Texas! Lucky by Sandra Brown Page A

mounted her. Remember how he was jumping up and down and yelling? Never laughed so hard in my life."
    "We stopped laughing the next morning when Daddy came to pick us up. As I recall, he didn't say a single word all the way home."
    "The drive from town to home never seemed so long," Chase agreed. "We had all that time to fret about what our punishment was going to be. But you know," he said with a mischievous wink, "that mare's offspring was the ugliest damn mule I've ever seen."
    They laughed together for several moments, remembering. Eventually, however, Lucky sighed as he slid his hands into the rear pockets of his jeans and leaned against the fender of his car.
    "We've had our brushes with the law, but never anything like this, Chase. They haven't got a damn thing on me, so why am I so scared?"
    "Because being accused of a felony like arson is scary. You'd be a fool if you weren't."
    "In deference to the ladies in our family, I hope it doesn't become necessary, but a DNA-matching test would prove that I had sex in that motel room."
    Chase winced.
    "Right, it makes me squeamish too," Lucky said bitterly. "But even though lab tests would prove that I was there, they wouldn't prove that she was, or that I didn't leave at some point during the night, drive back here, set the fire, then return by daylight and make certain the clerk remembered me."
    "The only one who can establish your alibi is the woman." There was an implied question mark at the end of Chase's statement. Lucky looked chagrined. "It wasn't as sordid as it sounds."
    "Sounds pretty sordid, little brother."
    "Yeah, I know," he admitted on a sigh. "Look, I chased her down because she hightailed it out of the place without even thanking me for saving her from those two slimeballs. Made me mad as hell. I caught up with her at that motel and talked myself into her room.
    "By that time, I was feeling the effects of Little Alvin's punches. A few shots of whiskey had made me woozy. I lay down on the bed. I think she got to feeling sorry for me then, 'cause she cleaned the knife wound and got an ice pack for my eye. I fell asleep."
    "I thought you had sex."
    Again Lucky looked at something besides his brother's inquisitive face. "Sometime during the night I woke up," he said quietly. "She has this really incredible dark red hair. And her skin is so creamy, translucent, you know." Suddenly he yanked himself out of the self-imposed trance and frowned at his own susceptibility. "She was classy, Chase."
    "Then what was she doing causing a stir at the place?"
    "Damned if I know. But she wasn't your ordinary barfly, willing to grant sexual favors in exchange for a few drinks. Not a party girl. If anything, she was uptight and … and … bossy. The kind of woman I usually avoid like the plague."
    "You'd have done well to avoid this one."
    Lucky was reluctant to agree. For some reason he hadn't yet had time to analyze, he wasn't sorry about the night before. Nor did he think it would be his only encounter with Dovey, or Mary, or whatever her name was. The consequences of their night together had got him into more trouble than he'd ever been in. That was saying a lot. But inexplicably he didn't regret it. At least not as much as the situation warranted.
    "So what's your plan?"
    Chase's question pulled him out of his reverie. "To find her."
    "How, if you don't even know her name?"
    "I'll start at the place and work forward from there."
    "Well, good luck."
    "Thanks."
    "If you need me, you know where to find me."
    "I'll be glad to help you and the boys with the cleanup," Lucky offered.
    "We can't start until they've finished their investigation. God knows how long that'll take, because they're sifting everything through a fine-tooth comb, looking for evidence. All you could do is what I'm doing, and that's standing around twiddling my thumbs.
    "No, your time will be better spent clearing yourself. The insurance company isn't going to pay us one red cent until we've been exonerated."