Completely Smitten

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What she refused to acknowledge, even to herself, was the sense that she didn’t want to say goodbye. There was something about being around him that made her feel good about herself.

“I’ve taken several first-aid classes,” she said cautiously. “We offer them at the church and in the past couple of years, I’ve been teaching them. So I have some basic first-aid knowledge.”

He watched her without speaking. Haley cleared her throat.

“My point is, I could probably change your bandage.”

“Thanks, but if I can’t do it myself, I’ll just make my way to the hospital.”

“I didn’t mean I would stay here. I was offering to drive you home.”

It seemed that he was still inviting trouble into his life, Kevin thought as Haley spoke. She detailed all the reasons it made sense for her to help him, concluding with, “I owe you for last night. For not, um, well, taking advantage of me.”

The last couple of words came out as a mumble. She ducked her head and he could barely make out what she was saying. Still, it was enough for him to remember helping her back to her room. Even drunk and practically incoherent, she’d been appealing. Too appealing.

There was no way he could spend that much time with her. Shot or not, even with his head pounding, even with her in another hideous floral-print dress that looked more like a tent than a fashion statement, he wanted her. Yup, right here under the scratchy sheet, with the painkiller coursing through his veins, his groin throbbed with an ache that had nothing to do with recent injuries.

Spending time with Haley, even the day or two it would take to get to Possum Landing, would be a level of torture he didn’t deserve.

She was too sweet, too innocent, too…everything. She deserved way more than the likes of him.

“I don’t want to hold you up,” he said, trying to sound gentle instead of horny. “Don’t you have an island to drive to?”

She smiled slightly. “I already told you, I know I can’t drive to Hawaii.”

She looked at him. Despite being a grown woman, she obviously didn’t know how to conceal what she was thinking. He could see every thought flashing through her big eyes. Hope, fear, excitement. He made her nervous, but he could see she still wanted him to say yes. For reasons that weren’t clear to him, she wanted to spend time in his company.

Why? Did she see him as some knight who had come to her rescue?

“I’m not one of the good guys,” he told her, angry at her for thinking the best of him and angry at himself for caring.

She frowned. “Of course you are. You’re a U.S. Marshal. And last night—”

“Just forget about that. It doesn’t count.”

“It does to me.”

Trouble, he thought again. She was trouble, he was in trouble and damn if it wasn’t going to get worse.

He shouldn’t say yes, but he couldn’t say no. Somehow he’d been trapped.

Last night, she’d wanted him to kiss her. If she hadn’t been drunk, he would have obliged. Then what would have happened? Stupid question. He already knew the answer.

If he wasn’t strong enough to turn down her offer to drive him home, how was he going to resist anything else she might choose to throw his way?

“Be careful what you wish for,” he told her. “You just might get it. And then where will you be?”

Haley blinked at him. “Was that a yes?”

He was slime. Actually, he was the single-celled creatures that aspired to be slime. He was going to hell for sure.

“Yes.”

Chapter Four

The next day, despite several protests and some muttered grumbling, Kevin found himself being wheeled out of the hospital. The practice of forcing patients to leave via wheelchair didn’t make sense to him. The second he was gone, he would be on his own and expected to walk, so why not now?

The drill-sergeant-looking nurse hadn’t been impressed by his argument.

But his mild humiliation and annoyance were instantly forgotten when he was wheeled out in front of the main building and saw Haley waiting for him. Sure he noticed her—she had on yet another of her incredibly ugly shapeless dresses that fell nearly to her ankles and covered her arms down to the elbow. Somewhere underneath the faded-purple, floral-print fabric was a great body, not that anyone could tell by looking. Yet it wasn’t Haley that captured his attention. Instead, it was her car.

He was a typical guy with some interest in cars. Faster was always better than slower. Sleek was a nice bonus. Haley was a conservative young woman from a small town. He would have guessed she drove a sensible sedan of some kind. Nothing flashy. Nothing outrageous. He could never have put her with the massive pale yellow Cadillac convertible she stood next to.

It had stopped raining at some point between his being shot and now, which was a good thing because the top was down.

He shook his head to clear his vision—obviously this was an illusion—then wished he hadn’t when pain exploded behind his eyes. When he could speak without wincing, he squinted slightly and told her, “This can’t be your car.”

She beamed. Really. It was like looking into the sun. “Isn’t it fabulous? Don’t you love it?” She opened the passenger door and stroked the buff-colored leather. Not exactly a practical color.

“I traded my car in for this. There’s no way you would have fit in my old car. Not with your leg and all. I saw this on the lot and fell in love. I’ve never felt this way about a car before. It’s spectacular.”

He wasn’t sure if she meant the vehicle or her feelings for it, then he decided he didn’t want to know. “How much did you pay?”

“Oh, I got a great deal.”

“Uh-huh.” Somehow he wasn’t convinced.

The nurse helped him to his feet. He shifted his weight, took a single step and slid onto the smooth leather. He had to admit it was certainly big enough. With the passenger seat all the way back, he could stretch out his injured leg and still have room to spare.

“Thanks,” Haley said to the nurse, then took the paper sack holding Kevin’s belongings from her and tossed it into the back seat. She shut his door and walked around to the driver’s side.

“This is going to be so great,” she said when she’d settled into her seat. “I stopped and got maps. I have our route all figured out. It took me a while to find Possum Landing, but then I did. A mechanic checked out the car for me and swears it won’t be any trouble at all.”

Kevin squinted against the sun and wished he had his sunglasses, or at least a hat to protect him from the glare. The late morning was warm. At least the heat felt good.

“You don’t even know where we are. How did you find a mechanic?”

“I called a local church and asked the minister’s secretary to recommend one. When I explained the problem, she said her brother was a mechanic and that he would be happy to help. He even came with me to the dealer.”

Smart move, he conceded. Maybe she hadn’t been robbed. “You’ve had a busy morning.”

“I had fun.” She started the engine. “We need to go by your motel and get your things. I’m all checked out and packed. Then we can head out. I figure it will take us four days to get to Possum Landing.”

Kevin leaned his aching head against the headrest and closed his eyes. Three seconds later they popped open. “Four days? It can’t be more than six or seven hundred miles.” They could practically do that in a day.

“I know.” Haley put the car in drive and headed out of the parking lot. “I like to go about two hundred miles a day. There are so many wonderful things to see.”

He closed his eyes again. “Like what?” he asked, already sure he didn’t want to know.

“Little out-of-the-way towns, museums, antique shops. I’ve had the best time exploring the country since I left Ohio. You meet the most interesting people.”

How could he argue with that? He’d met her.

“Four days, huh?”

“It will be fun,” she promised.

Maybe. Maybe not. He figured he could have stayed put, healed in a motel and been able to drive home in about the same amount of time it was going to take Haley to deliver him.

“Oh.” She glanced at him, her smile fading. “I forgot. You need to get home quickly. You have that family thing going on.”

She was wearing sunglasses, but he could imagine the light fading from her eyes. He remembered his mother’s promise that everything was fine and what she had to discuss with him wouldn’t go anywhere. She’d said it wasn’t about anyone being sick or dying. As she’d never lied to him in the past, he had no reason to doubt her now.

“It’s not an emergency,” he said before he could stop himself. “We don’t have to rush.”

“Really?”

The smile returned and when it did, something inside him sparked to life. He didn’t want to know what it was, or what it all meant. Just his luck, he was going to be trapped in a car with Haley for several days. While his injuries distracted him now, what would happen when he started to heal and found himself wanting her? Did he have enough self-control to do the right thing?