“Get Out!” Caelan caught hold of the man’s shoulder and spun him toward the kitchen door.
Smith regained his footing with the quickness of a man who was no stranger to battle. His back to the door, he nodded at Rachel. “What? Along with renting from her, are you her watchdog as well?”
“Caelan. No!” Rachel went to step between them, but it was too late.
Caelan hit Smith with such force that both men exploded out the doorway, taking the shattered remains of the dilapidated screen door with them down the steps into the yard. Both rolled as soon as they hit the ground. Smith drew back to gut punch Caelan as soon as they reached their feet.
Tempted to laugh at the man’s useless effort, Caelan retaliated with a well-placed shot to Smith’s jaw. The cracking sound and splatter of blood that flew out of the devil’s mouth filled him with a completeness he relished.
“Stop it!” Rachel shouted from the doorway, her hands clenched to her chest. “Stop it, I say!”
Caelan ignored her. He wasn’t about to stop until Smith’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he stopped breathing.
“If you two are going to act like hormone crazed tomcats, then I’m going to treat you like hormone crazed tomcats!” she shouted as she charged over to the garden hose.
A blast of icy cold well water hit Caelan full in the face, stinging like hundreds of needles shot from hundreds of tiny bows. “Damn it, Rachel!”
“If you two start toward each other again, I’m opening fire again,” she threatened while aiming the nozzle at them, slowly sweeping it back and forth as if she couldn’t decide who to drown first. “I’ve had enough of this idiocy. Mr. Smith, you go to the end of the driveway. Caelan, you go to your apartment. I don’t want to hear one more word out of either of you. Now move it.” Her purple eyes flashed with rage, making her even more beautiful and desirable.
“But Rachel…” Caelan took a step toward her, and she shot him full in the face. “Damn it, woman!”
“I warned you. Now go!”
Smith snickered, so she swung on him and blasted him in the face as well. “I’ve got enough water pressure to shoot your ass down the driveway. Now start walking. I’ve had enough!”
Coughing, as he wiped the water out of his eyes, Smith raised his hands in defeat and started trotting down the driveway. He paused after just a few yards and turned as though tempted to speak.
Rachel yanked more hose off the rack and started toward him. “Don’t think I can’t hit you from here.”
Hands still raised in surrender, he turned and headed down the driveway at a more leisurely pace.
Caelan cursed under his breath as the gravel crunching under his boots warned Rachel of his approach.
She swung and blinded him with another blast of water, then bolted into the house and locked the door behind her.
As soon as he could see, he dragged himself up onto the porch and tried the knob even though he knew it would be locked. He banged on the door. “Rachel, lass. Please. Let me in so we can talk. I…I can explain.”
Nothing answered him but silence.
He turned and leaned back against the door and slid downward until he was sitting on the porch. “Rachel! Please let me in. We need to talk, lass. More than ye could ever know.”
She kicked the door hard, rattling it against him. “You’re making me crazy! Go home and leave me alone. I don’t have time for this kind of drama. I don’t need you to screw up my life any more than it already is. Just leave me alone!”
She kicked the door again, then her stomping slowly faded as she raged her way deeper into the house.
Caelan dropped his head into his hands and propped his elbows on his knees. After a deep sigh that did nothing to ease the ache in his heart, he wearily shook his head. “I canna leave ye, lass. I love ye.”
CHAPTER 8
“Hawk, this is the bundle, but be careful. There’s only one set of bands left on this end,” said the voice over the radio, confirming what Rachel had already suspected about the bundle of steel she was preparing to pick up with her crane. She adjusted the spreader beam and slowly set the magnets on it. With patience honed over hours of overtime, she waited for the familiar tug that let her know the magnets had fully engaged with the steel so when she lifted the load, the bundle wouldn’t crash to the floor.
“Hey, Hawk! You got your cell phone up there?” squawked her supervisor’s voice over the radio. His frazzled nerves heightened the pitch of his cracking tone.
“Yeah, it’s up here. But I have it shut off. Why?” She rolled her eyes, knowing the answer before she’d even asked the question. Caelan had been calling her since early this morning, and she’d finally shut it off to silence him.
She carefully tapped the joystick with her palm and deftly maneuvered the bundle of steel down into the railcar, releasing it without so much as a soft thump as it landed on the awaiting dunnage. She was one of the best crane operators at the mill andhad earned the nicknameHawkfor more than just a shortened version of her last name.
“Some guy keeps calling security,” her supervisor continued. “He wants you to call him back on your next break. Says it’s really important that he get in touch with you. Said it was some kind of emergency.” From the background sounds, Joel was in security now, and chances were, he had answered the phone and talked to whoever had called.
