Sweet Joymaker (Indigo Bay Christmas Romances #3) - Jean Oram Page 0,51

flapping in a gust of wind. He was watching her, hands on his hips. Feeling as though she needed to act as though she knew what she was doing, Laura ducked into her car first to see if it would start.

It wouldn’t. She checked the time. She’d let it rest for far longer than than its usual needed twenty minutes. What was its deal?

Laura stepped out of the Beetle and scanned the dry grass along the road. Where was her suitcase? Hadn’t it slid in just about there?

A truck slowed beside her, and she glanced up, surprised to see Levi driving the faded old pickup she’d seen in front of the Longhorn.

He stopped, windows down, the dark brown hair around his ears fluttering in the breeze as though he’d put off getting a haircut for too long. He adjusted his cowboy hat over his forehead as if he might be thinking before speaking. Not a bad trait. It was unfortunate he hadn’t utilized it earlier.

“I’d like to apologize for back there,” he said with great care. “If you find you want a tour of town, I can do that. I’ll warn you, though, I spend most of my time on the family ranch or at the field watching football.” He looked like he had more to say, but instead closed his mouth. Another good trait. He knew when to stop talking.

He studied her car with interest for another moment. “Won’t start?”

She shook her head. “Usually it only needs twenty minutes.”

“Can I give you a ride somewhere?”

“As a matter of fact, you can.” She marched to the passenger side of his truck, intent on making him do a good deed in order to make amends. Or maybe just to somehow prove she was more than whatever he thought he’d seen in her at the diner. She yanked open the creaky door.

“Sorry, it doesn’t get used much. The dog usually hops in from this side.”

She hoisted herself up onto the springy seat, displacing a layer of dust that made her nose tickle. She sneezed.

“Bless you.”

“Thank you.”

He put the truck in gear. “To Luanne’s, I presume?”

“Yes. Do you know the address?” She mentally crossed her fingers, realizing that unless they took her old meandering bike route to her aunt’s she might not be able to find it on the first try.

“I don’t. But I do know how to get there.” His lips quirked as if he was holding back a smile. He was cute when he did that. Too cute. Like when he’d been a teenager.

“Good.” She sat stiffly as he began driving, lifting his fingers off the steering wheel in a casual wave to an oncoming truck pulling a horse trailer. The other driver’s interest was focused on her, Laura noted.

The window was still down and the wind tangled her hair as they picked up speed. She looked for a button, but it was a crank style.

When she reached for it, Levi said in a gentle, yet warning tone, “I leave the windows down as they don’t always go back up. And if they do, they don’t always come down again. No AC.”

“Why don’t you fix them?”

He shrugged. “It’s old. This isn’t the ranch’s going-to-town truck.”

“But you went to town in it.”

“Yup.”

The town that was growing smaller behind them.

“Luanne lives in town,” she said sharply, panic setting in. Just because Sweetheart Creek was small, it didn’t mean she should assume it was safe.

“Just going to turn the truck around up here,” he explained, pointing to a pullout that allowed access to a pasture just beyond the sign that said Thank You for Visiting Sweetheart Creek. Below, someone had tacked on another sign that said Go Torpedoes!

When he’d turned the truck around as promised, they headed back in the direction of her car. Near where they’d passed the horse trailer, in the ditch opposite her VW, several boys had parked their bicycles and were standing in a circle. One waved something small and dainty in the air.

Laura sat up, her stomach dropping. “My suitcase.”

There was a flash of red fabric, then a scrap of something lacy as another boy found a trophy. She covered her mouth in horror. They were waving her lingerie around like a prize. Her very sexy, very expensive, very personal lingerie.

Levi pulled over just as Laura sank down in her seat, whispering, “Keep going! Keep going!”

He ignored her, hopping out, his shoulders broad, his stance saying he meant business as he addressed the boys. Laura tentatively opened her door,