Free Catch as Cat Can by Rita Mae Brown Page A

two cats and one dog tore through the house.
    â€œQuick. Let's get past the receiving line!”
Mrs. Murphy led her friends.
“Aunt Tally will insist we do tricks.”
    â€œI smell ham biscuits.”
A dreamy look came over Pewter.
    â€œLater. We've got to dodge the humans.”
Tucker nudged Pewter with her nose, for the fat kitty had slowed down.
    â€œThey can just get out of my way,”
she replied with a saucy toss of her gray head, but she did move.
    Tally said, “Where's Harry?”
    BoomBoom called over her shoulder for Tally was now greeting Tracy Raz, who'd stopped off to buy an orchid corsage for Miranda as well as one for Aunt Tally. “She's in the garden.”
    â€œShe can't go in the garden before she goes through the receiving line. You tell her to get her bucket back here or she'll hear from me.”
    â€œI will but—” BoomBoom glanced around, then walked back, whispering something in the old lady's ear.
    â€œOh, well, all right, but tell her she has to come back here then.” She smiled a moment. “Harry. H-m-m.”
    Diego strode into the garden, where Harry waited in a simple but very becoming dress. She leaned against a handsome bench built in the eighteenth century, worth a small fortune. Tally believed things should be used. Her only concession to the bench's value was to bring the outdoor furniture into the huge mudroom each night. Her George II silver, her Hepplewhite sofa, chairs, all the paraphernalia of old Virginia wealth pleased her, but she wasn't possessed by her possessions. Nor did she call attention to them. Only new people did that.
    Diego bowed, then kissed Harry's right hand, brushing the back of her hand with his lips, the proper way. “In the future, I shall equate spring with you.”
    â€œDiego, you know how to turn a girl's head.” She laughed.
    â€œMay I bring you a drink?”
    â€œI think you'll have to because Aunt Tally's butler probably can't make it from the bar to the garden.” She noted his puzzled look, then she pointed out the butler, who happened to be slowly passing the opened French doors.
    â€œAh, a gentleman in the fullness of his years.”
    â€œBefore you fetch me a drink I must pay honors to Aunt Tally. I ran around the back of the house and didn't go through the receiving line because I wanted you to find me in the garden. I guess I spoiled the effect by telling. I was running late because my neighbor's cows crashed through the fence and I had to drive them back. My neighbor knows next to nothing about farming plus he's in Seattle on a photo shoot for Nordstrom's. I just made it!”
    â€œA photographer?”
    â€œA model. Little Mim was mad for him. You've met Marilyn?”
    â€œOnly just, on my way to you.”
    Harry stood up, a little unsteady on her heels. “I don't know why I'm talking so much. I'm actually a fairly quiet person. Everyone will tell you that and lots else, I guess.” She smiled, her white teeth enhancing her clean, open features.
    â€œI'll walk you back to the grand Aunt Tally. I take it she earned her name hunting?”
    Harry positively beamed. “Oh, you know about foxhunting?”
    â€œTally champagne.” He called out as they passed the bar and Ned Tucker held up a bottle of violently expensive champagne.
    They both laughed as Roger said a bit too loudly, “Come on, Ned. Stop telling me how great it is and pour, dammit.”
    â€œAn artist?” Diego noted Roger's attire . . . just off, despite his wearing a sports coat. The cowboy boots didn't help.
    â€œUh, a mechanic. He and his brother Sean own a salvage yard filled with architectural pieces, columns, that stuff. It's quite interesting.” They'd reached the line for Aunt Tally. Big Mim had rejoined her aunt on the receiving line.
    No sooner had Harry and Diego taken their place than who should walk up behind them but Fair, at six foot five towering over