Free Mama Sees Stars: A Mace Bauer Mystery by Deborah Sharp Page B

name.’’
    “You can be sure Carlos heard you. That man doesn’t miss a thing.’’ Clucking her tongue, Mama shook her head. “Too bad, too. It finally seemed like Carlos and you were becoming a real couple.’’
    “Nothing happened, except Mace got a call from an old boyfriend,’’ Marty said. “Carlos won’t treat that like it’s the end of the world.’’
    Maddie raised her eyebrows at our little sister. “Really? There’s already bad blood between Jeb and Carlos. Don’t you remember how they went round and round over Mace, the summer Mama found her corpse?’’
    “That poor man in my convertible trunk had a name, girls. Please don’t call him my corpse.’’
    When I told Mama and my sisters about the phone call, I didn’t add that when I finished talking to Jeb, Carlos was asleep. Or pretending he was. I tiptoed into the bathroom for a quick shower. When I finished, he was gone. He hadn’t even said goodbye.
    Now, here was Jeb, climbing from the driver’s seat of his truck. We watched as he swung out a long, lean leg. One foot, in a worn Ariat boot, hit the ground. The other soon followed. When he stood up and adjusted those tight jeans over the long lines of his body, my traitorous heart skipped a beat. Dammit.
    I heard a low whistle beside me. “Say what you will about the man. He still looks like sex on a stick.’’
    “Mama!’’ The three of us gasped at once.
    “I can’t help it, girls. I’m only stating the obvious.’’
    A frown creased Maddie’s brow. “Just how close did he say the two of you would be working?’’
    “Not that close. Once he delivers the cattle, I bet Jeb leaves his ranch hands behind to see to what the movie people need.’’
    “ Riiight ,’’ Maddie said. “With Kelly Conover and Jesse Donahue here on the set …’’
    “Not to mention the beautiful Mace Bauer …’’ Marty added.
    “… still mooning over her long-ago affair with Jeb; star-crossed lovers since they were teenagers.’’ Maddie clasped a hand over her heart, or at least where her heart would be if she had one.
    I didn’t want to give Maddie the satisfaction of looking, but my eyes defied my brain. A teenager no more, Jeb was all man as he unloaded his cows. Brangus, a mixture between Angus cattle and the heat-tolerant Brahman, were big and beefy. They looked nothing like the rangy half-wild creatures known as Florida Cracker cattle, which would have been true to the period of Patrick Smith’s book. Then again, not much about the movie seemed true to the book.
    I could feel Maddie’s eyes on me as I watched Jeb. She took her hand from her heart to wag a finger. “Mark my words: That man will stick around, and that’ll mean trouble for you.’’
    _____
    Greg Tilton was on horseback out in the pasture, rehearsing for his scene. He hadn’t lied when he said he was experienced. His hand was easy on the reins, and he had a good seat on the Quarter horse we’d saddled for him.
    He was cast as Toby’s father. The scene would have him racing at a gallop to the corral, where Toby would be waiting. Tilton was costumed in frontier garb, Florida cowman style: lace-up boots to keep out the snakes, a slouchy hat to repel the rain, and a braided leather cow whip coiled on his saddle.
    Of course, he should have been riding a little Cracker horse, like in the book. But Tilton was a big, muscular guy. He’d dwarf such a small horse. Plus, the horse’s gait is like a pogo stick. Bouncing around the saddle like a little kid’s jack-in-the-box wouldn’t befit a movie hero.
    Pulling up at the corral, he swung easily out of the saddle. Mama and my sisters were a distance away at the supply trailer, supposedly measuring out horse feed for the evening. But I saw them whispering and pointing. I hoped none of them asked Tilton for an autograph.
    As everyone stood around waiting for lights, camera, and director to be ready, Tilton leaned against the rustic fence with the horse’s reins in one