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“What?” Her pulse rocketed up a notch.
“Sam Gardner.” His rock-hard brown gaze pinned hers. “Guess I should have introduced myself properly. So a woman alone and as skittish as you would feel comfortable.”
She’d be offended by his tone, except that there was a glimmer of humor in his eyes. Oh, she knew about men like him. Too handsome for his own good, and he knew it, too.
Shouldn’t he be next door repairing the plumbing? Why was he bugging her?
He arched his brow, and on his granite face it was more of a demand than a question. “I’ve told you my name. So it’d be polite if you told me yours.”
“I never said I was polite.”
“Darlin’, you have it written all over that peaches-and-cream complexion of yours.” A hint of a smile played on his mouth. “Go ahead. You can say it. My name is…?”
“Kirby. Is there some reason you climbed through my hedge?”
“There sure is. I only crash through hedges for a good cause. I’m here because I’m in trouble.”
“Oh, I see.” Of course that’s why he was here. Why he was laying on the charm. He wanted something. “Let me guess. You need to use my phone to make a long-distance emergency call.”
“Nope, but are you offering? I could think of someone to call long distance.”
“No.”
What was he doing? Sam Gardner knew better than to tease a pretty young woman, especially one so seemingly good and innocent, because he’d learned from experience. No good could come from it. Hugging a nestful of rattlers would be less hazardous.
That’s why he did it. He saw the way she’d looked him up and down as potential marriage material. Single women of a certain age had that common habit, and he had to make it clear. He was not a candidate for holy matrimony. The question was, did she get the hint?
Her bow-shaped mouth drew down. Oh, yeah, she was expecting the worst from him.
“You want me to fix you a sandwich? Run to the hardware store for you? Lend you money? My grandmother warned me about men like you.”
“Good guys, you mean?”
Her delicate brows arched above her perfect, blue-sky eyes. He’d managed to offend her pretty well.
Good. Mission complete.
“No, men who try to offend women on purpose.”
Ooh…busted. He’d have to watch this one. She was smarter than she looked. “You can’t blame a guy for trying to make a memorable impression.”
“Memorable? You would have been better off wearing a ski mask and asking for all my money. I’d be more relaxed around you.”
“I had you believing that for a few minutes. C’mon, I saw that look on your face when you dashed for the door.”
“I did not dash.”
“You were ready to.”
“Maybe, but you do look like a man who can’t be trusted.” She lit up as she said that. And she may as well have plastered “single and looking” on her forehead in neon-red ink.
He hadn’t been promoted as fast as he had in the armed forces without being dead-on when it came to reading people and knowing what they were capable of. And pretty blond women of a certain age without a diamond on their left ring finger wanted only one thing.
Yep, he’d be wary of her. Friendly, but wary.
“So, are you gonna help me out or not?”
“I’ll take it under consideration.”
While she thought about it, she took a sip of her coffee—he could smell the chocolate and caffeine from four paces away. That frilly drink probably had extra whipped cream and those chocolate candy sprinkle things, too.
She eyed him over the top of the pastel-pink straws she was daintily sipping from. Was she still trying to figure out if he was suitable marriage material? Or had he convinced her that he wasn’t?
“I can’t believe you conned Mrs. Gardner into hiring you. She isn’t paying you to stand on my walkway talking to me.”
“She’s not paying me. I’m fixing her house out of the kindness of my own good heart.”
“Excuse me, but you don’t look the type.”
“Appearances can be deceiving.”
“Let me get this straight. You’re fixing the plumbing next door for free?”
“Hey, don’t look so surprised. I know I don’t look like those GQ kind of men or the suit-and-tie-wearing office types who say please and thank you. I don’t have ‘feelings.’ But I’m not a jerk out to profit off an old lady on a fixed income. I’m Ruth’s nephew.”
Kirby’s rosebud mouth dropped open in surprise. “Her nephew? You?”
“That’s an affirmative.”
She stared at him. “Ruth Gardner is petite and blond, and you look like James Bond gone bad. Are you sure you’re related to her?”
James Bond, huh? He liked that. “Yep. She married my dad’s brother. He passed last year. I came for the funeral, and realized how alone Ruth was. No children of her own, and so she’d always done her best to spoil me when I was growing up. I figured I might move here and keep an eye on her. She’s the only family I’ve got.”
Kirby’s blue eyes warmed a notch as she studied him again. This time with a much higher regard. “Ruth belongs to my church. She’s a very nice lady. I’m sure she’s relieved you’re helping her out with this house. She had nothing but problems with the last renters.”
“Yep, but I came and evicted them. No more problems.”
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. You’ll find a nice quiet couple or a young family, maybe. Responsible people to rent, right?”
There she went, being too friendly again. He’d gone too far. He didn’t think of himself as a man with natural charm. In fact, he tried to scare away marriage-seeking women on purpose. Looked as if he’d better try harder.
“So, what about that favor? I had to shut off the water to the house. Trouble is, I need to flush a pipe, and I can’t turn on the main valve. Would you let me use your garden hose for about five minutes?”
“Five minutes, not six?”
“How about five and a half?”
“Deal. The hose is in the back. Just go through the side gate.” Soft humor sparkled in those pretty blue eyes of hers.
Not that he was dazzled in the least by her pretty blue eyes. He was a disciplined man, and he knew enough about women to know he’d better stop noticing how lovely she was. The girl-next-door type was always the same. Always. He ought to know, since he’d married one, and what a disaster that had been.
Don’t think about it, man. Sam forced the memories away even before they could bounce off the titanium shield around his heart. He was well protected. Self-controlled. He wasn’t going to think that because Kirby was nice, she would be any different down deep when times got tough. Because she wouldn’t be.
Keep your distance, Gardner. That would be the wisest course. He hadn’t survived some of the toughest battles in recent military history only to let another woman take him down. He knew how to get out of disasters alive and when to avoid them entirely.
He knew exactly how love could break a man, and what a nice, sweet-looking woman could do to his soul.
He was here for a reason, nothing more. “Is the gate locked?”
“No.” She flicked a golden strand of hair behind her slim shoulder, her brows furrowed beneath her wispy, windblown bangs, as if she were trying to look deep inside him.
Good luck. He didn’t let anyone close, most of all a lovely woman like her with a heart-shaped face, a creamy clear complexion and a few freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose. Freckles she tried to hide with a light coat of makeup. Not that he was noticing. He wasn’t. Really.
Her lips were bare of lipstick or of that shiny-looking stuff women wore on those makeup commercials. Her mouth was softly shaped and kind, as if she smiled. A lot.
Yep, she was sure going to be trouble. Trouble because he liked her on sight. And hated that he did. “There’s a few boards missing off the top of the fence I need to fix, but I’m gonna need access to your yard to do it. Do you mind?”
“No, but that’s half of my fence, too, and I should pay you.”
“Seeing as you’re willing to compensate me, I’d sure appreciate a tall glass of iced tea.”
“Fine. Iced tea it is. But only half a glass up front,” she called over her shoulder as she unlocked her front door. “You’ll get the rest when the job’s finished.”
“What?”
“Isn’t that the standard business practice? When I had my new roof put on, it was half payment up front. The rest on completion of a satisfactory job.”
He laughed. He couldn’t help it. “Lady, that’s no way to treat your new neighbor.”
Chapter Two
Neighbor? Kirby whirled around. This couldn’t be true.
“Yep. Surprised you, did I? You didn’t think I’d be your new next-door neighbor. Your new next-door nightmare.”
The keys tumbled from her fingers and hit the front step with a terrible, final clink as if to say, “Disaster.”
She rescued her keys from the ground, heart pounding and her mind spinning. No, she couldn’t have heard him right. There was no possible way. Ruth had made promises. Ruth was a trustworthy, dependable Christian woman. Ruth wouldn’t have lied or broken her word. Next time I’ll find a decent, quiet, responsible neighbor, she’d said.
This man looked anything but quiet and responsible. He looked as if a squad of Special Forces commandos might come by at any moment and recruit him.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Nope. I bought furniture this morning. It’s gonna be delivered tomorrow between ten and noon.” He wedged his hands in his jeans pockets, widening his stance. His chest was impressively broad and strong looking.
Not that she should be noticing. “You can’t be my new neighbor. I mean, the house isn’t even up for rent yet. I know, because I just talked to Ruth yesterday.”
“You didn’t speak with her today, did you? Or you’d have all the latest details.”
Doom. Kirby could feel a dark cloud settle around her like midnight fog.
What had Mrs. Gardner promised? That’s a mistake I won’t repeat again, dear—you have my word on that. No more bachelors in my rental house. I know there are discrimination laws, but those single men can sure be trouble….
Sam Gardner looked like a single man to her, nephew or not, since no wedding ring marked the fourth finger of his left hand.
Or was he the kind of married man who didn’t wear a ring? That was even worse!
He paced closer. “You suddenly don’t look very happy. You don’t approve?”
“I’m wary because I’ve had my fair share of neighbor disasters.”
“Like fires?”
“Not fires. Weekend parties and night-long drum practice sessions in the garage.” Which she hadn’t been able to sleep through.
Please, at least let him be married. Stable. Did she dare hope that he was very busy being a plumber during the day so he had to sleep at night? “Will you be inviting over large numbers of people and playing heavy metal music extremely loud after midnight?”
“Probably. The good news is that I won’t be living alone for much longer. My rock-band buddies will be moving in shortly.” One dark brow quirked. “Is that what you mean by neighbor disasters?”
She saw the next six months of peaceful nights’ sleeping vanish before her eyes. “Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”
Catastrophe. There was no other word for it. And this was Mrs. Gardner’s relative. There was no way she’d evict her own nephew.
“I throw wild parties at least three times a week. That’s why I got booted out from my last five apartments.” He winked at her. “Did that answer your question?”
He was teasing her. Great. She’d been praying for a nice responsible Christian man for a neighbor and what did she get? A comedian. He’d been teasing her all along.
She didn’t want to like him. The only reason a handsome man like him paid any attention to a girl like her was that they wanted something. Wasn’t that the way it was? She was ordinary looking, nothing special, and that was okay, because it just showed this man was not her Mr. Right.
Her true love would see past her plainness and see her. And he’d love her, shortcomings and failures and strengths. That’s the way love should be.
She unlocked her second lock as her little dog barked through the wooden door. “Oh, about the hose. Please don’t forget to coil it up when you’re through.”
“I’ll leave it the way I found it. Don’t worry. I might be loud and inconsiderate when I’m playing my drums all night, but I’m careful with garden hoses.”
Why was she laughing? She shouldn’t be encouraging him. She snatched her mail from the slim black box next to the front door. She wasn’t even going to look at the bills that had come. She had bigger problems. Her new neighbor. So he wasn’t what she’d prayed for. He wasn’t going to be a problem, right?
Maybe she wasn’t seeing the whole picture. Maybe he’d taken off his wedding ring when he worked so he wouldn’t catch it on a pipe or something. That meant there was a chance he could be married and responsible.
He didn’t look responsible, but still, a girl had to have hope. “Will your wife be joining you?”
“No, no wife. No woman can put up with all the groupies from my band.”
“I can’t believe Mrs. Gardner is letting a man like you stay in her house.”
“There’s this nondiscrimination law. She had to let me in or I threatened to sue.” Dimples cut into his cheeks as he tunneled his hands into the front pockets of his jeans, standing strong and at ease, like a man always in charge. “Don’t worry, I’ll be a good neighbor. I won’t throw parties and don’t play loud music. I’m usually working.”
“Working.” She should have guessed it by the hard, lean look of him. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those workaholic types.”
