Secrets in the Sand by Carolyn Brown

            “Whatever you want,” he told her.

            “We need a couple of rooms,” Clancy said.

            “Got one left,” the clerk said. “And it’s close to the restaurant and club too. They serve a pretty mean surf-and-turf supper there, and a band plays on Friday and Saturday, but not tonight.”

            “We’ll take it,” Angel said.

            The clerk filled in all the paperwork, took Clancy’s ID and credit card, then handed him a door key.

            “We can have dinner without going outside.” Clancy got a cart for their luggage and loaded it up. “But I guess there’ll be no dancing, since it’s only Thursday night. However, if you’d like to stay over through tomorrow night, we can rest up all day, and I’ll dance the soles right off your shoes.”

            “Oh sure, and take until Saturday night to get to Tishomingo.” She shook her head. “No, thank you! Cooling my heels in a motel is not exactly what I had in mind for a vacation after all these years. But then a danged old hurricane, a twenty-four-hour drive, and kinky hair wasn’t either. Show me to the room and let me have a shower before I turn into a raving lunatic.”

            “Then you are coming to Tishomingo with me?” Clancy asked as he pushed the cart into the elevator and pushed the button to the third floor.

            “I think I just might do that,” she said as the elevator doors opened. “I figure in less than a week, you’ll be glad to give me a ride back to Denison. You might even get a bottle of wine to celebrate your good fortune in getting rid of me!”

            He tapped the room key against the lock and opened the door.

            Angel went into the room and pointed to the bed farthest from the door and closest to the bathroom. “I’d like to have that bed, and can I have the first shower?”

            “Of course.” He smiled. “Go enjoy a nice long shower or bath. I’ll take a nap while you do that.”

            “I’d love a nap after my shower,” Angel said.

            “I’ll wake you at suppertime.” He yawned as he unloaded the cart and then pushed it out into the hallway.

            Angel unzipped one of her cases, took out her toiletry kit and a white terry bathrobe, and disappeared into the bathroom.

            She ran a tub of full of hot water and dropped her clothing on the floor. She sighed when she stepped into the tub and slid down into the warm water. Poor Clancy must be even more sore and tired than she was. She had slept through part of the trip, but he had driven for hours and hours. When the water went lukewarm, she washed her hair and got out of the tub. She wrapped a white hotel towel around her hair, dried her body off, and then slipped into her white terry robe.

            “Good grief!” she exclaimed when she saw her reflection in the vanity mirror and realized what she had agreed to do. “I’ve agreed to spend time with him in Tishomingo. What was I thinking?”

            ***

            Clancy was too tense to fall asleep when he lay down. His mind went over and over what had happened in the past twenty-four hours. He had been sure Angel would walk away from him last night at the beach when Melissa announced she was pregnant. Then he figured she’d throw a fit at even the mention of spending the rest of her long-deferred vacation in Tishomingo. Their hometown was so small there wasn’t anything to do but a little golfing and fishing, unless Blake Shelton had country artists coming to town for a show. Still, the thought of going there seemed to brighten her eyes and perk her up more than anything he’d mentioned since the alumni reunion. Then it dawned on him why it was so important to her. He would be taking her around town like a girlfriend—like he should have done years ago.





Chapter 12


            Wearing nothing but a robe and a towel around her head, Angel slipped out into the hotel room to find Clancy sleeping. She quietly opened her suitcase, found a pair of pajama pants and an oversize T-shirt and went back to the bathroom to get dressed. When she came out the second time, she pulled back the covers in the second bed and bit back a moan of pure pleasure when she crawled between the sheets.

            She rolled over and propped up on an elbow so she could stare her fill of Clancy. Even in sleep he looked tired. His dark beard put a shadow on his face, and his thick lashes fanned out over his chiseled cheeks. He’d been a handsome teenager, but he had grown into a sexy man—and she still felt the same about him as she did when they were younger.