Harmless or not, the guy was a total stranger.
Richard chuckled, and the back window rolled down as well. “We’ll let Emmitt do the talking then.”
Andie’s heart picked up speed as Richard brought the SUV to a complete stop on the snowy road, allowing her to get a better look at their visitor. He really did look like the model cowboy. Trusty hat, cowboy boots, and a leather coat with a corduroy collar.
She could almost hear the finale to Rossini’s William Tell Overture—a piece used as the theme song for The Lone Ranger—playing on cue. Something she knew thanks to Maverick’s fascination with the show.
Yet as the stranger closed the distance with slower, less-threatening strides, Andie noticed some less-generic details. Like the angular definition of his masculine jaw. The short, rather attractive scruff that accented the chiseled shape of that jaw. And the narrowed set of his dark eyes, shadowed by a furrowed brow and a sense of…anger.
Forget the Lone Ranger, he looked more like the guy on the Stetson Cologne billboard they passed on the freeway.
Andie pressed a hand over her pounding heart as she half wondered if he’d pull out a gun and shoot the three of them.
“What’s up, man?” came Emmitt from the back seat.
The horse reared up, and the cowboy pulled his glare off Andie and aimed it at Emmitt. “You’re going the wrong way,” he growled.
Andie’s window lowered yet again, courtesy of Richard, making her view even clearer. A streak of heat shot through her chest as she took in the features of his face, up close and personal. She resisted the word that came to mind since no one so rude should be called gorgeous. Especially when he was trying to intimidate them in such a way.
She lifted her sunglasses and noted that, though his short facial hair was mostly dark, there were hints of blond there, and in the tips of his hair too, visible just behind his ears. It was the only thing that lent a boyish quality to the otherwise gruff and unapproachable man.
Andie propped her glasses onto her head and smoothed the strands of her hair. She probably looked a wreck.
“How doyouknow we’re going the wrong way?” Richard countered. “You don’t even know where we’re going.”
The man’s glare shifted right back to Andie as if she was the one who’d spoken. His eyes might have been a harmless brown, but they carried enough heat they could have been fire red.
“You sure as heck weren’t invited ontomyproperty, yet that’s where this road leads. Besides that, I knowexactlywhere you’re headed—The Homestead.” He lifted an arm and pointed down the road behind them. “At the fork in the road, you should have veered left, not right.”
Andie turned a look back on Richard, who shrugged.
“Okay then, thanks for thefriendlytip. Very neighborly of you.” Richard cleared his throat and revved the engine. “Giddy up.” And with that, he eased his foot off the brakes, causing the tires to spin in place before catching up.
With the cowboy looking on, Richard proceeded to crank the wheel, turning the vehicle around in the narrow space as much as he could. Sadly, it wasn’t enough to clear the small barrier along the side of the road.
Another hot wave of embarrassment rushed into Andie’s cheeks as Richard cleared his throat once more, pressed on the brakes yet again, then backed up to straighten the wheel.
The tension in the air bordered on hostile. Between the heat of the cowboy’s glare—not that Andie was letting herself look in his direction—and Richard’s ugly comment, she was anxious to leave the scene behind.
With her gaze set on the action, she slowly slipped the tip of her finger beneath the small window lever and lifted, sighing as her window closed at last. She glanced back to see that Emmitt had done the same.
Andie couldn’t stop herself from catching a glimpse of the man through the rearview mirror at her side.
Shaking his head. He was actually shaking his head. As if he was so superior. And was this what the guy did for a living? Ride around on horses all day yelling at people for driving on his land? He was weird. Handsome, yes, but weird. The thought reminded her of Richard’s snide comment.
“Why’d you have to say that?” she hissed as they picked up speed in the opposite direction.
“Say what?” Richard asked innocently.
“Don’t play dumb.Giddy up?That was a jerk thing to say.”
“Maybe he shouldn’t have been acting like a jerk then.”
Andie sighed. The guyhadbeen kind of a jerk. “Yes, but he probably wasn’t even brought up among civilization.” She recalled the unfamiliar heat his gaze caused. Even at the recollection, a trail of flutters stirred in her tummy. “He behaves like he was raised by a grizzly out in the wild.”
“He probably was,” Richard agreed.
Emmitt groaned. “Do you have any idea how snobby you both sound? You guys think you’re so much better than everyone. It’s sickening.”
