Free Blue Clouds by Patricia Rice Page A

seen Chad racing his wheelchair across concrete before. He’d never seen him in just shorts, his skinny arms wielding a toy gun like a professional while he punched the electronic buttons of the chair with a dancer’s skill. Seth blinked in pure disbelief before his temper wrapped a stranglehold on him, and he jumped from his chair, roaring.
    ***
    Pippa saw the Grim Reaper flying through the front doors first. Wearing his usual daytime attire of black shirt and chinos, he didn’t look quite so dangerous this morning. With a grin, she yelled to Chad, “Here comes Bad Bart! Bust him, Buster!”
    Shrieking with manic glee, Chad swung his chair and sprayed a tidal wave across his father’s broad chest while Pippa charged up from the side and aimed for her employer’s head. Within seconds, the Reaper looked more like a drowned rat than a dangerous monster. A mad drowned rat.
    â€œWhat the devil do you think you’re doing?” he roared, more at Pippa than his son.
    Unstoppable, Chad squirted him again, smack in the belly this time. Pippa tried not to admire the result of soaked cotton clinging to a taut abdomen.
    â€œThe hose, Bart!” she yelled. “Secure the hose!”
    Not too slow for a man obviously clinging to his last shred of temper, Wyatt dashed for the hose they’d used to refill their guns and shot it full blast at Pippa. To Chad’s shrieks of delight, Pippa d6dged and fled behind the wheelchair. Heaven only knew what the water would do to the electronics, but exhilarated, she didn’t care. She’d accomplished what she’d set out to do—made Chad laugh.
    Chad shrieked and tried swinging the chair in circles so he could chase Pippa off, but she danced around behind him, using him as a shield.
    â€œDon’t let Bad Bart get me, cowboy! I’m just a helpless female, remember? You’re obliged to protect me.”
    A burly black man appeared from the rear of the house, and the maniac gardener materialized, cackling, from the shrubbery. To their amusement, Chad got off a head shot, hitting his father squarely between the eyes.
    â€œWe win! He’s deader than a doornail. Bury him on Boot Hill, pardners!” Pippa called to their audience. She thought she might need their protection shortly. Obviously, plain ordinary old water didn’t cool her employer’s hot head.
    â€œHaven’t you ever heard of water shortages, Miss Cochran?” Seth asked ominously as he dropped the hose and stalked closer.
    â€œWe’re pumping it from the pool,” she replied indignantly. “Just ask Mr. Brown. He set it up for us. If we can’t swim in the blamed thing, we might as well use it somehow.”
    â€œI want to go swimming, Dad.” Chad chose that moment to throw his challenge into the ring. “Pippa says she can teach me.”
    â€œHer name’s Miss Cochran, and she’s supposed to be sitting at her desk right now, working.” Seth swung around to confront their audience. “Just like the lot of you. I’m not paying you to stand there gawking.”
    The big man crossed his arms over his massive chest and glared back. “You fired me, remember?”
    â€œSo, you’re rehired. Go unplug this blasted hose. Then you can take Miss Cochran back to town when she’s finished packing.”
    Uh-oh, Pippa crossed her arms over her chest in imitation of the chauffeur. Chad instantly set up a howl that should have alerted half the valley of an approaching storm. She knuckled him on the head to shut him up, and he shot her a resentful glare over his shoulder.
    â€œIt’s only a little after one, Mr. Wyatt,” she informed him coldly. “I made good time getting back from the airport. If I choose to use my lunch hour playing with Chad, you have no reason for complaint. Besides, I finished your chapters this morning.”
    She had a moment of triumph while the mighty Seth Wyatt regrouped.