Bluer Than Velvet

The swing started to rock back and forth with her laughter. “Oh, Sam. That is so funny. You thought I was a prostitute!”

He glowered now, feeling foolish, not to mention pretty inept in the deductive reasoning department, and nearly shouted, “Well, why the hell else would you wear a getup like that?”

“Because I own a vintage clothing store, that’s why.”

Sam thought she might have ended with “you idiot” but he wasn’t sure because, laughing as hard as she was, Laura could hardly get the words out clearly.

“This…” She touched the skimpy skirt of the dress. “…is because I was trying on some new merchandise when Artie showed up this morning. Then, after he hit me, I was out of there. I didn’t take time to change.”

“That was smart,” he said, hoping the praise would make her forget that he’d insulted her.

“Not smart so much as scared. Especially when he said, ‘If I can’t have you, then nobody else will, either.”’

Sam didn’t like the sound of that one bit, but he didn’t want to frighten this woman more than she already was. “And you think he means it?”

“I know he means it.” She touched her bruised eye, wincing slightly. “Oh, boy, does he mean it.”

“Artie what? What’s this creep’s last name?”

For an instant, she looked blank. Then her lips compressed and her gaze cut away from his for the briefest moment before coming back. “Jones,” she said. “The creep’s name is Artie Jones.”

Sam nodded and murmured, “Okay,” then took a long and thoughtful sip of his cola, all the while wondering why this woman felt compelled to lie to him—and badly, too—about her assailant’s name. And if that was a lie, he wondered just how much else about Laura McNeal he should allow himself to believe.

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