“You like the idea, don’t you,” she said, grinning.
“Yeah, actually I do,” he admitted. “It’s not bad at all.”
“Not bad? It’s brilliant! But we’ll need some props.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that, if we are posing as newlyweds, we’ll need to buy ourselves a set of wedding rings.”
Longarm gulped. He hadn’t thought it out, but again, it made sense. It would look funny if they were hate-fingered. Still, the idea of buying wedding rings made him damned uncomfortable, even queasy in the gut.
“I don’t have much money,” he said, stalling.
“That doesn’t matter! We can buy them on credit. I know the man at the jewelry store and he trusts me. Besides, when I tell him that you are a United States deputy marshal with a regular paycheck, he’ll-“
“He’ll figure that I’m a damn risky customer for credit ‘cause I might get ventilated.”
“No, no! Trust me, Custis. He’ll give us the credit, and I’m sure that we can find a set of wedding rings that aren’t all that expensive.”
“But I don’t want to get stuck with rings that I don’t intend on keeping!”
Miranda’s eyes flashed. “You’ve told me bunches of times that the day was coming when you wanted to settle down and be married to me.”
Again, this was true. Another major blunder that was coming back to haunt him.
“You weren’t lying to me, were you?” She asked him.
“No, but.”
“Then let’s go to the jewelry store and get ourselves rings before it closes! Just think what a perfect cover this will be and how much fun we can have playing newlyweds.”
To stimulate his imagination, Miranda slipped her arms around his waist and pulled her lovely body tight against his, then nuzzled his neck. Her breath was warm, and when she reached up and nipped his earlobe, Longarm figured that, yes, they would be having a lot of fun together up in Mesa Verde pretending to be tourists with the other folks. So much fun, in fact, that he realized he would need to keep himself on track lest he entirely forget the true purpose of his visit.
“All right. All right,” he said, drawing in a deep breath. “Let’s get the rings, have some dinner, and then come back and pretend that this is our wedding night.”
Miranda’s green eyes went soft and dreamy. “I’d really like that,” she purred. “Will you even carry me over the threshold into this place?”
“Sure,” he said, hoping that he didn’t pull a muscle in his back. Miranda was a lot of woman. Not fat or sloppy, but tall, heavy-boned, and with plenty of padding in all the right places. She probably weighed close to 150 pounds, and every ounce of it was alive with passion.
They hurried downtown and went into the jewelry store that Miranda had in mind. On the way, she kept Longarm talking so much that he didn’t have time to get nervous or decide to back out of this deal.
“Well, well!” the owner of the jewelry store said when they approached his glass counter filled with rings and other expensive-looking jewelry. “Miranda, it’s good to see you again!”
“You too, Mitchell.”
“Don’t tell me,” the impeccably dressed and manicured jeweler said with a sly wink, “you want another wedding ring!”
Longarm’s jaw dropped. “What is that supposed-“
“Why, look at that!” Miranda exclaimed, yanking him aside and pointing to a particular jewelry case. “Every one of those rings is beautiful! Mitchell, could you pull out this tray?”
“Why, certainly!”
“Miranda, what did this fella mean when-“
“How much are these!”
“which ones?” Mitchell asked, smooth and slender fingers caressing the velvet-lined case.
“What about this set,” Miranda said, laying her finger on a beautiful diamond ring.
“What taste you have, Miranda!” the jeweler exclaimed. “Better each time, eh?”
He picked up the matching set of wedding and engagement rings. “This set is adorned with a full carat, and I agree that the setting is magnificent! Good choice!”
“Now wait a minute! That looks damned expensive,” Longarm said dubiously. “How much?”
“Just six hundred dollars.”
Longarm almost buckled at the knees, and managed to shout, “That’s a year’s wages! Miranda, let’s get the hell out of here! I’m not going to put myself forever in hock over diamond rings.”
“Wait, wait!” Miranda forced a frozen smile. “Mitchell, why don’t you show us a modest set of wedding rings. We’re a little short of cash.”
“She’s right about that,” Longarm said. “I doubt that I have even fifty dollars to my name.”
“But I can match that,” Miranda said quickly.
The jeweler gave them a very pitying look, then placed the felt display case back under glass. From out of a drawer, he pulled out a cheap case of rings and placed them on the counter. “At this price range I can offer you an engagement and wedding ring set for-“
“Forget the engagement ring,” Longarm snapped. “We’re at the wedding part now. I want just one ring for her and another for me. And I want them to be cheap.”
Mitchell’s nose got out of joint, but Longarm didn’t care. The jeweler disappeared into the back room. A few minutes later, he emerged with a brown paper bag of rings that he dumped out on the glass counter. These are my cheapest, sir. Some are used, and-“
“Don’t matter to me,” Longarm said. “Point out the cheapest of the lot and those are the ones that we might buy.
“This pair is only thirty dollars,” the jeweler told him in a clipped voice as he stared down at the rings as if they were dirty cockroaches.
“Where’s the diamonds!” Miranda cried, squinting down at the cheap-looking rings.
“I’ll have to get my jeweler’s glass to show you,” Mitchell answered.
“Custis, I’m not going to be humiliated by some crummy little bauble. I want a real diamond, and I expect for you to pay for at least half of it!”
“What about this one?” Longarm said, pointing to the nicest of the bunch.
Mitchell picked up the ring and looked very unimpressed. Longarm couldn’t figure out why because the ring was quite attractive. It had one big diamond surrounded by several small rubies. Longarm thought it perfect, and Miranda must have as well because she said, “I wouldn’t be ashamed to wear this one.”
“How much?” Longarm asked.
Mitchell rolled his eyes toward heaven. “I could let you have it for … eighty dollars.”
“What about his wedding band?” Miranda asked, holding the ring up to the light and admiring the stones.
“Well, his ring should at least be matching yellow gold. Silver would look very … tinny.”
“I agree,” Miranda said. “So Custis needs a simple gold wedding band.”
“I can let you have one for another ten dollars. It’s very plain and nothing to-“
“That will be fine,” Longarm said. “Fit me and let’s get this business done with and get out of here before I decide to just forget the whole thing.”
Ten minutes and ninety dollars later, forty-five of which were Longarm’s, they marched out of the jewelry store wearing their wedding rings. Half a block down the street, Longarm stopped and said, “I sure hope he’ll buy ‘em back when this is over.”
“He will,” Miranda said before she caught herself.
Longarm looked down at his girlfriend, wondering. But he wisely chose not to say anything, and since they had spent almost all of their cash on rings, they had an inexpensive Mexican dinner with a couple of good bottles of beer. Afterward, they headed back to Miranda’s place.
“Don’t forget that you promised to carry me over the threshold.”
“Aw, come on!”
“We have to get into the spirit of this or it isn’t going to work and we won’t fool anyone in Mesa Verde! And we might as well start right here and now.”
“No,” he said, “let’s start after we get inside, lock your door, and leap into your bed.”