“I’m impulsive.” She laughed.
He didn’t.
Kendall knew she should have waited, then pulled herself together and headed west. Sedona, Arizona, was her dream, the place where she hoped to hone her craft and learn even more about creating jewelry designs. But while still in pain over her aunt’s death, she’d been drawn to Yorkshire Falls, her aunt’s old house and the memories there. The practical fact that she could settle her aunt’s estate was a plus, not a well-thought-out plan. She still should have gone home to change before hitting the road.
When the officer remained silent, Kendall’s mouth went into overdrive, nerves compelling her to talk while he scrutinized her. “My aunt always said impulse won’t get you further than the next bus stop.
Prophetic, huh?” She took in her situation—stranded in a wedding dress, no clothes other than honeymoon attire in the trunk, and little money in her pocket, headed to her deceased aunt’s house.
“Your aunt sounds like a smart woman,” he said at last.
“She is. I mean she was.” Kendall swallowed over the lump in her throat. Aunt Crystal had died a few weeks ago, in the nursing home Kendall had almost given up her freedom to pay for. Not that her aunt had asked Kendall for anything. She’d given willingly. There were only two people on this earth Kendall would do anything for—her aunt and her fourteen-year-old sister. Over the years Kendall had gone from resenting her sibling to loving her. Once Kendall finished with Crystal’s house and things, she’d visit with Hannah at school before moving west.
The cop eyed her warily, squinting against the sun. Lines bracketed his hazel eyes, made more golden by the sun’s glimmering rays.
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“So.” He stepped closer. His masculine scent surrounded her, more potent than the heat of the sun.
“Come on. Admit the real reason you’re out here and we can get on with things.”
Get on with what things? “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But her adrenaline started to flow hard and fast.
“Come on, sweetheart. I’ve rescued you. What did you think would happen next?”
“Well, gee. I don’t know. Sex in the back seat of your patrol car?”
When his eyes darkened to a stormy hue, she recognized the sexual attraction and could have bitten her tongue in two for letting that sarcastic remark escape. Still honesty forced her to admit she felt the same way. Kendall was actually tempted to drag him into the woods and have her way with him herself. She still couldn’t believe it but the policeman turned her on. More than any man ever had, including Brian.
“At least we’re getting somewhere. So you admit to entrapment?”
“I admit to no such thing. As a matter of fact I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.” She perched her hands on her hips. “So tell me, Officer. Is this how Yorkshire Falls’s finest greets all newcomers? With rudeness, sarcasm, and veiled accusations?” She didn’t wait for him to answer. “If so I can see why your population remains so small.”
“We’re picky who we let settle.”
“Well, good thing for both of us I don’t plan to remain long.”
“Did I say I didn’t want you here?” His lips twitched with an obviously reluctant smile.
Even when he was at his sarcastic, even accusatory best, he had a bedroom voice that dripped charisma. Sex. She trembled.
Then she licked her dry lips. She had to get out of here. “Much as I hate to ask you for anything, can you please drive me to 105 Edgemont Street?” She had no choice but to trust in his badge, his integrity, and her own gut instinct about the man, despite his disposition.
“105 Edgemont.” His body stiffened in obvious surprise.
“That’s what I said. Drop me off there so you can see the last of me.”
“That’s what you think,” he muttered.
“Excuse me?”
He shook his head and muttered beneath his breath, then he met her gaze. “You’re Crystal Sutton’s niece.”
“Yes. I’m Kendall Sutton, but how . . .”
“I’m Rick Chandler.” He started to extend his hand, then obviously thought better of them touching again and shoved his fist into his pants pocket.
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It took a minute for his words to penetrate, but when they did, Kendall’s gaze flew to his. “Rick Chandler?” Her Aunt Crystal had kept just one friend after Kendall had moved her from her home in Yorkshire Falls to the facility near New York City. Kendall stared at his handsome face. “Raina Chandler’s son?”
“That’s me.” And he still didn’t look too pleased.
“It’s been a long time. Forever, really.” Since she was ten and she’d lived her one happy summer with Aunt Crystal before the older woman’s arthritis had been diagnosed and Kendall forced to leave. She vaguely remembered meeting Rick Chandler or had it been one of his brothers? She shrugged. Having been there one summer and only ten years old, she hadn’t gotten close to the people in town nor had she kept in touch with any once she was gone.
Moving on was the story of Kendall’s life. Her parents were archaeologists and traveled on expeditions to remote parts of the world. She’d rarely kept track of them as a child and took about as much interest in their specific whereabouts now as they took in hers.
Kendall had lived with them abroad until she turned five, when they’d sent her back to the States to be shuffled between family members. She’d often wondered why her parents had a child they never planned to raise, but she’d rarely been with them long enough to ask—until Hannah had been born and her parents had returned stateside for five years. At twelve, almost thirteen, Kendall had moved back in with them but she hadn’t opened her heart to the people who’d essentially abandoned her, but came home for their newborn baby. The rift between Kendall and her parents had widened even though they no longer had oceans and continents between them, and remained until their departure. Kendall had then been eighteen and on her own.
“You’ve grown up.” Rick’s voice brought her back to the present. A wide smile pitched his lips into a charming grin.
No doubt about it, the man had a way about him. “So have you. Grown,” she sputtered stupidly. Into a spectacular man. One with roots to this town deeper than any tree. Roots were something she knew nothing about and a sexy man who had those spelled trouble for a woman destined to wander.
“Did my mother know you were coming to town today?” Rick asked.
She shook her head. “It was another impulsive decision.” Similar to her hair, she thought and lifted a hand to the pink-colored strands.
He exhaled and seemed to relax a bit. “Spurred on by the nixed wedding?”
She nodded. “By the mutual jilting.” She bit down on her lower lip. “Nothing has gone as planned today.”
“Including your rescue?”
She grinned. “It’s been an experience, Officer Chandler.”
“That it has been.” He laughed.
The deep, husky sound curled her insides into warm, coiled knots of need.
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“Look, I know this is going to sound bizarre but do you think we could keep the details of this first meeting between us?” An actual flush stained his cheeks, something she doubted Rick Chandler experienced too often.
“Just get me out of this heat and into an air-conditioned house and I promise I won’t say a word.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t been back to Crystal’s house in a while.” It wasn’t a question, rather a statement of fact they both knew to be true.