Secrets in the Sand by Carolyn Brown

            “Thanks for the compliments.” Clancy extended a hand to help her up.

            They walked across the sandbar still holding hands. Angel had no doubt that the head of all the guardian angels in heaven had been working on her side that night. She felt a crazy need to drop down on her knees and give thanks even if she never knew exactly what had caused her to turn around in the middle of that triangular argument.

            Thank God for hunches, she thought.

            Angel hadn’t realized how much Clancy meant to her until she thought of Melissa snaring him with a lie. She might not be ready for a relationship with him, but she’d be damned if she stood by and lost the best golfing partner she’d ever found. And, besides, she got the whole bottle of wine when they were celebrating!

            When they reached the top of the stairs, he unlocked her door for her, handed back the key, and turned around to go across the breezeway to the second building. “Thanks. I mean it, Angel.”

            “Is that all? I didn’t say I wouldn’t appreciate a nice warm kiss to finish off a wonderful day.” Angel smiled up at him.

            He wrapped his arms around her and drew her close to his body. He cupped her cheeks in his hands, and she’d barely had time to moisten her lips when his eyes fluttered shut and his mouth closed over hers. Her knees turned to jelly, and she leaned in to him for support.

            “Is that warm enough?” he whispered seductively when the kiss ended.

            She took a step back and said, “No, that wasn’t warm. It was downright hot! I’ll see you tomorrow.”

            “I’ll bring the doughnuts for breakfast if you’ll make a pot of coffee,” he said. “About nine?”

            “Make it ten,” she answered. “We are on vacation.”

            “Yes, ma’am.” He grinned.

            She opened her door, stepped inside, and kicked off her shoes as she crossed the room and fell onto the bed. When she touched her lips, she was surprised to find that they were cool. She could have sworn that they would be burning like fire.





Chapter 11


            She lay there for several minutes, then got up and took a long, cool shower. She crawled between the crisp, white sheets and stared at the ceiling for a minute or two before she drifted off to a dream about Clancy. When the alarm went off, it jolted her out of a deep sleep. She slapped at the clock to turn it off, but it rang again and she realized that it was the telephone.

            She glanced at the time and realized it was only four o’clock in the morning. “Damn it, Clancy.” She grabbed the phone from the nightstand and closed her eyes before she answered.

            “Hello. This had better be a matter of life and death,” she said.

            “Miss Conrad, this is the front desk. We’re sorry to inform you that you’ll have to leave within the next hour. We are evacuating the motel, and the whole area for that matter. The tropical storm has made a turnaround and will be making landfall by tomorrow afternoon as a hurricane. We don’t usually get this type of storm during this time of year. We’re going to be boarding up windows and doors all day. Can I assist you in any way?”

            “Good grief!” Angel jumped out of bed and onto her feet.

            “We’ve been tracking her path all night. The Weather Channel had predicted she’d go to the other side of the state, but she made an abrupt about-face and is coming this way with a full head of steam.”

            “Thank you,” Angel managed to say before she hung up and threw a suitcase on the bed. She tossed clothing in it and rushed to the bathroom for her toiletries. Then she made herself calm down and fished her phone out of her purse, found the number of the airline, and called. “I need a flight out of here to Dallas or Oklahoma City.”

            “Sorry, ma’am. The flights that haven’t been canceled are already full,” the reservations clerk said, and Angela swore under her breath at the same time she heard an incessant pounding on her door. She jerked it open to find Clancy standing outside with his bags sitting beside him.

            “I’ve called the car rental where I got the Cadillac. My truck is at the Oklahoma City airport. We can leave this rental there and drive my truck back to Tishomingo, or I’ll take you home. Get in touch with your rental place and tell them to pick up your car here at the hotel.” He pushed past her, zipped her two suitcases, and started out the door with them.