“I Can’t Be The Nine-To-Five, Lawn-Mowing Man Next Door, Lydia.

“But I’d like for you to be my lover,” Evan said.

“What about love?” Lydia asked.

“Love is just a pretty lie that men and women tell each other.”

Lydia tilted her head and stared up at Evan, her wide blue eyes making him feel as if she were probing past his defenses and finding the heart he’d hidden deep within his soul.

“I’m going to show you that love is more than lies and pretty words.”

“And if you don’t?”

“Oh, I will, Sheriff. Even your heart isn’t buried that deep.” Then Lydia turned and walked away.

As he watched her go, he found himself hoping for the glimpse of heaven she’d just so confidently offered him….

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the world of Silhouette Desire, where you can indulge yourself every month with romances that can only be described as passionate, powerful and provocative!

The always fabulous Elizabeth Bevarly offers you May’s MAN OF THE MONTH, so get ready for The Temptation of Rory Monahan. Enjoy reading about a gorgeous professor who falls for a librarian busy reading up on how to catch a man!

The tantalizing Desire miniseries TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB: LONE STAR JEWELS concludes with Tycoon Warrior by Sheri WhiteFeather. A Native American ex-military man reunites with his estranged wife on a secret mission that renews their love.

Popular Peggy Moreland returns to Desire with a romance about a plain-Jane secretary who is in love with her Millionaire Boss. The hero-focused miniseries BACHELOR BATTALION by Maureen Child continues with Prince Charming in Dress Blues, who’s snowbound in a cabin with an unmarried woman about to give birth! Baby at His Door by Katherine Garbera features a small-town sheriff, a beautiful stranger and the bundle of love who unites them. And Sara Orwig writes a lovely tale about a couple entering a marriage of convenience in Cowboy’s Secret Child.

This month, Silhouette is proud to announce we’ve joined the national campaign “Get Caught Reading” in order to promote reading in the United States. So set a good example, and get caught reading all six of these exhilarating Desire titles!

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

Baby at His Door
Katherine Garbera

www.millsandboon.co.uk

KATHERINE GARBERA

This story is set in rural Florida, a place Katherine Garbera knows well. She grew up on different ranches in south central Florida, producing crops of oranges and gathering eggs. “There is so much more to Florida than most people even realize.” The fictional town of Placid Springs is based very loosely on the city of Okeechobee, where her grandparents lived. Katherine is a member of Romance Writers of America, Novelists, Inc. and the Authors Guild.

This book is dedicated to Kathy and Ed Garbera.

Thanks for raising the wonderful man

who is my husband and for welcoming me

into your family as a daughter, not a daughter-in-law.

Acknowledgments:

Thanks to Kelley Pounds, who answered my questions

on ranching and for being a good enough friend that a

couple pages of questions didn’t intimidate her!

Any errors are my own.

The clerical team at DEP has been an endless source of

support and friendship for me in the last five years,

and I want to thank them all. Being a secretary isn’t

always a glamour job, and these women helped me

do a thankless job with grace and laughter.

Thanks also to my family

for their unending support and love.

And lastly, thanks to Ann Leslie Tuttle

for her insight and wisdom.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Epilogue

One

Evan Powell cursed whatever fate made the doorbell ring when he’d just stepped out of the shower. Working two jobs consumed all of his time and energy. He’d just finished his martial arts workout and relaxing afterward was the only part of his endless day he savored.

The doorbell pealed again. He wanted to get it before his dad woke. Damn.

Wrapping a large brown towel around his waist, he glimpsed his own visage in the mirror. He looked like a harsh man. The kind of man who’d lived a hard life. He knew the mirror didn’t lie. If anything it softened his image.

He hoped to God one of his deputies was ringing the bell. Maybe Hobbs, his newest recruit, who was still wet behind the ears. A neighbor or tourist would probably run for the hills, seeing him. Except Florida didn’t have hills, he thought.

He stalked through the dark house. The grandfather clock in the hall chimed one o’clock. If his favorite cow hadn’t chosen tonight to give birth he’d already be in bed and resting. Only an emergency would bring someone out at this time of night.

He should take time to grab some pants, he thought. But he wasn’t feeling hospitable and didn’t really feel like making the effort of dressing. He paused by the locked gun cabinet in the living room to grab his weapon. The .45 felt right in his hand, something he never examined too closely.

Pants were an option but his gun wasn’t. When had life been brought down to survive or die? he wondered. He knew it had a lot to do with the training he’d received in Quantico.

He flicked on the porch light, then swung the door open, hiding the gun behind the barrier of wood and glass. A slender woman with slicked-back blond hair stood in the doorway. A gash on her head bled slowly, and her deep blue eyes were wide with shock.

“I wrecked my car,” she said. Her voice had a slightly high pitch and no accent. She wavered on her feet, and he reached out to steady her. The feel of expensive silk beneath his fingers was foreign. For a moment he wanted to enjoy the sensation of caressing luxury, but he couldn’t. People who stared through shop windows at things they couldn’t have only ended up drooling on themselves.

“Where?” he asked, reminding himself he was the sheriff and had sworn to protect and serve civilians.

She gestured wildly toward the long, winding driveway and the highway. Had she walked from the wreck? She had to be exhausted.

The harsh fluorescent lamp was punishing, revealing her shock and fatigue in stark detail. Her skin looked so fine it seemed almost translucent. He wanted to touch her. Her flesh couldn’t be as soft as it looked. Annoyed, he realized she aroused him. He must be more tired than he thought if this woman was slipping past his guard.

She should have appeared chic and sophisticated, if her clothes and haircut were any indication, and to some extent she did. But there was an air of fragility and innocence about her. Not the debauched boredom that he’d encountered countless times in the rich.

Those emotions were oddly out of step with what he expected of her type. His ex-wife Shanna had the same sleek look about her but absolutely no fragility or innocence. In fact, Shanna was a barracuda, swimming through the masses of men who thronged around her in search of a weak one to kill.

“Where’s your car?” he repeated.

“At the edge of your property, at least I think it’s your property. Do you own the Rockin’ PJP Ranch? There was a cow and a…” Her voice trailed off as her gaze swept down his body, and she realized he wore only a towel.

When her eyes widened, he saw a hint of female speculation in her gaze before fear entered. She struggled to free herself, pulling frantically on her arm. He set his gun on the hall table. He held her shoulders in both of his hands, afraid she’d fall down the porch steps and further injure herself in her frantic bid for escape.

“Hold still, dammit. I’m not going to hurt you.” It was odd that he had to reassure her. Being the local law meant that most people turned to him for protection. Though he knew the lack of a uniform probably had a lot to do with her reaction. He wasn’t a safe-looking guy. He was a tough hombre, he thought, remembering his wisecracking deputy’s description.

Still, damn few people ran from him. If they did, they had a reason. This little lady sure didn’t have anything to fear from him.

She aimed him a haughty look, bringing the poise and elegance he’d only speculated about earlier to the fore.

Evan released her and spread his hands wide. “I’m the sheriff.”

“Where’s your badge? And no, I don’t want to see your stick.”

Evan bit back the laughter rising in his throat. He liked this feisty woman even though she’d disturbed his peaceful night.

He wanted to touch her again. To see if she reacted as quickly to passion as she did to anger. He wished he’d slid his palms down her arms before he’d released her. He’d bet his next month’s pay she’d be soft and smooth. She had that pampered look.

“Don’t run off. I’ll go get my pants and my badge, and we’ll go see about your car.”

“Okay,” she said, her body relaxing. The shocked expression left her and a tentative half-grin lit her face.

“Do you want to wait inside or would you feel safer on the porch?” he asked.

“I’ll wait out here.”

He couldn’t blame her. Though he knew he meant her no harm, she had to trust and depend on herself for protection until he proved himself harmless.

“We’ve got two dogs who have the run of the place so if they show up while I’m gone don’t be alarmed. They’re all bark,” he said as he headed for the stairs.

“Like their owner,” she muttered.

Though he knew her words hadn’t been intended to reach him, he pivoted and walked back toward her. “I’m not all bark.”

She held her spine stiff and straight in a way that reminded him of a proud twenty-year Marine. When she spoke, the sparkle in her eye reassured him her injury wasn’t too serious. “I didn’t say you were.”

He reached out with his free hand brushing a finger down the side of her cheek. Dammit, she was as soft as he’d suspected. “Sure you did, sweetheart. You just hoped I wouldn’t hear.”

He backed away, knowing if he stayed too close he’d be tempted…. Tempted to touch her again with his mouth. Tempted to pull her soft curvy body into the hard muscles of his. Tempted to forget his good sense and take what her snapping eyes didn’t know they offered.

“If I didn’t want you to hear, I wouldn’t have said it out loud.”

He liked her grit. “I’m your only hope of not standing outside all night, so you might want to remember that.”

“I will. I’m sorry. I’m just tired and scared.”

Evan softened toward her. She seemed delicate and he wanted to comfort her. How many times did he have to learn the same lesson? Although he was torn, he knew better.

Women weren’t the weaker sex, as men had stupidly assumed for eons. They were a powerhouse. And no one knew that better than Evan Powell.

“It’s okay. I do resemble the dogs in some ways.”

“Which ways?” she asked, her eyes alight with curiosity instead of shock.

I’m loyal and trustworthy, he thought. But didn’t say it out loud because it would leave him vulnerable. “I’ll let you figure it out.”

He turned to go, knowing he shouldn’t make a parting comment, but he couldn’t help himself. “By the way, sweetheart. I don’t show my stick to just anyone.”

Evan left her out in the night air but didn’t close the door. She might change her mind about coming inside once he left. He took his gun with him, locking it back in the cabinet before going upstairs to dress. He never left his guns unlocked.

He thought about the woman waiting for him on his front porch. She screamed big city. The kind of lady he knew better than to tangle with, yet part of him wanted to do just that. He wanted to take care of her wound, then comfort her in his arms.

Dammit, old son, haven’t you already learned that lesson? He didn’t answer himself.

Lydia couldn’t believe she stood on the porch of some backwoods sheriff’s house. Florida was surprisingly cold on this May night and frightening. Foreign noises grew in volume in the darkness, and she couldn’t hear a single car honking or taxi driver cursing. This remote place was nothing like her aunt’s place farther south in Deerfield Beach.

But it wasn’t all an unpleasant experience. The scent of orange blossoms filled the air, and the full moon painted pretty shadow pictures on the ground. Taking a deep breath, she stared up at the sky.

She shivered and ran her hands over her bare arms. Her short-sleeved designer pantsuit might look nice indoors, but outside it offered no protection. Expensive but worthless. Like her?

That line of thinking was too depressing to pursue. Her car was wrecked. She couldn’t give her name or any other information to the cops. They’d call her father, and she couldn’t go home. At least not yet.

After the accident, she’d listened to the warning bell telling her the car door was ajar, realizing that something inside her was ajar. She couldn’t go back home. She couldn’t continue on to Aunt Gracie’s house either because her car was totaled. The future was already written in stone, and it looked long and lonely from where she sat.

She’d have to wing it. But she wasn’t good at spur-of-the-moment things. The last time she’d tried to be spontaneous she’d discovered her fiancé in bed with his mistress. No, she thought, don’t go there.

She hadn’t loved Paul Draper but she’d liked him and thought they’d have a chance at a decent sort of marriage. But Paul hadn’t believed in commitment to one woman, especially a wife.

Catching Paul in bed with another woman hadn’t broken her heart, but it had made her think about marrying for any reason other than love. She’d quietly left Paul’s apartment and informed her father that she wasn’t rushing into marriage. For the first time he’d gotten truly angry with her and insisted she would marry Paul. Feeling trapped Lydia had escaped in the middle of the night with no clear plan of where she was going—only knowing she couldn’t stay in New York City.

She’d looked into the darkening night and made a desperate decision to change the course of her fate. She was going to have to be in the driver’s seat if she didn’t want to take that long, lonely walk down the marriage aisle in September. She had this summer. One short summer to find an alternative and to find herself before she had to make a decision to either submit to her father’s vision of her destiny or change her life forever. During the long walk to the ranch house she’d vacillated, not coming up with any solution, but one thing had been clear—her determination not to play the role her father had chosen for her.

She’d always been close to her father, and they’d grown closer in the last ten years since her mother’s death. Close enough for her to have been fooled by him when he said that she should marry for love and not position.

She was the child of an illicit affair and had lived in a posh Manhattan penthouse with both of her parents all her life, even though they’d never married. She’d gone to an exclusive boarding school with children of rock stars and politicians so her parents not being married had never been an issue. Actually, her family had been closer to normal than any.

Her father would drag her back home, and she’d be forced to marry Paul. She would have thought her father had enough respect for her at twenty-five to let her make her own decisions. But no.

Two months ago he’d come home from the office and announced that she should be married in six months. He’d asked if she had any prospects. Thinking he was joking she’d said no, she was going to be an old maid.

From that moment on her father had shoved one single executive after another down her throat. She’d been on more blind dates and accidental dinners than she’d ever wanted. And it had soon become clear that these men weren’t interested in her as anything other than the means to an end.

She wanted to find her Prince Charming and be swept off her feet by him. She’d come to realize that in real life the handsome, wealthy prince might not be the greatest catch. He might be self-absorbed and cold. Her real-life, handsome, wealthy prince would certainly never banter with her.

She didn’t want to be married off for her position in society, to a man who saw her only as a bank account, she thought sadly. It made her wonder what, if anything, Paul wanted from her. He was her father’s second in command at work. He really had nothing to gain by marrying her. Except a lot of money.

Oh, great. She was getting maudlin. She was too young and spunky to be so melodramatic, she reminded herself. But the lesson didn’t sink in. Tonight, she was tired and cold and her head ached. Taking a deep breath, she sank down onto one of the porch steps. She wanted to bury her face in her hands, but the wound on her head prohibited that. So she rested her chin on her up-drawn legs.

When the good-looking sheriff came back she was going to have to lie for all she was worth to convince him she was nothing more than she appeared. A down-on-her-luck-lady.

She loved her dad, but she wasn’t ready to go back to Manhattan yet. He was too steely-eyed in his determination for her to marry Paul. She’d left him a note with a brief admonition not to worry, but she knew him. Martin Kerr wasn’t going to let her stay hidden.

She wondered if the sheriff would believe she had amnesia? She doubted it. Besides, on the soaps, amnesia victims were always immediately unsure of where they were and what they were doing. She’d probably blown her chance. Frankly, she didn’t know if she was up to inventing a complicated lie.

Simplicity seemed her smartest route. She’d already removed her license plate and hidden it in her suitcase so they couldn’t trace the car to her New York address. She’d also left her cell phone behind, knowing she’d answer it if her dad called and she needed distance to think. She’d have to make up a name and a story. A good one because, even though this was a small-town sheriff, keen intelligence had gleamed in his eyes. Also a predatory awareness that she’d rarely encountered in men. He wasn’t going to be distracted by batting eyelashes and fingers stroking down his arm.

She liked the sheriff. Liked the lean body she’d observed while he’d talked with her. Liked the line of hair that tapered down his washboard stomach beneath the line of the brown towel. Liked the easy strength he’d used to hold her with when she’d tried to escape. Liked especially the fact that he hadn’t hurt her.

She heard feet pounding the earth, and a minute later two monsters surrounded her. Dogs were cute fluffy white things with pink or yellow bows in their hair. These dirty phantoms wanted to eat her alive, she realized as wet coarse tongues swept over her arms and face.

She screamed and tried to scramble to her feet. A strong hand grabbed her upper arm, steadying her. Grateful for the sheriff’s assistance she clung to him. She felt tears burn the back of her eyes and felt not only the helplessness of her current situation, but also the weight of her life and the decision she’d made.

“Settle down, boys,” the sheriff ordered, appearing by her side.

The dogs stilled and then, after a hand movement from the sheriff, disappeared around the corner. Lydia could hardly contain her breathing. The sheriff ran a soothing hand down her spine.

“So you don’t like dogs?” he asked, in a laconic drawl that made her want to kick him.

“I like show dogs. Pets with manners,” she said. To her own ears her voice sounded thin and airy. Did she sound that weak to him?

“Those are real dogs for real men, sweetheart. Not the cultured kind of pet you find in the city.”

“How did you know I’m from the city?” she asked. Oh, God, did he know who she was? For the first time since he’d rejoined her, she studied him.

Her breath caught in her throat. If he’d been sexy wearing only a towel, he was even more so clothed in a black T-shirt and faded jeans. She liked the smile in his eyes and the quiet confidence he projected. She didn’t want to like him because she had to deceive him, but she knew there was little hope for resisting him.

He shrugged his shoulder and scratched his chin before answering her. “You just have the look of the city.”

He had no idea how right he was. She did have the look, had, in fact, been part of a national campaign with her supermodel mother when she was fifteen. Lydia bit her lip as thoughts of her mother assailed her. Her mother had been killed in the terrorist downing of a plane.

“I didn’t realize bloody wounds and rumpled clothing were in fashion this year,” she quipped.

“Maybe you’ll start a trend.”

She doubted it. She hated the spotlight. Uncomfortable with the silence between them, she diverted the conversation to business. “I should have asked you for a phone earlier to call a wrecker.”

“I already took care of that. And I’ve called one of my deputies and an ambulance. They’ll be waiting for us by your car. Here’s my badge, by the way,” he said, quickly extending the badge for her to see. “Come on, I’ll give you a ride back to your vehicle.”

“Thanks.”

She’d always had everything she wanted but riding in a 4X4 would be a new experience. If she’d walked back to her car, her feet would have protested. His big truck sported a little step built under the door. Thank God, she thought. Otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to climb inside without help.

The sheriff stood behind her anyway and boosted her to the step. She seated herself, then realized they were eye-to-eye. He was a tall man, this sheriff. His eyes were an icy gray. The play of light over his features fascinated her. A strong jaw and sun and laugh lines that radiated outward from his eyes.

A real man. A shiver of awareness spread through her body and pooled at her center. She’d bet her last hundred-dollar bill that he had the kind of muscles you couldn’t get with weekly trips to the fitness center. Stop it, she warned herself.

She’d never been on her own, and the prospect was daunting. For a moment she wanted to return to the familiar, her prestigious name and large bank account. But she also wanted the chance to prove to herself that she was more than a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder.

“Thank you, sir.”

“I’m Evan Powell. Please call me Evan,” he said.

“Thank you, Evan.”

“You’re welcome….”

He wanted to know her name. Come on girl, think. The safest name would be her own. She’d use her middle name, which was what her closest friends called her anyway. She’d give her father’s name for the last name. “Lydia Martin.”

“Lydia,” he repeated her name as if savoring the feel of it on his tongue.

He closed the door. She watched him walk around the truck and sucked in a few deep breaths before he returned. The cab smelled warm and masculine. Like his aftershave, she realized as he climbed behind the wheel.

He started the truck and the twang of country guitar filled it. He reached out to turn down the volume and she watched his hands. Twice he’d held her arm. She wondered what his touch would feel like in a different context and not on her arm. Her nipples tightened against her lacy bra.

“Are you visiting around these parts?” he asked.

Glad for the distraction from her thoughts, she said, “No, I’m just passing through. I was heading to Deerfield Beach to stay with my aunt.”

They’d reached the end of his driveway. “Which way?”

“Left.”

Her BMW was still wrapped around a telephone pole, and the wreck looked a lot worse in the harsh light cast by his 4X4 truck. “I’m surprised you were able to walk away.”

“The air bag and seat belt saved my life,” she said and knew it was true.

Amazing she’d survived, she thought as she stared at the twisted pile of metal. She felt as if she’d been given another chance at life, and she decided to make the most of it. If she wanted to marry for love she’d have to find a man worthy of her love—and find out if she was worthy of his love. The ideas she’d been playing with earlier solidified, and she knew a sense of purpose for the first time in her life. And that purpose was going to take her in the opposite direction to where her life had been heading.

The police, ambulance and wrecker all arrived while she watched from the cab of Evan’s truck. She felt a little like a fairy-tale princess who’d just been awakened from a long sleep. Only this princess would travel a harder road to find her knight in shining armor and live happily ever after.

Two

It was bad enough Evan was attracted to a tourist he was sworn to protect and serve but to discover one of his cows had caused the accident was a fitting end to the night. Lydia, who’d yet to produce an ID, didn’t want to press charges. But Evan knew he’d have to cover the car repair and probably a couple of nights’ motel stay.

Though the EMT who examined her feared she might have a concussion, she refused to go to the hospital and stay overnight. Evan knew he couldn’t dump her in a motel.

“She can stay with me tonight,” he volunteered.

The EMT gave him instructions to wake her every two hours and ask her a few questions.

“I don’t want to be an imposition,” Lydia said after the EMT had left.

“You won’t be. I take in boarders in the summer.”

“Really, I’ll be fine in a motel.”

“It’s either my place or the hospital, sweetheart.”

“Listen here, Sheriff. I don’t take orders from anyone.”

“I’m not giving you an order. I’m making a decision for you. You are too impaired due to your injury to decide on your own.”

She glared at him. He’d love to see her rested and at her full fighting strength. “I’m not going to the hospital.”

“Then I’d love to have you as my guest.”

“You’re not going to offer to show me your stick are you?”

Evan laughed. “No, not yet.”

He spared a few minutes to radio his foreman to come get the cow back inside the fence. Then have his men repair the broken section. It had been a long time since he’d met a woman he could spar with verbally. Most of the hometown girls never stood up to him. He caught up with Lydia arguing with the tow-truck driver, Boz Stillman.

“Listen, lady. It’s going to take weeks—two, maybe three, to repair your car. Why don’t you just let me take it to the junkyard and have your insurance carrier reimburse you?” Boz demanded.

“The car is still in working condition. I don’t want it totaled,” Lydia said.

“Do you have insurance?” Evan asked. Her insistence about repairing her car told him she might not be covered. He glanced toward the car and found Boz’s helper unloading a fortune’s worth of designer luggage from the trunk.

“No,” she said, quietly.

“Boz, tow the car in and make the repairs to it.”

“Um…Evan, may I speak with you for a minute?” Lydia asked. Her voice was soft and sweet, not a bit at odds with the woman who’d clung to him when his dogs had been licking her.

“Sure. Give us a minute, Boz.”

Boz walked away mumbling about women with more looks than sense. Lydia shifted her weight from foot to foot and stared off at the red-and-blue flashing lights of the squad car.

“What did you want to discuss?”

“This is kind of hard to say,” Lydia hedged.

“Spit it out,” he said, unable to believe she had trouble saying what was on her mind.

“I don’t have any money right now.”

“Don’t you have credit cards?” She seemed like the type who’d have a wallet full of gold cards.

“No. I don’t like to use them,” she said, staring at the ground.

“Let me pay for the repairs. It’s the least I can do since my cow caused the accident.”

“No. You’re already paying me back by letting me stay at your house tonight. Maybe I can find a job and earn some cash to pay for the repairs. This car looks like it’s going to take some time to fix.”

“I’ll pay Boz for the repairs when he’s finished and then you can send me a check from your relative’s house when you get there.”

“My aunt is out of town. I’m house-sitting for her.”

Of course, he thought. Because he’d been thinking that he could spar with her and enjoy the tinges of arousal racing through his veins until she left, it looked like she was going to have to stay.

“What’s your career?”

“I don’t have one. I do a lot of work with charities.”

Great, no marketable skills. He sighed. She appealed to him, he should be getting farther away from her, but instead…

“I have some filing that needs to be done at the office. You can work for me until your car is ready. I’ll pay for your repairs and give you room and board. Sound good?”

“Don’t you have to get some sort of approval for that?”

Yes, but that was his worry not hers. “Don’t you ever stop arguing?”

She grinned at him, looking like an impish fairy for a brief moment. “No, I don’t.”

“Somehow I suspected that.”

“I really appreciate all you’re doing for me.”

“No problem. Let me get your luggage loaded in the back of the truck and we’ll head home.”

“Don’t you need to stay here?”

“Nah, my deputy needs the experience of writing up paperwork.”

Despite her evasive answers, he wanted her like hell on fire. Damn, he should have let her go to the motel, but he couldn’t let her stay in a lonely motel room. As ridiculous as it seemed, he wanted to watch over her while she slept.

Lydia woke in a dark room. The deep and steady sound of someone else’s breathing alarmed her. Where was she?

The window was open and the curtain billowed gently in the breeze. There were foreign sounds, cicadas, grasshoppers and the lowing of cows filling the air. Not like Manhattan.

The pillow beneath her head was firm, not the cloud-like softness of her own goose-down pillow. The sheets were cotton, and she seemed to be wearing some sort of sleep shirt with buttons.

She sat up, trying to identify the other person in the room. A familiar scent assailed her. Woodsy and masculine. An aftershave that was familiar to her but not her father’s.

“Lydia? Are you awake?”

The sheriff, Evan. The events of the night rushed back to her. She’d been in a wreck and instead of doing the smart thing and telling the truth, she’d concocted a story to cover herself. And not much of one at that.

For the first time since her father had made public his intention to buy her a husband six months ago she felt free.

She shrugged aside the feelings of melancholy and vulnerability and savored instead her newfound freedom.

The neon glow of the clock on the nightstand said six-fifteen. The second time she’d wakened, she thought. The first time he’d awakened her, and it had been vague and annoying because she was so tired.

This man wanted nothing from her. He didn’t care that she had a large sum of money tied to her. His concern for her safety came from the genuine goodness inside him. He was a tough-looking character, but he had a good heart. She’d noticed that not only in the way he’d dealt with her, but also in how he interacted with the other professionals at the accident scene.

“Yes, Sheriff, I am.”

He made a tsking sound and walked over to the bed. A click and then the bedside light was on. “I thought we agreed you’d call me Evan?”

He looked rumpled and sleepy, and she wanted to open her arms, pull back the covers and invite him to rest his weary body next to hers. Some deep primal instinct made her want to comfort him. “You’re right—Evan.”

“That’s better,” he said, caressing her cheek.

His touch sent shivers of awareness coursing through her veins. The electric pulses were the forerunners of desire, Lydia thought, with no small shock. She’d never felt desire before this evening. Never wanted a man to linger when he caressed or kissed her. She enjoyed the touch and resented its loss when Evan pulled back.

“I’m going to have to head out soon to start the morning chores before going into town. You can take today off and start that job at the office tomorrow. My father will wake you in two hours to make sure you don’t have a concussion.”

He liked to give orders, Lydia realized.

“Yes, sir,” she said, with a tinge of disrespect.

“Does your mouth ever get you into trouble?” he asked.

“Not anything I can’t handle,” she said, feeling flirty from his touch. Would he caress her again if she sat up? Could she tempt him into kissing her?

She sat, letting the top sheet drop to her waist. His gaze skimmed down her body lingering over the curve of her breast before he looked away.

“I’m sure,” he said, walking to the door.

“Evan.”

He glanced back over his shoulder; cloaked as he was in the shadows spilling from the opening doorway, his expression was inscrutable.

“Sorry.”

He crossed back to her, taking her shoulders in his hands, he leaned her back against the pillow. He pulled the sheet up to her neck, and his hands lingered on her body. She wanted to wriggle around and bring his touch closer to the aching parts of her body.

“Don’t tease me, Lydia. I’ll take what you’re offering and give you back passion like you’ve never found before.”

“I wasn’t teasing.”

“What were you doing?”

“I don’t know. But your touch…”

“Yes?”

“Your touch is like the sweetest imported chocolate I’ve ever had. One that I savored for months, coming back time and again for a tiny lick. I wanted one more lick.”

“Not right now,” he said.

“No, not right now,” she agreed.

He walked to the door again. Just as he stepped into the hallway, she leaned up on her elbow. “Evan, I don’t think I’ll be satisfied with just one lick.”

“Neither will I,” he said and disappeared.

“There’s a woman in the house.”

Evan didn’t look up from putting his tack away. “Yes, Dad, there is.”

“Why?” Payne asked.

“She had a wreck last night avoiding one of our cows.” Evan closed the tack-room door and started up toward the house. His father fell into step beside him. Evan watched the old man from the corner of his eye. He wondered if Payne ever got lonely living out here with just Evan and ranch hands for company.

“We’ve got insurance,” Payne said, interrupting his thoughts.

Evan nodded. “She has a head injury.”

“Concussion?” Payne asked as they entered the kitchen. Both men stopped to kick off their boots. One of Evan’s mother’s lingering edicts. No dirty boots in the house. She’d been dead for over twenty years, but they still wouldn’t track muck into her kitchen.

“I don’t think so. But we couldn’t be sure.”

“That’s good. When’s she leaving?”

“She’s broke. I’m going to put her to work at the sheriff’s office until she has enough money to pay off her car.”

“Do you know what you’re doing, son?”

Evan nodded.

“She looks a little like Shanna.”

“I know.”

“See that you remember that.”

Evan started breakfast trying to forget what his father’s words meant.

Shanna had been spoiled, and though she’d loved him at school, his hometown had been too much for her. She’d begged him to move back to D.C. with her. To go back to working with the FBI when it became apparent that ranch life wasn’t what she’d envisioned. But he hadn’t loved her enough to leave his family and his home. Nor had she.

He’d been a mess when Shanna had left him for the bright lights of D.C. But Evan had learned that lesson. He didn’t need a reminder. Fooling around with Lydia was all he had in mind. And that was more dreaming than anything else. If she stayed here, there were Payne and a dozen ranch hands to act as chaperones.

The two Powell men sat down to a cold cereal breakfast without speaking. The silence was comfortable to them and they both enjoyed it for their own reasons.

The phone interrupted breakfast, and Payne, closest to the wall unit, reached out his long arm to answer it. He nodded to Evan. Evan took the call in the other room.

“What’s up, Hobbs?”

“I ran the description of the car and the lady last night and nothing came up.”

“Okay, we’ll look into it when I come down this afternoon.”

Lydia passed by the doorway as Evan hung up the phone. “Lydia?”

“Yes?” she said.

He saw that the lights last night hadn’t fooled him, she was even more beautiful in the pure light of day. Her icy blond hair was pulled into a chignon. He knew it wasn’t a bun because his mother had explained women’s hairstyles to him when he was a boy.

“We couldn’t find your name in the computer last night to match to the car. I’m going to need you to write down the spelling.”

She hesitated a second before she looked away. “Okay.”

“Is this going to be a problem?”

Her face was transparent and her eyes, which were a deep sapphire this morning, wouldn’t meet his. She wore a stylish sundress with thin straps and a short skirt. She had knockout legs. He longed to feel them wrapped around his hips.

Dammit, get your mind back to business. The wound on her forehead had disappeared. She had a good hand with makeup, he thought.

“No. It’s just that well…the car isn’t registered in my name.” She was lying to him. And she wasn’t very good at it.

“You know we can find out who you are from the vehicle identification number, right?”

“Really?”

He nodded.

She moved closer to him. Her expensive perfume surrounded him, and he could think of nothing but searching her body to find out where she’d dabbed it. “Will you take my word for it that I haven’t done anything illegal and the car really is mine?”

She had innocent eyes; he didn’t think she’d done anything illegal. There was something about the eyes of a criminal that you never forgot. “Maybe.”

“Maybe? What would it take to make that a yes?” she asked, moving a breath closer and running her finger along his jaw.

“More than a lick,” he said stepping away. Damn, he liked flirting with a sassy woman. He hadn’t realized how much he missed it until this very moment. If he stayed in the room with her alone for a few more seconds he was going to forget his good sense and kiss her. Take those perfectly painted lips beneath his own and not come up for air until she forgot about the stories she was trying to tell him.

“Well that’s all I’ve got to offer right now,” she said.

“Let’s go have some breakfast and you can meet my dad. You can tell me the details of why you’re using an assumed name on the way into town.”

He followed her down the hall to the silence of the kitchen, watching her hips sway with each step and feeling arousal tingle along his spine and groin. He wanted her, and she had to know. He’d always been transparent when he was in lust.

He was once again in the crossfire that had cut him down before. A lying woman he wanted more than his next breath or his job. He’d chosen poorly the first time. He wouldn’t again.

Three

Staying in the small town of Placid Springs, Florida, was going to be an experience. To call it a town was being generous. The one main street possessed a flashing caution signal, and there wasn’t a department store to be found.

She’d come into the office with Evan because she couldn’t stand being alone with her thoughts. The sheriff’s office was besieged by well-wishers and curiosity seekers for a good part of the afternoon while she was there. Every person in the small town knew each other. Apparently she was the first person to hit a light pole while avoiding a cow.

“Most people just stop, ma’am. The cows rarely ram ya’,” one old-timer told her.

She was between a rock and a hard place. Evan embodied all of the qualities she’d found lacking in the men she’d dated. And after meeting the kind older gentleman that was Evan’s father, she doubted Evan would understand how demanding a father could be.

The mechanic had called; it was going to take two weeks for the parts needed to repair her car to come in. She wished Aunt Gracie was home so she could wire her some money. No, she didn’t, she wanted to do this on her own.

Say it again, she thought, maybe you’ll begin to believe it.

“We still can’t find your name in our computers.”

Lydia flinched and stared up into the sheriff’s frozen gray eyes. She’d tried to think of how to get around having her father find out where she was while still assuaging the local law-enforcement needs. “I…”

“Yes?” he drawled.

She buried her face in her hands. Damn, she wasn’t a good liar, never had been.

The warm hand on her shoulder told her Evan had moved. Tingles spread down from her shoulder, for a moment his touch made her feel safe and secure. Tell me your secrets.

She’d made a second chance for herself, and only she could determine if it would be a life made of lies or truth. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at him. The sexy small-town sheriff. “My name’s not going to be in your computer.”

His eyes narrowed, but his tone was calm. “Why not?”

“Because I haven’t given you my real one.”

“Why not?”

“I’m hiding and I’m not ready to be found yet.”

“From whom?”

“I’d rather not say right now.”

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, oh.”

Lydia didn’t want to lie. Instead she batted her eyelashes and brushed her tongue across her bottom lip. His eyes tracked the movement like a spy satellite tracking fleet movements. She leaned forward and shrugged her shoulders until the V of her blouse dipped lower.

“Honey…”

“Yes,” she said, trying to sound sultry.

“Even if I take you up on your invitation, I’m still going to want answers.”

If he took her up on her invitation, she’d go down fast. One fiancé hadn’t given her enough experience to handle this man and his earthy sensuality.

“I wasn’t issuing an invitation per se.”

“What were you doing?”

“Distracting you.”

“It almost worked.”

“What would it take to be successful?”

He leaned down until his breath brushed her face and she could see the flecks of sapphire in his gray eyes. She wanted to scoot away from him. Every survival instinct she had screamed for her to retreat, but this was the new Lydia and she wasn’t backing up.

“More than lust, less than love.”

His words cut through her. All men wanted less than love. “I’m not any good at lust.”

“Hell, honey, you were doing just fine.”

She shrugged.

“Ready to tell me more?”

“Not now. Can I have a reprieve?”

He nodded. “Until tonight.”

“Agreed, tonight. Where will I be working?”

“Come on. I’ll show you.”

She followed him down the hall, noticing the fit of his uniform pants was close to illegal. He had a nice butt. She wondered if his flesh would be rock-hard, like the muscles of his naked chest had been last night. Her fingers tingled with the need to caress him again. Though this time with intent and purpose.

“Your desk will be here,” he gestured to a battered model covered in manila folders and sloppily stacked papers.

The real world was a messy one, she realized. “I don’t think I’ll be here long enough to get through all of this paperwork.”

“It looks worse than it is.”

“That’s what you said about the dogs.”

He gave her a sympathetic look. Silence grew between them. She should stop looking at his mouth and wondering how well he kissed—spectacularly, if the darkly arousing secrets in his eyes were any indication. He had firm-looking lips. Kind of went with the rest of his hard body. She wondered what his mouth would feel like on hers.

Would he kiss with restraint as her fiancé had? Or with passion?

But he was out of her league. More than lust and less than love was not what she was looking for from a man.

“Penny for your thoughts?” he said.

Darn it. What was she going to say? The old Lydia had a stock of ditzy answers that made everyone around her think she was a shallow socialite. But last night she’d had a blinding realization that life held more for her than an arranged marriage and it was up to her to find it. It was time to leave the ditz behind.

“I was thinking about you,” she said, before her courage could desert her.

“What about me?” he asked, taking a step closer. The sounds of the common room just outside this little office cubicle suddenly seemed a world away. His shoulders blocked the entrance, nearly spanning it.

He was a big man, she thought. Big and strong and honest as the day is long. Though she longed to feel his arms around her, she knew she never would. This was a man who would not tolerate lies, especially from someone he’d been intimate with. That made her a little sad.

The thought shocked her because she hadn’t realized how much she wanted him until that moment. Lust was a new emotion to her, and she wasn’t sure she liked it.

“Lydia?”

She glanced up, meeting his icy gaze. She should hedge and lie. No, she thought fiercely. Not about this, not about the feelings he evoked in her. She’d stick to the truth about everything except her identity.

“What were you thinking?” he queried again.

Taking a deep breath she told him the truth for the first time since they met. “I was wondering what your mouth would feel like on my own. And then I remembered lust not love.”

He froze. Obviously not expecting honesty from someone who was feeding him half lies the way a con man sells security. He cocked his head to the side and stepped forward, moving with surety and grace. No tentative steps such as she would have used.

She felt the warmth of his body before he came close enough for his chest to brush her breasts. She tilted her head to look up at him. His silver-gray eyes were narrowed and those firm hard lips were parted.

She felt the exhalation of his breath as he leaned forward. Smelled the coffee he’d drunk earlier while she’d been on the phone. Closing her eyes she let her senses absorb every sensation of the moment.

“Lydia?” he asked, his voice a husky rasp.

She opened her eyes and saw in his gaze intent. Though he didn’t speak, she knew he’d wondered what it would be like to kiss her. Her, a woman with no money or power tied to her. Just an average woman. Her heartbeat sped up and she lifted her hands to his shoulders.

The cotton of his uniform, starched to perfection, was a new texture. She slid her fingers across the fabric, feeling the strength of the man before her. This wasn’t a man who’d allow himself to be purchased.

This was a man who lived life by his own rules. And as his head lowered slowly toward hers, she realized this was a man who could teach her more of life than just the passionate side she’d never experienced. By example he could teach her how to carve her own niche in the world.

She stood on her toes to reach his lips as they descended. Losing her balance, she fell forward, her breasts brushing his chest. Her nipples tightened and her blood seemed heavier as it flowed through her veins.

He angled his head, she closed her eyes.

“Sheriff?”

“Dammit.”

He pivoted to face the open doorway. Lydia drew her hands down and laced her fingers together.

“Phone,” one of his deputies said. Evan ran a hand through his hair and walked away without looking back at her. What had almost happened?

Lydia leaned against the edge of the cluttered desk and wrapped her arms around her waist. Her heart was racing, her blood pounding and her most feminine parts were crying out for more of that man. Evan Powell made her feel alive. She realized she was staying in Placid Springs for more than a desire to earn her own way. She wanted to spend more time with the sheriff.

A warm breeze blew through the open windows of the cab of Evan’s truck. Lydia stared out the window as if the view held the secrets to the universe. She had been pensive and withdrawn since their conversation this afternoon. He wondered what she was hiding from.

She had the pampered look of a rich wife. Which gave him pause. No matter how much he wanted her or she flirted with him he wasn’t poaching in another man’s territory.

He’d never questioned his control. It had been his constant companion since his ex-wife’s desertion. But even rock-solid control and the possibility that Lydia might be married wasn’t enough to keep him from wanting to reach out and touch the slim thighs revealed by her skirt.

Lydia’s soft voice as she sang along with the radio played along his senses, with the warm breeze and earthy scents setting off longings he had no right to. He wanted to pull the truck off the road and revel in his senses. To fill them until he was drunk on the sensations of woman, world and endless time.

Dammit, Lydia called to his soul the way D.C. had called to his secret hidden dreams. She represented everything about the world outside of Placid Springs that he wanted but didn’t have. Everyone in the small town had stopped by to see her and talk to her about the cow accident. Did you see the pretty lady in Evan’s office?

The lady didn’t belong with him any more than she did this small town. But he wanted her.

Damn, he wished he’d never thought of kissing her. But since he had, his mind kept supplying him with images and imagined textures. Images of her straddling his hips, her skirt floating over his thighs while she rode him to completion. The imagined texture of her skin and her mouth. The soft wet, living silk of female.

“Evan?”

Forcing his concentration to the present and away from hot dreams, he glanced over at her.

“I’m sorry about those papers,” she said.

She’d mixed up the fax and the shredder machines. Whatever Lydia had done in the life she was running from, she had not been a top-rate office assistant. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you going to fire me?” she asked after minutes had passed.

“I’m not.”

“Are you upset about something?

“I’m not upset. What kind of a wimpy word is that to use on a man?”

“I don’t know, Marlboro Man, why don’t you tell me?”

“It was a long day,” he said at last. “I like the silence.”

“Are you sure that’s all?”

“Yes.”

“You can talk to me about your problems. I’d be happy to be your sounding board,” she said, placing her hand on his thigh.

“No, thank you.”

“Really. It’s something I’m good at. Unless of course you don’t like me.”

“Look, Lydia. I like you.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“You’re funny and sexy and everything I like about big-city women. But you’re not staying here. For us to do more than work together would be a mistake.”

“I was talking about work.”

He glanced pointedly to the hand resting on his thigh. “You were flirting.”

Hastily she removed her touch. She laced her fingers together in her lap and owned up to the truth. “Yes I was. I thought you were interested in more than lust, less than love.”

“I said that’s what would have made me stop questioning you.”

“Not interested?” she asked.

“You’re a complication I don’t need. I’m not a casual man, Lydia.”

“I know.”

He slowed the truck and turned onto his property. As they bounced along the rutted road, silence permeated the air much the way rotted fruit does.

He bounced to a stop, and Lydia was out of the truck before he had the key out of the ignition.

“Lydia—”

Lydia didn’t turn around. Part of her wanted to. She couldn’t explain it, but Evan felt like the other part of her soul. His love of his community, the land and the silence at the end of the day. These were the very things her hungry soul clamored for, but had never found.

The crunch of gravel under his boots warned her he was behind her before he touched her shoulder. His warmth burned through the thin layer of silk. She wished she were wearing a strapless evening gown so that he would touch her skin.

She took a deep breath, wanting to hide from him and the new emotions coursing through her. But her new life wasn’t based on lies. Sure it isn’t, she thought.

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