world.
He couldn’t stop thinking about wanting to kiss her again, when what he should be thinking about was that, according to her, he quite truthfully was the only man in her world as there hadn’t been another for quite some time.
“Yeah. And I really, really don’t need that.” Idling at the curb in front of the courthouse complex, he squeezed his eyes shut and massaged the bridge of his nose, opening them again when he heard Lolly give a few happy yips. Honey would be gone soon enough, he reminded himself, and all this craziness would be over. After which he’d come back over to Savannah and find himself some other pretty blonde, or maybe a redhead who knew what was what without all the drama, and forget all about this crazy week in his life.
He looked up to see Honey walking up to the truck. She smiled at Lolly, paused to give her a good scratch and talk a little nonsense to her, before climbing in next to him. It didn’t take any superpower to notice that, despite her smiles for the dog, whatever she’d found out at the courthouse hadn’t been good news.
They hadn’t talked much during the thirty minute ride over the causeway and into the historic southern city. Honey had seemed caught up in her thoughts, probably still dealing with her little moment on the porch with Miss Barbara, and Dylan had been happy to leave her to sort things out. Bad enough that he had to find some way to talk to Frank Hughes about his damn hip and keep him from fishing with his own goddamn nephew. The last thing Dylan wanted or needed was to get more involved. Forty-eight hours in, he reminded himself, and he was already being rooked into providing taxi service, playing watch dog, and running interference, all because of the woman sitting next to him. Two more days and who the hell knew what else she’d drag him into. Damn good thing he could tell her she’d be on the road back to Oregon sooner rather than later.
He was all set to explain it to her, only he screwed up and glanced over at her first. She looked so damned . . . controlled, again. All boxed up and isolated, without a friend in the world. If he so much as mentioned that, he could well imagine she’d be happy to set him straight, inform him she was perfectly fine. More than fine. Never had he met a woman so at ease with her self-enforced seclusion—except she wasn’t as at ease with it as she wanted to be, or she wouldn’t have come all the way to Sugarberry, looking to end her isolation, and she sure as hell wouldn’t have put herself on a collision course with those visions of hers, again. Having witnessed them twice, he damn sure couldn’t blame her for wanting to head straight back into her cave. Hell, he’d chosen to lead a pretty secluded life himself, and that was just because he wanted to steer clear of people in general. If he had to deal with what she had to deal with, he’d live on the dark side of the moon if he could.
Problem was, he’d been perfectly fine living his life. Honey, however, wanted people in hers. She wanted to stop being so alone and apart.
Dylan shifted in his seat as those protective instincts showed up again. Dammit.
“Things get sorted out?” he asked, still with every intention of telling her she could get back on the road a lot sooner than she’d hoped . . . but not feeling so damn righteous and relieved about it any longer.
She’d been lost in her own thoughts and looked up in surprise, whether provoked by the question or his interest, he couldn’t have said.
“Somewhat,” she said, looking at him guardedly.
That pissed him off all over again. She didn’t have to want his help, but she didn’t have to look so damn wary. Pretty much the only person on the planet she didn’t have to be guarded with, was him. “Anywhere else you need to go before we head back across the channel?”
She frowned a little, surprised by the grit in his tone.
But he wasn’t about to apologize for it. Just as well for both of them if he stayed pissed off. The sooner he distanced himself from her, the better.
She shook her head. “No. Thank you for waiting for me and driving me back.”
So damn polite.