A Hero To Count On

Chapter 3

He’d pulled off his shirt and hung it on a nearby tree branch, and in the late-morning sun, his bare chest glistened with sweat. Transfixed, Katherine heard a roar in her ears and only then realized that it was the thunder of her heart. And it was all Hunter’s fault, she decided with a scowl.

No man had a right to look so good dressed in nothing but a pair of worn jeans. Faded, torn, soft from a thousand or more washes, they hugged his lean hips in a way that any woman with any sense of decency would have wanted nothing to do with. And all she could think about was touching him. Were the muscles of his chest as hard as his jeans were soft?

Shocked by the direction of her thoughts, she wanted to sink right through the ground. Her eyes met his, and the glint of humor she saw there told her without words that he knew exactly what he was doing to her. And he loved it.

Hot color flooding her cheeks, she hardly heard her sister say, “You mean Hunter? When he heard that John was working on the roof today, he offered to help.”

“I don’t know what we would have done without him,” John added from the roof.

“I told you I was a good guy to have around,” Hunter told Katherine with a grin. “Wanna help?”

Help him? She didn’t think so. “Thanks, but I don’t like heights.”

“Then you’d better get some Dramamine or something,” he said with a wicked chuckle, “because you’re going to need it when I take you to the moon and back.”

“Hunter!” Elizabeth gasped, laughing. “Stop that!”

Up on the roof, John grinned broadly. “He’s just giving her fair warning, honey.”

“I don’t need fair warning,” Katherine retorted, never taking her eyes from Hunter’s. “In other words, Romeo, I’m not interested.”

“Are you sure?” he teased. “You don’t know what you’re missing.”

“I’ll chance it,” she said dryly. “I know that must devastate you, but there’s nothing wrong with your ego. You’ll survive.”

“I might grow on you.”

“You mean…like a fungus? I don’t think so.”

“Katherine!” Elizabeth choked on a laugh. “Remember your manners.”

“Leave her alone,” John said, grinning. “She’s holding her own.”

“She sure is,” Hunter chuckled. “Be still my heart.”

Determined not to smile, Katherine said, “You’re wasting your time here, lover boy. Why don’t you check out Mabel at the Rusty Bucket? Last I heard, she was hot for just about any cowboy who walked in the door.”

“Katherine!”

“It’s okay, Elizabeth,” Hunter chuckled. “The woman’s crazy about me. Can’t you tell?”

Katherine just looked down her nose at him. “Don’t let me keep you from your work,” she said coolly. “I have better things to do than drool over you.”

Not the least insulted, he only laughed and made his way up the ladder to help John.

Long after Katherine returned to the house, the memory of Hunter dressed in nothing but jeans, work boots and a grin still had the power to make her mouth go dry. And it was driving her crazy. What was wrong with her? It had only been a few weeks since she’d discovered that the man she’d planned to spend the rest of her life with was not only married to another woman but had a child with her. He’d broken her heart in a way no one ever had before, and it would be months, possibly years, before she was ready to move on.

So why did Hunter only have to grin at her to set her heart pounding?

She needed a distraction, she decided. She had work, of course, but she needed something more than her illustrations, something that would keep her thoughts from straying to Hunter’s worn jeans and hard body whenever she dropped her guard. But what? she wondered with a frown. How was she supposed to put him out of her head?

She thought about it for the rest of the day but couldn’t come up with anything. Then she sat down to dinner with the rest of the family and once again found herself seated across from Hunter. He took one look at her and winked, and suddenly she knew what she had to do.

“You should have stuck around this morning,” Hunter told her with a grin. “What’d you do the rest of the day? Miss me?”

“Not at all,” she said dryly. “Instead, I’ve been giving it some thought, and I’ve decided Elizabeth and Rainey were right. I need to join a dating service.”

“Are you serious?”

“That’s wonderful!”

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Buck asked with a frown as his wife and sister voiced their approval. “There’s no way to check these guys out.”

“Buck’s right,” Hunter said, scowling. “You think you had trouble with your married boyfriend? Wait till you meet a con man who takes a woman for everything he can get while he tricks her into falling in love with him. Men like that feed on women like you online.”

“What do you mean…‘women like me’?” she demanded indignantly. “I’m not some naive innocent who’s never been out on my own before. I know a line when I hear one.”

“Really? Then why did you believe Mr. Wonderful when he told you he loved you? If he really loved you, why’s he in Paris with his wife?”

“Hunter!”

Katherine waved off her sister. His words hurt, but she knew Hunter was right. “I made a mistake,” she said bluntly. “I won’t do it again.”

“How do you know that? Married men are smooth talkers, and an on-line dating service is perfect for them. They tell you women anything they want, charm you, and you fall in love before you even see the whites of their eyes.”

“Maybe some women do, but I don’t!”

“Sure you do. Don’t take it personal. All women are patsies when it comes to smooth talkers. You just can’t help yourself. You’re a woman.”

Narrowing her eyes at him, she studied him in irritation. Why did he always sit directly across the table from her? Every time she looked up, she was looking right at him. “And you’re a man. Does that mean you’re a male chauvinist p—”

“Katherine! That’s no way to treat a guest.”

“Let her be,” John chuckled when Elizabeth sent her sister a reproving frown. “He asked for it.”

Sitting back in his chair, Hunter grinned across the table at Katherine. “Why am I a chauvinist when I’m just trying to warn you about some loser looking to take advantage of you?”

“Because you’re implying that women are so foolish that they need a keeper,” she retorted. “I can take care of myself, thank you very much, and so can Elizabeth and Rainey.”

“Did I say you couldn’t?”

“No, but you implied—”

“I’m a pretty up-front guy, Kitty-Kat. If I thought you were incompetent, you’d know it.”

Just as he’d expected, she stiffened at the nickname. “My name is Katherine,” she told him coldly.

Damn, she was easy to tease. Making no effort to hold back a grin, he said, “I like Kitty-Kat better. It’s got a ring to it, don’t you think?”

“When did you say you were leaving?”

“I’ll let you know,” he promised, chuckling.

He didn’t, in fact, intend to go anywhere anytime soon. There was no job in California. He worked for himself as a private investigator, though no one here knew that, not even John. He’d intended to tell him, but when John called him to tell him he’d been shot, he’d decided it would be best, at least for now, to keep his occupation to himself while he looked into what the hell was going on at the Broken Arrow. He didn’t want the neighboring ranchers or the good citizens of Willow Bend to guess what he did for a living, so he’d made the trip to Colorado with the excuse that he wanted to check on his half brother before taking the fictional job in California.

Guilt pulled at him at the thought of deceiving his brother, but he knew John would understand. And over the course of the two weeks he’d been there, things had been extremely quiet. He didn’t expect that to last for long. Trouble never did. He’d learned that years ago, when he’d first worked in military intelligence, then for the CIA. He’d still be working for “the company” if it hadn’t been for Sheila.

His jaw tightened at the thought of his ex-girlfriend. Beautiful, smart, fearless, she was everything he’d wanted in a woman…or so he’d thought. In reality, she was a Cuban spy. When he became suspicious of her, she fled the U.S., but not without first warning him that he would pay for destroying her cover.

Two weeks later, a sniper took a shot at him from a bridge in Virginia. The police claimed it was just a random act of violence, but he knew better. Disillusioned, he quit, changed his name and disappeared for awhile. When he finally settled down, he chose a town in Texas that was so small that everyone literally knew everyone else. No one, he’d promised himself, who wanted to harm him or his family would ever be able to sneak into his life again without him knowing about it.

And since John was engaged to Elizabeth, that made her—and the rest of the Wyatts—family. He intended to watch over all of them and find out who the hell was trying to drive them away. He didn’t believe for a moment that it would be easy. He didn’t know the people of Willow Bend, didn’t know the dynamics of the place or which of the local citizens thought they’d been robbed of the Broken Arrow by Hilda Wyatt’s will. Who was desperate enough to attack the ranch? Who wouldn’t blink twice at blowing up the old Spanish gold mine or burning the cabin where John and Elizabeth planned to live? Who shot his brother?

He would find out, he vowed silently. He’d have to keep a low profile, though. As long as everyone thought he was a flirt and a tease, just killing time until his new job started, no one suspected his real reason for being there. He intended to keep it that way.

The minute dinner was over, Katherine helped Elizabeth and Rainey with the dishes as she waited for Buck to finish his evening work on the computer in his office. She hadn’t bothered to bring her laptop with her because of the difference in electrical outlets, so she had no choice but to sign up for online dating on the ranch computer.

Just the thought of that brought the sting of a blush to her cheeks. She knew it was crazy, but she hated to look for a man online in front of her entire family. It was like…kissing a beau in front of her father. She shouldn’t have been self-conscious—after all, she was twenty-eight years old, for heaven’s sake. She wasn’t doing anything illegal or immoral, and she certainly had nothing to be embarrassed about.

So why did she feel like a sixteen-year-old sneaking out to meet her boyfriend?

“Well, if it isn’t Miss Five-Foot-Two-Looking-For Mr.-Lonely,” Hunter suddenly said from behind her. “What are you doing skulking in the back hall? I thought you’d already be scouting out the loser hunks on the Internet.”

Startled, she whirled to find Hunter surveying her in amusement. “Do you have radar where I’m concerned or something?” she snapped. “Every time I turn around, you’re right behind me. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were following me.”

“It’s those big blue eyes of yours,” he teased. “I just can’t resist you when you bat them at me.”

“When I what?” she gasped, outraged. “I don’t do anything of the kind!”

“And then there’s that come-hither smile of yours,” he continued with a broad grin. “I’m telling you, if you put a picture on the Internet that captures your eyes and smile, you’re going to be beating men off with a stick by the end of the week.”

“The only man I’m going to be beating is you,” she retorted, glaring at him. “Don’t you have something else to do?”

“You mean other than tease you?” he chuckled. “Are you kidding? What could be more fun than that?”

“Breathing,” she said promptly. “If you don’t stop pestering me—”

The door to Buck’s office opened then, and he stepped out, his sharp gaze quickly taking in the temper sparking in her eyes and Hunter’s wide grin. “Uh-oh. Looks like the fur’s about to fly. Better watch yourself, Hunter. The last time I saw that look in her eye, I thought she was going to pull out every hair in my head. And all just because I borrowed her bicycle without asking her.”

“You didn’t just borrow it—you brought it back with a flat tire,” she told him, fighting a reluctant smile. “And I didn’t lay a hand on that precious hair of yours. Though I should have,” she added, frowning at him. “You never did pay me for that tire.”

“Send me a bill,” he chuckled. “So what did Hunter do to set you off?”

“Nothing,” he said with an easy grin before she could open her mouth. “She’s just a little huffy because she thinks I’m following her. All I was doing was going to the kitchen for a snack.”

“Really?” she sniffed. “You’re hungry? We just finished dinner an hour ago.”

“I didn’t eat much,” he retorted. “I couldn’t take my eyes off you.”

“Oh, please!”

Laughing, Buck stepped around them. “I’m out of here.”

“Buck, wait!”

“Can’t,” he said. “Rainey and I are going to watch a movie.”

He was gone before she could stop him, leaving her alone with Hunter. “Looks like it’s just you and me, kid,” he drawled. “C’mon, let’s go check out the Internet and see what kind of online dating services are out there.”

“You must be joking.”

At her dry comment, he swallowed a laugh. Damn, he liked her! She was just so easy to tease. Did she have a clue how cute she was when she looked down her nose at him that way? Maybe he should ask her out and save her the trouble of joining a dating service. They could have a lot of fun together.

Even as the appealing thought tugged at him, he stiffened. No, dammit, he wasn’t going there. After Sheila had betrayed him the way she had, he’d sworn he would never trust a woman again. And in the five years that had passed since Sheila had tried to have him killed, he hadn’t once been tempted to break that promise to himself.

That didn’t mean he’d turned into a hermit. He liked women, enjoyed their company, not to mention sex. And finding a date wasn’t a problem. He just made sure that the women he took out were just as disillusioned as he was and wanted nothing to do with a ring on their fingers. Even then, he didn’t date any woman more than twice. He didn’t intend to ever again give a woman a chance to get close enough to betray him.

“What?” he asked innocently. “You don’t trust me?”

“Not as far as I can throw you,” she retorted sweetly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with a computer.”

Without a word, she turned and walked into Buck’s office, but if she thought he was so easily discouraged, she was in for a rude awakening. When she took a seat in front of the computer on Buck’s desk, he followed her and pulled a chair beside her before she even knew what he was about.

“Hunter—”

“I can help you with your profile,” he said at her warning tone. Thanks to his years in intelligence, he was damn good at sizing up a person, though he had no intention of telling her how he’d come by that kind of experience. “C’mon, Kitty-Kat, lighten up. If you want to get a good match, you want to word this thing just right. I can give you a man’s perspective.”

“I’m sure you will,” she said dryly. “Thanks, but no, thanks.”

“How are you going to describe yourself?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Let me guess,” he said, eyeing her speculatively. “You’ll probably say you’re cute, outgoing, artistic, with weight proportionate to your height.” When her blue eyes widened in surprise, he grinned mockingly. “Am I right or what?”

“So what if you are?” she tossed back. “What’s wrong with that?”

“You’re writing for a man, remember?” he pointed out. “Cute means ordinary, outgoing likes to hog the conversation.”

“That’s not true!”

“Artistic means you have one of those old houses that’s decorated with lace and fru-fru flowery stuff. And weight proportionate to height can mean only one thing. You’re fat.”

“I am not!”

“Of course you’re not. But that’s what any man who reads that description is going to think. And that’s okay if you don’t care that the only men who answer your ad are losers who still live with their mothers and wear their pants up to their armpits. Of course, if that’s what you want…”

Horrified, she cringed. “No, of course not.”

“Then you’re going to have to write a hell of a better description than that.”

She should have told him no. From the glint in his eye, he was enjoying himself far too much, and for all she knew, he was just pulling her leg. But what if he wasn’t kidding? If she was really going to join a dating service, the last thing she wanted was to attract one of those lonely, nerdy men who’d never had a woman in his life and wouldn’t know what to do with one if he did.

“All right,” she sighed. “If you’re really serious about helping me…but no funny business! Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied obediently, his grin wide. “Whatever you say, ma’am.”

He did, of course, do nothing but tease and torment her for the course of the next hour, and she couldn’t help but laugh. When they were finished, however, she had to admit that her profile sounded far better than something she would have written herself. Still, she wasn’t sure.

“It sounds like I’m tooting my own horn,” she said, frowning. “Maybe we should tone some of this down.”

“Are you kidding? Like what?”

“Well, like…‘adventuresome’…”

“Didn’t you go off to Scotland by yourself when you found out that jerk you were in love with was married? Didn’t you jump on a plane and head for Colorado without even letting your family know you were coming until you were almost here?”

“Well, yes, but—” Frowning, she studied the words on the computer screen that made her sound like a fascinating catch that any man with any brains in his head would love to be matched with. “Maybe we shouldn’t include the bit about me being an award-winning illustrator.”

“But you are, aren’t you?” When she had to agree, he said, “You’re just telling the truth. And don’t think for one minute that I’m going to let you take out the part about pretty. This isn’t the time for hiding your light under a bushel. You are pretty, and if it was left up to me, I’d say you were downright gorgeous—”

“You’re flirting again,” she scolded. “You’ve got to stop that.”

“No, I’m not,” he retorted, and there was no question that he was dead serious. “You’re gorgeous, but I know you won’t go for that, so we have to go with pretty. That’s okay. Because when you finally let your matches see your picture, they’re going to know the truth, anyway.”

She didn’t consider herself gorgeous by any stretch of the imagination—that word was reserved for movie stars and beauty pageant queens—but she couldn’t deny that she was flattered. If he hadn’t been such a flirt, she might have believed he was sincere.

“Okay, so it’s settled. We leave it as it is.” And without giving her a chance to argue further, he reached over and hit the enter button on the keyboard. And there, for all her prospective matches to read, was a description of her that sounded amazing.

If you’re looking for a fascinating, fun-loving, adventuresome woman to spend the rest of your life with, you’ve found her. I’m a pretty brunette with expressive blue eyes, enticing smile and great figure, who loves pillow talk, dancing, intimate dinners for two, spontaneous, romantic trips to the mountains and holding hands. I’m a fantastic cook, award-winning illustrator, honest, sincere and looking for Mr. Right. If you think you could be him, I’d love to hear from you.

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