"I'll be damned," he whispered, holstering his weapon and quickening his step to follow.
In the gentle radiance of the full moon a most tantalizing apparition greeted him. Marianne Chalmers, clad only in a thin, white cotton shift and slippers, her thick, dark hair flowing like a waterfall to the small of her back, was walking as if she were still asleep.
Correction--she must be sleepwalking. She solemnly strolled from her back door, crossed her box-like yard, and exited through the fence's alley entrance. Crossing the dirt track she proceeded toward the rear entrance of the Victorian-era home that housed the Starling County library.
A little nighttime book shelving? Cody quietly followed ten paces behind the curious figure in white. If Marianne wanted to get ahead on some work projects, he sure wished she would have put some decent clothes on first. The least she could have done was to put on a bathrobe so the peaks of her full breasts weren't so achingly apparent through the sheer material of her gown as she twirled and spun about in the silvery moonlight. Cody momentarily averted his eyes and concentrated hard on trying to help his fellow citizen, not mentally undress her.
Marianne paused at the bottom step of the back stoop. She bent slowly to pick up a hand-sized rock from the soil of a potted plant. Turning it over in her palm, she extricated a small, piece of metal from its underside.
Damn! Why didn't folks ever listen to him? Hiding a key outside of a building just wasn't safe, not even in a town the size of Starling. Too late to do anything about it now, one by one Marianne silently mounted the steps, put the key in the lock, opened the door and stepped inside. Cody quickly followed.
"What the hell does she think she's doing prancing about the library in her nightie at two o'clock in the morning?" He switched on one row of small spotlights lining the back wall for safety's sake, shutting and locking the door behind them.
Marianne weaved in and out of the shelves as graceful as a ballerina, as lissome as a fairy-tale sprite. Cody parked himself at the information desk and closely observed the ghostlike dancer floating among the shelves of her daylight workplace.
"Marianne?" he said, breaking the silence after several minutes. "Can you tell me what on God's green earth you're up to?"
After a lengthy pause, a small, scurrying sound from behind the shelving alerted Cody to her presence.
"What is it, good sir knight?" came a breathy, high-pitched tone that didn't sound at all like the Marianne Chalmers everyone knew and loved. "Pray tell, come hither sire, and repeat thy request. Or canst thou not find thy way through the dark of the woods?"
Cody's eyes widened. Something was definitely wrong with this situation. Marianne could be a bit on the egghead, eccentric, bookworm side, but she had never been caught running around the library half-naked while spouting Shakespearean dialogue before. And did sleepwalkers actually talk while in the middle of a dream? It was a rather interesting phenomenon he had to admit.
But all that was immaterial now. Marianne's safety was more important. Springing from his seat, Cody headed into the shadowy stacks.
A left and a left again and there she stood, perched daintily atop a small footstool, a violet colored veil draped dramatically over her face. She appeared to be fiddling about with a shelf display containing several medieval-themed novels complete with a cone-shaped hat and a child's plastic broadsword.
"So, that's why you came in here." Cody heaved a long sigh. Placing his strong hands on his hips, he relaxed his stance. "You wanted to work some more on your book displays, right? I don't know much about art, but I have to admit they're rather good. Folks from all over the county have been talking about them. They've been checking out and actually reading all kinds of books that they never would have before you came along. But, Marianne, why can't this wait until morning?"
"The morrow?" Her voice rose. Marianne grabbed the pretend sword from the shelf and offered the weapon to him hilt first. "Wilst thou not defend my honor now, good sir knight? Wilst thou leave this lonely maiden lost in the woods forever?"
This is getting a bit too weird. Cody felt a shiver of apprehension tingling down his spine, his palms dampening. Yep, something was definitely wrong here. He rocked back and forth on his boot heels several times, trying to jar the log jam in his brain before reacting too hastily. At length, he cleared his throat and looked steadily into her eyes.
"Uh, yeah ... Um, Marianne? By chance did that witch doctor Dulcie took you to over in Crane give you anything vaguely resembling a wild mushroom?"
"Oh, good sir knight!" Marianne flew off the footstool, flinging herself full force into the surprised sheriff's arms. "I may have been poisoned by a wicked witch. Whilst thou be my protector and save me from all manner of evil?"
Soulful, coffee-colored eyes glistened with unshed tears in her upturned face. Cody was breathless. He inhaled the sweet perfume of her floral cologne followed by the musky fragrance of her own feminine scent. His hungry body greedily feasted on the warmly seductive curves pressed tight against the perpetual ache in his groin and drank in the sexy visage before him. Suddenly hoarse, he cleared his throat.
"Well, I guess you could say that I'm honor bound to protect all who call upon my aid," he said, play-acting along with her in a vain attempt to bring her back to her senses.
"I thank thee, good sir knight. You are indeed a brave and admirable man."
And with that, Marianne gracefully stood on tip-toe and gently pressed her rose petal mouth against Cody's full, unsuspecting lips.
A jolt of electricity immediately passed between the lawman and the librarian, and, in that split second, the sterling Sheriff of Starling County began to quake in his boots. The teasing tremor then traveled along his legs, up his spine, around his ample chest area, and down his arms to rest at the very tips of his fingers, sparkling with delicious anticipation the entire length of its journey. His whole frame fairly tingled with excitement, increasing the tension he felt so much he feared he'd detonate in a mind-bending explosion of ecstasy on the spot.
Who would have ever thought Marianne Librarian could kiss like that? I know I didn't think so before tonight.
Cody sensed he was in a state of shock, but his common sense soon got the better of him. He took a deep breath and slowly backed away, praying the distance would lessen the attraction of Marianne's womanly charms.
"Now look, I'm only doing my job here and--"
"Come!" She grabbed Cody's hand and playfully tapped him on his backside with the sword, leading him toward the west wing of the building. "Let us leave the dark woods and go hither to thy encampment."
Grinning seductively like a centerfold, Marianne tugged a compliant Cody along, halting at last in front of the secluded reading enclosure behind the shorter shelves of the children's section. A sunken rectangular area full of beanbag chairs, large stuffed animals and over-sized pillows, the "pit" was a favorite hang-out for readers of all ages.
"Come, come, let us rest here for the night for soon it will be morrow," Marianne purred.
"Now see here, I've got to get you home before--agh!"
)
