Staring at my computer searching for inspiration, I felt a presence in the room and sighed, Heyes. I hadn't even written a story that hurt the Kid since his last visit, besides he'd promised to leave me alone until December. Surely he could find someone else to bother.
I turned to give the dark eyed menace a piece of my mind, only to be greeted by a smiling Kid Curry, dressed in his suit, minus the jacket, but wearing his waistcoat and a nicely creased white shirt with partially rolled up sleeves. His hair just the perfect amount of ruffled and damn his eyes are so blue. I swallowed hard, Kiara, my cat lifted her head to look at him and he gently tickled her ears, earning a purr. He moved away and she blinked at him sleepily still purring. Yes, all the females in this house are smitten. I was very glad my husband was out, as the dopey, starstruck smile that was surely plastered on my face as I stared at my favourite fantasy gunslinger, speechless, a rarity for me, would have been hard to explain to the man I've sworn to be faithful to.
The Kid sat down on the couch next to me, and the musky scent of handsome cowboy, leather, whiskey and the lingering appealing aroma of sandalwood soap, assailed my nostrils, making me feel more than a little light-headed and close to passing out. "I hope you don't mind me visiting with you darlin' but seeing as Heyes is busy with somethin' he's callin' the K's, I thought it'd be a good time to come talk to you."
Swallowing hard my heart thudding like a drum in my ears, and my breath catching at both his voice and the words, despite knowing well enough I was being played, I said as calmly as I could, which judging by the way the Kid's smile shifted slightly to smug wasn't very. "You're always welcome to visit, you know that."
His face turned serious as he said. "Well I'm here for a favour..." I sighed, he was going to ask me not to hurt him in my next story, and here and now hurting him was the last thing on my mind. "Heyes is fussin' and frettin' up a storm and he's keepin' me awake...'cos he ain't real used to bein' ignored."
I blew out a deep breath and asked, "What's the favour?"
"Just that next story you write, you follow one of his rules...maybe two if its not too much of a stretch."
Slightly dazed I nodded my agreement and answered breathlessly, "I think I can manage that."
His lips quirked back into a smile, as he leant in close to me to kiss me gently on the cheek before he moved away quickly to stand in the middle of the room as he said. "Thank you Ma'am. I'm much obliged."
With that he was gone, leaving just the memory of bright blue eyes,and a lingering scent of nineteenth century cowboy in the air. I searched frantically under the pile of paper I'd set aside to be burned, for the carelessly discarded sheet titled. "Hannibal Heyes' Rules for Writing." With a puff of relief I retrieved it and settling back began to read. I mean when I'm asked so nicely it'd just be rude to refuse!