“You don’t live here,” he said in a clipped tone.
She lifted her chin.A faint scar edged from the underside of her full lower lip.“Yes, I do.Your mother invited me to stay.”
He put his wallet away.“Of course she did.”
“You can call her if you don’t believe me.”
“Oh, I believe you,” he said.His mother collected people like she collected pets.Lost souls of all types were welcome here.With a tired sigh, he retrieved the half-empty soda can from the floor.Setting the can by the sink, he grabbed a few paper towels to clean up the mess.“Do you know where she is?”
“I don’t keep tabs on her.”
Wade tossed the wet towels in the trash can.“Do you keep tabs on your dogs?”
“Yes.”
“The little one bit me.”
Her eyes widened with concern.“He did?Why?”
“I picked him up to put him in the dog run, and he snapped.”
“You probably startled him,” she said.“He’s arthritic.”
Wade arched a skeptical brow.The dog had whirled around his ankles like a dervish and attacked with the speed of lightning.
She took a step forward.“I’ll bandage it for you.”
He flexed his fingers, considering.He wouldn’t have bothered with a bandage on his own, but he was tempted by her peace offering.Experience had taught him to become allies with his mother’s friends, not adversaries.
With a shrug, he sat down at the kitchen table.She washed her hands at the sink.Then she opened a nearby drawer and rifled through it.After selecting some first aid items, she took the chair next to him.He proffered his injured hand.She turned it over gently, her fingers cool against his skin.She frowned at the punctures in his palm, as if she didn’t believe her precious angel was capable of doing this much damage.She started by wiping the base of his thumb with a square of rubbing alcohol.The sensation tickled, but he held still.Then she opened a little brown tincture bottle.Wade hissed as she applied a fine layer of liquid adhesive to the wound.The mixture stung as it dried, creating a mild zing of discomfort.She bent closer to his hand and blew on it.This simple act struck him as both innocent and erotic.
Without meaning to, without even touching her lips to his skin, she’d enlivened all of his senses.The combination of pleasure and pain caught him off guard.Wade’s fingers twitched involuntarily, and his pulse quickened.
She lifted her gaze to his, curious.Her eyes were hazel, like a quiet forest, rimmed with thick, dark lashes.
An alarm rang out in the still air, punctuating the tension between them.
It took him a second to realize the sound was emanating from his phone.He removed the device from his pocket as the emergency broadcast signal continued to blare.
Tornado warning.
Chapter Two
Meredith couldn’t believeshe’d pulled a gun on apolice officer.
Of all the blunders in her life—and there were many—this one ranked near the top.It was somewhere between marrying Tripp Gilley, getting in a car with a drunk driver, who was also Tripp Gilley, and dropping out of high school.
Bad decisions were nothing new to her, but she’d been trying to start fresh in Lost Lake.She needed to stay out of trouble.The last thing she wanted to do was attract the attention of local law enforcement.She’d come to Nolan Ranch to escape her past and lie low.Blasting a shotgun at a cop was the opposite of lying low.
In her defense, she’d thought he was an intruder.When she’d seen him in the kitchen, cowboy hat obscuring his face, she’d panicked.She’d thought he was Tripp, who deserved a good shooting.Then he’d turned toward her, and she’d realized he was a stranger.A tall, intimidating stranger, with shoulders that spanned the width of the fridge.Right or wrong, she’d assumed he was there to hurt her.
She hadn’t been trying to kill him, however.She’d only wanted to scare him off.Instead, she’d scared herself.When he’d yanked the gun from her hands, shouting at her, she’d been certain he was going to tear her apart.Tripp would have.She made a mental note to avoid firing a warning shot if Tripp ever caught up with her.
Offering to bandage Wade’s hand was another miscalculation.Her instincts told her to keep her distance, but he’d been bitten by her dog, and she felt responsible.She didn’t want him pressing charges or demanding vaccine records.She also couldn’t afford to lose her position as Wynona’s housekeeper.
Meredith’s attempt to make amends had brought them too close for comfort.Sitting next to Wade had caused her heart to race like a schoolgirl’s, and touching his hand made her entire body tingle with awareness.He was the kind of man women noticed.Well-built, with arresting features that set him apart from the crowd.Instead of staring at his handsome face, she’d focused on his injured hand.It was strong and suntanned, his skin several shades darker than hers.He didn’t have scars on his knuckles or heavy calluses on his palms.He had long fingers, like a guitar player.Capable of great tenderness, or devastating harm.
She’d heard his intake of breath as she’d applied the tincture.It was a mistake to look up at him, and to let her gaze linger.His whiskey-colored eyes, framed by thick lashes, were absurdly beautiful.His tawny, hat-rumpled hair was long enough to brush the edge of his collar.There was an electric charge in the air that had nothing to do with low pressure, and it scared her almost as much as their initial exchange.
