her eyes in his direction to see if he’d even heard her. Since they had turned his rental car in, at her suggestion, over at Burns’s Service Station and Mini-Mart, the man hadn’t said ten words to her. She’d had to explain to him that Burns’s was also the automobile and moving-van rental place in town. Old Man Burns had believed in diversifying and his two sons, Dwight and Dwayne, were following in his footsteps.
“You won’t need a car,” Penny Sue had told Vic. “You can use either my car or Aunt Lottie’s car while you’re here.”
As she glanced at Lucky’s protector, Penny Sue noted how very tall he was. She was five-four and he stood a good foot taller than she. Without being too obvious, she let her gaze travel over him, from his thick, dark hair, down his proud nose to his wide, hard mouth. Didn’t this man ever smile?
Several times, he had walked a few steps ahead of her, but when he’d realized she couldn’t keep up with his long gait, he’d slowed and got in step with her. As they left the commercial blocks of downtown Alabaster Creek and moved on to the first residential street—Maple Avenue—she began searching for any voters who might be out and about this afternoon. So far, she’d paused to speak to half a dozen people in town, but Maple Avenue seemed deserted, not a person in sight.
“Alabaster Creek is one of the oldest towns in north Alabama,” Penny Sue said, just making conversation, which wasn’t easy with this man. “We were actually a town before Alabama became a state.”
Vic Noble didn’t say a word. With his black vinyl suitcase in hand, he marched alongside her. Tall, dark and silent.
“Most of the houses here on Maple Avenue were built post-War Between the States, but there’s one—see, right up there, the two-story white wooden structure—that was built in 1838. It’s the Rutland house. And would you believe descendants of the family who built the house still live in it today. As a matter of fact, Tommy Rutland is running against me for mayor. His father was once the mayor, but then again so was my father and my grandfather.”
“Hmm…”
Most people found the history of Alabaster Creek interesting, but not this man. What was his problem? Didn’t he know that not keeping up your end of a conversation was considered bad manners?
“You aren’t much of a talker, are you, Mr. Noble?”
“No, ma’am, I’m not.”
He didn’t bother even to look at her, which irritated her no end. This man might be big and macho and terribly attractive in a caveman sort of way, but his dour personality wasn’t the least bit appealing. But perhaps she shouldn’t judge him too harshly. After all, they’d just met and it took some people more time than it did her to warm up to others. Also, there was his profession to consider—he was a bodyguard and a private investigator. Lord only knew what kind of life this man had lived and what sort of cases he’d worked on over the years. It could be that he’d seen too much of the dark side of life. She’d heard that tended to make men somber and introspective.
“I suppose most of your cases are different from this one,” Penny Sue said, hoping that by talking business, she could encourage him to open up a bit.
“Yeah. Very different.”
Aha, he could talk. “Have you ever guarded a dog?”
“No, ma’am, I haven’t. This is a first for me.”
“You’ll like Lucky. He’s precious. Everyone adores him.”
“Not everyone.”
“What? Oh, yes, you’re right. Not everyone. Not the person who shot him.”
“Do you have any idea who that person might be?”
She shook her head. “One of the heirs. But there are eight of us and other than knowing for sure that I didn’t shoot Lucky, I can’t imagine who did. And I shouldn’t have said everyone adores Lucky. I should have said most people do. Even Aunt Dottie, whose cat, Puff, hates Lucky, admits that Lucky is a dear.”
“Ms. Paine, why would your aunt leave twenty-three million dollars to a dog?”
When she stopped on the sidewalk in front of the Kimbrew house, he paused and looked at her for the first time since they’d left Burns’s. Her stomach did a naughty flip-flop when he settled his gaze on her, his pensive hazel-and-blue eyes incredibly sexy. She’d always thought only brown eyes could be referred to as bedroom eyes, but now she knew better.
Penny Sue sighed. “You might as well know before you meet everyone tonight. The Paine family is…well, we’re the town eccentrics. You know, slightly peculiar. Just a bit off center. We tend to do things our own way. And the women in our family are the worst. I suppose that’s why so many Paine women die old maids. It’s not that we don’t want husbands, it’s just that we seem to intimidate most men.
“We’re all considered beauties and we can attract men like bears to honey, but we can’t seem to keep a man once he realizes how independent and opinionated we are. Even Aunt Dottie, who is the sweetest thing, wasn’t able to land a husband. And one of her fiancés turned out to be a swindler who ran off with a large chunk of her money and broke her heart to boot. And then there was my one and only fiancé—he didn’t leave with any of my money, but he did run off with the Baptist preacher’s wife only a couple of weeks before our wedding. And what made it even more of a scandal was the fact the woman was my cousin.
“Valerie’s last name might have been Paine, but she takes after her mother’s side of the family, which means she’s not a true Paine. You’ll meet her tonight. If you’re like most men, you’ll take one look at her and think she’s easy, if you know what I mean. And you’d be right. She gets that from her mother’s side of the family, too. The Paine women are known for their modesty and their ladylike manners. Aunt Lottie and Aunt Dottie, Cousin Eula, Cousin Stacie and—”
He dropped his case to the sidewalk and then grabbed her by the shoulders. For half a second she thought he was going to shake her. He didn’t. The very instant she stopped talking, he released her. But not before every nerve ending in her entire body had gone to full alert. She’d been startled by his abrupt action, but not afraid. His touch had been firm yet gentle and the feel of his large, strong hands had sent a tingling sensation through her whole body.
She gazed up at him, into those stern hazel-blue eyes. “Is something wrong?”
“Ms. Paine, all I asked was why your aunt left her fortune to a dog.”
Penny Sue laughed. “Oh, my, so you did. You’ll have to forgive me, Mr. Noble—by the way, may I call you Vic? I’d like it if you called me Penny Sue. Everyone does. Well, not everyone in the whole world because I don’t know everyone in the whole world, but everyone in Alabaster Creek and—”
He grabbed her shoulders again and this time he did shake her. Once. A very gentle shake, but enough to quiet her. She gazed up at him and smiled. “I was doing it again, wasn’t I? I tend to get off track. It’s another family trait—giving too many details. Aunt Lottie always scolded me for digressing.”
She glanced at his big hands still clutching her shoulders. He released her immediately.
“Do you suppose you could manage to answer my questions in two sentences or less?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. But I could try.”
