you going to Possum Lake today. I’ll let you know when you can go again. In the meantime, it’s off limits.”

Mandy heard the mocking tone in his voice and mentally started counting to ten. Not only was he telling her what to do again, but he was laughing at her while he was doing it. Not even deigning to answer, she spun on her heel and stalked off indignantly towards the bathroom before she completely lost her temper and started throwing canned green beans at his head.

“Mandy, wait, let me explain,” he said as he caught up to her again and whirled her around for the second time. “Something is going on at...”

A feminine voice interrupted him. “Az, I haven’t got all day. It’s now or never.”

Mandy looked down the aisle to see Courtney Beauchamp turning her back on them, her ample rear swaying back and forth in blue cotton shorts as she walked away. Mandy gritted her teeth and jerked her arm out of Az’s grasp, a stab of white-hot jealousy coursing through her. “You better catch up with your girlfriend before she leaves you behind,” she said snidely.

“I do have to go, Mandy,” he replied, sounding frustrated. “I’ll pick you up at 7:00 this evening.” He began to hurry away after the retreating girl, much to Mandy’s disgust. “I’ll explain about the lake later.”

Mandy watched him go, seething at the fact that Courtney once again seemed to have Az on the run. She’d been after him all during high school, and he’d seemed to lap it up. “Big jerk,” she muttered.

“The Beauchamps have lost some cattle,” Grams spoke up. “I’m guessing she’s in town on behalf of her brother to report it.”

Mandy snorted and didn’t reply. Courtney was as conniving as ever, and she didn’t trust her. “Later, Grams.”

When she drove out of the alley in her pickup, she saw them together in front of the store. Courtney was leaning against the white police truck, and Az had his arm resting protectively along the roof’s edge, giving the impression of intimacy with the pretty, auburn-haired girl. His white teeth flashed in a grin at something she said, and she moved closer to him, putting her hand on his broad chest.

Mandy couldn’t help it. Anger and jealousy flared, and she peeled rubber while pulling out onto the main street. He couldn’t stand still long enough to explain his dictates to her, but he could make time to flirt with Courtney?

She was still furious when she pulled up in front of Beverly’s blue, two-story Victorian home with white shutters and a concrete porch on Apple Street. Her friend was waiting at the end of the sidewalk. Mags woofed and stuck her head out the door when Beverly opened it.

“Move over, Mags, give me some room,” the small, dark-haired girl said with a laugh, pushing the dog over. She took one look at Mandy’s face and her eyes widened. “Wow...what has you in a tizzy?”

“Nothing,” Mandy muttered, sending her vehicle speeding towards the cutoff to Possum Lake. She’d be darned if she would listen to Az. If it wasn’t important enough to explain, then it wasn’t worth worrying about as far as she was concerned.

“Is it because Az made you leave the Saddle last night?”

Beverly was making herself comfortable with Mags lying her head in her lap. Mandy could feel her friend’s inquisitive brown eyes studying her. They had been good friends since they were kids.

“That’s only part of it,” she replied. “He had the nerve to come into the grocery store and tell me I couldn’t go to Possum Lake. How arrogant is that?”

“Why not? What did he say? Did he have a reason?”

“No, he was too interested in following Courtney Beauchamp out of the store to bother explaining,” Mandy snarled. “He said he would tell me tonight,” she added, turning her blinker on as she slowed for the turnoff to the lake.

“You two are going out tonight?”

“He thinks so, I don’t.”

“Why not? And what do you mean—he thinks so?” Beverly was trying to follow the gist of the conversation, but there were too many hidden innuendos that she didn’t understand.

“I mean, I wouldn’t go out with him now if he paid me,” Mandy snapped. “Not after his little exhibition with Courtney on Main Street.”

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