Диана Палмер – Lone Star Winter: The Winter Soldier (страница 14)

“I’ve only been widowed three years,” he reminded her. “So what?”

“I can stay with Callie Kirby!”

“Callie’s apartment isn’t big enough for Callie, much less Callie and you,” he said. “I’ve got three bedrooms. You can even have a bathroom of your own.”

She didn’t want to give in. But the memory of someone trying to break in the house scared her. She knew that she couldn’t shoot an intruder. That left her few options.

“When you make up your mind, I’ll be in the truck,” Cy told her.

He actually walked out the door. Eb followed him with an amused grin that he didn’t let Lisa see.

Lisa glared after him, hesitant and bristling with hurt pride. But in the end, she went upstairs, changed into jeans and a shirt and packed a small bag. Ten minutes later, he opened the door of the utility vehicle so that she could climb in with her tote bag.

“If Harley so much as grins, I’ll kick him in the shins,” she said after she’d fumbled her seat belt together.

“So will I,” Cy promised her.

She glanced at him from the warm folds of her flannel-lined denim jacket. “Would you have shot that man?”

“If there hadn’t been another way to stop him, yes.”

“I couldn’t shoot anybody,” she said.

“I know. That’s why you have to stay with me until we get Lopez.” He glanced at her. “It won’t be so bad. I can cook.”

“So can I.”

“Good. Fair division of labor.” He glanced at her with a faint smile. “When the baby comes, we’ll take turns getting up for his meals.”

She felt a warm glow wash over her. She smiled, too. “Oh, I wouldn’t want to sleep if he was hungry,” she mused dreamily. “I’d get up, too.”

He remembered his wife complaining bitterly about lost sleep, making formula, giving bottles. She hated everything to do with the baby, and couldn’t begin to understand his affection for the tiny little boy, who wasn’t even…

He closed his mind to the anguish that memory fostered, and concentrated on his driving instead.

Apparently Cy’s men were asleep in the bunkhouse, because the ranch house was quiet when they arrived. He helped Lisa out of the vehicle and carried her suitcase into the house.

“You’ll probably like this room. It faces the rose garden,” he added with a smile.

She looked around at the simple, old-fashioned room with its canopied double bed and gauzy white curtains and white furniture. “It’s very pretty,” she murmured.

“The house belonged to an elderly woman, who was the last living member of her family,” he said. “She had to go into a nursing home. I learned the history of the house from her. It belonged to her father, who was one of the better known Texas Rangers. She raised two kids and three grandkids here. One of her grandsons was a congressman, and another worked for the U.S. Secret Service. She was very proud of them.”

“Is she living in Jacobsville?”

He nodded. “I go to visit her every other week. You might like to go along occasionally. She’s a walking history of Texas.”

“I’d like that.” She was studying him with open curiosity. He looked so different in that stark black outfit that she wondered if she would even have recognized him if she’d seen him on the street. Her husband had been in law enforcement, but even he hadn’t looked as dangerous as Cy Parks in commando gear.

He lifted an eyebrow.

“Sorry,” she murmured with a shy smile. “You look different, that’s all.”

“Think of it as a covert ops business suit,” he mused. “The object is to blend in with the night.”

“Oh, you did that very neatly,” she agreed.

He chuckled. “Get some sleep. There won’t be anybody to bother you here, and you can sleep as late as you like.”

She grimaced. “What about Puppy Dog?”

“What?”

“Puppy Dog,” she said. “He’s all shut up on the back porch…”

“I’ll fetch him at daybreak,” he said. “But if he eats one of my chickens, he’s dog bone stew. Got that?”

“You’ve got chickens?”

“Five,” he said. “Rhode Island Reds. I like fresh eggs.”

She smiled. “I like them, too.”

“A woman after my own heart.” He moved toward the door. “The windows are electronically wired, by the way,” he added with the doorknob in his hand. “If any one tries to open them from the outside, they’ll think we’re being bombed.”

“That’s reassuring.”

“So it is. Sleep tight.”

“You, too.”

He spared her a glance. “Don’t get up until you want to. I’ll haul Puppy Dog over here at daybreak.”

“He likes to chew up things,” she said worriedly.

“You shouldn’t let him eat heating pads, while we’re on the subject.”

“He can reach the shelf I keep them on,” she said. “I didn’t realize it until I saw him jump up to pull it down. By then I’d lost two and I thought I’d left them on the sofa.” She shook her head. “He’s already very tall. His father, Moose, is almost five feet tall when he stands on his hind legs.”

“He’ll be good protection for you when he’s trained.”

“He seems to be training me,” she said on a wistful breath.

“I’ll take care of that. ’Night.”

She smiled. “Thanks for rescuing me.”

“I had good help,” he told her.

She stood staring after him even when the door closed. Her life had just gone up two notches on the complications scale. She forced herself not to think of how hungry he’d made her the night they’d gone to Houston to the opera, of how much she liked being close to him. He’d been very standoffish since, so it was obvious that he didn’t like the small taste of her he’d had. She was safe with him. Safe, pregnant and a widow. She shouldn’t be thinking about kissing Cy. The thought made her uncomfortable, but she slept soundly all night long.

Harley walked in the kitchen door with a wicker basket full of eggs and a disgusted look on his face. He stopped short when he saw Lisa, in jeans and a sweat shirt with her dark blond hair in an unruly bun, making coffee.

She gave him a challenging look back. “Where’s Cy?” she asked.

“Gone to town to have his truck cleaned.”

That sounded intriguing. “Does he do that a lot?”

“Only when dogs throw up in it.”

“Oh, dear,” she said.

“Seems your puppy doesn’t like to go for rides,” he murmured with a grin. He put the basket of eggs on the table. “He’s out in the barn with the boss’s collie.”

“I didn’t know Cy had a dog.”

“He didn’t know he had one, either, until it got run over week before last,” he remarked. “He picked it up and took it to the vet. It was a stray that somebody had put out, half-starved, full of fleas, almost dead from lack of care. Amazing what some dog shampoo, flea medicine, regular meals and attention can do for a mangy old cur.” He shook his head. “For a hard-nosed man, he sure has some soft spots. He’d never make a soldier, let me tell you.” He held up a hand when she started to speak. “Don’t tell him I said that,” he added. “He pays me a good salary and he’s a fine man to work for. He can’t help it if he isn’t exactly G.I. Joe. Considering what he’s been through, I guess he’s got some grit in him somewhere.”

She almost bit her tongue through trying not to tell Harley what she knew about his soft-centered employer. But that was Cy’s business, and she didn’t want to get on his bad side when she’d only arrived.

“I rode over to your place with the boss and drove your little VW back with me. It’s in the garage. None of my business, but are you staying awhile?” he asked curiously.

“I guess so,” she sighed. She poured coffee into a cup. “A man broke into my house last night. Cy let me come over here.”

“Broke into your house? Why?”