Read Online Stranger At My Door (A Murder In Texas) by Mari Manning - Free Book Online Page B

one with the China-blue eyes and twist-off head. Momma had never discovered Dinah’s cigarettes or the airplane-style bottles of vodka hidden in Itsy Bitsy’s hollow body.
    “Miss Dinah?” The bottom step creaked under Hollyn’s weight. “Are you okay?”
    “Start unpacking the groceries, honey lamb. I’m just straightening up.”
    “Yes, Miss Dinah.” The step creaked again. Hollyn was coming up.
    Thick dust lay over the books and dolls. Carefully, so she wouldn’t disturb it, Dinah twisted off Itsy Bitsy’s head. The smell of a well-aged Marlboro cigarette rose from the neck, but she didn’t have time to remove it. She stuffed the letter through the narrow hole and twisted the head down. She slid it between her Barbie car and her chemistry textbook.
    Hollyn’s head popped around the door. “I’m fixing to get the groceries put up just as soon as I change. It’s hotter than the devil’s anvil out there already.” She glanced at the box. “So what was inside?”
    Dinah wiped her dusty hands on her shorts. “Not much. A Bible, wedding ring, empty wallet. My daddy’s pocket change. That was it.” She picked up the box and stuck it in her closet. “Go on and get yourself changed. I’ll start unpacking the food.”

Chapter Eight
    “Uh, hi.”
    Dinah popped up from the blanket spread on the grass and twisted around. Rafe, dressed in jeans and a dark blue polo shirt, watched her from the back stoop. Without his uniform, he looked younger, less burdened. He gestured over his shoulder with his thumb.
    “Your housekeeper said you were out back.”
    She stood. “Just soaking up some sun.”
    His eyes swept down her body. “I can see.”
    Why had she grabbed her skimpiest bikini? She could almost feel the strings holding the little crochet circles loosen under his gaze. “Why are you here?”
    He came down the steps, lifting his Stetson from his head as he approached. “Are you busy this evening?”
    There was something wrong with her ears. “What?”
    “I was wondering if you were doing anything tonight.”
    Obviously not. She waved her arms at the small yard and the moth-eaten blanket under her feet. “Prepping for the Miss America pageant.”
    He laughed, and his forehead smoothed.
    “Maybe you better start at the beginning because it almost sounded like you were asking me out.”
    His brow lifted. He had nice eyebrows. Not too thick. Well-defined. “Would that surprise you?”
    Not only surprise her, but break her precious taboo. “I don’t date cops.”
    “Why?”
    It would take all night to explain—if she was in the mood. Which she wasn’t. “Look, Rafe, you’re a great guy and all, but I can’t go out with you.”
    He sighed, took a step closer, and let loose a dimpled smile. Her fricking heart skipped a beat.
    “It’s not a date exactly,” he said.
    “Sounded like it.”
    “I need a beard.”
    She tried not to smile. Tried, but didn’t quite make it.
    His eyes met hers. They danced with amusement.
    Huge belly laughs burbled up from some deep, forgotten place inside her. Hunky single cop asks half-naked town pariah to be his beard. Preposterous and funny.
    Rafe began to laugh, too. His deep, masculine guffaws entwined with her peals. Dinah shook with amusement until her body was weak. It had been a long time since she’d laughed. It felt good.
    She finally managed to choke out, “Are you gay?” No way.
    “Not yet.”
    Her body doubled over in another fit of giggles. Rafe grinned.
    When she wrestled herself under control, Rafe’s expression sobered. “It would mean a lot to me, Miss Dinah, if you would help a desperate man out.”
    He was good. Trotting out the old southern charm. Miss Dinah, indeed. “Where are you proposing to take me, and what exactly would I have to do?”
    “It’s a family barbecue. Out at Hacienda Osito. I said I was bringing a date.”
    What about Esme? After the quarry, Dinah had cut herself off from all her friends, their pity too much to bear.