Secrets of a Summer Night (Stone Gap Mountain) (2 page)

He settled himself more deeply into the uncomfortable hospital bed and sighed. Maybe the drugs were better than he’d thought.

Later that same evening, Laney set her cellphone aside and leaned back in the desk chair at the fire station. That voice mail just proved how quickly things changed.
 

“Well?” Jim asked. “Everything okay with Emma’s service dog?”

“Yeah. Roxy’s stable.”

“And your sister? How’s she holding up?”

Laney picked up a pen and doodled on the edge of a notebook. “She was offered a job today. She didn’t think she would take it, but now she is. The guy’s offering room and board for Emma and the animals.”

Jim whistled long and low. “Including the horse?”

His description of Goliath, Emma’s Great Dane, earned a deeper frown from her. “Yeah, even Goli,” she said. “Pretty amazing, isn’t it?”

“Got that right. Not many people would take that on. What’s the job?”

“Tutoring and babysitting. Take your pick. Uncle Bruce recommended Emma to a guy who wants her to help his brother cope with recently becoming blind.” And while Emma was staying with her new employer, who was obviously pitching in due to the fire that had destroyed their family home today, Laney couldn’t help but feel a twinge of resentment.
 

Emma had said one of the reasons she’d accepted the job was so Laney and her father wouldn’t have to worry about her and the animals. But with their father sleeping in his small camper to watch over the contents of the sheds and property that hadn’t burned, that left Laney on her own. Not that her family seemed to notice or ask where
she
was going to sleep.

You’re how old? Grow up. You know it’ll be easier for you to fend for yourself.

It would. But it was the principle of the thing. Since the car accident that had killed her mother and injured Emma, Laney had run herself ragged taking care of the family. Once upon a time, she’d dreamed of a big life, of becoming a doctor, living in Atlanta or some other large city. She’d given up her big dreams to live small, to do all the things expected of her. But having done that, where was their concern for her?

Emma called and left a message, and you talked to Frank at the site. You want them to hold your hand?

No. She didn’t need that or want it. But hearing about Emma’s good fortune and knowing her father would probably stay at his fiancée’s home tomorrow or the day after didn’t help Laney’s mood at all. It still left her right where she was—homeless.

She’d no sooner left the hospital after transporting Rand to be checked out when the call had come in from dispatch. Stone Gap Mountain, Georgia, was generous and supportive when it came to taking care of its own after disasters like the fire that had sent her afternoon into a spiral. But that support would no doubt go to her blind sister and Frank, the owner of The Royal Ace. Where she fell in to the mix she wasn’t sure.

“Your shift ended a half hour ago. You decide what you’re going to do tonight? You know you’re welcome to come home and stay with me. Sleep on the couch or... whatever,” Jim said with a too-casual shrug.
 

Jim had made no effort to hide his interest in her, but the spark just wasn’t there. And the “whatever” he referred to was his bed, which she had no intention of hopping into, no matter how good of a match it might be.
 

Jim was good-looking and a heck of an EMT and firefighter, a reservist who had made three trips to Iraq and Afghanistan to serve his country. She
should
feel something other than friendship and admiration for his sense of duty but… it just wasn’t there. Jim was fun to hang out with, train with, but he didn’t make her pulse pound.
 

An image of Rand formed in her mind. His smile, his eyes. The way
he
made the blood surge through her veins whenever he was near.
 

She shook off the shiver of response brought on by the thought.
Not gonna happen.
“I appreciate the offer, but I’m going to grab a bunk in the duty room and head back to the house first thing in the morning.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Thanks though,” she said, trying to sound casual about turning him down. Again.

“If you change your mind, the offer stands. I make a mean omelet. You don’t know what you’re missing.”

Probably not. Jim was nice. Only a year or so older than her twenty-nine. He was perfectly suitable, so why couldn’t she feel more than she did? “Some girl’s gonna be lucky when she snags you, Jim.”

But it wasn’t going to be her.

“You like that old guy that flirted with you today?”

She jerked her head up in surprise and blinked, trying to cover her reaction. “Huh?”

“I saw you coming out of his room at the hospital when you said you had to use the restroom.”

Oh. “I stopped in to check on him. He’s a friend of my father’s. I’ve known Rand for years.”

“Yeah, well, the guy was in serious pain today, but still couldn’t keep his eyes off you. If we hadn’t strapped him down he probably would’ve made a pass.”

She laughed off the comment and shook her head.
Too bad Rand had been strapped.
“Like I said, he’s just an old friend.”

“Old being the key word,” Jim insisted.
 

“He’s not
that
old.”

“So you do like him?”

She opened her mouth to deny it but couldn’t.
 

Jim stood. “Let me know if you change your mind and need a place to stay. Even if it is the couch.”

The next morning, Laney squatted down in the charred remains of the razed house and fought back tears.
 

Remnants of metal littered the burned-out structure along with glass and smoldering rubble, with puffs of smoke still curling into the muggy August air. But it was the sight of soot-covered bits of her mother’s china that left her unable to breathe. It was gone. Everything was gone, and she couldn’t even be angry with Emma for the loss. At least not verbally.
 

She stared down at the two-inch piece of broken china in her hand and rubbed her thumb back and forth over what was left of the image.
 

Old Country Roses. The gold-trimmed edge and painted roses of the pattern were mostly gone, another victim of the fire, but she saw them in her mind. Could picture her mother cradling the teacup so carefully in her hands as she sipped from the rim and stared out the kitchen window.
 

The pattern was special, used only on holidays and for Mama’s morning tea. But sometimes when she and Emma had been young, Aunt Rose would come to the house, and because Mama declared the day special, they’d all have a tea party with little cookie cutter-shaped sandwiches and cakes. “Oh, Mama. I miss you. Why did we have to lose this too?”

Wiping away her tears, she forced herself to stand and continue her search through the mess for anything that might have survived the flames. There was little to be found.

She searched through a pile of rubble in the area she thought was her closet when the rumble of an engine and the crunch of tires alerted her to the fact she was no longer alone. She shielded her eyes from the sun and watched the big Dodge truck roll to a stop beside her Jeep.

Laney smoothed her hands over her jeans and waited expectantly, unsure of her visitor’s identity until the driver’s door swung open, and a dark head appeared.
 

“Hey,” Rand said in greeting.
 

His arm hung in a sling, and his eyes were shaded by sunglasses, but neither of those things did anything to tone down his sex appeal. “Hey, yourself. You look a little more comfortable than the last time I saw you.”

“I am. Thanks to you.”

“Just doing my job. Um, if you’re looking for my dad, he’s not here.”

“I’m not looking for him. Is there a reason you didn’t mention that the fire you responded to yesterday was your own house?”

She wiped her hand over the sweat on her forehead. “Wouldn’t have changed anything if I had. Is there something I can help you with?”
 

“I heard about what happened,” he said with a nod toward the rubble, “and I thought I’d stop by. It’s the least I could do after you checked on me last night.”

“I was already at the hospital. You didn’t need to make a special trip.”

His head swung right- to- left as he took in the damage. “You got a place to stay?”
 

“No, not yet. You know of something for rent?”

“Yeah. Come with me. Climb in and I’ll show you.”

“How about I drive?” she countered, indicating his arm. “Are you supposed to be out and about the day after closed reduction to set your arm?”

He tilted his head to one side, that oh-
so
-sexy smile on his lips. Why, oh why, did he have to get to her so easily?

“You going to lecture me or let me show you a nice little house that’s available?”

Laney made her way over the debris and the cinder blocks that had formed the crawl space. “I’m coming,” she said. “But if you wreck, you’ll really top off my week.”

If someone had said she’d wind up alone with Rand in a 1950s fixer-upper, she would have said that was crazy. But fifteen minutes later, she turned to survey the kitchen of the two-bedroom home on a quiet street not far from the station and clasped her soot-gritty hands to her chest to keep from ruining the pristine, white walls.

“What do you think? It’s small, but I thought you and Emma might be able to make it work.”

“It’s yours?” She’d known via town gossip that Rand owned quite a bit of property in addition to his roofing business, but she hadn’t given much thought to actually contacting him for a place to stay.
 

“Yeah.”

“How much?”

“No charge. No—I insist. I’m a good landlord.”

She sputtered at the statements. “You’d let me stay here rent-free?”

“Until you get back on your feet, yeah. I’d rather have someone I can trust living in it than rent it to someone who’ll tear it up.”

“That’s… That’s a very generous offer.”

“So you accept?”

He wasn’t really going to let her stay for free, was he? And if so, why? “I can pay rent.”

“When you’re back on your feet,” he said. “It will take a while for you to buy furniture and things, settle in. Once you do, we’ll talk rent.”
 

He set the keys on the counter, and she shook her head, unable to believe he was just handing the house over to her. “Why are you doing this?”

Just for a moment, for the briefest nanosecond, she thought she saw a flicker of desire in his electric-blue gaze. She had to be wrong.
 

Right?

Barely able to breathe due to the thoughts in her head, she moved toward the stove to occupy her hands. Four burners, an oven, a broiler. Yup, it was a kitchen appliance.
 

“It’s no big deal. You need a place to stay, and I have one. I’ve known you how many years now?”

He said the words like a reminder. For himself? “A long time,” she said, unwilling to admit she’d been just a child when Rand and her father had become friends. She was way too aware of that already. “But it’ll just be me. Emma’s staying with her new employer. So, yeah, it’s just… me.”
 

It was muggy in the house and a trickle of sweat beaded between her breasts and slipped low. She felt it— and his hand on her EMS shirt, low at the base of her back when he pulled her close for a one-armed hug.
 

“I’m sorry. It can’t be easy losing everything in that fire.”

Emma was safe— that was the most important thing. Emma, her dogs. Things didn’t matter. Things could be replaced. So why did it hurt so much?

But with Rand’s arm around her? His hard body so close? Why did it suddenly seem like the fire and Emma moving in with her new employer was… somehow meant to be? Fate? Did she even believe in such a thing? Was this her chance to break free of the responsibilities that had held her back?
 

Laney lifted her chin, much too aware of Rand standing so close.
 

What would he do if she kissed him?
 

She didn’t care that Rand was older, didn’t care about anything but the way she’d felt about him for so long. About the comfort he offered her when she needed it most because her sister was embarking on a new life, her father, too, while she was blowing in the wind, unsure of what to do or where to go now that she was finally free to do whatever she wanted.
 

With whomever she wanted.

Did
age really matter when she was almost thirty years old?

Rand’s nostrils flared as he took a breath, his thick, black lashes lowering over his eyes as he followed the nervous flick of her tongue on her lips.
 

He lowered his head, stopping when his mouth was a scant half-inch away. Suddenly his eyes widened, and he tensed, jerking away.
 

“Uh, yeah. We should go.”

Rand left her standing there in the kitchen, dazed and breathless and more confused than ever.
 

Had that almost happened? For real?

Rand couldn’t get out of the house fast enough, but Laney stood there, a slow smile breaking across her face because she wasn’t the only one feeling the pull of attraction. That almost near-kiss proved it.
 

Now— what did she dare do about it?

The next afternoon, Rand set the bottle of painkillers back on the table unopened. He wasn’t a masochist, but he hated the fuzzy, otherworldly dopiness he felt after a dose. Last night, he’d needed a pill to sleep, but today the pain was bearable, and the bruises on his ribs only hurt when he pressed on them, his shoulder sore but holding its own.
 

The television commercial ended, and the news channel reappeared. A slick-looking dude with pasty-white teeth and fake hair smiled as he warned viewers about the heat index.
 

August was always hot, but the drought had yet to break, and the temperature had shot higher than ever today. The setting sun didn’t alleviate the problem, and the temperature remained in the high eighties. And because Delaney Wyatt was never far from his mind, an image of her flashed in front of his eyes, and he didn’t bother holding back the groan that followed.