He climbed back down and moved to her. Grabbing hold of her shoulders he squeezed, and she quietened immediately. She couldn’t even make out what the guy looked like, but he had a presence that couldn’t be ignored.
“It’s okay, Molly.” The reassurance in his voice calmed her nerves. Maybe she’d been wrong about him. He didn’t seem to have an ego issue and he was being kind of nice, checking on her. “Except you should have stayed in your car, like you were told. Next time, you’ll follow directions, yes?”
“Well, hopefully t-there won’t be a next time, but I’m pretty s-sure if there is I won’t be waiting in the car while s-someone is alone and hurt.”
He undid his jacket then wrapped it around her shoulders. She gaped at him.
“Put your arms through and do up the buttons. It’ll keep the rain off.”
“What about you?” she asked, thrown by his kind gesture. Her temper faded. He now had nothing to protect him from the elements.
“I’ll be fine. Better that I’m wet and cold than you. Why don’t you go up and wait in the car for the ambulance?”
It was worded like a request, but it felt like an order.
“I’ll wait here.” Not that she was helping, but she didn’t feel like leaving them.
“You’ll do as I say and go up and wait in the car.”
“Um, hate to burst your ego bubble, but I don’t have to obey you.”
Who did he think he was? She was a grown woman. She could take care of herself. “What should we do?” she asked quickly before he could say anything more. “The water’s rising fast.”
“It is,” he replied, not sounding worried at all. “You’re not going to do what I say, are you?”
“Nope.”
He sighed then turned to the truck, shining his light against the driver’s door. “Here, hold this then.” He handed her the flashlight. Grateful for something to do, she held it as he grabbed the door handle and pulled. She bit her lip to stop herself from telling him she’d already tried that.
The door groaned and then opened. Well, hell.
“Do you have a neck brace ’cause if you’re going to move him we should put that on first.”
“I know.”
She flushed with embarrassment.
She held the flashlight while he secured the neck brace. The jacket he’d wrapped around her was keeping the rain off, but she was still chilled, her hands shaking. If he noticed, he thankfully didn’t say anything.
Her stomach churned. “How much longer will the ambulance be?”
Just then they heard a siren in the distance. He turned back to her. “Sounds like it’s almost here.”
A few minutes later a door slammed then someone yelled down to them. Jake yelled back.
A couple of paramedics soon appeared, a stretcher held between them. They worked swiftly, and she just kept out of their way as they got Russ out of the vehicle, then quickly up to the ambulance. The sheriff turned to her.
“Do you need help getting back up?”
“I’ll be fine.” She hoped. She cautiously turned her ankle. Ouch.
“You wouldn’t be lying to me, would you?”
“No,” she said hotly.
He was silent and that only stirred her temper more. “Listen, maybe everyone in these parts jump when you say jump, but I don’t fall under your jurisdiction, Sheriff. I have a mind of my own. I make my own decisions.”
“And you thought it was a good idea to sit in the pouring rain in a ditch with fast rising water rather than waiting in a warm, dry car?” There was a note of disbelief in his voice.
“There was an injured man down here. I couldn’t just leave him!” She couldn’t believe his attitude. Most people would be thanking her, not reprimanding her.
“Russ would be the first person to tell you that you shouldn’t have risked your safety for him.”
Okay, is he for real? Am I being punked or something? What the heck’s going on?
“He could have drowned. Or woken up and moved and hurt himself even more. Or just been scared out of his mind. I couldn’t just sit up there and wait like some princess who’s afraid of getting wet.” She turned and started up the hill, nearly falling as her ankle gave way.
A firm hand wrapped around her upper arm, steadying her.
“Easy now,” he murmured. “I didn’t mean to get you all riled up.”
Riled up? She’d show him riled up.
“I’m not a two-year-old having a tantrum. I don’t get riled up.”
“Could have fooled me.”
Grr. The bastard.
“Are you always this arrogant or is it something special for me?”
“I have to get up there,” he replied, ignoring her question. “Can you walk or am I carrying you?”
She gaped at him. Carry her? She didn’t think so.
“I’m walking.”
“I’ll stay behind you in case you fall.”
“You better hope I don’t,” she said as she started up the steep slope, trying to ignore the razor-sharp pain working its way up her leg.
Shit. Shit.
“Why is that?”
“Because I’d squash you like a bug.”
There was silence behind her. She hated how he did that. Jesus, she’d known this man less than an hour and already she had a list of characteristics about him she disliked. What did that say about him? Or her?
She decided it might be best to shut up and concentrate on making her way up to the road without slipping and taking him with her, which would be completely humiliating, or revealing how much her ankle hurt and having him accuse her of being a liar.
Which you are.
It was just a white lie to get him to leave her the hell alone.
By the time they reached the top, she was shaking like a leaf, her breath heaving in and out of her lungs. The paramedics already had Russ in the ambulance. One spoke to Jake quietly while she leaned against her car and tried to keep the weight off her sore ankle. The paramedic then turned and came over to her.
“Miss? Are you all right? Were you in the accident as well?” He held a flashlight, which he ran over her body. She grimaced, knowing she must look a sight.
“I’m fine, I wasn’t in the accident. How’s Russ? His breathing was shallow, and his pulse was weak.”
“Are you a medical professional?” the paramedic asked.
“Go on and get Russ to the hospital,” the sheriff interjected. “I’ll bring Molly in to get looked over.”
She ground her teeth together in frustration and to stop herself from snapping something at him she’d probably regret.
Jake turned to her. “I’ve radioed into dispatch. They’ll send someone out to get your car in the morning. If you give me your keys, I’ll get whatever you need from it and lock up.”
“Um, I don’t need anyone to pick up my car. There’s nothing wrong with it or me. I certainly don’t need to go the hospital to get checked over.” There was no way she was going anywhere with Mr. obey-me-or-else.
He sighed. It was a ridiculously long, drawn out affair. “Molly, it’s been a long day. I started work at five and now it’s well past seven. I now have to take your statement, get to the hospital and check on Russ, then go write up a report. I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t fight me on this one thing, because, like it or not, you’re not driving yourself anywhere tonight and you are going to the hospital to get checked out. Up to you whether you want to do this the easy way or the hard way.”
He had to admit to being disappointed she hadn’t chosen the hard way. Sure, it made his life easier but far less interesting.
After she’d climbed into his car, with a huff that let him know she was doing it under duress, he’d waited until she’d buckled up before closing the door and walking around to his side. He’d grabbed the spare blanket he kept under the passenger seat, wrapping it around her. Her look of disbelief told him she hadn’t expected that. It was just common courtesy, something he’d give to anyone.
And if his hands lingered a bit longer than they should have, well, he wasn’t going to read too much into that.
It didn’t surprise him she wasn’t used to such a small kindness. A lot of men seemed to have forgotten how to look after a female properly. It was a damn shame to his way of thinking. There was nothing he’d loved more than taking care of Rebecca.
He squashed that thought.
“Will you be able to get an update on him once we get to the hospital?” Molly finally asked after they’d been driving for a few minutes.
He nodded. “Yep.”
“Do you think he’d been in that ditch long?”
“Possibly.”
“Are you going for the strong, silent, law enforcement stereotype?”
He glanced over at her. “What?”
“The one-word answers? I thought it might be the look you’re going for.” She ran her gaze over him assessingly.
He raised an eyebrow. “I’m not trying for a stereotype.”
“Hmm.”
“Where were you headed?” he asked, not liking the way she was analyzing him.
“What? Oh, to Haven.”
“No, I meant where is your end destination?”
“Oh, that would be heaven, I guess,” she joked. “Well, it would be if I believed in it.”
He tried not to sigh with frustration. “I guess we’re all headed there eventually. Let me try again. Where are you going after you leave Haven? You on holiday?” He’d seen the luggage in her car when he’d retrieved the small overnight bag she’d grudgingly asked him to get.
“Sort of, I guess.”
“You on the run?” he asked, irritated. He was growing kind of tired of her half-answers.
“Yep, I’m wanted in five states. Went on a bank-robbing spree. Got a taste for the high life.”
“That so?”
“Uh-huh, champagne and caviar, that’s me.”
“Won’t find much of the high life in Haven.”
“Oh, well, maybe I’ll have to settle for Big Hunks and Dr. Pepper.”
“Pardon?”
“Big Hunks? As in the nougat bar that’s tough enough to pull your fillings out?”
“Oh, right.”
“Why, Sheriff, whatever did you think I meant?” she teased.
“When I get to the hospital, I’ll get you settled then check in on Russ, all right?” he asked, changing the topic. “No one’s reported him missing, but he lives alone so it’s difficult to say how long he was down there.”
“There, that wasn’t so hard.” She gave him a crooked smile, and he felt his stomach tighten.
Was he attracted to her? With her messy, red hair, the streak of mud down her pale cheek, and her bedraggled appearance she shouldn’t be stirring him this way. And she was a bit of a brat. But, for whatever reason, that place inside him he thought he’d shut down stirred to life.
“To answer your question, eventually I want to find some beautiful, tropical island to settle down on. But, for now, I’m planning on staying in Haven for a bit.”
“Really? Why Haven?”
“Sounds like a nice little town. Plus, I have friends who live there.”
His curiosity was really piqued now. “Who are your friends?”
She gave him a sideways glance. “Do you ask all visitors this many questions?”
“I take an interest in my town and the people who live there. It’s my job to make sure they’re safe.”
“And you think I’m a threat to their safety?” There was laughter in her voice. “I can assure you, Sheriff, I’m not going to cause you any trouble at all.”
He looked up at the sky.
“What are you looking at?” she asked, staring up at the dark clouds.
“Oh, nothing. Just thought I saw a pig fly over.”
She was silent for a moment. Then she surprised him by reaching over and patting his knee.
“There you go, Sheriff. I knew you had it in you. I like a man with a little snark.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, but I also think that pork rinds should be their own food group, so my tastes are a bit questionable.”
She grinned at him. It was a wicked, sexy smile, and his body reacted immediately. Oh, yeah, she was trouble all right. And she was coming to his town.
3
I’m not going to cause you any trouble at all.
Uh-huh. Well, that promise lasted about a whole two hours. After arriving at the hospital last night, he’d only just gotten her settled in the waiting room in the emergency department when he was pulled away by a fight that had erupted outside between a woman and her ex-boyfriend. By the time he’d returned, Molly had disappeared.
He might have chased after her if he’d had any clue where she’d disappeared to. He guessed she’d called those friends of hers since she didn’t have her car. Feeling light-headed from lack of sleep, he’d quickly checked on Russ before going home.
Today, he’d find the redhead and give her a piece of his mind. First, she hadn’t even bothered to get checked out. Second, he’d given her an order to stay put. While she hadn’t been in the accident there was something about the way she’d walked that had set off alarm bells. He’d been too tired to really figure it out last night and now he wondered what she’d been hiding from him.
Filled with irritation, he put her out of his mind. After getting home last night he’d found it hard to sleep. For some reason Rebecca had snuck into his dreams, and he’d woken up thinking she was near.
That hadn’t happened to him in a long time. He guessed he could blame it on the accident last night. Even though he’d attended many vehicular accidents since her death, they were never easy for him. But at least there’d been no fatalities this time.
He’d just received a call that Russ was conscious, so he’d decided to go see him before heading into the office. As he stopped at the nurse’s station, he heard a low, husky laugh coming from the room across the hallway. His body tightened.
It couldn’t be, could it?
The nurse glanced up at him. “Mr. Barrett has a visitor at the moment, but I’m sure they won’t mind you stopping in, Sheriff.”
He walked into the room, pausing at the sight in front of him. Russ was sitting up in bed. He was pale, and his right eye was nearly swollen shut, but there was a big grin on his face as he looked over to Molly, sprawled on the recliner next to the bed.
One ankle rested on her knee as she sat back and dug her hand into a bag of . . . yep, pork rinds. At nine in the morning.
Wow, she really did like the stuff. He grimaced thinking about all that fat and salt she was eating. He wouldn’t touch that stuff with a ten-foot pole.
“Well, hello there, Sheriff.” She looked up at him with a smile before popping some rinds into her mouth. Damn it, how was that attractive? It really shouldn’t be. She had her hair tied up in a high ponytail today and wore an emerald-green shirt and a pair of worn jeans with heavy boots. She looked relaxed and happy.
“Molly. Russ.” He nodded over at the other man. “Heard you’re feeling better.”
“Much better since meeting Miss Molly.”
Molly reached over and patted the older man’s hand. “Oh, Russ, you flirt, you.”
Russ smiled. Jake raised his eyebrows. Russ wasn’t known for his happy personality. Cantankerous, old fool was the term usually used to describe him. So, either that hit on the head had him still feeling fuzzy or his change in good mood was because of Molly.
Somehow, he figured it was the latter.
Then Russ turned to him with a scowl. “Sheriff, you want to explain to me why Miss Molly here was out in the cold rain trying to rescue me? Why the hell didn’t you send her back to the car to wait? She shouldn’t have been out in that storm, trying to get my old ass out of trouble.”
Jake clenched his teeth against a sharp retort. What was wrong with him? Normally very little annoyed him.
He’d known the redhead less than twenty-four hours, and already she’d managed to infuriate him, worry him, and stirred him in a way no one had since Rebecca.
“I tried, Russ,” he managed to say. “She’s rather stubborn.”
Russ snorted. “Ain’t met a person on this earth that could out-stubborn you. This little girl had no place being there, and you know it.”
“Are all the men in Haven this sexist and protective?” Molly asked.
He stiffened at the question, expecting her disapproval and scorn. It was an attitude he’d encountered often from people who didn’t live here. The men of Haven might be a tad overprotective and they might enforce rules that were set to keep their women safe, but the women in this town had them wrapped around their little fingers. Any male citizen of Haven would fall over themselves to ensure the women had everything they needed or desired. Women came first. Always.
But strangers didn’t always see it that way, and he didn’t expect Molly to understand.
“Yep,” Russ told her. “We protect our women folk.”
He waited for the explosion. She looked from Russ to him. “Well, good.”
“Good?” he asked, one eyebrow rising.
“Did I surprise you, Sheriff? Do you want me to give you some spiel about how you’re a misogynistic Neanderthal who ought to drag his knuckles back to his cave? I can do that if you want, but I prefer not to be too predictable.”
“I don’t think there’s any chance of that.”
“Why, thank you, I do believe that’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me. Of course, the bar is set pretty low.” She leaned in towards Russ, speaking in a conspiratorial whisper. “I think the sheriff believes I’ll cause trouble in his quiet town.”
Russ leaned towards her as he glanced up at Jake, devilish mirth in his gaze. He supposed he should be grumpy they were having such fun at his expense, but, truthfully, he hadn’t seen Russ look this happy since his wife had died ten years ago.
“I think the sheriff could use a bit of trouble, keep him on his toes.”
Personally, he thought he’d had his fair share of trouble in this town lately and could use some peace and quiet.
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