All About Charming Alice by J. Arlene Culiner Read Free Book Online

floor.
    “Swimming?”
    “It can be terribly dangerous when the flash floods come.”
    “This countryside is hostile.”
    “Hostile?” Alice looked up at him with surprise. “I can’t imagine anyone thinking that!”
    “Can’t you?” He raised his eyebrows. “Flash floods, wind, bleakness, monotony. What would you call that?”
    “Emptiness can be beautiful.” She stretched her arm out in a wide gesture. “Look at it, this glorious emptiness. Smell the air. There’s no place as fragrant as the desert.” Her eyes were shining with pleasure.
    Incredible how her face changed when she let down her guard, Jace reflected. Enthusiasm made her cheeks glow, her eyes shine. Fine tendrils of hair had escaped from her thick braids, and were tickling her cheeks. She brushed them back with an impatient gesture and Jace wished he’d had the right to do that. And that beautiful mouth. What would it taste like when he finally got around to kissing it? Because he was certainly going to do that. Sooner or later.
    “The pioneers who passed this way didn’t feel so warmly about the area,” he offered, preferring neutral territory to the tumultuous terrain of his thoughts.
    “Probably not,” she shrugged.
    “Definitely not,” he insisted. “You’ve seen the old wagon road, haven’t you?”
    Alice looked at him curiously. “Wagon road?”
    He liked being able to tell her something she didn’t know. “Follow me.”
    She hesitated only briefly, then let him lead the way over the small rise. Straight ahead, was the faint, dusty trail she saw almost every day — a trail to nowhere, she’d always thought.
    “Here you are,” Jace said with evident satisfaction. “A hundred and fifty years ago, this was one of the great roads to California. Just think about the wagonloads of people walking, riding, dragging their way through here with their animals. No trees anywhere, no grass. Only creosote bushes, cat’s claw and mesquite. When summer temperatures rose to a hundred and ten, pools of water turned into shimmering scum and rivers evaporated. You found the trail by following abandoned sacks of putrid bacon, skeletons of animals, and graves.”
    Alice nodded. “I know that names on the map — names like Endurance, or Desolation, or Last Gap — were never more than a stick in the ground where someone was buried. And I also know some people went mad out here: one man killed his brother because he couldn’t stand the sound of his voice; another strangled his partner because he kept twirling his moustache.”
    Jace quirked an eyebrow. “And you still call this desert beautiful?”
    Alice waved a dismissing hand. “Not a pretty picture, not an easy history, I’ll concede that. But nowadays, I look at the area with different eyes. I’m not crossing it to get somewhere else. I’m here, living in peace, enjoying the calm you can only find in extreme places. Besides, there are sad stories in every part of the world, not just here.”
    “So why not enjoy yourself wherever you are?”
    “Exactly.”
    Now she’s wedged herself into a corner,
Jace thought with satisfaction.
    Realizing the situation, Alice turned to the dogs. “Edda! Tilly, Betty. Let’s go.”
    Jace matched his stride to hers. “I suppose I’ll have to spend more time out here in order to appreciate it better. It’s so different from Chicago.”
    The soft earth silenced the sound of their footsteps. Somewhere in the air high above them, a bird trilled brightly. It was true what she said, Jace mused. The desert was calming and the air had a dusty intoxicating tang, an odor even he could appreciate. He also knew something else: Alice was softening — not that she had much choice. He was a naturally friendly person; she couldn’t remain defensive in the face of friendliness. Or deny the slow sizzle that seemed to vibrate between them.
    “Don’t you mind living in a big city with traffic and noise all the time?” Alice asked.
    “I love it. I