Free All Fired Up (Stardust) by Mimi Riser

less, but that was about all.
    Whatever.
    “Roxy? You’re awful quiet down there, angel. Everything okay?” Cody called.
    “I’m fine!”
    “She says that a lot,” Slo commented. “I’ve learned not to take it too seriously.”
    “Uh-huh.” Cody slanted him a suspicious glance. “You sure you’re all right?” he asked Roxanne. “You tell Cousin Cody now if this boy’s been botherin’ you. I’ll be happy to kick his butt for you.”
    “You and what military defense unit?” Slo said. He and Cody had grown up together, almost like brothers. And like brothers, they often barked at each other but rarely bit. In this instance, however, Slo was willing to rethink that policy. There was something in the way Cody spoke to Roxanne that sounded a little too friendly, too familiar. Exactly why this rankled him, Slo wasn’t sure, but it did. Besides, Roxanne belonged to the Jones family, not Cowboy Cody’s.
    “What’s with this cousin shit?” he demanded.
    “We’re related by marriage. Her new cousin-in-law Jack, Jileana Jones’s husband, is my new cousin, too, on account of my Aunt Vangie marryin’—” Cody paused, interrupting himself. “You in a rush?”
    “Yes.” Slo felt a headache coming on. It was tall and annoyingly handsome, and stood before him in faded denim, cowboy boots, and a white Stetson. Slo knew it wouldn’t shut up now regardless of what he said, but he’d answered yes anyway out of pure stubborn contrariness.
    “Good. ’Cause this is kind of a long story, and I don’t wanna tie you up none,” the headache said, and dived headfirst into it – telling how Evangeline and Harper got together after years apart, and how Jileana and Jack did the same thing at the same time – a tale of love lost and found, of family and forgiveness.
    It showed Slo a side of the Joneses he had never suspected. A bighearted, generous side. It made him wonder if maybe he’d underestimated the family. Which led to the thought that maybe he’d underestimated their crazy cousin as well. And himself. Meaning maybe he didn’t care how crazy she was. Like a kamikaze moth drawn to bright heat, maybe he’d crash and burn, but what a way to go…
    Maybe he was falling in love?
     
    Roxanne stood in the cave’s entrance, listening. This was a good story, almost like something you’d read in a book, but she’d heard it several times already, from several different sources, and didn’t really need to hear Cody’s version right now. She was tired, grubby and grumpy, and her Vision Quest had been a near disaster. She wanted to go home, take a long bath – a cool one – and sleep for a week or three.
    She wanted a lot else, too, but didn’t dare think of those dangerous desires – except for a perverse regret that she had ruined her reputation without even getting anything to show for it…
    Oh hell, this line of thought could only lead to trouble.
    She grabbed the rope—
    Cody’s eyes bugged when he saw her standing a few paces away from him.
    Slo’s brow furrowed. “How did you get up here?”
    He looked and sounded incredulous. It set Roxanne’s teeth on edge. In the first place, she was an agile female; the fancy asylum where she’d lived had sported a gymnasium and a swimming pool for physical therapy, and she had used both regularly. And second, it was only several yards from the cave to the range above. Why should Slo think she couldn’t manage the climb almost as easily as he had?
    Oh, right, she reminded herself, according to him she was a helpless idiot.
    She smiled. Sweetly. “I dematerialized down there and rematerialized up here. You can add that ability to the list of my others.”
    “Shoot, she just flew up on wings,” Cody said. “I always figured she was an angel, but now I’m sure.” Grinning like a devil himself, he ambled over to a couple of pinto geldings, quarter horses, tethered to a huge bushy sagebrush and unhitched their reins. “Y’all ready to head back?”
    Slo