Baby at his Door

Glad for the distraction from her thoughts, she said, “No, I’m just passing through. I was heading to Deerfield Beach to stay with my aunt.”

They’d reached the end of his driveway. “Which way?”

“Left.”

Her BMW was still wrapped around a telephone pole, and the wreck looked a lot worse in the harsh light cast by his 4X4 truck. “I’m surprised you were able to walk away.”

“The air bag and seat belt saved my life,” she said and knew it was true.

Amazing she’d survived, she thought as she stared at the twisted pile of metal. She felt as if she’d been given another chance at life, and she decided to make the most of it. If she wanted to marry for love she’d have to find a man worthy of her love—and find out if she was worthy of his love. The ideas she’d been playing with earlier solidified, and she knew a sense of purpose for the first time in her life. And that purpose was going to take her in the opposite direction to where her life had been heading.

The police, ambulance and wrecker all arrived while she watched from the cab of Evan’s truck. She felt a little like a fairy-tale princess who’d just been awakened from a long sleep. Only this princess would travel a harder road to find her knight in shining armor and live happily ever after.

Two

It was bad enough Evan was attracted to a tourist he was sworn to protect and serve but to discover one of his cows had caused the accident was a fitting end to the night. Lydia, who’d yet to produce an ID, didn’t want to press charges. But Evan knew he’d have to cover the car repair and probably a couple of nights’ motel stay.

Though the EMT who examined her feared she might have a concussion, she refused to go to the hospital and stay overnight. Evan knew he couldn’t dump her in a motel.

“She can stay with me tonight,” he volunteered.

The EMT gave him instructions to wake her every two hours and ask her a few questions.

“I don’t want to be an imposition,” Lydia said after the EMT had left.

“You won’t be. I take in boarders in the summer.”

“Really, I’ll be fine in a motel.”

“It’s either my place or the hospital, sweetheart.”

“Listen here, Sheriff. I don’t take orders from anyone.”

“I’m not giving you an order. I’m making a decision for you. You are too impaired due to your injury to decide on your own.”

She glared at him. He’d love to see her rested and at her full fighting strength. “I’m not going to the hospital.”

“Then I’d love to have you as my guest.”

“You’re not going to offer to show me your stick are you?”

Evan laughed. “No, not yet.”

He spared a few minutes to radio his foreman to come get the cow back inside the fence. Then have his men repair the broken section. It had been a long time since he’d met a woman he could spar with verbally. Most of the hometown girls never stood up to him. He caught up with Lydia arguing with the tow-truck driver, Boz Stillman.

“Listen, lady. It’s going to take weeks—two, maybe three, to repair your car. Why don’t you just let me take it to the junkyard and have your insurance carrier reimburse you?” Boz demanded.

“The car is still in working condition. I don’t want it totaled,” Lydia said.

“Do you have insurance?” Evan asked. Her insistence about repairing her car told him she might not be covered. He glanced toward the car and found Boz’s helper unloading a fortune’s worth of designer luggage from the trunk.

“No,” she said, quietly.

“Boz, tow the car in and make the repairs to it.”

“Um…Evan, may I speak with you for a minute?” Lydia asked. Her voice was soft and sweet, not a bit at odds with the woman who’d clung to him when his dogs had been licking her.

“Sure. Give us a minute, Boz.”

Boz walked away mumbling about women with more looks than sense. Lydia shifted her weight from foot to foot and stared off at the red-and-blue flashing lights of the squad car.

“What did you want to discuss?”

“This is kind of hard to say,” Lydia hedged.

“Spit it out,” he said, unable to believe she had trouble saying what was on her mind.

“I don’t have any money right now.”

“Don’t you have credit cards?” She seemed like the type who’d have a wallet full of gold cards.

“No. I don’t like to use them,” she said, staring at the ground.

“Let me pay for the repairs. It’s the least I can do since my cow caused the accident.”

“No. You’re already paying me back by letting me stay at your house tonight. Maybe I can find a job and earn some cash to pay for the repairs. This car looks like it’s going to take some time to fix.”

“I’ll pay Boz for the repairs when he’s finished and then you can send me a check from your relative’s house when you get there.”

“My aunt is out of town. I’m house-sitting for her.”

Of course, he thought. Because he’d been thinking that he could spar with her and enjoy the tinges of arousal racing through his veins until she left, it looked like she was going to have to stay.

“What’s your career?”

“I don’t have one. I do a lot of work with charities.”

Great, no marketable skills. He sighed. She appealed to him, he should be getting farther away from her, but instead…

“I have some filing that needs to be done at the office. You can work for me until your car is ready. I’ll pay for your repairs and give you room and board. Sound good?”

“Don’t you have to get some sort of approval for that?”

Yes, but that was his worry not hers. “Don’t you ever stop arguing?”

She grinned at him, looking like an impish fairy for a brief moment. “No, I don’t.”

“Somehow I suspected that.”

“I really appreciate all you’re doing for me.”

“No problem. Let me get your luggage loaded in the back of the truck and we’ll head home.”

“Don’t you need to stay here?”

“Nah, my deputy needs the experience of writing up paperwork.”

Despite her evasive answers, he wanted her like hell on fire. Damn, he should have let her go to the motel, but he couldn’t let her stay in a lonely motel room. As ridiculous as it seemed, he wanted to watch over her while she slept.

Lydia woke in a dark room. The deep and steady sound of someone else’s breathing alarmed her. Where was she?

The window was open and the curtain billowed gently in the breeze. There were foreign sounds, cicadas, grasshoppers and the lowing of cows filling the air. Not like Manhattan.

The pillow beneath her head was firm, not the cloud-like softness of her own goose-down pillow. The sheets were cotton, and she seemed to be wearing some sort of sleep shirt with buttons.

She sat up, trying to identify the other person in the room. A familiar scent assailed her. Woodsy and masculine. An aftershave that was familiar to her but not her father’s.

“Lydia? Are you awake?”

The sheriff, Evan. The events of the night rushed back to her. She’d been in a wreck and instead of doing the smart thing and telling the truth, she’d concocted a story to cover herself. And not much of one at that.

For the first time since her father had made public his intention to buy her a husband six months ago she felt free.

She shrugged aside the feelings of melancholy and vulnerability and savored instead her newfound freedom.

The neon glow of the clock on the nightstand said six-fifteen. The second time she’d wakened, she thought. The first time he’d awakened her, and it had been vague and annoying because she was so tired.

This man wanted nothing from her. He didn’t care that she had a large sum of money tied to her. His concern for her safety came from the genuine goodness inside him. He was a tough-looking character, but he had a good heart. She’d noticed that not only in the way he’d dealt with her, but also in how he interacted with the other professionals at the accident scene.

“Yes, Sheriff, I am.”

He made a tsking sound and walked over to the bed. A click and then the bedside light was on. “I thought we agreed you’d call me Evan?”

He looked rumpled and sleepy, and she wanted to open her arms, pull back the covers and invite him to rest his weary body next to hers. Some deep primal instinct made her want to comfort him. “You’re right—Evan.”

“That’s better,” he said, caressing her cheek.

His touch sent shivers of awareness coursing through her veins. The electric pulses were the forerunners of desire, Lydia thought, with no small shock. She’d never felt desire before this evening. Never wanted a man to linger when he caressed or kissed her. She enjoyed the touch and resented its loss when Evan pulled back.

“I’m going to have to head out soon to start the morning chores before going into town. You can take today off and start that job at the office tomorrow. My father will wake you in two hours to make sure you don’t have a concussion.”

He liked to give orders, Lydia realized.

“Yes, sir,” she said, with a tinge of disrespect.

“Does your mouth ever get you into trouble?” he asked.

“Not anything I can’t handle,” she said, feeling flirty from his touch. Would he caress her again if she sat up? Could she tempt him into kissing her?

She sat, letting the top sheet drop to her waist. His gaze skimmed down her body lingering over the curve of her breast before he looked away.

“I’m sure,” he said, walking to the door.

“Evan.”

He glanced back over his shoulder; cloaked as he was in the shadows spilling from the opening doorway, his expression was inscrutable.

“Sorry.”

He crossed back to her, taking her shoulders in his hands, he leaned her back against the pillow. He pulled the sheet up to her neck, and his hands lingered on her body. She wanted to wriggle around and bring his touch closer to the aching parts of her body.

“Don’t tease me, Lydia. I’ll take what you’re offering and give you back passion like you’ve never found before.”

“I wasn’t teasing.”

“What were you doing?”

“I don’t know. But your touch…”

“Yes?”

“Your touch is like the sweetest imported chocolate I’ve ever had. One that I savored for months, coming back time and again for a tiny lick. I wanted one more lick.”

“Not right now,” he said.

“No, not right now,” she agreed.

He walked to the door again. Just as he stepped into the hallway, she leaned up on her elbow. “Evan, I don’t think I’ll be satisfied with just one lick.”

“Neither will I,” he said and disappeared.

“There’s a woman in the house.”

Evan didn’t look up from putting his tack away. “Yes, Dad, there is.”

“Why?” Payne asked.

“She had a wreck last night avoiding one of our cows.” Evan closed the tack-room door and started up toward the house. His father fell into step beside him. Evan watched the old man from the corner of his eye. He wondered if Payne ever got lonely living out here with just Evan and ranch hands for company.

“We’ve got insurance,” Payne said, interrupting his thoughts.

Evan nodded. “She has a head injury.”

“Concussion?” Payne asked as they entered the kitchen. Both men stopped to kick off their boots. One of Evan’s mother’s lingering edicts. No dirty boots in the house. She’d been dead for over twenty years, but they still wouldn’t track muck into her kitchen.

“I don’t think so. But we couldn’t be sure.”

“That’s good. When’s she leaving?”

“She’s broke. I’m going to put her to work at the sheriff’s office until she has enough money to pay off her car.”

“Do you know what you’re doing, son?”

Evan nodded.

“She looks a little like Shanna.”

“I know.”

“See that you remember that.”

Evan started breakfast trying to forget what his father’s words meant.

Shanna had been spoiled, and though she’d loved him at school, his hometown had been too much for her. She’d begged him to move back to D.C. with her. To go back to working with the FBI when it became apparent that ranch life wasn’t what she’d envisioned. But he hadn’t loved her enough to leave his family and his home. Nor had she.

He’d been a mess when Shanna had left him for the bright lights of D.C. But Evan had learned that lesson. He didn’t need a reminder. Fooling around with Lydia was all he had in mind. And that was more dreaming than anything else. If she stayed here, there were Payne and a dozen ranch hands to act as chaperones.

The two Powell men sat down to a cold cereal breakfast without speaking. The silence was comfortable to them and they both enjoyed it for their own reasons.

The phone interrupted breakfast, and Payne, closest to the wall unit, reached out his long arm to answer it. He nodded to Evan. Evan took the call in the other room.

“What’s up, Hobbs?”

“I ran the description of the car and the lady last night and nothing came up.”

“Okay, we’ll look into it when I come down this afternoon.”

Lydia passed by the doorway as Evan hung up the phone. “Lydia?”

“Yes?” she said.

He saw that the lights last night hadn’t fooled him, she was even more beautiful in the pure light of day. Her icy blond hair was pulled into a chignon. He knew it wasn’t a bun because his mother had explained women’s hairstyles to him when he was a boy.

“We couldn’t find your name in the computer last night to match to the car. I’m going to need you to write down the spelling.”

She hesitated a second before she looked away. “Okay.”

“Is this going to be a problem?”

Her face was transparent and her eyes, which were a deep sapphire this morning, wouldn’t meet his. She wore a stylish sundress with thin straps and a short skirt. She had knockout legs. He longed to feel them wrapped around his hips.

Dammit, get your mind back to business. The wound on her forehead had disappeared. She had a good hand with makeup, he thought.

“No. It’s just that well…the car isn’t registered in my name.” She was lying to him. And she wasn’t very good at it.

“You know we can find out who you are from the vehicle identification number, right?”

“Really?”

He nodded.

She moved closer to him. Her expensive perfume surrounded him, and he could think of nothing but searching her body to find out where she’d dabbed it. “Will you take my word for it that I haven’t done anything illegal and the car really is mine?”

She had innocent eyes; he didn’t think she’d done anything illegal. There was something about the eyes of a criminal that you never forgot. “Maybe.”

“Maybe? What would it take to make that a yes?” she asked, moving a breath closer and running her finger along his jaw.

“More than a lick,” he said stepping away. Damn, he liked flirting with a sassy woman. He hadn’t realized how much he missed it until this very moment. If he stayed in the room with her alone for a few more seconds he was going to forget his good sense and kiss her. Take those perfectly painted lips beneath his own and not come up for air until she forgot about the stories she was trying to tell him.

“Well that’s all I’ve got to offer right now,” she said.

“Let’s go have some breakfast and you can meet my dad. You can tell me the details of why you’re using an assumed name on the way into town.”

He followed her down the hall to the silence of the kitchen, watching her hips sway with each step and feeling arousal tingle along his spine and groin. He wanted her, and she had to know. He’d always been transparent when he was in lust.

He was once again in the crossfire that had cut him down before. A lying woman he wanted more than his next breath or his job. He’d chosen poorly the first time. He wouldn’t again.

Three

Staying in the small town of Placid Springs, Florida, was going to be an experience. To call it a town was being generous. The one main street possessed a flashing caution signal, and there wasn’t a department store to be found.

She’d come into the office with Evan because she couldn’t stand being alone with her thoughts. The sheriff’s office was besieged by well-wishers and curiosity seekers for a good part of the afternoon while she was there. Every person in the small town knew each other. Apparently she was the first person to hit a light pole while avoiding a cow.

“Most people just stop, ma’am. The cows rarely ram ya’,” one old-timer told her.

She was between a rock and a hard place. Evan embodied all of the qualities she’d found lacking in the men she’d dated. And after meeting the kind older gentleman that was Evan’s father, she doubted Evan would understand how demanding a father could be.

The mechanic had called; it was going to take two weeks for the parts needed to repair her car to come in. She wished Aunt Gracie was home so she could wire her some money. No, she didn’t, she wanted to do this on her own.

Say it again, she thought, maybe you’ll begin to believe it.

“We still can’t find your name in our computers.”

Lydia flinched and stared up into the sheriff’s frozen gray eyes. She’d tried to think of how to get around having her father find out where she was while still assuaging the local law-enforcement needs. “I…”

“Yes?” he drawled.

She buried her face in her hands. Damn, she wasn’t a good liar, never had been.

The warm hand on her shoulder told her Evan had moved. Tingles spread down from her shoulder, for a moment his touch made her feel safe and secure. Tell me your secrets.

She’d made a second chance for herself, and only she could determine if it would be a life made of lies or truth. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at him. The sexy small-town sheriff. “My name’s not going to be in your computer.”

His eyes narrowed, but his tone was calm. “Why not?”

“Because I haven’t given you my real one.”

“Why not?”

“I’m hiding and I’m not ready to be found yet.”

“From whom?”

“I’d rather not say right now.”

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, oh.”

Lydia didn’t want to lie. Instead she batted her eyelashes and brushed her tongue across her bottom lip. His eyes tracked the movement like a spy satellite tracking fleet movements. She leaned forward and shrugged her shoulders until the V of her blouse dipped lower.

“Honey…”

“Yes,” she said, trying to sound sultry.

“Even if I take you up on your invitation, I’m still going to want answers.”

If he took her up on her invitation, she’d go down fast. One fiancé hadn’t given her enough experience to handle this man and his earthy sensuality.

“I wasn’t issuing an invitation per se.”

“What were you doing?”

“Distracting you.”

“It almost worked.”

“What would it take to be successful?”

He leaned down until his breath brushed her face and she could see the flecks of sapphire in his gray eyes. She wanted to scoot away from him. Every survival instinct she had screamed for her to retreat, but this was the new Lydia and she wasn’t backing up.

“More than lust, less than love.”

His words cut through her. All men wanted less than love. “I’m not any good at lust.”

“Hell, honey, you were doing just fine.”

She shrugged.

“Ready to tell me more?”

“Not now. Can I have a reprieve?”

He nodded. “Until tonight.”

“Agreed, tonight. Where will I be working?”

“Come on. I’ll show you.”

She followed him down the hall, noticing the fit of his uniform pants was close to illegal. He had a nice butt. She wondered if his flesh would be rock-hard, like the muscles of his naked chest had been last night. Her fingers tingled with the need to caress him again. Though this time with intent and purpose.

“Your desk will be here,” he gestured to a battered model covered in manila folders and sloppily stacked papers.

The real world was a messy one, she realized. “I don’t think I’ll be here long enough to get through all of this paperwork.”

“It looks worse than it is.”

“That’s what you said about the dogs.”

He gave her a sympathetic look. Silence grew between them. She should stop looking at his mouth and wondering how well he kissed—spectacularly, if the darkly arousing secrets in his eyes were any indication. He had firm-looking lips. Kind of went with the rest of his hard body. She wondered what his mouth would feel like on hers.

Would he kiss with restraint as her fiancé had? Or with passion?

But he was out of her league. More than lust and less than love was not what she was looking for from a man.

“Penny for your thoughts?” he said.

Darn it. What was she going to say? The old Lydia had a stock of ditzy answers that made everyone around her think she was a shallow socialite. But last night she’d had a blinding realization that life held more for her than an arranged marriage and it was up to her to find it. It was time to leave the ditz behind.

“I was thinking about you,” she said, before her courage could desert her.

“What about me?” he asked, taking a step closer. The sounds of the common room just outside this little office cubicle suddenly seemed a world away. His shoulders blocked the entrance, nearly spanning it.

He was a big man, she thought. Big and strong and honest as the day is long. Though she longed to feel his arms around her, she knew she never would. This was a man who would not tolerate lies, especially from someone he’d been intimate with. That made her a little sad.

The thought shocked her because she hadn’t realized how much she wanted him until that moment. Lust was a new emotion to her, and she wasn’t sure she liked it.

“Lydia?”

She glanced up, meeting his icy gaze. She should hedge and lie. No, she thought fiercely. Not about this, not about the feelings he evoked in her. She’d stick to the truth about everything except her identity.

“What were you thinking?” he queried again.

Taking a deep breath she told him the truth for the first time since they met. “I was wondering what your mouth would feel like on my own. And then I remembered lust not love.”

He froze. Obviously not expecting honesty from someone who was feeding him half lies the way a con man sells security. He cocked his head to the side and stepped forward, moving with surety and grace. No tentative steps such as she would have used.

She felt the warmth of his body before he came close enough for his chest to brush her breasts. She tilted her head to look up at him. His silver-gray eyes were narrowed and those firm hard lips were parted.

She felt the exhalation of his breath as he leaned forward. Smelled the coffee he’d drunk earlier while she’d been on the phone. Closing her eyes she let her senses absorb every sensation of the moment.

“Lydia?” he asked, his voice a husky rasp.

She opened her eyes and saw in his gaze intent. Though he didn’t speak, she knew he’d wondered what it would be like to kiss her. Her, a woman with no money or power tied to her. Just an average woman. Her heartbeat sped up and she lifted her hands to his shoulders.

The cotton of his uniform, starched to perfection, was a new texture. She slid her fingers across the fabric, feeling the strength of the man before her. This wasn’t a man who’d allow himself to be purchased.

This was a man who lived life by his own rules. And as his head lowered slowly toward hers, she realized this was a man who could teach her more of life than just the passionate side she’d never experienced. By example he could teach her how to carve her own niche in the world.

She stood on her toes to reach his lips as they descended. Losing her balance, she fell forward, her breasts brushing his chest. Her nipples tightened and her blood seemed heavier as it flowed through her veins.

He angled his head, she closed her eyes.