Rachel Lee - Cowboy Comes Home

When she stepped back outside, the first spit of sleet was falling, fine, icy crystals that stung her cheeks. The pavement was wet, still warm enough to melt the sleet. That wouldn’t last long. Hurrying, she emptied the shopping cart into her car and drove swiftly back to the office.

As soon as she opened the door, Jazz started barking, a high-pitched puppy yelp. Looking into the cage, she saw that the dog had had an accident. She cleaned it up swiftly and replaced the soiled paper with fresh newspaper. Then she put Jazz back into the cage and carried her out to the car.

The cage wouldn’t fit into her car, though. Finally giving up, she put it in the trunk, then took the puppy into the passenger compartment with her. Jazz insisted on curling up on her lap, but she didn’t think that would cause much trouble.

Then she tried to start the car. And tried again.

The starter whined, but the engine wouldn’t catch. What now? Sleet crystals were rattling against the windows of her car, warning her that the streets would soon be dangerous. Forcing herself to wait in case she had flooded the engine somehow, she counted seconds in the tick of ice on her windows.

The night was dark and empty. Funny, she thought as she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, there had been a time when she had believed being out alone at night would protect her. Then she had discovered otherwise. The night was a time when predators stalked the young and weak. It was full of threat. At night she wanted to be safely within the walls of her snug little house.

She shivered as the night’s chill began to find its way into her jacket. Jazz whimpered softly, suggesting that she was getting hungry. Anna patted her gently and tried to start the car again. And once again the engine refused to turn over.

A tap on her window startled her, and she gasped, turning her head swiftly. Hugh Gallagher stood there, bent over to look in her window. “Car trouble?” he asked through the glass.

She rolled her window down an inch. “It won’t start.”

“I heard. The engine’s not catching. Let me lift the hood and see if the choke’s stuck, okay?”

“Thank you.”

Her gaze followed him as he walked around to the front of the car. Then the hood lifted with a protesting groan and he vanished from view.

He was a nice man, she told herself. He’d proved that already. She didn’t have to be afraid to be in his debt.

He rattled around under the hood for a few minutes, then slammed it closed and came back to her window. “It’s not the choke, Miss Anna, and I can’t see well enough to check anything else out. How about I drive you home and take a look at it in the morning?”

She hesitated. It wasn’t that she really had any option, but she hesitated anyway. It had been a long time since she had been comfortable getting into a car with a man. Any man. Even after all these years, she was still uneasy. But common sense won.

“If you wouldn’t mind. I have the dog and all these groceries….”

“No problem. My truck’s right across the street. Just let me bring it over.”

A couple of minutes later, he had her groceries and the dog cage loaded in the back, and Anna and the puppy in the front seat with him.

“I’m glad I happened to be having dinner at Maude’s,” Hugh said as he pulled out onto the street.

“So am I. I really didn’t want to call a tow truck. I can’t afford that expense right now.” Especially not now that she was going to have to get her car fixed. “I hope you didn’t interrupt your dinner to help me.”

“Naw. I was just finishing a piece of Maude’s elderberry pie. You ever have any?”

Anna never ate out; her budget wouldn’t allow it. “No, I’m afraid not.”

“Well, let me take you over there for lunch tomorrow, before she runs out of elderberries.”

Anna didn’t know how to answer that, because she wasn’t exactly sure what he intended by the invitation. Before she could think of anything to say, he went on.

“Did you hear about the fire at school today? They say the Lacey kid set it. Now, I don’t know folks in the county as well as people who’ve lived here all their lives, but I did see that girl a lot around the church, and she always seemed like a good kid to me.”

“She is. One of the best.”

“Well, I just can’t figure it.

Now, if it’d been Bobby Reilly, I would have thought it was just what you oughtta expect, but not that girl.”

“I know.” She felt her heart accelerating as they edged near a topic she didn’t want to discuss with him—or with anyone, for that matter. She didn’t want to have to tell anyone what she suspected Lorna’s problem was—at least, not unless she got some proof of it.

“You ask me,” he said, “there’s something wrong there, and it isn’t that girl.”

They eased to a careful stop at the corner, then turned onto Anna’s street.

“Gettin’ slippery,” Hugh remarked. “Guess I oughtta put the chains on after I drop you off.”

“That might be wise.” God, how she hated this stilted conversation. How she hated being so uncomfortable with men that she couldn’t think of anything to say to keep the ball rolling. How she hated being the prisoner of hurts that were so old they ought to be almost forgotten.

He turned into her driveway, and she felt the tires slip and spin on the icy pavement as he braked to a halt and switched off the ignition.

“You stay right where you are,” he said. “I’ll come around and help you out. Those shoes you’re wearing don’t look like they’ll give much traction.”

They wouldn’t, she thought. They were a pair of cheap pumps she’d bought just because she had to keep up appearances at work.

Hugh climbed out and came around to her side. He opened the door and reached for her elbow to steady her. “It’s like a skating rink. Hang on to me.”

Even with all her caution, her feet slipped anyway, and he caught her around the waist. All of a sudden there was nothing between them but a squirming puppy and the layers of their clothing.

He smelled good, Anna realized with astonishment. He smelled really good, like freshly cut wood and soap. His arm around her felt powerful, but the way it held her was not at all frightening. She ought to feel trapped and terrified, but instead she felt…strange. As if the world had stopped between two heartbeats.

Then he backed off a little, giving her space but keeping his arm around her waist.

“Let’s get you onto the porch. I’ll bring your groceries in.”

A few moments later she was safely inside her snug little house, watching Hugh Gallagher carry her groceries and the puppy cage inside. It took him two trips, and he insisted on putting everything in the kitchen while she stood there like a dolt, silent, clutching the puppy to her breast as if the poor little thing was a lifeline.

She ought to do something, say something. Make some gracious gesture to thank him. Instead she was feeling shell-shocked by today’s events, and by the realization that she didn’t want Hugh to go. She wanted him to stay. For the first time in her life, she actually wanted a man to stay. Was she losing her mind?

“Would you…would you like some coffee?” she asked in a rush as he prepared to leave.

He smiled, and she was struck by the warmth of that simple expression. “Thanks, but I drank four cups at Maude’s. Tell you what. Promise to have lunch with me tomorrow. I’ll bore you to death with my plans for the youth ranch, and we’ll call it even, okay?”

She couldn’t say no. The word absolutely refused to come to her lips. “All right,” she heard herself say.

“One o’clock?”

“That’s fine.”

Then he walked out into the night and left Anna alone with the realization that she had just made a date with a man.