She was either downright conniving or entertaining delusions. Either way, she was dangerous and had to be handled with kid gloves.
"What makes you think anyone will believe you if you come forward now and say I was with you last night?"
"I'll say that, at first, you wouldn't let me be your alibi because of what it would mean to my reputation. I insisted until you capitulated."
"Looks like you've got it figured from every angle."
"Ever since I heard you couldn't produce that woman, it's all I've thought about. I'll say I sneaked out after Mama and Daddy had gone to bed. Actually I did go out last night."
"What for?"
"I was so upset, I drove around looking for you, searching for your car at all the places you usually go. When I didn't find you, I came home. My parents never knew I went out. I could say that we met and spent the night together, passionately making love." She gave him an impish grin. "Which isn't a bad idea."
"
That's not how you felt about it yesterday," he reminded her.
"A girl can change her mind."
She was as easy to see through as the Waterford vase on the mantel. She had turned him down yesterday, so he had slaked his lust with someone else. That was untenable to a conceited woman like Susan, especially when everybody in town knew about it. She had devised a way to save face and, at the same time, lasso him for good. Even though her lie would clear him, it was self-serving.
"You'd be willing to lie to save my hide? You'd do that for me?"
"And for me," she admitted. "I want you, Lucky Tyler. And I mean to have you, no matter what it takes."
Whether I want you or not, he thought.
"I'll call Sheriff Bush right now," she said suddenly, turning toward the phone. Lucky's arm shot out. He caught her hand.
"I can't let you do it, Susan."
Her bright smile dimmed. "Why not?"
"You could get in a lot of trouble by lying to federal investigators. I can't let you do that for me."
"I want to."
"And I appreciate it," he said with what he hoped sounded like sincerity. He could see, however, that she wasn't convinced. "Let me think about it. You know, Susan, perjury is a serious offense. I need to think it through before letting you do it."
Her smile returned, but there was a definite edge to her voice when she said, "Don't mull it over too long. I'm not sure how long my offer will stand."
What a conniving little bitch, he thought. Forcing himself to smile, he said, "You're something, you know that? When I first met you, I had no idea there was so much complexity beneath the surface."
"Whatever I want I go after. It's as simple as that."
God help the man she got her hooks into. Lucky silently vowed then and there that it wasn't going to be him. "Well, I've got a lot of thinking to do, Susan, so I'd better be going."
"Must you?" she whined.
"I must."
"Take this with you." She looped her arms around his neck, pulled his head down, and ground a wet, suggestive kiss upon his mouth. When she eventually pulled back, she whispered, "Maybe that'll make you think twice before going to another woman."
Lucky endured the kiss because he recognized the difference between feminine wiles and real treachery. Susan Young exercised the latter. She would resort even to blackmail to get him to marry her.
As he went down her front walk, having made good a temporary escape, he wiped the remains of her kiss off his lips with the back of his hand.
It hadn't repelled him. It certainly hadn't stirred his ardor. It had left him feeling totally indifferent to it, something that hadn't happened since he first discovered kissing under the tutelage of the preacher's daughter behind the choir loft of the First Baptist Church during vacation Bible school. Between that first titillating mouth-to-mouth experimentation and Susan's ardent kiss, what had happened to immunize him against the effects?