Lena Jones 02 - Desert Wives

time I’d proved his son had been innocent of the hit-and-run that killed a toddler. He’d been foolish enough to loan his car to a drug-addicted friend, but his foolishness didn’t add up to manslaughter. “I can take it, Slim. Tell me.”
    Another pause. “Well, I told you he was in Vegas.”
    “Yeah, but I noticed you didn’t say he was alone, either. Who’s he with?”
    “Some hottie from New York he met here on the ranch.”
    “A redhead, right?”
    “Lena, you know Dusty’s got a thing about redheads. Anyway, they flew to Vegas a couple weeks ago and nobody’s seen him since. He hasn’t even called. If I don’t hear from him within the next week, I’ll have to give his job to someone else.”
    That wouldn’t bother Dusty. With his good looks and easy charm, he snap up another dude ranch job in a heartbeat. “Slim, do you think they got married?”
    “That’s what the rumors say. Nothing Dusty does surprises me anymore.”
    Or me. I thanked Slim for his honesty and hung up the phone with as much dignity as I could muster.
    But hey, what difference did it make, right? I’d never loved the man. Never.
    So why was I crying?
    The sun was setting as Saul and I arrived back at Purity, and as soon as I lit from the truck, I ran into the house, grabbed the notes I’d taken at the school, and headed for Davis’s house.
    It was Prayer Time. Davis, surrounded by his wives and a sea of his blond-haired children, sat in the chair in the living room, a big black book in his hand. Relieved, I identified the book as a standard-issue Bible, not Solomon’s screed, and took this as further proof of Davis’s reforms.
    “Sister Lena!” His handsome face beamed in delight as I joined Sissy on the sofa. She appeared less happy than he. Maybe she really loved him.
    “I’m finishing up here,” he said, leaning over to pat one child’s head.
    “I just dropped by to share my notes on the school with you,” I said.
    He stood up, tucked the Bible under his arm, and told me to follow him to his den, leaving Sissy looking more miserable than before.
    As soon as Davis and I settled onto his big leather sofa, I started in. “You need new textbooks. Those things the teachers are using are not only outdated, they’re falling apart. Not that it matters at this point, anyway. There’s so much religion being taught over there that there’s hardly any time left over for the supposed subject. It’s not history they’re teaching, Brother Davis, it’s Religion 101. Speaking as a future teacher of Purity’s children, I’d like to pull all the religious teachings out of the schoolroom and confine it to Prayer Time.”
    He crinkled his blue eyes and leaned toward me. “Actually, they’re teaching something more like Prophet Solomon 404. But I understand what you’re saying, and I agree with you.”
    “You do?” My entire body began to tingle. I tried to convince myself it had nothing to do with the warm hand he’d placed on my knee.
    Davis leaned even closer. “Oh, yes, Sister Lena. An uneducated compound is an unready compound, don’t you agree?” The hand began sliding up my thigh.
    “I agree.” My voice sounded choked. Soon the hand would enter forbidden territory.
    His voice purred. “Still, Sister Lena, Purity
is
a devout community so I can’t entertain the idea of erasing all religious instruction from the curriculum. But I’ve been reading up on the Catholic system, and I’ve begun to think we here at Purity might emulate some of their techniques. Have an entire class devoted solely to religious principles, but keep it out of the other classrooms.”
    “It sounds fine.” I could barely talk, I was so intent on what his hand was doing. I wished Dusty knew how much this gorgeous man wanted me.
    As Davis’s lips approached my ear, his voice grew huskier. Never had I felt so all a-quiver over educational reforms.
    “Sister Lena, I’m going to need your help if my plan is going to work. I want you to go back to the school tomorrow, take some more notes, then report back to me. I’d do it myself, but, well, I’m in the middle of this big mess with the Circle of Elders. What happened to Sister Cynthia can’t be allowed to happen again. Marrying children is not only illegal, it’s grotesque. I have to prove to the Circle that even they are subservient to the Prophet of Purity.” In contrast to his soft, busy hand, his voice took on a harder edge. “And
I’m
the Prophet of Purity now, not