nicest thing they said was that she was a bit odd. The worst, that she was a practicing witch—one you didn’t want to cross lest she cast a spell on you. The latter had come from Mrs. Mollenkopf herself the other day. He’d overheard her in the post office when he’d gone to buy a book of stamps.
He supposed Penelope Moon did look the part, what with her long, silky black hair and big black eyes and pale skin. But rather than see her as odd, he preferred to think of her as real. As real as anyone he’d met since his late wife.
“Leo.”
Aidan blinked, realizing Penelope had said something. “Pardon me?”
“Your sun sign. You’re a Leo, right?”
He cracked a grin. He should have known what she’d meant straight off. She’d been asking him to give her his birth date since the first day they met. When he’d refused, she’d taken to trying to guess his sign.
Just as he always did, he shook his head. “Not a Leo.”
Her soft mouth turned down into a frown that merely enhanced her natural beauty. She didn’t have on even a touch of lipstick, but her lips were still the deep, ripe color of strawberries in season. He’d bet she didn’t wear mascara, either, even though her lashes were thick and sweeping, and vividly outlined her dark, dark eyes.
She cocked her head as she looked at him looking at her. “If I got your sun sign right, would you admit it?”
He slowly shook his head. “No.”
“Taurus.”
He chuckled. “No.”
He didn’t want to think about the truth behind his hesitancy. The fact was, he couldn’t give her his real birth date for fear of what might happen in the future. And he didn’t want to lie to her either.
Better to keep things light between them.
He watched her touch a leather band holding a charm—one he couldn’t make out—around her slim wrist.
“So, you said there was a reason you came in here?” she said quietly. Too quietly.
Aidan blinked and looked up into her fathomless eyes. “Um, yes. I wondered why I didn’t see you at the Fourth of July planning committee meeting last night.”
She broke the connection of their gazes as she looked down. “Hmm…I don’t know. Maybe because I’m not a member of the planning committee?”
She moved toward the mess of jars all over the floor and bent to continue picking them up.
She was slender. Almost too slender. Easily as tall as he was at five foot eleven, her limbs were long and willowy, almost model-like. Or they would be if she wore more flattering clothes. Instead she leaned toward muted earth-tone dresses that he guessed to be a size or two too big. It was at moments like these, however, when she was bent, forcing the fabric to mold to her body, that he noticed how very curvy she was.
And was reminded of how long it had been since he was with a woman.
“I see,” he said, crouching to help her. “So the meeting conflicted with another committee meeting, maybe?”
She looked at him shyly. “No.”
“Ah. So the reason has to be a man, then.”
Her flush was so complete, so unexpected, that his stomach knotted.
“Um, the answer to that would have to be no, as well.”
Aidan’s chest tightened. Over the past twelve months he’d come to see that this woman had so very much to give…if only she could be encouraged to do so. Her opinions were fresh and unbiased. Her appearance uplifting. Her very presence like a spring breeze.
He hated to watch her go back and forth from her grandmother’s house to her shop, never stopping to talk to anyone, never veering from the well-tread course, never batting an eye when on occasion the town kids would call her the witch that so many of them believed her to be.
He’d thought if he could get her to come out of her shop, upset her normal pattern, force the town to see her for who she really was, he would be doing her—and them—a favor.
And if a small fringe benefit was that he would have an excuse to spend more time around her, he wasn’t going to acknowledge it. Of course, he couldn’t allow himself to get involved with her. Or anyone else for that matter. Not until he could take care of some very important issues on his personal agenda.
She whispered something.
“Pardon me?” he asked.
She blinked at him, seeming horrified. “I didn’t say anything.”
“I could have sworn…” She looked utterly aghast, and he realized that whatever she’d said hadn’t been meant to be heard. He smiled. “Never mind.” He leaned back on his heels and handed her the jars one by one, while she reached up to place them on the counter. “Anyway, the holiday is only a week away and the committee is no closer to agreeing on a theme than they were three months ago. I could really use an ally.” He offered up a grin. “Someone whose vote I could count on. Besides, acting like a member of the community might be a good idea.”
Her eyes narrowed a bit as she continued taking the jars from him. “I’ve been a member of this community my entire life.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
He refused to release his grip on the last jar. She held on to it even as he did. He swore he felt a strange warmth climb up his arm and down into his stomach.
“I know,” she said finally.
Aidan moved his fingers until they were covering hers. Her skin was so soft, so warm and inviting under his. He’d forgotten what it was like to touch a woman in that simple yet intimate way. Forgotten how alive it made him feel.
The bells above the door jingled, shattering the moment. He released the jar. Penelope’s flush deepened as she put it on the counter, then she rose.
“Good morning, Sheriff Parker.”
A jolt of fear shot through Aidan as he got to his feet.
He reminded himself that he had nothing to fear from Sheriff Cole Parker.
At least, not yet…
Chapter Two
If Penelope had felt restless before, Aidan’s brief touch upgraded the emotion to chaos. A heart-stopping awareness that toyed with her body temperature and cut the bottom out of her stomach, made her feel like a stranger to herself.
Oh, she’d always thought Aidan attractive. Very attractive. But she had never before linked herself to him in the same sentence, as in “Aidan and I.” She hadn’t dared.
Now her mind was going a million miles a minute doing just that.
He smiled at her as if he knew what she was thinking, and her pulse leaped.
“I
