Baby, Drive South

He grinned. “Sorry about that. Going some where?”

She opened her mouth, then seemed to cast about for a plausible explanation. “I…was just…exploring.”

He craned his neck to look over her shoulder into the backseat. “With your suitcases?”

She looked away, then back, and lifted her hands. “Okay, you got me. I was leaving.”

“I guess we didn’t make a very good first impression,” he conceded. He was struck by the perfection of her profile in the low lighting. The woman had exquisite bone structure. She was really quite pretty…not sexy by any stretch of the imagination, but pretty.

“I shouldn’t have come here in the first place,” she said quietly. “I…I don’t belong here.”

No surprise, he thought, Sweetness wasn’t good enough for her and her medical degree. “So you’re going back home?”

Her small hands tightened on the wheel. “If I can get out of here. I don’t know what’s wrong with the van.” She peered at the dashboard. “The gas tank is almost full and I bought a new battery a couple of weeks ago.”

“Let me take a look under the hood,” Porter offered magnanimously. “Do you have a flashlight?”

She rummaged in the glove compartment and came up with one. “Can I help?”

“Uh, no. Stay inside in case I need you to turn the key.”

He hobbled to the front of the vehicle, then made a big production of lifting the hood and putting the hood’s prop arm in place. He pinged the light around, pretending to inspect various pieces and parts, but craned in the direction of the barbecue site with longing. The voices and music were louder, beckoning. Damn, all those hot, single women were being sociable and he was stuck trying to convince the one woman who wanted to leave Sweetness to stay.

“Try turning it over now,” he called idly.

She did, but of course, deprived of fuel, the engine didn’t catch.

He tapped the flashlight on an engine support, then called, “Again.”

She turned over the ignition but again, nada.

After a respectable pause, he slammed down the hood and wiped his hands on his jeans. “Sorry. Looks like you’re stuck for a while.”

She thrust her head out the window. “What’s wrong?”

He shrugged, careful not to lie…too much. “Could be a lot of things. Hard to say in the dark. Best to have a mechanic take a look in the morning.”

Her jaw dropped. “In the morning?”

“Everyone is at the barbecue,” he said, jerking his thumb over his back toward the commotion through the trees. “Except us.”

She frowned. “I thought you were going with Rachel.”

As if he needed to be reminded that he’d had to cut the leggy blonde loose. “My ankle was hurting, so I told her to go on ahead. I was resting on the porch when I saw you sneaking out.”

“Did you take the pain pills I gave you?”

“Sure did.”

She climbed out and slammed the door. “I wasn’t sneaking out.”

“Do you need help with your suitcases?”

“You’re on crutches,” she reminded him, then opened the back door and yanked out her luggage. “Is it safe to leave my van sitting in the middle of the road?”

“It’s not like we have a lot of traffic.”

But she didn’t seem amused as she turned and headed back to the boardinghouse.

“I’ll have a couple of the guys come back and roll it to the shoulder,” he promised as he hurried to keep up with her. She marched into the house and down the long hallway. For such a small woman, she was sure man-handling those suitcases. At the bottom of the stairs, she whirled around.

“Why are you following me?”

He drew back. “Since you’re staying until morning, I thought we’d go to the barbecue together.”

“You should be in bed.”

Porter’s mouth went dry because standing this close to the little lady doc was messing with his senses. The scent of the lemony soap she used filtered into his lungs. Why was he suddenly thinking about her lithe body straddling his on a big, soft bed? Porter shifted on his crutches as a dozen responses to her comment came to mind, innuendos that would’ve entertained or tempted most women. But he was already in trouble for pushing things too far with this one, and he couldn’t afford to nudge her over the edge.

“I don’t want to miss the party,” he said finally, then grinned. “But I’d feel better if I were under medical supervision.”

“I told you I don’t care to go!”

When her eyes filled unexpectedly with tears, Porter almost bolted. Tears were beyond even his skillset. The reasons men cried could be counted on one hand: a Superbowl win, a Superbowl loss, too much hot sauce and losing a favorite spinner bait. The reasons women cried were limitless and mysterious, running the gamut from hormones to clearance sales. He was at a loss.

Besides, he was a modern guy—the woman had a right to do whatever she pleased. Homestead or no homestead, who was he to try to change her mind? After she stomped upstairs to spend the evening alone, he’d go outside and reconnect her fuel pump. She could leave in the morning as planned and forget all about Sweetness. They’d find another doctor.

But, damn…those tears. They made her eyes glisten like huge emeralds against her pale skin. She looked small and vulnerable standing there with her little chin stuck in the air. Unbidden, protective instincts welled in his chest.

And his brothers’ words came back to him. From the broken leg that needed tending to the stolen kiss to the cold-water shower, he hadn’t exactly been the Welcome Wagon. He couldn’t be sure of the exact cause of her tears, and he was limited in his remedies, but there was one thing that always made men feel better.

“You should have something to eat,” he announced.

On cue, her stomach howled like a wild animal.

Taking advantage of the opening, he rushed to add, “There’s a guy on our crew from Memphis who makes the best barbecue you ever tasted.” She didn’t react, but she didn’t flee, so he went for the close. “Besides, I’m sure my brothers would like to say goodbye.”

She looked away, then back, wavering. Porter gave her a little smile of encouragement. Her chin dipped. “Okay.” She sounded utterly defeated. “Give me a few minutes to stow my suitcases in my room, and I’ll be back down.”

Feeling frustrated because he couldn’t help her, and for other reasons he couldn’t quite put his finger on, Porter watched as Dr. Salinger struggled to carry her luggage up the stairs. Her shoulders drooped and her feet dragged. Porter frowned. Usually women who were going to spend the evening with him acted a little happier about it.

He exhaled loudly. Entertaining the mousy little lady doc all evening was going to be a major bummer.

Then those amazing green eyes flashed into his head and Porter pursed his mouth.

He reckoned he could take one for the Armstrong team.

9