from Sam’s nose and glared down at him.
Sam swallowed hard. He didn’t blame the guy for being angry, but the look on his face was more than anger. The guy was furious.
“Sorry, mister,” Sam began, then stopped short when he realized the person confronting him was a woman. And not an ordinary woman. This one had a rifle resting in the crook of her elbow and looked ready to use it.
He did a double take and took another step backward. He couldn’t help himself. Up close the woman looked interesting, if dangerous. She was dressed in a well-washed blue cotton shirt and tight worn jeans. Long trim legs were encased in soft leather boots that, like the ranch behind her, had seen better days. From her boots to her gold windblown hair, she was all woman. A woman with sparkling green eyes that would have reminded him of green meadows in springtime if she hadn’t been so angry. Right now, her eyes looked like twin tornadoes.
Her eyes widened when she finally focused on the infant carrier in his arms. She let loose with the barrage of questions he’d known were coming. “What in heaven’s name were you thinking? How could you drive so irresponsibly with a baby in the car?” Before he could answer, she went on, “Is the baby all right? You’re lucky the two of you weren’t killed!”
“I didn’t know she was there,” Sam protested when the woman stopped to catch her breath. He straightened his back and attempted a smile. What was he apologizing for? After all, he was innocent. “That is, I didn’t know she was there until I heard her cry. Her crying startled me and made me lose control of the car.”
Behind him, the last wooden support of the water tower fell with a thud, and the last of the water it had contained drained out like a creek that had broken through its banks.
Sam and the woman on the horse surveyed the scene in silence. He was trying to think of something to say when she spoke for him. “Great driving,” she finally said with a look of disgust.
Sam had intended to try to charm his way through the confrontation, but it was obviously no use. The lady was mad as hell at the destruction of her property. He looked back over his shoulder at the muddy tire skids, the broken fence, the pile of wood and corrugated tin that had been a water tower. Considering the amount of devastation he’d caused, he couldn’t blame her. He hoped she had no thoughts of using the gun she held. “Don’t worry. I’ll pay for the damages.”
“You didn’t know the baby was there?” she echoed, ignoring his offer. Her eyes narrowed, and she studied him closely. Close enough to make him shiver under his soaked clothing, even though the sun was shining. “Been drinking?”
“No way!” Sam answered, juggling the carrier so that Annie wouldn’t think he’d forgotten her. “The God’s honest truth is that my ex-wife put the baby in the back seat of my car without telling me.”
“Try again,” his inquisitor said dryly. “Sounds like a custody argument to me. Are you sure you didn’t take the baby when your ex wasn’t looking?”
Sam was insulted. He’d been called a lot of things, but never anything as bad as this. “Good Lord! Do I look like a kidnapper?”
When the woman raised an eyebrow, Sam felt like a fool. She was right. He might not look like a kidnapper, but he did look foolish.
Between the damaged SUV, his own wet and muddy condition, the baby in the carrier and the woman on horseback holding a gun, things were beginning to look like a TV sitcom. Only he didn’t feel like laughing.
“It’s the truth. When I stopped to pick up my belongings at my ex’s request, Paige must have put the baby carrier with Annie into the car. I swear, this came as a complete surprise.”
The rider’s raised eyebrows suggested her disbelief, but he was beyond caring. It was beginning to look as if this mishap could wind up as a case of life or death. Or jail.
He was ready to admit that in his case truth was stranger than fiction. He might be innocent of kidnapping, but he sure hoped smashing a fence and a water tower weren’t shooting offenses around here.
Now that she’d cooled down, Laura had to bite her lip to smother a laugh. The man’s story was too ridiculous to be a fabrication, but it didn’t get him off the hook. The damage he’d caused couldn’t have come at a worse time. She silently surveyed the destruction. Repairing the fence and putting up a new water tower would set her back months if he didn’t have the funds to do the job. She saw hundreds of dollars, maybe thousands, in repairs facing her. Money she didn’t have and wasn’t likely to borrow in time to prevent the loss of her herd, small though it was.
As for the baby smiling at her from the infant seat, she definitely had her father’s coloring and, in any case, was too cute to ignore. From the way things looked, she was in need of some tender loving care.
Laura studied the baby’s father. She’d been around men long enough to sense he was a man’s man, even if he didn’t know how to drive. He was larger than life, handsome, tall and lithe. A brown-and-white shirt was stretched taut across his chest. Long legs were encased in stone-washed jeans and ended in brown leather boots. His clear chocolate-brown eyes, so like the baby’s, met hers in a way that made her all too aware of him. So what if his glance and the muscular chest showing under his wet shirt warmed her middle? She had more important things to think about than a sexy man.
Keeping her mind on saving the ranch from being sold from under her was her number-one priority, and he wasn’t helping.
She smothered a sigh. Whatever the outcome of his unexpected arrival, the stranger was someone she wouldn’t easily forget after he was gone. As for the baby…well, she couldn’t afford to dwell on her, either.
“Who are you, and where did you think you were going?”
“The name is Sam Harrison,” he answered. “I’m a photojournalist. Actually I was on my way to photograph the New Horizons Spa when I managed to get lost.” He gestured to the sodden road map lying in the mud at his feet. “According to the map the car-rental agency gave me, the spa should have been somewhere around here.”
It wasn’t the first time some tenderfoot had gotten lost on his way to the spa. She was used to strangers driving up to her door expecting a glamorous health spa instead of a run-down sheep ranch. But it was the first time anyone had managed to trash her property in the process. Frowning, she swallowed an angry retort and gazed at the unhappy culprit. “You took the wrong turn at the crossroads about two miles back.”
The baby cried again. Sam unbuckled the infant carrier, took the baby in his arms and tried to soothe her. To his chagrin, her bottom was damper than the tears that lingered in the corner of her eyes. He felt like a heel. No wonder the poor kid had been crying her heart out for attention. What kind of father did that make him?
“What do you intend to do now?” the rider asked.
“Beats me.” He glanced at the busted SUV and ran his fingers through the shock of hair that fell over his forehead. “Outside of calling the rental agency, I haven’t a clue.”
“Try.” She gestured to the fallen water tower, now a limp mass of corrugated tin, and the pieces of fencing scattered over the road. “And while you’re thinking, don’t forget to figure out how you’re going to pay for the damage you caused. Without a fence, my livestock can wander out onto the road. That is, if they don’t die of thirst first.”
That caught Sam’s attention. “Good Lord! You can’t