“How much?”

“Two-fifty.”

“Wow. You must’ve really been going fast.”

Alice shrugged and looked sheepish before she managed to don her outraged expression again. But that little break had been enough to tell the story.

“What else did you do?” Jenna rose. “Come on. Let’s make some iced tea and sit outside and you can tell me all about it. The sunsets are gorgeous here.”

A few minutes later, they occupied matching rocking chairs on the broad back porch. Below them in the fields, the cows clustered in a patchwork quilt of brown and white. Broken shards of sunlight cascaded over the mountaintops, the golden light fracturing into reds and oranges, bleeding down the mountains. A breeze cooled the perspiration on her neck, and Jenna felt very close to peaceful.

“So. You were going to tell me exactly what you did to get such a whopping fine.”

“Nothing,” Alice said far too quickly.

“Come clean.” Jenna sipped her tea.

“I suppose I irritated her a little bit when I accused her of lying in wait behind Gard’s truck. And I might have suggested that speed traps were illegal or something. Maybe the word attorney slipped out.”

“Wait, back up. Gard was there too?”

“Well, sort of. They were coming back from the hospital, apparently, because the sheriff got very snarky when she said that she was actually doing something important when she had to stop to deal with an irresponsible, arrogant city girl who didn’t—”

Jenna’s breath caught. “Hospital. What does that mean, hospital?”

“I don’t know. She didn’t exactly give me the details.”

“Think,” Jenna said sternly.

“I was a little bit preoccupied at the time,” Alice protested. “It’s not like the world stopped for me when she mentioned Gard’s name, you know.” Alice must have figured out from Jenna’s glare that Jenna was serious, because she sighed and looked thoughtful. “All right, she said…she shouldn’t have to leave a responsible citizen like Gard, who’d just been released from the hospital, to deal with—” Alice waved her hand in the air. “And then that was the part about the irresponsible, arrogant city girl.”

“Gard was hurt?” Jenna said quietly.

“Well, she couldn’t have been hurt very badly, she was driving her truck.”

“But the sheriff was following her. And she said that Gard had just come from the hospital.” Jenna stood. “Why didn’t you tell me that right away?”

Alice looked confused. “Which part? The part where I was humiliated, or the part where I got the fine, or the part where I was insulted by—”

“Never mind.”

“Where are you going?” Alice called as Jenna hurried into the house.

“To be a good neighbor,” she called back.

Chapter Seventeen

Gard closed the refrigerator door with her knee, juggled the jar of mayonnaise and packet of lunch meat in the crook of her right arm, and fumbled them onto the table just as the doorbell rang for the second time.

“Coming,” she shouted as she made her way down the hall. Clicking on the porch light, she peered through the vertical windows beside the heavy oak door, jolting in surprise when she saw Jenna peering back. Hastily, she pulled open the door. “Hey.”

“Hi,” Jenna said quietly, her attention shifting to Gard’s forearm. “How are you doing?”

Frowning, Gard followed her gaze, then shrugged. “It’s nothing. How did you know?”

“Alice said the sheriff said something about you being at the hospital—” Jenna’s eyes widened and even in the waning daylight, her blush was vivid. “Oh my God! I’m starting to sound like the people in the diner. I am so sorry. You must think I’m completely invading your privacy—I am completely invading your privacy. I’m leaving right no—”

“No, don’t.” Gard pulled the door open wide. “Come on in. I was just making dinner.” She grimaced. “Except it’s baloney and cheese sandwiches and somehow I don’t think that’s quite what I ought to be offering you for your first meal here. Not after what you made for me.”

“I didn’t come over to be entertained.” Jenna walked in and Gard closed the door. “I was worried. How bad is it?”

“It’s really nothing.” Gard led Jenna back to the kitchen. “A few stitches.”

Jenna regarded her suspiciously. “How many stitches?”

Gard put her good hand into the pocket of her pants, but she didn’t have any coins to jiggle and pulled her hand back out. Glancing sideways at Jenna, she said, “Twenty, if you count the ones inside, but—”

“Sit down,” Jenna said, pointing to a chair. “I’ll fix you something to eat. Only it’s not going to be baloney and cheese. If you don’t mind me knocking around your kitchen, I’ll cook.”

“No way.” Gard got between Jenna and the refrigerator. “You sit. You’re my guest tonight.”

“You’re hurt.” Jenna’s eyes flashed with a little bit of anger, a little bit of worry.

Gard had never noticed the tiny flecks of black diamond swirling through the green, but now, so close to her, she was mesmerized. “You’ve got beautiful eyes.”

“Shut up.” Jenna caught her lower lip between her teeth, the flush creeping down her neck. “Don’t say anything else, and whatever you do, don’t touch me.”

“Why is that?” Gard stepped closer until they were only a few inches apart. Jenna was breathing noticeably faster, the tip of her tongue peeking out to moisten her lower lip when she released it from between her teeth. “You look so damn kissable right now.”

“I don’t know why it is,” Jenna said, her voice breathy and low, “but you make me want to be kissed like no one I’ve ever known.”

Gard traced a finger along the edge of Jenna’s jaw. “I don’t think I want to know how many women that’s been.”

“Jealous?” Jenna knew she was teasing, wanted to tease her. She’d rushed over to Gard’s to be sure she wasn’t hurt badly, but just one look at her had rekindled the wanting. The wanting had quickly caught flame and by the time they’d reached the kitchen, she was fully involved. All she could think about now was Gard touching her, kissing her, holding her. She snapped herself back to the present. Gard was hurt. “We are not doing this tonight.”

Gard brushed her thumb over Jenna’s lower lip, then pushed in just a little farther until the pad grazed over the moist inner surface of Jenna’s lip. “What are we doing? Huh?”

Jenna licked the tip of Gard’s thumb, aching to suck it. Aching to taste her. And where in Hell had her brains gone. She jerked her head back but Gard’s hand on her jaw blocked her escape.

“What are we doing?” Gard stroked Jenna’s lip, sending sparks showering straight to Jenna’s core. “Jen?”

Jenna planted her hands on Gard’s chest and pushed her backwards, one slow step at a time. “What we’re not doing is fooling around.”

The muscles in Gard’s chest and shoulders tightened beneath Jenna’s hands. God, she had a gorgeous body. Jenna couldn’t help but imagine what all that strength would feel like moving on top of her, moving inside her, and she felt herself go liquid. Go ready. Gard’s eyes flared, and Jenna knew she knew.

“I never heard how you got hurt,” Jenna said hoarsely, maneuvering Gard back the last inch until her legs hit the kitchen chair and she sat. “Tell me while I make your sandwich. But I’m not eating one of those things.”

“There’s some leftover pizza in the refrigerator.”

“I’m not really hungry.” Jenna set about assembling the sandwich, aware of Gard watching her. She concentrated on the mindless activity to keep her mind off the way Gard always made her feel like the absolute center of her attention. She’d been ignored as a child, and as Cassandra was used to being on stage, but rarely had anyone looked at her with such intensity. Having Gard’s gaze on her was as exciting as being touched. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Want to join me for a beer? There’re a couple of Long Trails in the refrigerator.”

“I will, thanks.” Jenna pushed the plate with the sandwich on it over to Gard, got out two bottles of ale, found the bottle opener where Gard directed her, popped the tops, and set a bottle in front of Gard. She sat down next to Gard and sipped from hers.

Gard took a big bite of the sandwich, then another. “Good.”

“It’s baloney. How could it be?”

Grinning, Gard finished chewing, tilted the beer bottle, and took three long swallows, her eyes never leaving Jenna. “How’s your writing coming along?”

“My new book?” Jenna was surprised that Gard would care.

“Can you tell me what it’s about so far, or is that a trade secret?”

“You really can’t be interested.”

“Wrong,” Gard said softly. “I am.”

“I’ve really just started.” Jenna laughed, hoped she wasn’t blushing. “Something a little bit different for me. I’m writing a love story, of course, that’s what I write, but this one is set in a little town a lot like this one.”

Gard’s brows rose. “Really? And who’s the hero?”

Looking at her, Jenna realized immediately who she’d written that day. “You. I mean, a character a lot like you. I’m going to make her a vet—I just decided that right this minute.”

“Not biographical, I hope.”

“Only insofar as she’s devastatingly handsome, effortlessly charming, and drop-dead sexy.”

“Is that what you think?”

“Oh, that’s exactly what I think.” Jenna recognized she was flirting again, and the feeling was a little bit intoxicating. “Of course, I don’t really know what it is that you do, but that’s what the Internet is for.”

“Why get it secondhand, when you could experience it yourself?”

Jenna wondered if they were talking about her book anymore. “What did you have in mind?”

“Why don’t you come out with me on some of my calls? That would be better, right? Give you more of the details that you need?”