MM01 - Valley of Fire Read Free Page A

old.”
    “I’ll pay you back, Martha Ann. Every penny. I promise.”
    “You will not.”
    “Yes, I will. I can't let you do this otherwise.”
    “I'm doing it because I love you... and I owe you, Evelyn.”
    “Don't start that again.”
    “I feel responsible.”
    “You couldn't help that I fell in love with Lucky.”
    “Yes, but I introduced you. I knew he was a gambler; I even suspected he had a problem. And yet I introduced that scoundrel to my baby sister.”
    “It was because I begged and pleaded. It was 'Lucky this and Lucky that.' Every time you came home from that school where the two of you taught, you had another exciting story to tell about Lucky. Living out on the desert in that drab little house, watching Mom try to hang on to that little ranch after Dad died, I thought Lucky O'Grady was the most exciting man in the whole wide world.” She sniffed and blew her nose again. “I still do. Oh, Lord, I love him, Martha Ann.”
    She leaned her head on her sister's shoulder and began to sob.
    Martha Ann wrapped her arms around Evelyn and crooned to her as if she were a baby. “Go ahead and cry. Let it all come out. I'll bring him home. I promise.”
    It took twenty minutes to get from Tupelo to Pontotoc to drop off Eveyn, and another hour for Martha Ann to get back home to Fulton. She paid the limousine driver, then got into her own reliable Honda Civic and returned the rented diamonds and the borrowed clothes.
    When she got back to her own modest house within walking distance of Itawamba Community College where she taught, she began to pack. She had no idea what sort of things she would need on her trip, but she believed in being prepared. She put in jeans and cool cotton blouses and sturdy walking shoes and a sweater. Even in the summertime she knew how cool the desert could be at night. After all, she'd grown up there.
    Next she packed her slinky black silk skirt and three brightly colored silk blouses—fire engine red, shocking purple, and neon blue. They weren't all that fancy, but the beading she'd stitched onto the shoulders gave them a little pizzazz. Men didn't usually know that much about clothes. She figured her homemade frocks looked good enough to fool Rick McGill.
    She was determined to keep up her charade of being a wealthy married woman looking for her husband. She didn't want Rick to get scared that she couldn't pay the bills and then back out. And she certainly didn't want to fall for a man whose background might include gambling and no telling what else.
    She thought of the way he had looked when he'd caught her by the shoulders. Powerful. She'd felt the power oozing from his body. It was safer to keep pretending to be Mrs. Lucky O'Grady. Anyhow, she was enjoying her role. It added a little spice to her life.
    Last of all she packed her rosary. She had been born a Methodist, but had taken the Catholic faith when she'd married Marcus Grimes. She guessed if Marcus hadn't been caught embezzling and sent to prison, she'd still be married to him, going to early mass and praying for forgiveness for staying married to a man she didn't love.
    The Rileys were like that. They never gave up. Of course, Fate had carried Marcus off to jail, and she'd gotten her divorce and moved to Mississippi and become an Episcopalian. There was something so wonderfully liberating about being an Episcopalian. Still, in a pinch she counted on her rosary. And heaven knew, she'd need it the next day.
    She was scared to death of flying.
     o0o
    Rick McGill was waiting for her in front of his office. Unfortunately, he didn't look a bit less attractive than he had the day before. As a matter of fact, he looked even better. There was something about a man in a flight jacket that was exceedingly sexy.
    Evelyn, sitting beside her in the limousine, let out a long low whistle. “Is that him, Martha Ann? My gosh, he looks like a blond Clark Gable.” Evelyn leaned over her sister to get a better view. “No wonder you picked