Page 130 of Surly Sheriff
He handed her the damp face cloth, a frown furrowing between his eyes. “Why what?”
She deftly wiped herself clean before replying. “Remain faithful, never divorce.”
Beau removed the cotton from her hand and set it on the floor. He reached his arm over her body, propping his hand on the bed beside her hip. “After Moira, I went wild, trying to erase her from my mind. With you …” He exhaled a long and weighty breath, meeting her earnest stare with one of his own. “I couldn’t bring myself to be with another woman. It just didn’t feel right.”
A deep sense of satisfaction rolled through her. She crunched up and wound her arms around his neck. “I’m glad.”
“Me, too,” he murmured, pressing his mouth to hers.
It was the last they spoke for a long while.
Catching up was such fun.
30
Oorah
Driving the secondhand Toyota sedan purchased for cash the day before from a student in Lincoln, they left Clearbrook and crossed state lines into Iowa. On the outskirts of Des Moines, they stopped at a cabin rented under a false identity.
There they changed their appearances.
Rae donned a jaw-length blonde wig with full bangs, inserted blue contact lenses, and skillfully altered the shape of her face with shading. Huge sunglasses, showy jewelry, and a stylish, wide-brimmed hat with a pink-and-white polka dot band complimenting her summer dress completed the transformation.
“Ta-dah,” Tallulah-May called out, tottering into the living area on her three-inch heels. “I give you—” Her words cut off when her eyes landed on the heavy-set, suit-and-Stetson-clad, grey-haired man standing in the middle of the room.
She hooted a laugh. It was the first time seeing Beau’s disguise in full. “Well, hello, Reginald Worthington.” She sidled up tohim, and slipped one arm through his, patting his rotund belly straining the waistcoat buttons.
She tilted her head. “You know, Reggie, this trip might just turn out to be fun.” And oh, she was going to have so much fun with that name.
He flashed her a grin. “That’s the spirit, Tally-May.”
They left the cottage with their baggage in hand and crossed to the sedan they arrived in. The suitcase containing the clothes they wore on arrival went into the trunk, and everything related to their real identities they locked in the glove compartment. She slipped behind the wheel and started the vehicle, watching her husband walk to the detached garage. A minute later, he reversed a silver Mercedes out, and she pulled the sedan in its place.
She locked the garage and joined him in the luxury vehicle.
“Ready?” he asked, taking hold of her hand.
“As ready as I can be.”
They pulled up beside a gleaming jet forty odd minutes later, and the valet employees sprang into action. One opened the passenger door, the second took care of their luggage.
“Reggie darling, this issoexciting,” Tallulah-May gushed, hanging on her husband’s arm with one knee kicked up while staring at the jet in awe.
“Anything to keep my darling wife happy,” Reginald replied with an indulgent smile, patting her hand.
“Welcome, sir, ma’am,” the flight attendant said from her position at the bottom of the steps.
They followed her up into the aircraft.
“Ooh, Reggie …,” Tally-Mae drawled. “Look at the seats … they’re so … big. Do you think we could” — with a breathy titter, she ran her pink-tipped fingers down his tie to the elaborate buckle — “you know … join the” — giving him a coy look frombeneath her heavy lashes, she lowered her voice — “mile high club?”
His gaze morphed from amused to aroused. “Tallulah-May. Behave,” he growled, his eyes conveying retribution. He shrugged out of his suit jacket and handed it to the flight attendant along with his cowboy hat.
Tally-May settled into the seat and crossed her legs and giggled when Reggie adjusted his pants before sitting opposite her.
“Can I get you anything before we take off?” the attendant asked him with an expressionless demeanor.
“Just water.”
