Read One Magic Night for Free Online Page A

ten feet tall, holding her little ice bag by its plastic neck. "Just stopped by to return this."
    "Uh, thank you, Mister…”
    "Just Deke is okay." His eyes skittered past her shoulder. "Actually, I had an ulterior motive."
    "Oh?" She took the ice bag from him, her face carefully expressionless. 
    "I was hoping I might get invited in for a cup of coffee." A grin split his wide mouth. "Figured the air might be a little better up here than it is down there."  He nodded toward the stairway.
    She gave him a slight smile and couldn't stop herself from asking, "What's the matter with the air down there?"
    "It's a mite blue, mostly." He shook his head, a mischievous light in his eyes. "Us gentlemanly cowboys have tender ears.  We aren't used to such talk."
    "I'm sure you aren't," she said dryly, knowing she was being charmed, but liking his way of doing it. "Won't you come in, Deke?"
    "Why, thank you kindly, ma'am, don't mind if I do."
    She went into the kitchenette to stow away the ice bag and fill the coffee maker. "Oh, and Deke?" She turned.
    He lifted an eyebrow. "Ma'am?"
    "Now that you're inside my apartment, you can drop the phony cowboy act."
    He grimaced. "Was it that bad?" His tone was normal, his accent middle western, she guessed.
    "I've heard worse."
    "How did I give myself away?"
    "I heard you talk yesterday, remember?"
    "Oh, yeah." He shot her an admiring, amused smile. "That was stupid of me."
    "We all make mistakes. Milk or sugar?"
    "Just black."
    She poured out the coffee, and he took up his cup.
    "Careful, it's hot," she warned him.
    "Just the way I like it." He sipped it, closed his eyes appreciatively, and put the cup down.
    She tasted her own and then said in what she hoped was a casual tone, "What seems to be the trouble down there?"
    "We both overslept, and the one mechanic in town doesn't work on Saturday afternoon. Looks like we're stuck here for the weekend."
    "Looks like," she said noncommittally.
    "I don't think Ty slept very well last night, either."
    "Perhaps the beds weren't right for you," she said coolly.
    "We've slept in worse," Deke drawled.
    "I'll bet you have," she murmured.
    "Hey." Deke held his hands up, palms out. "Hold your fire." His smile was way too appealing.  "I surrender."
    "Sorry. I guess I didn't sleep very well last night, either." Restlessly, she got up from the table and went to the sink to pour her coffee out. It had turned bitter.
    Deke's eyes flickered over the papers scattered at the other end of the table.  "You really teach?"
    She turned and leaned against the counter. "Well, if I'm pretending, the kids haven't noticed."
    "That isn't what I meant.”
    "Skip it. What do you do for a living, Deke? Do you work for Mr. Rundell?"
    "I suppose you could say that. Mostly I just stick around to help him keep his feet on the ground."
    "Do they have a tendency to fly off?"
    Deke squinted at her, lifted a light brown eyebrow. "Yeah, once in a while he goes into orbit." He drained his coffee cup, set it back on the table. "We started out as stunt men together. He'd done some race car driving, so he did cars, and I did horses."
    "Doesn't he ride? He told me he was raised on a ranch."
    "He rides but only when he has to." Deke's eyes narrowed. "When did he tell you that?  He doesn't usually tell anybody about being raised on a ranch." Deke ducked his head, took another sip of coffee. "He make a pass at you?"
    She looked at him steadily and said in a dry tone, "What do you want, a blow-by-blow, or are you watching out for him?”
    “I was just curious about when this happened.”
    Caught, she admitted the truth. "Last night. Neither one of us could sleep. We went for a walk. More coffee?"
    "I won't turn it down." He held out his cup, his brown eyes watching her. She turned her back to him to replace the coffee server, and he said carefully, "Must have been a nice night for a walk."
    She faced him, leaning against the cupboard. "It-was.  Do you feel you have to watch out for Ty?"
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