“Are you okay?” He asked as he got close to her.
She pulled her gaze away from his muscles and looked in his eyes. Pasting a smile on her face, she answered.
“I’m fine. I was startled a few minutes ago by a fairly loud sound I thought was coming from the tree line over there.” She pointed in the opposite direction. “But it must’ve been you crashing around and I was mistaken about the direction.”
His eyes roamed the area behind her and she caught a glimpse of who he must be on the job. Intense. Focused. A shiver danced down her spine. Dangerous.
“Thank you for the flowers. They’re beautiful.”
He looked back at her and, for a split second, she thought he looked confused. Then he gave her a smile that nearly brought her to her knees.
Her eyes lingered on his beautifully molded lips as her heartbeat accelerated. Her brain screamed futilely in the background for her to get a grip on herself. She parted her own lips slightly and saw his curl a bit as his body leaned toward hers.
Another sharp sound came from the woods behind her just before his lips touched hers.
He went on alert. Instantly back in warrior mode. Her heart didn’t slow down, but now it beat fast in fear. Something was in those woods. There were no local animals big enough to make a noise that loud.
“Stay here.” He said to her in a curt voice as he jogged toward the trees, head swiveling side to side. She backed up to a tree so she wouldn’t feel so exposed as she watched him quarter the area just outside the trees. Eyes focusing on the ground, then outward into the trees and brush. Once he disappeared into the foliage and she tensed, wondering what he’d found to draw him in.
He emerged in minutes and walked quickly in her direction.
“There was someone back there. I don’t know if it was kids or someone doing something illegal or what. But you shouldn’t be out here alone.” He took her arm, leading her to where she’d parked her car earlier.
“You should go on back home now.” His eyes held a hint of regret. “I need to finish my run, but I hope we’ll see each other again soon.”
His eyes drifted to her lips and, just like that, her heart raced again.
“Sure.” She said in what she hoped was a casual tone. “In a town this small, it’ll be hard not to.”
He grinned and opened her car door. “I look forward to it.”
Chapter 6
Jesse watched closelyas Harley Ann drove away, noting that nothing stirred along the sides of the road where she drove.
He’d sent her on her way for safety. So that he could get back into those woods and figure out who had been back there. Because, whoever it had been, had been there long enough to tramp down a lot of small brush and drop a crumpled up cigarette packet on the ground.
It might’ve just been some local boys sneaking a smoke and spying on a pretty woman. Whatever was going on, his protective instincts had been roused with a vengeance. In a way, it surprised him. Maybe the pretty redhead had gotten under his skin.
Be that as it may, he intended to investigate to the fullest extent he could. In his line of work, it paid to be as sure about these things as possible.
He hadn’t been the one who sent the flowers.
His tracking skills eventually led him to a road on the other side of the woods where the trail went cold. He paced along the asphalt, looking for any additional clues and found tire tracks along the edge of the road about half a mile from where he’d come out of the woods.
He squatted to get a better angle on them. They looked fresh. Like someone had parked a car here and walked through the woods to the farmer’s market area. He couldn’t think of any way that the person could have known Harley Ann, or any particular person, would be there at that time.
Probably not local boys messing around, then. They’d have no reason to park here and walk through the woods.
He glanced in both directions along the road. Nothing as far as the eye could see in either direction. And, no traffic had passed while he stood here. So, not a heavily travelled road.
He jogged back through the woods to the farmer’s market site and stood looking at the area. There wasn’t much to see. A bunch of old wooden booths set in rows, the wood gray and a bit splintery from age and exposure to the elements. A cinderblock building that housed restrooms. Something that surprised him in this rustic setting. He supposed that even in a country place like this people still like to have that nicety.
A quick walk through of the building showed nothing but the expected toilets and a sink in each.
He stood back again, surveying the area. What could interest someone in such a basic layout? Thinking he might be nuts, but deciding to be thorough, he investigated each booth area. His diligence was rewarded when he found a small bug attached to the underside of the boards at one of the booths.
He turned it in his fingers. Small. Black. Definitely commercial. The type of thing anyone could order online at a spy store. The question was who was spying on whom?
