Protector (Doms of Mountain Bend #1) - B.J. Wane Page 0,49

chance to turn them around. Bracing for questions he wasn’t ready to ask himself, let alone answer for someone else, he went to help her out as soon as she parked.

Taking her arm as she opened the car door, he zeroed in on the casserole carrier sitting on the passenger seat. “I was going to ask what brings you out today, but I see you’re feeding us again. At least, I hope that’s for me.”

Shawn bent down, and Miss Betty placed a hand on his chest, went up on her toes, stretching her five-foot height to five-foot-two to kiss his cheek. “I think Dakota and Clayton are already digging in, neither happy I didn’t stay and join them.”

“They forgot it was bridge night, didn’t they?” He took the wood handle of the quilted holder, catching a whiff of her mouthwatering enchiladas. “I wish I hadn’t just eaten. Damn that smells good. Do you have time to come in and say hi to the dogs? They know you’re here.”

She smiled, looking toward the side of the house where he’d built the shepherds’ dog run. “I see and hear them, and I’m so glad you’ve finished a safe outdoor space for them while you’re away from home. Walk over there with me so I can get going faster, and tell me about the pretty blonde.”

“I knew you would ask. Oddly enough, she’s someone from my past, was another kid Father Joe stepped in to help. She’s only in Mountain Bend until the end of the school year, so don’t get any ideas.”

Sending him one of her secret smiles that hinted she wasn’t buying that was all there was to it, she unlatched the gate and he moved quickly to make sure the exuberant dogs didn’t jump on her. She might appear sturdy, and look a decade younger than her sixty-four, but he wouldn’t chance her getting knocked down. Curly and Mo had taken to her as fast as they had Lisa.

“If you say so, dear. Hello, boys.”

Ten minutes later, Miss Betty looked up at him as she settled behind the wheel again, her hand on the door handle and eyes twinkling. “Bring your girl over for tea and cookies sometime. I’d like to meet a protegee of the good priest.”

She closed the door then drove off with a wave, leaving Shawn to question why he hadn’t corrected her when she’d called Lisa his girl.

****

Other than pushing her for more than she thought was wise to accept, Lisa was looking forward to spending more time with Master Shawn. She drove home after dinner with giddy anticipation, thinking he was right, now that the secret was out about their brief past, she could stop fretting so much and enjoy the next few weeks, maybe extend her stay if she was needed for summer school. By then, surely her stalker would have forgotten all about her.

Her burst of positive thinking lasted until she returned to her duplex bungalow, through a long hot shower, and while she mulled over what to wear. As she chose a simple ivory camisole to pair with her one denim skirt, her phone beeped with an incoming text. Thinking it might be Shawn, she snatched it off the end table, her eagerness to hear from him changing to a cold knot of dread as she read the message from the one person she never wanted to hear from again.

I’VE FINALLY FOUND YOU. DID YOU MISS ME AS MUCH AS I’VE MISSED YOU?

Hand shaking, she tossed the phone down and cast a frantic look around, as if he was in the room with her. It wasn’t until she searched every corner of the entire house and scanned the street for a suspicious vehicle or loiterer that the fear tensing every muscle eased enough for her to take a much-needed breath. She still didn’t want to but saw no other choice than to ask Shawn for help, and his protection, even though she cringed imagining his reaction.

Tears pricked her eyes, and she sank down onto the sofa, putting her head in her hands. The distant clap of thunder heralding an approaching storm startled her enough she jumped, raised her head, and searched the shadows in the room. Regardless of what Shawn thought about the nine-year-old girl he once protected showing up in his town twenty years later needing his safeguarding again, she was out of options. She couldn’t tell him at the club, though, humiliating herself in public. Even if she had to