A Hero To Count On

“Yeah, right,” she scoffed.

She’d never seen a man who looked less harmless in her life. He was a bad boy—she could see it in his wicked, laughing green eyes—and she didn’t doubt for a second that he could melt a woman’s bones without ever touching her. She wanted nothing to do with him.

Deliberately she turned her back on him. “I don’t need your help. Leave me alone.”

“Okay, if that’s the way you want it. It’s ten miles to the ranch, but if you want to walk, far be it from me to stop you. Elizabeth’s going to kill me, but, hey, I tried.”

“I don’t care—” she began, only to break off abruptly at the mention of her sister. Whirling, she studied him suspiciously. “How do you know Elizabeth? Who are you?”

“Hunter Sinclair,” he retorted. When she just looked at him blankly, he explained, “I’m John’s brother. He and Elizabeth couldn’t make it, so I volunteered to pick you up, instead.”

At his words, Katherine paled. “John doesn’t have a brother. And I just talked to my sister this morning, and she never once mentioned that she was sending anyone to pick me up. They sent you, didn’t they?”

Confused, he frowned. “They? They who? Who are you talking about?”

“The thugs who want the ranch,” she retorted. “Did you think I don’t know about what’s been going on just because I live in England? Elizabeth and Buck keep me posted on everything. They told me who they trust, and trust me, your name never came up. So get the hell away from me. If you lay so much as a finger on me, I’m going to scream my guts out and I won’t stop until somebody throws your butt in jail.”

Impressed—she was tougher than she looked—he stepped back, raising his hands to show he meant no harm. “Whoa, whoa! There’s no need to scream. I’m not going to hurt you. John does have a brother. A half brother.”

“Then why hasn’t he mentioned you?”

“How the hell do I know? Because I’m the black sheep of the family?” He shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe because we haven’t seen each other in years and lost touch. Maybe my name just didn’t come up when you talked to him. You’ll have to ask him yourself.”

“I’ll do that,” she snapped, and reached for her phone.

“You won’t get him,” he warned. “He and Elizabeth went to a wedding. It started at three-thirty. That’s why they sent me.”

Ignoring him, she punched in her sister’s number, then John’s. Neither one answered. Was he telling the truth? she wondered as her eyes searched his. He had all the right answers, but she couldn’t forget how badly certain people in Willow Bend wanted to drive her family away from the ranch. What if this man was part of that conspiracy? What if he’d somehow grabbed Elizabeth and John and locked them up somewhere for a couple of days? If he could lure everyone away from the ranch for forty-eight hours, the struggle to hang on to the Broken Arrow would be over for good.

“I’m not going anywhere with you until I talk to John and Elizabeth first,” she said flatly, “so you might as well get comfortable.”

“Fine by me,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve got nothing but time. And we can get to know each other. Do you still read tea leaves?”

Surprised, she blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“Your grandmother taught you to read tea leaves when you were a little girl, didn’t she? I heard you were really good at it.”

“Who—”

“Elizabeth said you found a watch she lost on a school field trip. It was near a fountain, wasn’t it? It slipped off her arm when she threw some pennies in the fountain.”

No one but her family knew that story. Stunned, Katherine didn’t have to ask where he’d heard it. Elizabeth must have told him, just as he’d claimed.

“I understand why you don’t trust me,” Hunter said quietly. “After everything that’s happened to Buck and Rainey and Elizabeth, I’d be spooked, too, if I were you. But I’m not your enemy. You have nothing to fear from me. I won’t hurt you.”

The teasing glint that had been in his eyes just moments before was gone, and there was no doubting his sincerity. She wanted to believe him, but lately her family had learned the hard way not to trust anyone. “I still need to talk to Elizabeth,” she said huskily as she once again reached for her phone. “As soon as she verifies you’re really who claim you are, we can go.”

“Have it your way,” he said with a shrug. “I’m willing to wait as long as you are. How about a cup of coffee while we wait? Or would you rather have tea? Hot tea’s not something you’re going to run into in this neck of the woods, but there’s bound to be something. Let’s see what we can scrounge up.”

Katherine didn’t really want tea—or for Hunter Sinclair to be nice to her. She just wanted some time to herself. But if Hunter was telling the truth—and there was every indication that he was—they were, in some convoluted way, extended family, and the least she could do was be polite.

Before they could find coffee or tea, however, her phone rang, and with a sigh of relief, she snatched it up. “Elizabeth? Thank God! I was afraid you wouldn’t call me back for hours.”

“We just walked out of the church and are on our way to the reception. Are you home yet? Did Hunter have any trouble recognizing you? I loaned him a picture—”

“Oh, he had a much easier time than I did. I was expecting you. Why didn’t you tell me you couldn’t make it?”

“You were in the air,” her sister reminded her, “so I couldn’t reach you on your cell. You caught me off guard when you called—John and I had a wedding to go to, but after everything you’ve been through, I didn’t want you to think we didn’t want you here. So when Hunter volunteered to pick you up, it seemed like the perfect solution.” Struck by a sudden thought, she said sharply, “Everything’s all right, isn’t it? He promised to behave himself.”

Aware of Hunter’s eyes on her as he waited for her to finish her conversation, she stiffened. Behave himself? Had Elizabeth asked him to behave himself with her? Why? Had the two of them discussed her?

Dozens of questions—and answers she didn’t like—bombarded her, but all she said was, “Everything’s fine, now that I know he’s who he claimed to be. I didn’t know John had a brother.”

“I just found out myself last week when he showed up at the ranch,” Elizabeth said. “But he’s a great guy. He may tease you until you want to shoot him, but John trusts him completely, and you can, too.”

“If you say so,” she said, studying Hunter doubtfully. “I’ll let you know.”

“Be nice,” Elizabeth laughed. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

When Katherine hung up, she wasn’t surprised to find Hunter grinning at her. “You don’t have to look so smug,” she sniffed, refusing to be embarrassed for distrusting him. “She said you were a tease but I could trust you. I’m reserving judgment.”

“On what? Whether I’m a tease or that you can trust me?”

Looking down her pert nose at him, she lifted a delicately arched brow. “What do you think?”

Far from offended, he only laughed. “And here I thought I was doing so well. What is it with you cute ones? None of you will give me the time of day.”

Fighting a grin, she pointedly looked at her watch. “It’s four-twenty.”

“Smart-ass,” he chuckled as he opened the door to his Toyota 4Runner for her and helped her into the vehicle. “I knew you were going to be trouble the second I laid eyes on you.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, right.” Shutting her door for her, he walked around the vehicle and climbed into the driver’s seat, his grin maddening as he reminded her to buckle up. The second her seat belt was safely in place, he glanced behind him, threw the transmission into Reverse and hit the gas.

“What the—?” Grabbing the handhold on the doorframe, she gasped, “Are you mad?”

“You mean crazy?” he laughed as he put the SUV in Drive and head for the highway. “Sometimes. I don’t let any grass grow under my feet.”

“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me,” she retorted dryly. “So what’s a man like you doing in Colorado?”

“Taking a break between jobs. I don’t start my new job in L.A. until next month, so it seemed like a good time to visit John.”

Her gaze on the road that stretched out before them as he headed for the ranch, she said, “I thought it was a good time for a visit, too.”

“Because you wanted to put some space between you and that amoral jackass you were involved with?” At her sharp look of surprise, he added, “Oh, yeah, I know about it. And just for the record, you should have known better than to trust the bastard.”

“Oh, really?” Indignant, she said, “And how would you know that? You don’t know anything about Nigel.”