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The Catch Of Texas
Lass Small


A MAN MADE FOR MARRIAGE Confirmed bachelorette Gerri Jones was convinced she'd never meet a man in all of TEXAS she could understand, let alone love. Then Frank Scheblocki walked into her life.He was a true gentleman, careful with her innocence, generous with his kisses… and teetering on the edge of falling in love. And though he'd made her the prize of his relentless pursuit, Geri wondered if Frank just might be the biggest catch of all!







“You’re Something Special.” (#uaa67298b-0850-52b3-8837-6016328294d5)Letter to Reader (#u33c56f5d-ae35-5811-95a3-1108bd89fd82)Title Page (#ub8b16b9e-6e96-51f8-8f1e-b7479c199198)About the Author (#ud1708a09-7c71-58c4-bfd5-a0cf789a173f)Chapter One (#u21730119-aa7a-5f04-8aae-455dae3e975c)Chapter Two (#u76c34b92-2010-57cc-8dc1-2bcf02863193)Chapter Three (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)


“You’re Something Special.”

Frank watched her, and his eyes and face were soft and gentle.

Geri just looked at him.

He told her, “I wish—”

She waited.

He continued to look at her in that same soft way.

She asked, “What is it that you...wish?”

He shook his head. He was still and said nothing more.

She asked again, “What exactly are you talking about that you wish?”

So he finally said the truth. “I’d take you away to a private place and make love to you.”

“I don’t do that sort of thing. I wouldn’t until I was safely married.”

“You haven’t—? At all?” His mouth was open. He couldn’t believe what she’d said. She was a virgin? He was boggled.

But he also couldn’t get his eyes off her. She truly was something special, and he would do well to be very careful with her.


Dear Reader,

Welcome to Silhouette Desire—where you’re guaranteed powerful, passionate and provocative love stories that feature rugged heroes and spirited heroines who experience the full emotional intensity of falling in love!

This October you’ll love our new MAN OF THE MONTH title by Barbara Boswell, Forever Flint. Opposites attract when a city girl becomes the pregnant bride of a millionaire outdoorsman.

Be sure to “rope in” the next installment of the exciting Desire miniseries TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB with Billionaire Bridegroom by Peggy Moreland. When cattle baron Forrest Cunningham wants to wed childhood friend Becky Sullivan, she puts his love to an unexpected test.

The always-wonderful Jennifer Greene returns to Desire with her magical series HAPPILY EVER AFTER. Kiss Your Prince Charming is a modern fairy tale starring an unforgettable “frog prince.” In a sexy battle-of-the-sexes tale, Lass Small offers you The Catch of Texas. Anne Eames continues her popular miniseries MONTANA MALONES with The Unknown Malone. And Sheri WhiteFeather makes her explosive Desire debut with Warrior’s Baby, a story of surrogate motherhood with a twist.

Next month, you’ll really feel the power of the passion when you see our new provocative cover design. Underneath our new covers, you will still find six exhilarating journeys into the seductive world of romance, with a guaranteed happy ending!

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

Please address questions and book requests to:

Silhouette Reader Service

U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., PO. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

Canadian. P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3


The Catch of Texas

Lass Small










www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)


LASS SMALL

finds living on this planet at this time a fascinating experience. People are amazing. She thinks that to be a teller of tales of people, places and things is absolutely marvelous.


One

There’s a saying known by its four letters—TGIF or Thank God It’s Friday. Well, that isn’t exactly what women have in mind. Their definition of the quote is: Thank God I’m Female.

Men are slow and think it’s another quote entirely. But then, men are different from women.

Now Geri Jones was a normal woman and saw life as it was. At an early age, she was baffled by males. As time went along, she watched them silently. When she matured, she found all men are thataway! There is no change! Men are strange.

Just try to take a man to a concert when there’s a baseball game! They go to that.

Their... grandmother...is ill. That’s what they say when they leave the office.

It was after Geri was adult that she had TGIF put on her car license plate. She’d looked at males since she was ten, and she had never understood any, nor had she been snared by any one of them.

She searched. The town in TEXAS where Geri lived was big enough. Something over a million people. A good number to paw through and select some interesting males. She was thoughtful, considering, and careful. But few were acceptable. They were generally not what she had in mind. So she’d slowly withdrawn. She had just about been positive she’d either have to be a single woman or move away and search somewhere else for a man.

Frank Scheblocki thought Geri Jones was what he wanted. He smiled at her as she walked down the street toward him. He thought just his smile would be plenty and she’d swoon in his arms.

She did not.

Frank was not deterred by her being so difficult. He talked to his buddies about her. There was Tim Slamecki, Jack Smith, Mac Kraft, Mark Goode and Tommy Thompson.

The males discussed the stubborn female who at her age hadn’t the guts to smile back. They stood on the street corner and looked at her as she passed.

Geri didn’t notice. Not the actual males. They blocked the walk, and she had to cope with that stupidity. She walked around them with grim indignation. They laughed. She thought they were too old to be thataway.

Frank was trying to catch her eye. He thought she was...wonderful. He wanted her in his house so that when he got home from work, she would be there with all the goodies on the table. The biggest goody being her.

To him, she was special. Frank smiled his hello smile at her. She never noticed. She didn’t look at him at all.

Sadly, Frank said to his buddies, “She doesn’t like me all that much.”

Mark soothed, “She’s shy.”

Tim agreed. “She’s woggled by all us males. Some of us ought to move back and quit looking at her.”

“You get back.” That was Mark.

Tim shook his head. “I have to stay close to Frank so’s he won’t bungle the entire encounter.”

Mac gasped. “The entire encounter.” And he put his hand to his chest in shock.

Tommy said, “Cut it out.”

“—of the paper?” Mac gasped again.

Tommy groaned and laughed.

It went on thataway. Long past the time that Geri Jones had disappeared. Gotten into her car. Left them. Gone.

The males all noted that she had TGIF on her license plate. They smiled. They were not functioning correctly or they would have known it wasn’t Thank God It’s Friday but Thank God I’m Female.

That would have boggled the men.

Sometime back, in spite of her mother’s tears, Geri had moved from home and gotten an apartment of her own. She lived in a large old apartment house that was back from the river.

When she got home to her apartment after work, she liked the quiet. She took the elevator to the third floor, or she walked it. Whichever she wanted.

She chose which TV programs she wanted and adjusted the sound to suit her. She was tidy. She liked her apartment that way. She’d chosen the third floor because she could see over the TEXAS trees to the river.

Twice a year, Geri had her family there for her mother’s birthday and her father’s birthday. She was becoming a solid woman. She was twenty-eight. Still single. Alone.

Her parents had given up on her. She would be a single woman all the rest of her life, they grieved. They had discussed her from the time she’d left them.

Geri gave bridge parties now and again. She included men. They liked cards. They visited with the other men. The males paid little attention to the women.

However—

Two of the men thought Geri was a good partner. She worked, she had her own apartment, she had a car, she was very well set financially. They smiled at her and each separately offered to bring the bread and wine for supper—each told her that would be between just him and her.

Geri smiled. She said, “I’ll call.”

She never did.

Geri went to visit her parents before the drive home. Her mother Ann told her, “You’re too picky. Find a man you can endure and get married.”

Geri replied, “I’ll see.”

It was a nothing reply. Her mother was aware of that. It silenced her. She realized Geri probably wouldn’t ever be interested in any man. There were women like that. Ann looked at her husband and thought he wasn’t at all difficult.

When Geri left, her mother saw the TGIF but then she realized it was different.

That made her mother think for a while. She said thoughtfully to her husband John, “I wonder if Geri will ever marry.”

Her husband lifted his eyebrows without moving his eyes from the evening paper and said, “Ummmmm.”

Ann looked at her husband and breathed in indignation. But she said nothing.

Geri drove to her apartment house and thought about what and who she had to consider seriously. Frank? She thought about him as she drove into the open garage under her apartment.

She nodded to people who called to her without replying vocally. She was lost in time. She stopped and looked out to the river. The land between was kept empty of houses because the river rose and flooded.

If houses were in that area, they would be a part of the mess. She didn’t consider it because her mind was on her own life. What did she want?

And at that time, two cars came along and honked as they stopped. It was Frank Scheblocki and some of his friends.

Frank got out of his car and stood, allowing her to admire his body and his smile. The other guys got out also, but they stayed closer to the cars.

Frank moved slowly to Geri.

Geri sighed silently. There were men who liked concerts and men who studied newspapers and magazines to know what was happening where. But this male saw her, and he followed her, and he noticed her. He made her feel special.

She smiled and turned out her hand. “Are all those males along to take care of you?”

Soberly watching her, Frank asked, “Could I come back by myself? Would you mind?”

She looked at him and nodded. “I’ll fix you supper.”

He grinned. “I’ll be back.” Frank went back, calling openly, “In the cars. I’ve been invited to supper.”

Some male gasped, “You have?”

And Frank nodded. “Just me!”

As the various males got into their cars, they protested not being invited, too.

Geri slowly shook her head, being sure the rest of the males would not come back, too.

They laughed and protested and called out, but they all left in the two cars.

Geri wondered what she’d done. Well, she could control any male. She’d feed Frank after all, and she’d shoo him out after they’d eaten. If he walked over to her place, or someone came by and dropped him off, she’d call a cab for him when the supper was finished.

So she went inside her apartment to the kitchen and looked at what all was available to eat. Shocked, she saw she had very little. And Frank was coming right back. So she went next door to another apartment and asked her neighbor, Paul Gorden, “May I use some of your goodies? I’ve asked a young man to have dinner with me. He is willing.”

Paul said, “Only if I can share the supper you’re preparing.”

She laughed. “Do you suppose that there will be enough to eat?”

Paul said, “I’ll help. Of course, you’ll have to include me for dinner. Not to eat me, you realize, but to feed me also.”

She tilted her head and said, “Okay. It’s a deal. What all do you have to eat?”

So they searched out what was available. She put the things aside that she wanted. Then she heard Frank’s car door slam. And he was walking up the stairs to her apartment!

She told Paul, “I’ve got to hurry. I didn’t realize he could be here so fast.”

“I’ll bring the other things over. Be sure to set me a place at the very table you’re fixing.”

“Done.” And she grinned as she left.

Geri got to her door as Frank got there, grinning widely and his eyes sparkling with anticipation. That was for food, but Geri thought he was anticipating something romantic—and Paul would be there! She laughed. How hilarious.

Frank thought she was delighted to see him and his grin widened.

Geri looked over at the approaching Paul. Paul was serious and his head was down like a bull’s as he watched the intruder.

Now Paul knew she was having a guest. What was the matter with him? Geri took a deep breath and looked at Paul with some hostility.

Paul didn’t notice. He was watching Frank.

Understanding the males’ hostility to each other, Geri sighed and said, “I’ve a terrible headache. I’m sure you both will excuse me.”

That old, tattered excuse came right out of the blue. Think of that.

Frank was startled that he’d taken the time to be there when she’d just discarded him.

Paul told Geri quietly, “I’ll see he gets out right away.”

She looked at Paul and said, “Thank you. I’ll see you around, no doubt.” Then she closed the front door.

Paul gasped.

Geri turned and went into the back of the apartment to her bedroom, and she closed that door, too.

All that in just no time at all?

A little while later, Geri came from the back room to check out who was left. Since no one was there, Geri drew a deep breath and hummed as she gathered what was left for her own supper.

The fact that the two men had carried away most of the meal was no problem for her.

As Geri ate, she sat looking out over the beautiful trees to the river. It was a wonderful view. She smiled at the scene, though her thoughts kept returning to Frank.

Time passed. Several days. The phone rang.

Should she or shouldn’t she answer the silly thing? Geri wondered.

But she considered that as she got up and went to the phone. She lifted it, not saying anything, and it was Frank who asked, “You okay?”

“Yeah.”

Then Frank asked as if the thought had just occurred, “Hey, you wanna go to a movie?”

Geri asked carefully, “What movie?”

And he said, “Twilight. It’s supposed to be good.”

“I’ve heard it’s scary.”

He told her, “Naw. It’s just like all the others. You’ve probably seen ’em on TV. Try this one. I’ve seen it, and it’s okay.”

“If you’ve seen it, why are you willing to go?”

And Frank told her, “This way I can watch you and how you take the movie.”

“That would be boring for you.”

In a smoky voice, he told her, “I can watch you.”

That made Geri feel naked. She considered all the other people who’d be there so she’d be okay. She said, “You’ll watch the screen. Behave.”

Frank complained, “Oh, hell. That again.”

“Yeah.”

He sighed with such endurance and said, “Okay.”

“Well, I’ll see if my headache takes care.”

Frank exclaimed, “That still around? I thought you were through it.”

Geri told him, “It comes and goes... depending.” What a lie.

So Frank said, “Maybe you ought to see a doctor?”

“It’s the season. I’m one who stops up with colds at summer’s tip.”

“Ahhhh.”

They talked a few moments longer, making plans for the evening. And when Geri hung up, she was oddly warmed by Frank’s concern for her.

So that evening, the two did go to the movie, Twilight. Geri looked around to see who else was there and did not see one single. person she knew. When had that ever happened?

Geri settled down and adjusted to being in a strange place.

The movie was odd and caught Geri’s attention quite easily. She watched the screen and was drawn into the plot. She felt the people were real, and their problems were just like everybody’s! She blinked and listened. She never shouted what they could have done! But she was restless and appalled they weren’t a little more aware of what all was happening.

When it was finished and they were on their way to her place, she told Frank what the actors should have done right away and not allowed it all to pile up.

Frank said, “It’s a movie.”

Now that was logical. The film wasn’t real. So she settled down and still it waggled in her mind.

Frank told Geri, “You were so wrapped up in what was happening.” He grinned at her.

She was more serious. She said, “They never should have—”

“It was a movie.”

Geri told him, “The plot was such that I could have done better.”

“Yeah. Want something to drink? Or how about ice cream?”

“Ice cream. If they’d only—”

Again he repeated, “It was a movie.”

She was somewhat irritated. “Aren’t you involved? Didn’t you figure out what they were supposed to do right away and not let it get all out of hand?”

He laughed, then said, “What you need is a good cherry soda.”

“Chocolate.”

He was shocked. “You don’t want a cherry soda? You’re waggling my understanding of you.”

“Probably.” She was sassy and slid her eyes to look at him. She really wasn’t finished with debating the movie. “So you’ve seen it twice now?”

Frank nodded. “I had to check it out to see if you’d like it.”

That touched her. “Thank you.” But she was irritated by the film. “It should have gone differently.”

“How?”

“The female lead should have been more in charge of the situation.”

He nodded. He did that because he wasn’t entirely sure exactly what she intended for the characters to do. Frank looked over at her and watched her tilt her head as she looked out the car window into the night’s darkness.

She was precious.

He took her to a busy ice-cream place that had sandwiches and beer. They got out of the car and went inside.

“Hey, Frank!” The call was for Frank, but the table of guys were looking at the remarkable Geri. The males got up and joined them at their table so that they could each sit by Geri.

Frank smiled. But he kept a good strong hand on the woman who was with him. He said, “Hush, now. Watch your language. This is a lady.”


Two

How interesting it was for Geri Jones to listen to the men speak and tease and laugh. They acted as if they had no other way to spend their time. What did they do?

So she inquired.

Their jobs were odd. She asked, “How did you find them?”

They shrugged and looked at each other. One man painted traffic signs. One was an electrician who strung new wires where they were needed. Another was in construction and altered buildings that were unsound.

All of them adjusted things. They knew how and it wasn’t difficult. And they knew how to read the drawings and help in the building of a building.

She asked, “How’d you know to do that?”

Some of them shrugged and one said, “It was logical.”

She asked, “How did you know what to do?”

It was Mark Goode who listened and replied, “How it was, wasn’t working, so we figured how to change it so that it would work.”

Geri was amazed. Anyone who could do something like that was clever.

Jack Smith told her, “We have lots of help on such things. There’re men who draw and figure and decide.”

“Who?” she asked.

“Guys that can figure out why it isn’t working. They can be desk people or people who do that kind of thing and knew it was crooked at the time they put it in. Some ideas for buildings are really dumb.”

She watched the speakers seriously and suggested, “Do any of you ask about things you know are wrong?”

“Yeah,” one of the older men said. “But the one that designed it doesn’t allow us to comment.”

Geri asked, “So you figure then what you’d have done if you’d drawn the layout?”

“Naw. They could be right. It’s when we find they’re wrong, and nothing really works right, that we figure how to save it. Some things don’t save. They’re empty and dead.”

“Ahhhhh, ” she said softly. She was thinking and considering. The apartments where she lived were somewhat that way. Some of the places were without good views. It was almost as if they’d been slapped in place and left that way.

One of the older men told her, “The place you live?”

Now how did he know where she lived? So she just looked at the man.

Easily he went on, “Some of the apartments were redone. We had to change them. The people who’d moved in didn’t understand outside walls that nobody could look out of.”

She nodded as she said, “Ahhhh.”

The older man who was called George said, “We put in the windows.”

So she asked, “How about an outside porch?”

George shook his head. “No support below. With the windows, you get to see out. That’s as good as we could do.”

She laughed. “It’s perfect! Thank you.”

And another of the men, John, told her,

“You should have heard the people complaining because they couldn’t see out. That’s when we finally got to put in the extra windows.”

Geri told him, “It was brilliant. How long ago did they finally agree to allow you all to put in the missing windows?”

“Some years ago. The people that were to move in there objected to not being able to see out the walls. Other people just didn’t move in. So the ones in charge of that place called us back. And we charged them double.”

They all laughed.

She smiled at them until they were silent, then she said, “It was worth it.”

They smiled at her.

With subtle élan, she said, “They charge me three times as much because there are the windows.”

The older man waited for the laughter to soften, then he told her, “We’ll talk to them and straighten them out.”

They all laughed, including her.

The older man looked at her and smiled gently. But he was silent.

She said softly, “Just having those windows is worth your work.”

He smiled, but he was still silent.

She thought she’d offended him with her laughter.

So it was only three days later that the receptionist of Geri’s development called to Geri as she went by. The woman told Geri, “We are startled because we’ve been overcharging you for rent!” The woman smiled. “You get a refund.”

And the money was counted out and then recounted as Geri was paid!

She gave half of it to Frank and asked that he pass it on to the man who had made the windows.

Frank asked her, “You sure? It’s your money. George was paid to cut out those windows. He didn’t lose any cash at all.”

“But he told me why I was being charged extra. Those windows had been paid for a long time ago by the people who lived there.”

“Yeah.” Frank was thoughtful. “I’ll give him the money again.”

“Thank you.”

Frank watched her. “I don’t understand you all the time.”

“I’m a woman. I can roar.”

He watched her. His eyes sparkled. He licked his lips. He told her, “You’re special.”

So Geri went home to find a large basket of flowers at her door. It was from George. He wrote, “You got dinner coming from me and my wife either Friday or Saturday. Let me know.” His phone number was at the bottom.

She called and told the answering machine, “This is Geri. I shall be delighted to take you and your wife to dinner. Let me know when. I’ll drive.”

When the time came, it was Frank who drove to fetch her, and they went to pick up George and his wife, Martha. Geri told Frank, “I hadn’t planned to feed you, too. You eat like a horse.”

Frank replied, “Horses eat grass and stuff like that. I eat steaks.”

“So you’re the one who uses up all the money!”

“Yep. Get adjusted.”

She laughed. She looked at Frank and watched his smile. She settled down and enjoyed the evening.

George had brought Martha along so that she would do the talking, and he need not. However, it wasn’t long before George broke in and told stories that were really funny, and they all laughed. He was a great storyteller and the stories were simply hilarious.

They ate and laughed until late that night...the four of them. Then they went back to Geri’s apartment so that Martha could see out Geri’s precious windows facing the river.

It was lovely. They all stood at the windows and looked beyond the tops of the trees to the TEXAS water that moved in the moonlight. It was special. The night was also. The four of them laughed and snacked the tiny little things Geri had put out for them, and they had beer.

There was laughter and hilarious talk that was wickedly off base. The men were astonished the women were amused by such things! The men protested and exclaimed and were so shocked!

The women’s amusement caused tears to run. Geri had to find tissues. She shared with Martha and they laughed some more in the exchange. The women were exhausted from all the hilarity and they told the men they had to be serious and cut out the humor!

The men nodded seriously, all concerned, but they slid their eyes to each other. And they told more humorous stories about friends who worked with them

It was late when Frank suggested they take George and Martha to their home. Geri laughed that she would leave her own place to see the others home.

But George said, “Frank’ll take us by the place we’re working on and let you see where we are.”

Geri blinked. It was late. She had to get up early for work. She put on a sweater and went with them down to the car. She had no idea why in the world she had done such a dumb thing! Geri decided it was because Martha was there, and it was the courteous thing to see to it that she got home okay. Yeah.

Geri was amazed at the construction site. George was a genius.

But then George mentioned that it had been Frank who figured out how they would fix some of the amazing things that they had done in that house. One was a table that could be collapsed just so. Another was a window wall that gave the illusion of being outside—in spite of the wall.

How people figured to do things was an endless amazement to Geri. So when she and Frank returned to her house, she commented on how much she loved looking out the windows.

He smiled at her. She had pleased him.

So, Frank had been the one who’d designed her windows. It might have been George who had put them in, but it had been Frank who had done most of the work. He was a doer.

Geri smiled at him.

He reached for her and she gasped and jumped back. She told him, “Do you know what time it is?”

“Mine.”

“No. I have to get up in the morning and go to work!”

“I have to be at the place we’re now working about seven. Without holding you, I’ll be hyper and restless and difficult.”

Standing on the sofa, supposedly out of reach, she tilted her head back and said, “I shall be worn out and dragging.”

Frank told her, “Women are strange.”

“Peculiar?”

Frank nodded. “Different. We’re boggled by women.”

So she asked, “Oh? And just how many women do you know?”

“My mother, my sisters, my cousins. They’re all strange and different just like y—all the other women.”

She laughed. He’d slid around blaming her so quickly that it amused her.

He said, “My God. How am I going to behave and leave you be while I want you against me and in my hands?”

“Control.” She was logical and then said, “Hustle up and leave. I’ve got to get to bed and sleep!”

Frank said, “Oh.” He’d thought the bed reasoning was a different thing altogether. She meant to sleep? Women! How did God ever do this to another man?

Geri pulled on Frank’s sleeve so that he got to the door, and she opened it. He looked at her as if he was a zombie.

She told him, “Good night. Your car is out yonder, right over thataway.” She pointed.

He nodded, not paying any attention to her chattering at all.

Geri took his arm and pulled him out the apartment’s door, then she stepped back, closed the door and leaned against it as her body went furiously, cruelly berserk.

It was a while before she heard his steps go slowly down the stairs. Was he a zombie or was he thoughtfully careful? The light was on. He could see.

She fought opening the door and looking out to be sure he was all right. If she did that, she’d ruin everything. She’d take him to bed.

And she began to remember all the things her mother had told her before she left home and got her own apartment. Her mother was opposed to her daughter going out to live in an isolated apartment.

Her mom was right.

Geri went to the partial window in her bedroom and looked down into the parking lot.

His car was there. Where was he?

Geri stretched to look around, worried. She was just about ready to run down to see if Frank had tripped when he walked slowly into the moonlight, his hands deep in his pockets.

He was all right. But he moved so slowly! Was he ill? She thought she ought to run down and see if she should take him to the—He stopped again, pushed his hands down deeper in his pants pockets, as he leaned his head back.

Was he going to howl at the moon? Dogs did it easily. Would he?

She watched. She was different than she’d ever been in all her life. Why should she be interested in Frank. Would he howl? How would she respond to that? Would she be shocked? Or would she open the half window and howl back?

Surely not.

Frank stood, looking up at the moon. He had no idea Geri was watching him through a window. Finally he moved and went over to his car. He got into it and sat there as if he didn’t have a key.

Geri smiled. He would come ba—

The car’s engine started. It throbbed just like her heart. Frank moved the car easily and slowly. He carefully went out of the lot and on down the exit road out of sight by the trees.

He was gone.

He’d been there with her.

She moved her hands on her body. She wished they were his hands. She breathed. She put her hands to her face in agony. She paced. She went into the bathroom and stripped. Then she got into the shower and stood as the water came down on her body. She moved her head. Her hair didn’t need water.

She was disgruntled. She was alone. She could have been in bed with him right that minute!

No.

What she needed was a good run, then to go to bed and sleep!

So Geri turned off the shower and got out. She dried herself roughly, then put on her silken red runner outfit. She locked the door as she went out...and she had the key.

That had become automatic. She’d forgotten the keys so many times that she’d taught herself to have one along. She got really ticked with having another made.

The crew wouldn’t give her a key. They figured if they gave her one, she’d just lose it. This way, she was more careful. Annoyed, but more careful.

So she ran around the apartments a while in the moonlight and irritated the evening crew who watched what was going on. They mentioned that she ought to go to bed and quit running around that late at night.

So she told them to hush! She had a problem, and she was trying to solve it. She needed them to leave her be!

That scared the liver out of them, and they had to watch her to be sure she wasn’t snatched or didn’t fall and break a leg.

When she called “Good night!” cheerfully, they were indignant. She was their worst person at the place. They never knew what the hell she’d do next. They watched her, frowning, just waiting for her to go to her own place.

She did. They communicated by transmitters in their shirt pockets. “She’s in her place.”

And the others said a really snide, “Glory be.” They mumbled it in throat-squeezing, muscle-tight irritation.

Upstairs, in the apartment, Geri stripped the sweaty, hot, red silk off her body. Then after she showered again, she crawled into bed and went right to sleep. To sleep—perchance to dream?

Naw. She slept, out cold, a deep sleep.

On her way home the next evening, on her car phone, Geri called her friends at their offices. They were a tad later leaving than she. So she asked Margaret Buckman, Marian Terse and Dorothy Oswald to come to dinner that night or the next.

The three said, “Tonight” and hung up. That meant they probably wouldn’t bring any food along but expected to be fed. Okay. So she’d do that.

Geri went to the grocery and spoke to all the people who worked there, plus all those shopping. She didn’t actually know them all, but her grandfather had been in politics and he always spoke to everybody, and she had the same habit.

It was interesting that some people didn’t look up at all, or they looked at the stranger with some startled indignation.

Geri never noticed. She was always in a hurry. That’s the way her grandfather had been, and she simply felt the need to speak...as he did. He was very fragile and amused. He smiled always. That was a cheerful thing to do, and so Geri did it, too. It was the way of the family.

Her mother thought it was nice that Geri copied her grandfather. Geri’s daddy thought she was a tad odd. He told his brothers that his daughter was a whole lot like her mother’s people.

His brothers nodded. They never said anything. They just agreed.

So Geri went to her apartment with all the goodies for supper. She sorted out things and put some into the oven and some into the refrigerator.

She set the table and had everything ready when her three friends arrived, already caught up in a marvelously complicated discussion in which they included Geri. They all talked and listened and laughed. They washed their hands and settled down to eat.

They told Geri that they’d found a cat on their way over that had been lost. She was skinny and big-eyed. The three women had dogs, so they’d brought the cat to Geri.

Geri looked at the rather tacky animal and frowned. “I’m supposed to keep this creature?”

And the other three were startled that Geri was surprised. Margaret told Geri. “You’re to find a place for the cat.”

“Oh.”

And it was Marian who said, “Feed her right.”

Dorothy commented, “Don’t bring in a dog for a while.”

Indignant, Geri objected, “I haven’t had a dog.”

“—yet.” All three said it at the same time and laughed.

Geri mentioned, “We’re not allowed to have dogs and cats here.”

“Well—” they were entirely logical “—see to it that you get her a home right away.”

The next day, Geri asked Paul if he knew of anyone who would like a cat.

Paul said, “Give her to the pound. You can tell your friends that she has a good place to be. They’ll never know.”

Soberly Geri looked at Paul. She listened to his words, said, “Thank you” and left. He called to her but she didn’t respond.

She went to see Frank. He was pulling out roots at a job site. He was so pleased to see her. He listened to her tell about the cat. He nodded. “I know an old woman who likes cats. She has a couple. She’ll find somebody to take a good cat.”

Geri told Frank, “She needs help. She’s skinny and has been abandoned.”

“I’ll fix her up with some food. Don’t worry. It’s easy.” Then he asked, “You okay?”

She smiled. A tear came out of her eye.

He was alarmed. “What’s going on? Who’s pushing you? Tell me. I can handle it.”

“I don’t have any problems...now. If you can find the cat a place, you’ve solved my problem.”

He watched her seriously. He said, “I get a kiss.”

She tilted her head several times quite sassily and she felt in her pockets. She looked in her purse. She said, “I had some kisses ar—”

So he kissed her.

There were cheers and claps and hoo-hahs and guys who hollered, “Me next!”

Nothing seemed to reach Frank, but the guys hollering made Geri laugh and blush scarlet!

Frank told her soberly, “They’re young. They don’t know about love...yet. They will.”




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