his phone onto the dash. “So, Smith. Do you want me to take you to town or not?”
She settled back in her seat. “No. I’ll take the job at the ranch house until my car is fixed.”
He made a mental note to ask Mac to take a little extra time with the car. “Ethel has that effect on people.” He drove the truck back down the road, looking for the right words. “Is the law after you?” While he seriously doubted it, he needed to ask.
“No.” She snorted.
All right. That was the truth. Anything else, anybody else, he could handle. “Hallie—”
She turned toward him and threw her hands up. “Enough. All right? I don’t need or want your help, cowboy.” Pink blazed across her cheekbones, fascinating him. “I’m not in trouble. I’m not on the run. I’m just trying to start a new life somewhere. Yeah, you’re sexy with that drawl and all, and cowboys are intriguing, but I’m not looking for a sweet good-old-boy right now. So butt out of my personal business, and we’ll get along just fine this week.”
Well, at least she wasn’t afraid of him any longer. “You think I’m sexy?” he asked, throwing in extra drawl.
The growl she gave before turning to look outside both amused him and made his jeans too tight. It was going to be a long week, but there was no doubt in his mind that she’d be worth it. He could maintain sexy, but never in his life had he been sweet. That wasn’t in the cards for him, or for anybody in his family.
Would the woman still look at him with that intrigue in her eyes if she saw the real him? For the first time since meeting her, the darkness started to edge back in. Reality, as he well knew, wasn’t on his side.
But he was on hers. It was a good place to start.
CHAPTER FIVE
The truck was nearly taken out by a woman in a battered SUV taking the corner at the end of the driveway too fast. She had gray hair and honked twice as she sped past.
Hallie caught her breath. “Who was that?”
Trent shrugged. “Crazy driver. Might’ve been somebody from the county checking the meters. They have the fence codes.”
Hallie frowned and looked in her side mirror at the rapidly disappearing vehicle. “Was that a mop in the back seat?”
“Mop? Nope. Looked like a fishing pole to me.”
She blinked. “Where is there to fish around here?”
“Rivers?” Trent pulled to a stop in front of a lovely ranch home. “Let’s get inside before the rain hits again.”
She jumped out and hurried across the stone parking area and then inside when Trent opened the door. The wolf bounded out the opposite direction toward a barn.
The ranch house was a dream come true. Wide and sprawling with more windows than Hallie would’ve ever imagined, each facing a field, barn, or mountain. Cattle dotted the landscape along with some trees and a winding river. As a kid, alone in government housing while her mother worked, she’d dreamed of homes like this. Places like this. She twirled around in the living room with its masculine leather furniture and stared at the massive stone fireplace. “I can’t believe you live here.”
“Just temporarily. Whoever settles down first will probably live here if we haven’t built the other homes yet.” He smiled, dumping her suitcase near the door. His chest exhaled as if he’d been holding his breath. “But I’m glad you like it.”
Like it? “I love it.” She paused. “Is anybody close to settling down?”
“No.”
She looked around again, trying not to let a bizarre disappointment filter through her at his blunt answer. Beauty had always struck her deep, although the home couldn’t come close to the beauty of the man. He was almost too good to be real. She had the oddest urge to ask about the scars down his chest or the bullet hole above his heart, but she was the one who’d insisted they stay out of each other’s business. “I notice there are tons of windows and sliding glass doors here, just like at the clubhouse.” His room there had boasted a wide glass door beyond the sitting area.
He nodded, his eyes darkening with a glitter that made her breath catch in her throat. “I like to see outside and be able to get there quick if necessary.”
Her lungs wobbled. There was so much more to his explanation, but she had no right to pry. Yet he waited as