“I don’t know any Murray.”
“Oh, sure.What did you two do, follow me from the zoo?You’ve probably been following me ever since I picked up the guy with the snakes, who was also a plant.Am I getting warm?”He smiled.Yes, he was in control of the situation now.
She stared at him and shook her head.“You’re a crazy man, and I probably shouldn’t trust myself to a crazy man.But the thing is, I always have trouble getting a cab in this city.Now that I’ve captured one, I’m not letting it go, even if it is driven by a guy who’s missing a few rails from his corral.I have horse sperm that must get to Montana today, so I’m going to ask you again, very nicely, if we can get into your little cab and drive to that big place outside of town where they keep all the airplanes.Can you do that for me?”
Quinn sighed.“Murray sure knows how to pick ‘em.You’re very good.Okay, kiddo.If you can stand a ride with a snake, I can stand it.”He gestured toward the cab.“After you, ma’am.”
“Thank goodness.”She walked forward, put her packages in the back seat and closed the door.Then she climbed in the front.
Quinn closed the street-side back door and paused before he got in the cab.He really didn’t want to climb in there with that snake, but he didn’t want Murray to get the upper hand, either.Besides, if Murray was behind all this, the snake was harmless.And maybe it had already slithered out.
He rested his hands on the roof of the cab and leaned down to peer inside.“It’s customary for the fare to sit in the back.”
“I’ve never liked that custom,” she said.“It seems downright unfriendly.Out west we?—”
“Oh, yeah.That’s right.You’re from the wild and woolly west.Central Park West, most likely.”
“Listen, could you continue weaving your fantasies while we drive?I’m running out of time to chat.”
Quinn surveyed the floor in the front.“Did you, uh, notice the snake by any chance?”
“No, but if I sit up here, I can protect you better.”
That did it.Damned if he’d let this woman insinuate that he was a wuss.He slid into the seat with all the confidence he could muster.“A little snake doesn’t bother me.I just wouldn’t want you to be startled.”
“I’ve faced timber rattlers with bodies as thick as your forearm.”
Quinn laughed as he started the car.“That’s a good line.Next you’ll be telling me about the grizzly bear who lives in the hills up above your ranch.”
“Actually, there are two.”
“Oh, I’ll bet there are.”Quinn pulled into traffic, noticing as he did that she filled the cab with a nice fragrance.“So what name are you going by for this caper?”
“The name I always go by.My own.Jo Fletcher.”
“Short for Josephine?”Quinn didn’t believe for a minute that was her name, but he decided to play along and see what sort of whopper she and Murray had dreamed up.It also took his mind off the snake.
‘‘Well, yes.After my great-aunt Josephine.Which is why she left me the ranch, I guess.Well, that and the fact I’m the only member of the family who knows diddly about horses.”
“You and Murray must have stayed up nights concocting this story.I’m impressed.Ticked off, but impressed.The guy will do anything to win a bet.”
“I don’t know anybody named Murray and I certainly don’t know anything about a bet.”
Quinn gave her a superior smile.“Right.”
She cocked her head and looked at him strangely.“Did anybody ever tell you that you look exactly like Brian Hastings, the movie star?Even the smile.”
“Only a couple of million people.”
“Ah.So you get that a lot.”
“Yeah.I’m pretty sick of it, which is probably why Murray asked you to bring it up, just to needle me.”
“I don’t know Murray.But if you’re sensitive about the Brian Hastings thing, we can drop the subject.It’s just that you really do look like him.”
He swerved around a delivery van.The job took reflexes he hadn’t used in years, and he liked knowing they were still there.“But I’m taller than Hastings.You can’t tell that on the screen because they use camera angles to make him look tall, and he stands on a box if he has a tall costar.”
“I’d heard that he was on the short side.So what?People are too hung up on how tall a guy is.Being taller doesn’t make you a better man.”
