Tempting the Ringmaster (6 page)

Graham raised an eyebrow. “You think it’ll take an entire week for you to find a place for Tiny?”

“At least one. Maybe more.” She didn’t know much about rehoming stray elephants, but she couldn’t imagine it was something easily accomplished; otherwise Tiny’s owner wouldn’t have just dropped her off in the middle of the night. “I can’t afford it.”

“What if I got the fairground rent fee waived?”

“I thought you wanted us gone.”

“Sweetheart, nothing would give me more pleasure than to see your tires hit the road, but I’m between an elephant and a hard place. If you don’t take Tiny, she’s going to end up in my garage. Poking around in my things. You really want to be responsible, when she starts huffing gasoline?”

It would almost be worth extending their stay, just to keep that disgruntled expression on Graham’s face. It was about time he learned that he couldn’t control everything.

Belle crossed her arms in front of her chest thoughtfully. “You said something about free rent?”

“My aunt’s on the committee that runs the fairgrounds. I could probably
get her to let you stay there for another week. Maybe two,” he said begrudgingly.

Two weeks of free rent was a nice offer. Belle forced her expression to remain calm.

She considered the downside. Staying at the fairground would mean staying in Michigan—in October—which would mean listening to a never-ending flood of complaints about the cold and the rain.

What if it snowed before they made their next jump? She’d only ever moved the circus twice during a snowstorm—once when her father had insisted they perform at a spring festival in Maine and once during a freak September blizzard in Indiana—and neither time had been pleasant.

Staying in Michigan could be a disaster.

It could also be the break that the circus needed to make it through the winter. Two week
's rent wasn’t much of an emergency fund, but it was more than she had. If she was lucky, she might even be able to extend his invitation even further. If they could stay for two weeks then why not three? Why not make it a month? Her heart beat double time at the thought.

“Free rent, and none of my people get arrested.”

“I can’t make that promise, Belle. If someone does something wrong then—“

“For the fight,” she hurried to correct herself. “None of my people get
s arrested for fighting with you last night.”

It hadn’t been a fight. It had been a beating. It would serve the clowns right if he came back with warrants for every single one of them.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t let that happen.

“Done.” Graham nodded.

“Good.” Belle began to rummage through her pockets, looking for her cell phone. “My lot manager has some experience with elephants. I’ll give him a call.” She checked the time on her watch then double-checked it on her cell phone just to be sure. It was later than she’d thought—close to eleven o’clock—the time had flown by.

“This is only a temporary situation,” she warned the policeman. “Elephants are wild animals. They belong in the wild.”

“Somebody taught her how to dance. I don’t think she’s going back to Asia.”

“No, but she could go to a zoo or a rescue, someplace with space for her too run around.” Belle dialed Frank’s number from memory, not waiting for him to say hello when the line clicked on: “Frank, you’re not going to believe this.”

She took a few minutes to explain the situation, and then a few more minutes to reassure the old man that some towns person hadn’t slipped a mickey in her drink while she was out.

She wasn’t hallucinating.

It really was an elephant.

When she was done explaining, she stabbed the end button on her phone and slid the device back into her pocket.

“He’s on his way,” she told Graham before turning slightly to look out at the quiet pastureland.

The city of Buck Falls was larger than she’d originally thought. There’d been all sorts of buildings in town—including places that had clearly been built in the last ten years—but out near the town line she could almost imagine what the place had been like a hundred years ago when their major industry was still agriculture.

Farmland stretched out in every direction, worked by people who’d grown up on the land, people whose families had real roots in the community, living in the same place forever until the soil colored their blood.

“Which house is yours?” she asked.

Graham shifted slightly, clearly not wanting to turn his back on the elephant.

“There,” he squinted slightly, pointing into the darkness. “That one with all the lights on is mine. It’s got a ton of land. I rent some to one of my neighbors to run his cows on. The rest is apple trees. I’m not much of a farmer—the orchard was there when I moved in—but it’s something else in the summer time. All those blossoms, in September, the air smells so damn sweet. This year, my sister-in-law says she is going to pick them all for cider, apple sauce, that sort of thing. She’s made a pretty good showing of it so far.”

Belle stared across the long stretch of darkness, past a crowd of trees, towards the gnarled farmhouse with the flickering lights. It had probably started out pretty enough, but somewhere over the years people had stopped paying attention to design and started sticking additions on every which way. There was a part that almost looked like a castle—stone, with a turret stuck on the side that would keep Petra occupied for days—but most of it was wood.

It wasn’t the kind of mess that got built overnight. Something like that took generations.

“Let me guess,” she said. “It’s the house you grew up in. You lived there all your life? Your parents, your grandparents—“

“My family’s place is in the center of town. It’s a center hall colonial. I bought the farmhouse when I got back to town eight years ago.”

Belle blinked of surprise. “When you got back to town? Where were you?”

The way Graham talked about Buck Falls, Belle had figured that he’d never left the county. There was no answer.

“College?” she guessed, but he wasn’t that young… not unless he’d gone to graduate school afterwards. “Prison?”

“Nothing like that.” Graham coughed. “I—uh—did some traveling when I was younger. Bummed around for a couple of years. Joined the Navy.”

The navy. That explained the tattoo she’d seen on his hipbone the night before. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember. She’d been slightly distracted at the time—by his ripped abs and his gun—but she seemed to recall an anchor and an eagle.

He hadn’t been just any seaman. He’d been a Navy SEAL.

“You wanted to fight the good fight?”

“Not really.” He shrugged. “Not at first. When I was young, I was pretty wild. I couldn’t wait to get out of town. So, I went to college. I partied every night and slept with the entire cheerleading team. The summer after I graduated, I took off and ended up in New York City. You ever been there?”

“I’ve been everywhere.” She’d never left the country, not like someone who’d been in the Navy. She corrected herself hurriedly, “I’ve been all over the United States.”

“New York’s a great city, but it can be rough. I was looking for trouble, and—by god—I found it. My first month there I got in a new fight every night. I spent my second month drunk. I think. I don’t really remember. My third month, I joined the navy. I wanted to see the world, to meet interesting people.” There was a slight pause. “I never wanted to come back here.”

“What happened?”

“Things changed,” his words slowed, like he was picking and choosing what to tell her. “My sister-in-law got pregnant. The chief of police was thinking about retirement. The farm was for sale. I came back and got a degree in criminal justice.”

Right. Belle frowned. They had more in common than she’d thought. They’d both left home when they were younger—looking for something more than they had—and they’d both come back.

Only, Graham’s friends and family had welcomed him with open arms. They brought him freaking casserole and lemon bars.

The closest she’d get to a pastry at the circus would be a pie to the face.

“Sounds like everything worked out perfectly.”

“Nothing’s perfect, but it’s pretty good.” His hand darted out to grip her wrist in the darkness. There was a moment’s pause, with only the sound of a happily munching elephant to interrupt the silence. “I know this is a little much… you’re going to have to forgive me. I haven’t gone on many dates since I left the Navy, I’m a little rusty.”

“How many is not many?”

“You’re the first.”

Oh, damn. Belle couldn’t breathe or think, not with wave after wave of lust and desire rushing underneath her skin.

This was not a good idea. She did not belong with this man.

He was a cop—for goodness sakes—a fine upstanding policeman with a family and a place in the community. She was only in town for two weeks—at the most—and then the circus was heading off to greener pastures…
Wherever that might be.

They didn’t belong on a date together. They didn’t even belong on the same planet together. They came from two different worlds, and that’s where they belonged.

And if Graham’s touch sent a sizzle down her spine unlike anything she’d ever felt? It was probably just a result of too many hormones and too little sex. She’d have the same reaction to any stud with high cheekbones, a determined jaw, and pale blue eyes that seemed to pierce her soul.

Nothing to worry about.

It was only ever supposed to be one night.

Tomorrow, she’d find someone else to make out with, someone more her speed, someone she wouldn’t leave behind when the circus made its next jump.

Someone like Blue, the circus’s fire breather and safety chief, he was totally hot. She’d always thought of him more like a brother—or a relatively close cousin—then a potential life partner, but things could change.

She mentally drew up a picture of the safety chief; tall and handsome, with the kind of broad shoulders that would make most women swoon. She tried to picture herself kissing him.

Okay, not Blue, but there had to be someone else. Anyone else.

And then Graham Tyler did something completely unimaginable; he kissed her. His mouth moved hot against her lips as his hands gripped her hips and pulled her in tight. Her knees went week and all thoughts of finding another man evaporated into thin air.

She didn’t want anyone else.

She wanted Graham.

“Everything’s going to be alright,” he promised, and for one long moment she actually believed him.

The rumble of a truck on the road interrupted their kisses. The vehicle parked back near Graham’s patrol car, and Frank got out. The old man grumbled to himself as he moseyed down into the yard, nattering on about fool circus owners who couldn’t tell the difference between cows and elephants.

Then he saw Tiny.

“Damn.” He put a hand to his head, adjusting his old woolen watch cap. “She got a name?”

“I’ve been calling her Tiny.” Belle separated herself from Graham before the lot manager could see them together. “She seems to like azaleas.”

“I don’t suppose she’ll fit in my truck,” Frank said. “But I’ve got some carrots in the back. You know if she’s trained?”

“She dances on command.”

“Good, then I can tell you what to say to coax her along back to the circus.” Frank turned slightly towards Graham. “We’ve got it all covered. You can go.”

“Right.” The police chief shifted back and forth uncomfortably, like a school boy breaking in new shoes. He looked down at Belle, his lips turning into a slight frown like he wanted to say something—or do something—but he wasn’t sure how. “I’ll see you again soon?”

“Ha!” Frank laughed. “Vacation’s over. We’ve got a show to put on tomorrow. No more lollygagging and flitting off for fancy dinners. It’s time to get back to work.”

The old man was right. It was time to say goodbye to Graham Tyler and his breath stopping kisses. Belle had things to do, promises to keep, and elephants to handle. “It was a wonderful night.”

Graham nodded, and a moment later he was gone.

Chapter Five

“Step right up! Step right up! Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys!” The circus’s barker roared. “Children of all ages! Get your tickets now to see the most marvelous show on earth. Barnaby—I mean—Belle Black’s Black Shadow Circus.”

The big man pirouetted through the crowd in a pair of slinky yellow pants and a matching pinstriped vest. The hat perched on top of his head tumbled off every so often, but it never reached the ground as he skillfully manipulated it back onto his head.

Trevor’s eyes were the size of dinner plates. When Graham’s nephew had asked if they could go to the circus that afternoon, the police chief hadn’t been able to think of a single logical reason why not. Especially when his nephew looked up at him with those big blue eyes—just like his mother—and that crooked smile on his face—just like his father.

Graham should have tried harder.

If looks could kill, he’d have been dead several times over on the way from the parking lot.

Instead, he put a hand on Trevor’s slim shoulder and handed their tickets to the man at the door.

They weren’t the only people from Buck Falls who’d decided to stop by and see the show. Tiffany had left work early to change clothes. She was sitting on the sidelines in something skin tight and slippery, laughing with Marta Sanchez. His father was sitting a few rows back. The mayor was wearing a tailored black suit, his arms crossed in front of his chest, his jaw set in a stiff line.

The bleachers were filled with school teachers, farmers, and men who spent all day working in the plant. Graham recognized them all. There wasn’t much to do in Buck Falls on a Friday night, and the crowd from Whispering Springs looked just as thick. There had to be five hundred people under the big top. At twenty-five dollars a head—fifteen for kids under the age of sixteen—the circus was pulling in at least ten grand.

The circus was scheduled to stage at least half a dozen performances before they moved on. The resulting revenue would be…
not small potatoes.

He was impressed.

Belle wasn’t just super sexy. She was also a savvy businesswoman.

Graham found a seat with his nephew near the front of the tent. He settled Trevor in place—made the boy swear not to move an inch—and went off to buy popcorn and programs. By the time he got back, his seat was occupied by the same auburn haired girl who’d shown him the way to Belle’s cabin the night before. She was dressed like a princess, in a flowing purple gown, pink slippers, and a cone shaped hat with multicolored streamers coming off the end.

“Ooh, snacks!” She snagged the popcorn and took a big bite. “Yum.”

Graham frowned. “Are you supposed to be up here?”

“No-duh.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m supposed to be helping Dorothy get the horses ready, only she’s been in kind of a funky mood since last night.” Her nose wrinkled up slightly. “I mean, she’s not usually a bucket of sunshine, but when I spilled the carrots, she got nasty. I mean, I picked them up. Most of them anyway.”

“You can sit with us to watch the performances,” Trevor offered, ever the gentleman even if his dirty blonde hair was pushed back crookedly against the side of his head and his blue jeans had a hole in the knee. “It’ll be fun.”

“Hmmph.” The girl sniffed. “I am Petra Jarvis. My mother is Dana—a classic contortionist—and my father is Mikhail the strongest man alive—or at least in the state—I do not watch performances. I perform.” She ate some more popcorn. “But, I’m not on until after the intermission. I can stay until then.”

“I’m Trevor Tyler,” Trevor said, mimicking Petra’s attitude. “My mother is Kelly Tyler—she’s the school librarian—my father was in the Navy—he died. I don’t perform. I go to school.” He clapped his hands together, breaking character. “Are you really in the circus? Do you live here? Can you tell me all about it? I bet you know everything!”

“Everything,” Petra agreed. “Want to see an elephant?”

“Heck, yeah, I know all about elephants,” Trevor said proudly. “My uncle caught one last night.”

Petra’s head tilted up to look Graham full on. Her mouth hung open in slack-jawed surprise. “You caught an elephant?”

Graham grinned. “I had a little help.”

Belle. He would have stayed to help her get the elephant back to the fairgrounds the night before, but she’d made it clear that she had everything under control. That didn’t mean he hadn’t watched her through his bedroom window as she traipsed across the countryside with a bag of carrots slung over her shoulder like the Pied Piper of Elephants.

“You two are going to stay right here?” Graham didn’t need to wait for an answer. Hot popcorn, a pretty girl to talk with, and a circus to watch? His nephew was going to be locked in place at least until the intermission.

He found a seat nearby and settled back as the lights went down. There was a moment’s pause, and then the circus’s large ringed performance area burst into life; noise and color were everywhere as horses, dogs, and human beings of every description raced around the circle. Music was being piped in through speakers tied to the tent’s support beams. His eyes darted around, trying—and failing—to take it all in.

The lights went out again and dark red smoke swirled through the tent. A single spotlight flickered on. The circle was empty except for a single small figure standing in the center. It took him half a second to recognize Belle Black, dapperly dressed in a top hat and bright red tails.

Graham shifted forward in his seat, eager to get a better look.

Belle was part of the performance after all.

Her head tilted up towards the crowds, her eyes were bright, and her lips twitched nervously. For one brief moment, he thought she would break and run. Then she took a deep breath, and the uncertainty vanished from her face.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” she called. “Welcome to Black Shadow Circus. I’m your ringmaster for the night, Belle Black, and let me tell you,” she leaned forward slightly, like she was confiding in the audience, “We have a special show in store for you tonight.”

The crowd went wild—cheering and clapping—and they didn’t stop for a solid hour and a half as act after act spilled out onto the stage: acrobats, jugglers, strong men, and clowns.

Graham’s body stiffened when he saw a small man in white face and a crooked crown—Keith Aldridge, the man who’d led his compatriots in attacking an outsider—but twenty minutes later he was laughing as hard as anyone else as the clown king raced around in circles trying to track down the members of his parliament.

One storyline recurred in act after act, tying everything together. One of the men had lost his dog and was searching for it everywhere, the animal in question was the same little beast that had attached itself to Graham’s foot two nights earlier, its creamy fur gleamed in the lights as it darted around the stage, appearing and disappearing as the crowd searched for it among the jugglers and contortionists.

The first act ended with the man giving up in despair, slumped in the middle of the circle with Belle patting his shoulder.

“There, there,” the ringmaster declared. “Don’t worry. We’re coming back in twenty minutes. I’m sure we’ll find your dog then. Everyone will help.” She waved at the audience. “You’ll help. Won’t you?”

The only answer came in the form of whoops and cheers. A moment later, the house lights came up and Graham made his way back to where he’d left his nephew.

Trevor and Petra were engaged in a lively debate over the best act they’d seen. Trevor was pulling for the fire breather while Petra insisted that the trick riding was more difficult.

“Anyone can breathe fire,” she announced with an air of authority. “It’s easy. Horses are big. They’re scary.”

Graham offered to buy both kids ice cream, but Petra declined. She had to go get ready for her act. Trevor had no such scheduling problem. The kid led the way out of the tent, babbling excitedly about everything he’d just seen.

“It was so cool! Can we come back again?”

“I thought you saw everything?”

“I did.” Trevor’s head bobbed up and down. “Except, some of the stuff I missed because I was talking to Petra. I’ve never met anyone like her. She’s been everywhere. She’s so cool.”

Graham knew how his nephew felt. There was something about circus women; they were intoxicating. He just hoped that Trevor didn’t end up hurt. “You know she’s only here for a little while, right?”

“Sure, only Petra says—” Trevor’s mouth slammed shut, like he’d just remembered something.

“What did Petra say?” Graham asked carefully.

“I can’t tell you, it’s a secret.”

Graham frowned. He bent forward slightly, balancing on the balls of his feet, lowering himself until he was face to face with his nephew. “You know that you can tell me anything, right?”

“Duh,” Trevor said. “I don’t see why it’s such a big deal anyway. Petra says that usually they’re in Florida by this time of year. They’re not even supposed to be here.”

Interesting. Graham filed the information away carefully as they stepped up to the ice cream truck’s narrow window and bought two chocolate cones. He handed a cone to Trevor, and they found a place to sit in the grass and people watch.

“You let the boy eat too much sugar.” James Tyler arrived in a cloud of cologne and carefully cultivated gravitas. He did not sit on the grass. “Has he even had dinner?”

Trevor rolled his eyes. “I had popcorn.”

“Popcorn is not a meal,” James said. “I hope these circus people haven’t been causing too much trouble. Tiffany was saying something about an elephant? I won’t have my town terrorized by some gray monster.”

“You and Tiffany been talking a lot?” Graham asked.

“We sat near each other to watch the show.” James straightened his collar. “She’s a lovely woman, I’ve been saying that for years.” The mayor’s cheeks flushed a deep red. “I’m going to buy her a drink, when this foolishness is over with.”

Interesting, Graham bit back a grin. Tiffany and his father, who would have imagined? Maybe this was the year he should enter the town betting pool over James’s date for the Winter Social. “Everything’s under control. The elephant’s been taken care of—”

“They never should have let a dangerous animal escape in the first place.”

“She’s not actually our elephant,” Belle interrupted. Dressed in the same scarlet tuxedo she wore in the show, she should have been visible a mile off but somehow Graham had missed her approach. Her cheeks were flushed, and her white teeth dug into kissable lips.

“I should go. I’m interrupting.” Her deep green eyes met Graham’s gaze, sparking a new flush of heat under his skin. “I just thought you might want to hear how Tiny was doing.”

He didn’t want to hear about the damn elephant. He wanted to hear about Belle’s day. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, to press his mouth against hers until the thick red paint on her lips disappeared and he could taste her—naked and vulnerable—underneath. Instead, he gestured a hello with his ice cream cone.

“Belle Black, I’d like you to meet Trevor and James Tyler.”

“I’m James.” His father didn’t offer to shake hands. “I want to know how long you people plan to camp out here. This is a respectable community—”

Belle’s face went pale underneath her heavy stage makeup. Her hands curled into fists, clearly upset by the older man’s words. “We’re a respectable circus. We put on a family friendly show. It’s fun for all ages.”

“Uh huh.” James was clearly doubtful. “I don’t know what kind of life this is, young lady; moving around from town to town, never staying in one place. You’d be better off getting a real job and building something.”

“I like the circus,” Trevor countered around gulps of ice cream. “I want to be a clown when I grow up.”

There was a moment’s silence.

Belle grinned down at the boy. “You must be Trevor.” Her gaze darted over to Graham. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Really?” Trevor frowned. “I haven’t heard anything about you. Should I have?”

Yes. No. Hell.

Graham cleared his throat. “Belle is a friend of mine.”

He wanted her to be more than a friend. He wanted to take her hard against the nearest flat surface, but that didn’t necessarily mean that he wanted to talk about her with Trevor. His nephew was a little too young to understand about one night stands.

Only, now she was going to be in town longer than one night. The circus wasn’t leaving town on Monday. They were staying for at least one week, maybe two.

Graham had made the arrangements that morning, gritting his teeth as he
made out a check to his aunt. She’ driven him a break on the rent, but it hadn’t been free.

“Cool.” Trevor’s tongue darted out, licking a stray ice cream drop off the back of his hand. “Does that mean she’s going to be your date to the Winter Social?”

“Of course not.” Graham forced his voice to remain calm. “I always take you and your mother to the Social, kiddo.”

All the air vanished from his lungs when he saw the expression on Belle’s face. She looked like she’d been slapped. He’d done something wrong. His mind scrambled, going back over the past few minutes of conversation. What had he done wrong?