Longarm took off his new hat and hung it on the back of the chair he pulled out from the table. “Like I said before, I never turn down an invitation from a pair of beautiful ladies.”
Janice leaned closer to him and said quietly, “Then you’ll come to our room this evening after dinner. It’s on the third floor. Number Twelve.”
Longarm looked from sister to sister. When his gaze met Julie’s, she nodded almost imperceptibly. Longarm scraped a thumbnail along the line of his jaw and sat back in the chair. “That’s a mighty nice suggestion, ladies, but I’m afraid I’ll have to think on it.”
“You do that, Custis,” said Janice. “You think on it.”
“Think long and hard,” Julie said.
Longarm swallowed, unsure what to say next or even whether or not he could get his mouth working properly again. He was saved from the necessity of an immediate reply by the hand that fell on his shoulder and the bluff, hearty voice that said, “There you are, Marshal! I was wondering what had happened to you. I see these lovely young ladies have stolen you away from me again.”
Longarm looked up at Senator Miles Padgett. He grinned and said, “They’re sort of what you’d call an irresistible force, Senator.”
“And we poor men are hardly immovable objects.” Padgett reached for one of the empty chairs at the table. “Mind if I join you?”
“By all means, please do,” said Janice. “We can talk about the race.”
Padgett sat down. A waiter appeared, and the senator ordered a bottle of wine.
The meal passed pleasantly, with most of the discussion concerning the race that would be run in a couple of days. While there was a definite edge of rivalry between the senator and the Cassidy sisters, they got along well.
After a while, Longarm asked Padgett where his assistant was. Padgett laughed and said, “He’s still up in the room working. Only Leon would be writing a speech for a session of Congress that won’t even convene for a couple of months yet!”
“Sounds like another dedicated federal employee,” Longarm said. “Shoot, I think Billy Vail’d be thrilled if I’d think two days ahead, let alone two months.”
“There’s something to be said for living for the moment,” Janice commented. “Wouldn’t you say so, Julie?”
“Oh, definitely. The pleasures of the moment shouldn’t be underestimated. We don’t have any way of knowing what tomorrow’s going to bring.”
Longarm wasn’t in much of a mood for philosophy. He was more interested in the cups of coffee and the decanter of brandy that the waiter brought to the table to finish up the meal.
The Cassidy sisters excused themselves, Janice saying, “We’ll leave you men here to smoke cigars and tell bawdy stories.”
“We’re in the middle of a public dining room, my dear,” Padgett said as he and Longarm stood up. “It wouldn’t be very proper for the marshal and me to tell bawdy stories in such a place, now would it?”
“All right,” Janice said with her dazzling smile. “You can just think about them instead.”
Longarm knew what he was thinking about: He was remembering the invitation to join Janice and Julie in their room that evening. As if to reinforce that image in his mind, Julie paused beside him as the sisters left the table. “Don’t forget what we were talking about earlier,” she said softly to him.
“Not very likely, ma’am,” Longarm assured her.
When the Cassidy sisters were gone and Longarm and Padgett had settled back down in their seats to smoke and finish off the brandy, the senator shifted his cigar from one side of his mouth to the other and said, “What was that about?”
“What was what about?” Longarm asked blandly.
“What Julie said about you not forgetting what you talked about earlier.”
Longarm shook his head. “Nothing important. They want to buy me a drink at the clubhouse after the race.”
“Oh.” Padgett seemed rather disappointed. “I thought you might be making some romantic progress with one of the ladies … or perhaps both of them.”
“I don’t need to remind you, Senator, that a gentleman doesn’t discuss such things.”
“Of course not. Are you a Southerner, Marshal Long?”
“I came out to the frontier from West-by-God Virginia so long ago that I consider myself a Westerner more than anything else,” Longarm replied honestly. “I fought in the Late Unpleasantness when I was just a pup, but that was so long ago too that I sort of disremember which side I was on.”
Padgett laughed. “A splendid answer. Have you ever given any consideration to a career in politics?”
Longarm had to suppress a shudder at the very thought. “No offense, Senator—but Lord, no! I can’t even please one boss most of the time, let alone a whole damned constituency of ‘em.”
“Well, if you ever change your mind, look me up. I think you’d make an excellent representative for the great state of Colorado.”
Longarm tried to picture himself in the halls of Congress. He squinted hard, but he couldn’t quite see it. Still, he said politely, “I’ll remember that, Senator.”
Around mid-afternoon, Longarm, Padgett, and Leon Mercer rode back out to the racetrack to watch Cy putting Caesar through another workout. As the big horse galloped easily around the oval track, Padgett watched raptly. The senator seemed to really enjoy being an owner. Longarm wondered how long that would last before Padgett tired of it. That would depend to a certain extent on how well Caesar did, Longarm decided. He couldn’t see Padgett
