Chapter Four

 

Summer Collins was not what he’d expected. Even now, watching her watch her half-brother, he couldn’t stop staring at her. At her freckles. They fascinated him in a way he never would’ve expected. There was a resemblance between her and Georgey—more than enough to make it clear they were related. But Summer was also clearly white. Her eyes were a soft, beautiful hazel and her hair so light it was almost dark blonde. And there were those freckles, scattered across her cheeks and nose like sprinkles on an ice cream cone.

She was beautiful. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d looked at a woman and seen nothing but beauty instead of a problem he needed to manage or situation he needed to contain. She looked much as she had sounded—sweet and gentle and maybe a little delicate.

“Can I go now?” Georgey said sullenly. Which described the last week and a half. Sullen.

He asked Summer, but she turned to Tim. She had a hell of a body. She was much shorter than Georgey, but they had the same lanky frame. Except on Summer, it wasn’t lanky at all. Her body was lithe and slender and her jeans hugged her hips.

“Sheriff Means?”

Crap, he was staring. He turned back to the hole in the wall. “I don’t see a window yet,” he observed.

“This is bullshit,” Georgey muttered under his breath.

Before Tim could tell the kid to watch his mouth, Summer swung back on him and suddenly she looked ferocious. “You will watch your mouth, young man. I do not tolerate that sort of language.” It didn’t come out harshly, but Tim felt the weight of her words.

The expression on Georgey’s face was one step removed from an open snarl. “Or you'll what? Report me to the principal? You’re not my mom.”

Tim took a step forward, but Jack put his hand on Tim's arm to hold him back.

Summer’s eyes narrowed. She jammed her hands on her hips and scowled up at Georgey, who had the good sense to look cowered. One of these days, the boy would learn to hold his tongue.

“I am your sister and your elder and you will not speak like that around me.”

Not bad, Tim thought. She might just have the stuff to make this work.

“You can’t tell me what to do,” Georgey said. This time, Jack didn’t hold Tim back.

“I can leave you here,” Summer said before Tim could get to the kid and throttle him. She glanced at him and notched an eyebrow. “Sheriff Means made it clear that he has plenty of work for you.”

“I sure do,” Tim said as Summer launched a smile at him that did some mighty funny things to him. He wasn’t used to women smiling at him. Most of the time, people were not happy to see him. Even women who were getting beat up by their drunk, abusive men weren’t happy to see him. Yes, they wanted the beatings to stop, but they didn’t want him to arrest their partners.

He didn’t have the time to moon over a pretty lady—especially not one who was probably only going to be here for a couple of days, tops.

“Man,” Georgey groaned and then he picked up the putty knife and went back to work on the window frame.

Tim shot a look back at Jack, who was grinning like a coyote. He pointedly glanced at Summer, then back at Tim, raising his eyebrows in question. Jack was a hell of a tracker but the man was a prankster through and through. Tim scowled a warning and moved over to where Summer was watching Georgey work. “Can I talk to you—privately?”

Was it his imagination, or did her eyes darken slightly as she turned her face up to his? “Sure.”

They headed back toward the cars, but then Jack called out, “Awáŋič’iglaka yo.” Watch yourself with her. Half of the waiting room started chuckling, which caused Summer to turn back and give him a questioning look.

He was going to find himself down a deputy if Jack didn’t knock that shit off. “Níš-eyá taŋyáŋ awáŋič’iglaka yo, Jack,” he shot back. You watch yourself instead. Clarence, the male nurse, snorted in amusement. A few of the older ladies gave him a smile. One older man gave him a thumbs-up.

Great. Just freaking great. Was his attraction to her that damned obvious?

“Is everything okay?” Summer asked, her eyes wide. She gave no indication that she understood, which was for the best, all things considered.

“Fine,” he said through a tight smile. “Shall we?”

If the clinic had a window, he might have talked to her there. But currently, there was nothing separating the inside from the outside, so it was pointless. Tim led the way back to where their cars were parked at the end of the lot, far away from eavesdropping ears and smart-mouthed deputies. He leaned back against the hood of his cruiser and crossed his arms. “As you can see, he’s got a little bit of an attitude problem.”

Summer laughed, a light sound. “I teach ninth grade English at a city high school. Attitude problems are what I deal with all day long.”

Tim couldn’t help but grin. From the way she’d reacted during their first phone call, he’d been afraid she wouldn’t be able to handle this. But he should have known she’d be tougher than that. “So what do you want to do?” The question hung in the air and Tim realized what he’d said. “About Georgey, I mean.”

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

He tried again. “Where are you staying tonight?” he asked, although he already knew what the answer was going to be.

Color came into her cheeks. “I was going to try and find a hotel,” she said, sounding sweet about it. “But I’m beginning to think that’s not going to happen.”

He didn’t even try to hide his grin. When was the last time he’d grinned at anyone? His was not a happy, smiling kind of job. “The nearest hotel is about an hour and a half away, in Wall. It’s not a bad drive, but it is a drive.” He waited for a moment, but she didn’t say anything else. She just looked at him with those big wide eyes of hers and he fought the urge to stroke his thumb over her freckles. “You’re more than welcome to do that, but if you’d rather not…”

“I was in the car for a long time today. I’m not sure I want to spend another three hours in it every day.”

Was it his imagination, or had she leaned closer?

No, dumbass. It was his imagination.

“Did you have any suggestions?” As she said it, she dropped her gaze and then looked up at him through her thick lashes.

Hell, yeah, he had some suggestions on where she could spend the night. But he had to be a responsible human, like always. “You’re more than welcome to crash at my place.”

Her eyes got real wide and she stiffened and he knew it had come out wrong, so he hurried to add, “I’ve got a nice place—and a bedroom with a door.”

He wouldn’t have thought it possible, but her eyes got even wider.

Could he screw this up any more? “I’ll take the couch.” That was what he should have said first but he wasn’t in the habit of inviting women back to his place. “Georgey has been crashing on it, but it won’t kill him to sleep on the floor for a couple nights. I’ll put clean sheets on the bed and everything.”

He didn’t like feeling anxious about things. He was a decisive guy who made snap judgment calls all the time. He’d long ago learned to trust his instincts when the shit hit the fan. But this wasn’t a life-or-death situation and his instincts were muddled by a pretty girl.

“Oh… Is that…” Her voice trailed off and she looked confused. Which didn’t help anything.

He was talking again before he knew what he was going to say. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d talked this much. “I know it may seem weird to you, but people crash all the time here. Especially during the winter, it’s not uncommon to have five or six people sleeping on the floor. We’re all family, after all.”

She dropped her gaze to the ground and looked embarrassed. He’d said the wrong thing again.

“I don’t think I belong in this family,” she said in a small voice.

He didn’t like it.

“I mean, I came to the reservation for a pow wow when I was twelve and that was it. Georgey doesn’t remember me and why would he? I don’t know anything about this place or the people here. I don’t even know if I have any other living relatives—and even if I find them, I don’t know what to do about them.” When she looked up at him, he saw so much more than just confusion. He saw longing and loneliness and heartbreak and it cut right through him. “My own brother doesn’t know me—half-brother, that is. I didn’t even know my father was dead. I don’t know if I belong here.”

He moved. He couldn’t help it. He cupped her cheek in his hand so he could lift her face and look her in the eye. “None of us can change the past,” he told her. Against his will, his thumb moved over the smooth skin of her cheek, over that dusting of freckles.

She sucked in a little gasp of air as her eyes went wide again.

“But you do belong here. No matter where you go or who you are, you belong here. If you don’t want to stay with me, I can find someplace else for you. Dr. Mitchell has an extra room—but she’s married to the medicine man, so there might be people sleeping on the couch there, too. If you come home with me, you have a chance to get to know your brother. And he is your brother, Summer. There is no half about it.”

“You really believe that? That we’re all family?” She hadn’t pulled away from him—but she hadn’t leaned into his touch, either.

“I do. Time and distance don’t change that.” He hadn’t realized his head was moving until her eyes got even wider. His face was only a few inches away from hers.

This was beyond stupid. This was sheer insanity.

He forced himself to step back. But he couldn’t bring himself to apologize for almost kissing her—or touching her. So he didn’t. “It’s going to take a few days to sort out what to do with Georgey and I don’t want to let him go until he’s fixed the window.”

She blinked at him then shook her head, as if she were trying to clear away a fog. He knew exactly how she felt. “Does he have anyone else? Are there any other family members that I don’t know about?”

The truth was, there were a few. But she wasn’t going to like the answer. “There are some of his mother’s people, but most of them are in jail. And the ones that aren’t shouldn’t be given guardianship of a boy.”

She gave him a long look. “Did you put them there? In jail?”

It almost felt like she was judging him—which was how everyone else on the reservation looked at him. It helped push away any thought of kissing her. Above all else, he had a job to do. And nothing—not even a beautiful woman with freckles—could keep him from that job. “I did.”

Something in her face seemed to shutter. It hurt to watch—but the hell of it was, Tim couldn’t have said why. This was how people treated him, after all.

Then she looked at him again, a new resolve tightening her gaze. “I think I’d like to get to know my brother. If you don’t mind…”

“Not at all.” Knowing she'd be sleeping in his bed? Nope, he didn’t mind a single bit. He thought back to the panicked look on her face when he’d first gotten out of his cruiser and walked up to her car. Damn that Nobody. So he added, “And my house is the safest place on this reservation. I won’t let anything happen to you while you’re here.”

They stared at each other and Tim had that strange feeling, at least at this one thing, they were equals.

Then Summer stuck out her hand. “We have a deal?”

“That we do.” He wrapped his hand around hers but he didn’t exactly shake it. He just held her tight.

And then he forced himself to let her go.