nightly routine. She hated that feeling of being afraid. She’d lived it too many times. Seemed just when life was looking up something else came along and rained on her parade.
She hesitated at the front window, one hand on the paper shade ready to drag it down. Her house sat a good fifty yards off the road and there were no streetlights on these old county roads, but the moon was big and bright tonight, giving her a clear view of the road that ran in front of her house.
A Jeep had parked on the shoulder directly in front of her house. With the convertible top removed, she could see that someone was behind the wheel but she couldn’t begin to determine whether the driver was male or female. Definitely wasn’t Terry’s fancy import. Since his keys were at the High Noon, she could safely assume it wasn’t him.
Unless he’d hitched or borrowed a ride from some jerk friend of his.
There was no logical reason for the driver to be stopped in front of her house unless he’d run out of gas. Since the closest convenience store was nearly all the way in town, a long ways from these twisting, winding roads, it wasn’t smart to joyride out here without at least half a tank.
Evidently the guy didn’t mind being seen since a few yards to the right or left of his position and her view would have been blocked by the trees in her yard. Not scary but definitely unsettling.
She didn’t have any binoculars but she could get closer to have a better look and assess the situation. Knowing old man Kingston, he had a P.I. or member of his personal staff watching her, hoping she would make some sort of unfit-mother mistake. She had decided that making his old man happy was the only possible reason Terry was interested in Buddy after all this time. There had to be an agenda.
“Not happening, old man.” He wasn’t getting her son and she wasn’t about to screw up. The thought that Kingston might be behind her banker’s change of heart had crossed her mind. Failing to keep a roof over her son’s head and food on the table might push her firmly into the unfit category.
“Don’t borrow trouble, Laney.”
She slid her cell into her back pocket and tucked the .32 in her waistband. She eased out the back door and made her way to the front of the house using the grapevine trellis and the old well house as cover. The trees and an abandoned tractor that was nearly as old as the house gave her a few points of cover from there. She’d considered having the old tractor hauled off when she first bought the place but she’d decided it gave the yard character. Her five acres had once been part of a huge family farm. It came with all sorts of funky character, like a leaky roof and unlevel floors.
The final tree available to shield her was only about ten yards from the road. She should be able to have a decent view of the interloper from there.
She rushed through the ankle-deep grass until she made her destination. Cutting the grass was something else she needed to find the time and energy to get done. Laney added the chore to her growing mental list.
Crouching behind the tree, she studied the vehicle and its driver. Male. The cowboy hat prevented her from making out his profile or his face.
As if he’d picked up on the thought, he removed his hat and placed it on the passenger seat. He leaned the seat back and appeared to be settling in for the night.
Strange.
He checked the screen of his cell phone and the glow highlighted his face.
Joel Hayden.
What the heck was he doing here?
Before her brain assimilated the best course of action, she pushed to her feet and strode toward him.
When he glanced her way, she demanded an answer. “What’re you doing out here?”
He hopped out of the Jeep. The doors had been removed, leaving nothing between him and making that cocky move.
Her right hand rested on the butt of her Smith and Wesson. She kind of liked this guy, but the truth was he was a stranger and she had to be smart.
“I guess I should’ve knocked on the door and let you know I was here.”
“I guess you should’ve.” A frown nagged at her. “What’re you doing?” How was it that her eyes couldn’t stop surveying him from head to toe? The guy looked even better in the moonlight, but that was no excuse to go stupid.
He shrugged, set those big hands on his lean hips. “I was worried that guy might show up at your house after I kicked him out of the saloon.”
Laney beat back the smile that tickled her lips. She did not know this man or his motives. As much as she wanted to be flattered by his chivalry, she couldn’t ever be a fool again, especially when her son’s safety was at stake. Still, she was flattered.
“That’s very noble of you, Hayden, but your pay ends when you walk out the door of the High Noon.”
“This isn’t about getting paid overtime,” he assured her.
“What’s it about, then?” Her hand still rested on the weapon he could plainly see. “I warned you about those pickup lines. Persistence doesn’t add any points.”
“I have no patience for men like the one who gave you a hard time tonight,” he explained in a firm tone that still reeked of charm. “Maybe I was a little rougher on him than I should have been. I don’t want him taking out his frustration with me on you.”
Wow, that really was sweet. “Nice of you to care, but honestly, you being out here now is kind of strange unless there’s a hidden agenda. I don’t know very many men—actually I don’t know any—who would go so far out of their way just to be nice. So, what’s the hitch?” Her cynicism was showing. That was never attractive.
He took a couple of steps toward her.
Her pulse reacted, but not in fear. She was attracted to this guy and that was dangerous.
You don’t know him, Laney!
“I like you.” He didn’t stop until he was standing right in front of her in the grass that marked her property from the gravel road the state owned. “I don’t have anything else to do and this felt like the right thing.”
Before she could respond with something intelligent, he added, “I can leave if that’s what you want.”
“That’d probably be best.”
She gave him her back and marched toward the house. In those few minutes in the moonlight she understood one very important thing about Hayden. He was trouble.
“Are you certain he won’t come back?”
She hesitated. She shouldn’t have. But he had a legitimate question.
Laney turned to face him. “He might but I doubt it.”
He’d been damned drunk. Terry was probably sleeping it off at some dive motel with a honky-tonk honey who didn’t have any better sense.
“Are you prepared to use that weapon if he does?”
That was none of his business. “If I have to.”
