not taking your medication,” Ben said abruptly.
Jack stepped back as Skyler sighed. What was he doing? Coming on to his captain’s sister right in front of him? Not even he was that crazy. He began packing his supplies.
“The doctor says I don’t need medication,” Skyler said to her brother, shaking off his touch. “I haven’t fainted since last fall when you and Steve were called to that four-alarm fire in Monroe.”
Ben tunneled his hand through his hair. “I can’t believe you climbed that tree. You’re delicate and—”
“Delicate?” Skyler rolled her eyes, then slid off the stretcher, straightening her sundress. “Please.”
“Says the woman I just rescued from a fifty-foot tree branch.”
Skyler stuck out her tongue at her brother. “You didn’t rescue me. Jack did.” She smiled brightly at him.
While Ben scowled, Jack’s groin tightened. Mon Dieu, she was tempting…
Steve strode toward them with an orange-colored cat tucked beneath one arm.
…as long as no hotheaded siblings are hanging around.
“Fluffy,” Steve said. “Safe and sound.”
Ben sighed. “Return him to Roland, then let’s get this equipment loaded. Another Skyler emergency appears to be over.”
Skyler glared at him, and Steve saluted, jostling Fluffy so she hissed. “Yes, sir, Captain, sir.”
“Move it, Lieutenant,” Ben said to his brother, not looking at all amused.
Sensing this was an old argument about responsibility—and one Jack had seen aimed in his direction by his grandparents more times than he’d like to recall—he turned his attention to Skyler.
Just in time to see her strolling away.
When the crowd of curious bystanders advanced on her, she swung around and headed toward the front of the ambulance. Jack followed, catching up to her as she reached the tree she’d climbed.
“Where the hell are my shoes?”
“What do they look like?” Jack asked.
She whirled as if startled, then she swept out her hands, cocking one hip. “Do you see a big selection of shoes? I’ll bet if you spot a pair, they’re mine.” She turned around, muttering under her breath about men and their general lack of sense/usefulness/reason for living.
Beautiful, tiny, funny, delicate—he had to agree with Ben there, at least in the looks department—independent and sassy. Laissez les bon temps rouler. Let the good times roll.
He trailed behind her as she walked around the tree. When he spied a pair of bright orange heeled sandals, he scooped them up. “Yours, ’tite fille?” he asked, smiling as he held them out to her.
“Thanks.” She took the shoes, then slid her feet into them. Straightening, she smiled. The anger was gone from her eyes, replaced by a light full of intelligence and charm. “Ben said you were Cajun. I’m afraid I don’t know much French. You’ll have to translate.”
“Cajun French is a bit different than pure French, anyway.” He stepped closer to her. As her head dropped back to meet his gaze, he wondered about the differences in their heights. His size was usually a professional advantage, but women in his past had been both intrigued and intimidated by it.
Skyler swayed on her feet.
Jack grabbed her waist. “Skyler? Do you feel faint?” He pressed his fingers to the side of her neck to find her pulse racing. He was coming on to her, and she was really sick. Damn. He’d worked hard to become a firefighter and paramedic. He had five years of experience. What had he missed?
She blinked, then stepped back. “I’m fine. Just a bit wobbly in these shoes.”
He scowled. “You need to see a doctor.”
“You were translating,” she said.
Not wanting to press on a subject that was really none of his business, Jack let the subject go for the moment. “’Tite fille means little girl.” Oops. Before she could do more than frown, he added, “Maybe you’d like ’tite femme better. It means little—” Woman. Big oops. “Uh, I mean, ’tite ange. Little angel.”
She pursed her lips. “That’s kind of nice.”
The hunger he’d banked surged through his body again. Why was he so drawn to her? His voice dropped an octave. “It suits you.”
Laughing, she walked across the grass. “I don’t know about that.”
They would be back under the careful watch of her brothers in a matter of moments. Jack knew he didn’t have much time. “Maybe we could get together for a drink or dinner sometime.”
She stopped, looking up at him. “I don’t date.”
He frowned. Why wouldn’t a woman like her date?
She patted his arm as if she understood his confusion. “Sorry. There’s just too much darn bloodshed.”
2
BLOODSHED WAS AGAIN on Skyler’s mind the next day as she unpacked stock in her storeroom. “They shorted me on leather teddies and leopard-print camisoles again,” she muttered.
Bud’s Leather Palace— “the finest quality, direct from Austin”—was in big trouble.
The bell on the front door jangled before Skyler could work herself into a real lather over the mistake. Fiona.
She rushed from the storeroom, locking the door behind her. She’d only hired her assistant a month ago, and she wasn’t quite ready to trust her with her most intimate—okay, only—secret.
In these A.M.—After Madonna—times, she knew keeping her lingerie inventory secret was a bit archaic, but Baxter’s town council was not known for their progression. When she’d proposed a lingerie shop two years ago, the idea had been promptly trounced by the committee, and Mayor Collins, though not much of a traditionalist himself, had bowed quietly to their wishes. Personally, she thought First Lady Collins would look terrific in one of her hot pink bustiers, but she hadn’t dared to voice that idea to the people who handed out the business licenses, so, on impulse, Animal Instincts had become Kimball Fashions, and The Secret had been born.
The Secret was held in confidence by a small part of the town—the progressive female part. Skyler knew she needed to bring Fiona into the fold soon. Showing her this month’s invoice from Bud’s Leather Palace would probably be a good start.
Upon reaching the main showroom of the shop, she saw Fiona Jingle hanging a new stock of mauve dresses on the racks. “Good morning,” Fiona said briskly. “I decided to jump right in restocking the sale items.”
The contrast of the flowery dresses Fiona held and Fiona—think young Elvira—immediately improved Skyler’s
