Mrs. Links was another part of her strange inheritance from Uncle Todd. He’d provided for her weekly allowance until the time she no longer needed employment.
Macy didn’t have the heart to ask the nearly seventy-five-year-old woman when that might be. For someone who made a living by asking the tough questions, Macy had a soft spot when it came to animals and her elders.
As the warm water sluiced across Macy’s body, her mind drifted to the marine. Those biceps under her hands were of a man who wasn’t afraid of hard labor. Marines had to stay fit, and she had a feeling he’d have washboard abs, as well.
Men with great abs were her weakness.
You swore off men.
The smell of his fresh, masculine scent. Those hard muscles, the warm smile, even after all he’d been through.
The blood thrummed through her body.
She hadn’t been with a man in what felt like forever. That was all. He was hot, and any other woman would feel the same way after looking into those sweet chocolate-brown eyes.
Turning down the water’s temperature to cool her body, she wondered how long she’d be able to resist the marine.
2
V
IOLENT
THOUGHTS
CROSSED
Blake’s mind as Mr. Clooney’s rooster crowed, waking half the town—so much for the extra rest. Shoving the pillow over his head, he closed his eyes and willed himself back to the dream about the woman in the red heels. The rooster crowed again.
“I’ll kill that bird some day,” he growled as he rolled out of bed. Too many years in the military had him up, showered and sipping coffee ten minutes later.
His mother had taped a note to the fridge that said, “Muffins are in the warming drawer. Love, Mom.”
At five in the morning, she’d probably already been at the feed store for at least an hour. She liked to get the paperwork done before the place opened. Even though she didn’t need to be there anymore, she’d insisted on keeping the books and visiting with customers when they came in. She’d built the business from the ground up while his father traveled the world with the military. She believed in having roots and wasn’t much for leaving the town she’d been born in. Their relationship worked, because when they were together, they treated each other as if no one else existed in the world. Well, except for Blake and his brother.
Their parents made certain their boys had an idyllic childhood in the town centered between two lakes. They lived on the edge of town, which had exactly four stoplights, a couple of grocery stores and various shops on the rectangle, as they liked to call it. When the town was first built, there was no real plan. When they finally decided they needed a courthouse it was built in the heart of the rectangle of shops and businesses.
But Tranquil Waters had changed while he was deployed. He remembered laughing about the letters from his mom talking about how the town council had decided that they could have a Dairy Queen and a McDonald’s on the same side of the highway.
They also—thanks to the lakes and artists and writers who populated the town—had a good tourist industry year-round. It was almost Halloween and he hadn’t seen a house yet that hadn’t been decorated. There were several haunted B and B’s and even a large corn maze on the Carins’ pumpkin farm.
Everything seemed so simple in a small town. It didn’t take a CIA spook to find out that the woman he’d run into on the highway was the new publisher of the town newspaper.
“That Yankee girl just doesn’t understand our ways,” complained Mrs. Lawton. “She reported that old Mr. Gunther was thrown in jail Saturday night. Well, everyone knows he’s spent every weekend in that jail cell for the last twenty years. Ever since his sweetheart of a wife, Pearl, passed—God rest her soul—he’s just been longing for her. Poor man. What he needs is a new woman, a younger one to keep his mind off his troubles.”
While she had glanced around at the other women in her circle, Blake had a feeling she wanted to be the new woman to occupy Mr. G’s thoughts. Blake grinned as he sipped his punch. Didn’t matter that she’d just turned eighty-five and Mr. G had to be nearing a hundred.
“She has that huge house, darn near a mansion,” Lady Smith chimed in. Her name was Lady, and for some reason everyone in town called her Lady Smith. Out of respect, and the fact that she was a friend of his mother’s, Blake had once called her Mrs. Smith when he was about ten. She’d scolded him and told him she was a Lady, and he’d do well to remember that in the future.
The town was full of oddballs, and he’d been one of them. As a kid, he’d run around dressed like Davy Crockett for two years and no one had said a word. Apart from his brother, who was more a Spider-Man fan.
“She’s got more money than she knows what to do with. Imagine, putting the paper on the inter—whatever those kids use nowadays,” Lady had complained. “People here like to hold a newspaper in their hands. And she doesn’t seem to understand that there are some stories that just aren’t fit to tell. I’ve written countless letters to the editor, but she never prints or listens to them.” Lady waved her hand in the air dismissively.
“Darn Yankee.”
How dare she tell the truth about Tranquil Waters. The nerve of the woman. Blake found himself chuckling as he rinsed his cup in the sink.
His mother probably didn’t need his help at the feed store. But he didn’t want to sit around stewing. It almost always sent him in the wrong direction.
He wondered where Macy—he’d finally learned her name—might be. Likely still in bed, if she were smart. Any sane person would be at this hour of the morning. Pulling the truck out of the drive, he saw something run past.
Blake blinked a few times and followed the blur.
“It can’t be.”
The monster dog he’d recently stuffed into a car sat on the porch of a white-framed house with a for-sale sign in the yard. The spot was about five blocks from his mom’s house.
The way Harley stared at the door, as if willing it to open, broke his heart. Blake had seen a lot of awful things through the years, but kids and animals in distress were his weaknesses. He’d do anything to protect them.
Macy was right. Unlike a human, the dog couldn’t understand her master was gone.
Exiting the truck slowly, he stepped up the stone path. She glanced back at him, with the saddest puppy eyes. One of the eyes was blue, the other green.
He hadn’t seen her eyes when he’d been dealing with the hindquarters.
“Hey, pretty girl, what’s up?”
He held out his hand, but she turned away from him. Lifting a large paw, she hit the doorknob.
Damn dog. His heart lurched. Not sure what he should do, he sat down on the top step next to her. He could drag her to the truck, but he didn’t have the nerve. If he gained her trust, maybe she’d go willingly. He had a feeling being at the house was about more than just returning to where she felt safe.
“I’ll sit here with you until you decide what you want to do next,” he said softly. He didn’t have anything better to do.
The dog pawed at the door again and growled.
Blake leaned back against the railing. He could have sworn the dog said, “Let me in.”
I am losing it. Now dogs are talking to me.
“Did you just say, let me in?”
The dog pawed his shoulder.
Yep, he was crazy.
“Oh, girl, sorry, I don’t have a key. I’d let you in if I could, but I don’t have one. And I have a code I live by. Breaking and entering isn’t an option.”
She barked and then leaped off the porch.
As quick as his sore leg allowed him, he got up and followed her around the side of the house.
When they reached the back porch, she pawed at the door handle and attempted to open it with her mouth. She snarled when it didn’t budge.
“Well, we tried,” he said.
She cocked her head, and he swore she rolled her eyes.
Taking off to a chipped birdbath in the middle of the lawn, covered with dirt, she pawed the rocks surrounding the base of the concrete fixture and barked. Blake limped out to the fountain, more to appease her than anything.
There on the ground was a key.
“Okay, dog. Now you’re freaking me out.” If she had had two legs instead of four, she could pass for human. And she had to be one brilliant pup to relate the key to the door.
As he unlocked the door, he noticed someone peeking over the fence.
He pointed an accusatory finger at the dog. “Fine, but if we get arrested you’re taking the rap.” He patted her on the head. Before he could turn the knob and open the door himself, she nosed it open and stood in the small kitchen, as if waiting for him to come inside. Once he was in, she closed the door with her nose.
Blake had never seen such a thing. The few dogs he’d had when he was a boy could sit and lie down, but that was about it.
Harley woofed and trotted to the living room, where she sat in front of a wingback chair. She nodded at him, as if she wanted him to sit down in it. More out of curiosity than anything, he did. A paw shot out and pushed so hard on the chair he worried he’d go head over heels.
But he didn’t fall.
The dog ducked beneath the chair and tossed out several stuffed animals, a ball and chew bones that had seen better days. Once she had her stash from under the chair, she moved the items one at a time to the charcoal-gray sofa. The booty soon became a pillow as she lay atop her toys, sighing as if she’d been on a long journey.
“Poor girl,” Blake whispered. The sight of her relaxing choked him up.
“That’s the first time I’ve seen her sleep since he passed,” a feminine voice whispered.
Head snapping around, he took in Macy Reynolds’s tight jeans, pink hoodie and those furry boots women wore when the thermometer dipped below seventy. The town was having an unusually cool October, and the temperature hung around the fifty-degree mark. A sleepy angel with no makeup, and more beautiful than she’d been the day before.
“I saw her running past my mom’s house when I left this morning and I decided to follow.” He held up a hand. “I swear she made me unlock the door. She showed me where the key was.”
“I believe it. Evidently the drama was about her missing toys. I don’t blame her,” Macy continued to whisper. “I’m kind of fond of my stuff. I don’t have that much, but what I do have is precious to me.”
Odd since he’d learned she inherited her uncle’s house. He assumed she had tons of stuff.
“What?” She checked her clothing as if she might have missed a button.
“Nothing. I...heard last night that you inherited your uncle’s new mansion.”
She scrunched her face. “Yes, he— Yes.”
“For the record, I haven’t been stalking you. Some of the gossips at the party were talking about it.”
She smirked and moved to the sofa to sit beside Harley.
“Is there an expiration date or something on being the subject of town gossip? I’ve never lived in a place where other people were so in your business. Usually, as a reporter, I’m the nosy one. It’s disconcerting. And I don’t think they like me very much, although I’m doing my best to turn their local into a paper that resembles more than tractor reports.”
He laughed, and the dog opened an eye and glared at him.
“Unfortunately, until the next interesting person moves to town, it’ll be all about you.”
“Yes, but the hero has returned.” She nodded in his direction. “Can’t you be the subject of conversation for a while?”
“Nah. I’m not nearly as interesting as a Yankee woman who wears pencil skirts and sky-high heels. And according to the gray hairs, you have a scandalous past where you combed the world reporting on everything from celebrities to wars. Some man broke your heart, and you’re here hiding away.”
Her eyes opened wide. “Wow. They are good. I wish they’d be as generous with their words with me. Honestly, I know heads of state who give more in an interview than people in this town.”
She hadn’t bothered to deny any of what he’d said, so it must have been true about combing the world and the man who was in her life. He wondered if that relationship was really over. He shrugged. “Give it some time, they’ll come around.”
“Will you talk to me?”
He frowned. “I thought that was what we were doing.”
“No—I mean, yes.” She waved her hand. “In an interview. The
Tranquil Waters News
should do a feature on the town hero.”
That was the last thing he wanted.
“There isn’t a lot these folks don’t already know. I’ve been gone for about seven years. I’m back, a little worse for the wear but alive. There isn’t much more to tell. I was doing my job but happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
She sighed, not unlike the suffering sound the dog had made. “I should have known. You’re no different than the rest.”
The disappointment in her voice forced him to do something he promised he never would.
“All right, if you want to talk, that’s cool, but not right now. I need to get to the feed store to help my mom.” Small white lie, but he had to stall to gather his thoughts. “I was on my way there when I saw Harley.” At least that part was true.
She glanced from the dog to him as if she were trying to discern the truth. “We could do something a little less formal, if that would make you more comfortable. How about tonight? I could make you dinner at my place.”
He almost laughed at the look on her face as if she couldn’t believe she just asked him to dinner.
“If food is involved, I’m there. If you’re sure?”
She nodded. “How about seven-thirty?”
“See ya then.” He stood.
“Don’t you need the address?”
He chuckled. “The house is where the old Gladstone farm used to be, right?”
“Yes. It overlooks the lake.”
“Trust me. I know that area very well.” More than once, he and his friends had thrown a party at the old barn, which had been torn down years ago.
“Do you need help with the dog?”
“No, I’m going to go grab my laptop and work here so she can rest. I have a feeling she’ll follow those toys wherever I take them.”
“Okay, see ya later.” He patted the dog and walked out the front door.
He had a date. Well, it was technically an interview, but he was practiced at giving nonanswers. He’d done it his entire military career. All of his assignments were classified, so he couldn’t share anything.
Hope she won’t be too mad when she finds out I’m as tight-lipped as the rest of Tranquil Waters.
He started the truck engine. The last thing he wanted was the sleepy angel mad at him.
* * *
“W
HAT
WAS
I
thinking?” Macy blurted into the phone. “You don’t invite people you’re interviewing to dinner.”
“Yes, you do. It’s just the dinner’s at a restaurant most of the time,” her friend Cherie chimed in. “Chill, girl. You’re going to have a heart attack. This guy must be superhot to make you so nervous.”
Macy slipped on a pair of flats. After his comment about the heels, she realized she’d been trying too hard. Except for those over sixty, this was more of a jeans and T-shirt town. She was perfectly comfortable in that attire.
It wasn’t until her breakup with Garrison that Cherie, her nearest and dearest friend, forced her to leave Boston and took her for a makeover in Manhattan. They tossed out everything she’d owned and decided to start fresh with a sexy new wardrobe. Add a brand-new haircut that was perfect for her shoulder-length curls. And a newfound passion for accessories. Cherie had convinced her that shoes and purses were really works of art.