Ride the Rainbow Home Read Online Free Page B

what?"
    "Don't play innocent with me, Jimmy McAllister. You could have told me I was spending the evening with the most eligible bachelor in town. I haven't been checked out by so many women since the night I wore a miniskirt to the symphony."
    "You did?" Jim grinned wickedly. "Sorry I missed that."
    "You're changing the subject." She gave him a cutting look. "You could have told me I was signing on as a bodyguard."
    Jim just laughed, a deep, throaty sound that found its way into Meg's middle and curled up like a purring kitten.
    "So how about you?" she asked nonchalantly. "Have you been married twice, like Kim McCray?"
    "Not me," he answered. "Not even once. You?"
    "Not unless you count my easel and my overhead projector."
    "Now that's romantic. Anyone special in California?"
    "Special?" Meg paused, thinking fondly of dear, sweet, unexciting Allen who was trying to draw a commitment from her. "No, no one special."
    "Good," Jim said, and moved deliciously closer.
    The first shell burst into the air, shattering the star-filled night with splashes of red, white, and blue. The crowd oohed and aahed its appreciation.
    "Looks like we're getting started," Jim observed needlessly. "Warm enough?" Until that instant, Meg hadn't considered the temperature. She shivered. Jim drew a wool blanket around her shoulders, and then kept his arm around her, rubbing her upper arm. "It's one of the marvels of the high desert," he said. "When the sun goes down, the heat goes with it. Comfortable now?"
    "Mmm," she said, warmed more by Jim's closeness than by the rough wool. Neither of them mentioned that Jim still kept his arm wrapped tightly about her. Meg snuggled, letting her head rest against the brick-solid wall of Jim's chest.
    The next rocket was gold, followed by smaller bursts of silver. After that came a set of five small green-and-gold sunbursts, blossoming in side-by-side splendor. The bluff was the perfect backdrop for the show, the natural spectacle of the desert night the perfect complement for the drama of the fireworks. And the fireworks were the perfect corollary for the response of Meg's senses.
    What's with me, anyway? she wondered as she cuddled against Jim, as they commented casually on the wonders of the show. She could remember dozens of times back in high school when Little Jimmy McAllister had put his arms around her. They’d been close friends, affectionate. Yet his touch had never inspired this reaction. Her body, which only moments ago had trembled with the chill, was now trembling from an entirely different cause, and her stomach bucked like a rodeo bull. She hadn't felt like this since high school when she'd thought Danny Sherwood was asking her to the prom. Certainly, Allen had never— The thought felt disloyal and she quickly cut it off. If Jim could make her feel this way by putting an arm around her, how would she feel if he kissed her? If he . . .
    "Oh!" she cried in wonder, apparently responding with the crowd to the lighting of the waterfall fireworks near the top of the bluff, always one of the spectacles of Holbrook’s show. Careful, girl, she warned herself, you didn't come back to Rainbow Rock to start something with an old high school buddy. Meg drew several long, deep breaths, willing herself to put aside the delightful fantasies that kept popping into mind.
    The show continued with a dozen more rockets, then the lighting of the American flag ground display against the bluff, and then the grand finale--a series of twenty spectacular rockets all fired in rapid succession. As the final bursts died from the sky, the crowd cheered and honked horns in appreciation. As the applause died down, the exodus began.
    Jim snuggled nearer, rubbing warmth into her arm. "I'd like to let the crowd clear a little before we go."
    "Sounds fine."
    "Chilly?" he asked.
    "Not anymore," she answered fervently. "Look, since we're waiting, maybe you can tell me more about your business? I can't imagine doing much buying and