Raine had to get out of Silent Water before it was too late. She itched to pack her bags. Her very handsome, but shut down neighbor had to be a cop. He had cop eyes, and eyes like that didn’t miss a detail. She couldn’t afford to have him discover who she was and what she was running from. The single mom looking to start over routine wouldn’t fly with Chase Shepherd, and that was a problem because for a brief second this morning she wanted him to fix her heater. And maybe turn the dials on her own personal thermostat. She shook her head. Enough with the fantasies.
She dragged firewood from the trunk of the Camry to the fireplace inside the house. The place needed to warm up. She could see her breath as she huffed back and forth. The no heat thing could be the reason to leave. Badger couldn’t argue. He could keep the money she’d given him.
She and Landon could be gone by the end of the day, and no one would be the wiser. They could drive all night and maybe cross the border into Canada with the fake passports by midnight. But then what? Was there another town without cell phone service she could start over in? She needed more money, time, and a decent night’s sleep. If the heater wasn’t working by morning, then they’d slip away. She would give it that long.
Acker Propane hadn’t returned her call. She threw some logs into the fireplace, and stuffed paper under and around them. Smaller sticks would’ve been nice.
“Hey, Landon, do you want to play a game?”
His booted feet clamored over the hardwood floors. “Sure. What kind of a game?”
“Let’s see how many sticks and branches you can find.”
“Are you going to look too?”
“Yup.” At least she’d pretend to look. She’d keep her eye on him, but she wanted to see if she could peek in the windows of Chase’s house for some clue as to who he really was. Clearly, he wasn’t married, but there had to be something to him. “I’ll time us. Whoever finds the most sticks in ten minutes wins.”
“What do I win?”
“Watching a movie with me under the blanket?”
“How about ice cream in a cone?”
“It’s a little cold for ice cream, don’t you think?” If Silent Water didn’t have an ice cream store open in January, they could stop at the grocery store and pick some up. Her boy deserved a little happiness. She’d ripped him away from his home and he’d barely complained. Maybe he was glad to be away from their old life.
“Nope. I’m going to win.” He took off running.
“Landon, you left the door –”
Chase Shepherd filled up the doorway and stopped the words on her tongue. He wore his dark hair brushed back. She hadn’t noticed before, but the sides were streaked gray. His beard was close to his skin as if he had decided not to shave more than he meant to grow it in. His chin was covered in matching gray stubble, but the rest of the beard was dark. What would that stubble feel like under her fingers? Her insides started to heat up at the thought of exploring. She needed to erase those thoughts from her head immediately.
He narrowed his blue eyes at her. They were a startling bright blue trimmed with creases that suggested he spent time laughing, but there was no humor on his face. What had happened to this man to make him so stoic?
“Is there something I can help you with?” She couldn’t see past him to where Landon had run off to. She didn’t want him getting too close to the road.
“What are you looking at?” He turned and looked out the door.
“I need to find my son.”
“Did you lose him?” He turned back to her.
“He’s running out in the yard. I don’t want him to wander too far.”
He put down the tool box he was holding and pulled out a pair of binoculars. “Here.”
She put the binoculars up to her eyes. Landon’s blue coat dodged between pine trees as he scooped up sticks and pinecones. “Do you always carry binoculars in your tool box?” Was he some kind of a stalker?
“I just like to be prepared.” He turned in the direction she stared.
“Prepared for what?” She handed them back.
“For anything.” He placed in the metal box. Their fingers grazed.
“Were you a Boy Scout or something?” The scrape of his skin against hers sent a charge over her skin she wasn’t expecting.
“Something. But that was a long time ago.”
“So, what can I do to help you? I’m rather busy at the moment.” She craned her neck to see Landon running around trees.
“I came to fix the heater.”
“There’s no need. I have a call into the propane company. I’m sure everything will be settled by tonight.” What had him changing his mind from earlier? Not that the reason mattered all that much. She needed heat.
“You probably left a message and no one has returned your call. Pretty typical for Acker. He services most of the town. Everyone has that complaint. I can take a look if you want, or you can drag sleeping bags by the fireplace and sleep on the floor. You’ll be lucky if he calls you back in two days. Up to you.”
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
****
Chase had no idea why he was being so nice to her. His instincts kept telling him to stay away, but something in his gut said fixing the heater for her and her boy was the right thing to do. The lady might need a break, the least he could do was make sure they were warm.
Her long hair cascaded in waves past her shoulders, and over her breasts. He liked long hair. She rolled her full bottom lip between her teeth which made the small dimple in her chin dance side to side. Jim was right. He needed a hobby.
“Do you want me to fix the heater or not?”
“How much will it cost?”
“Nothing. I’m just being neighborly.” And possibly horny.
She fisted her hands on her hips. “Nothing is for free. Tell me the price so I know what to budget for.”
“You can water my plants.”
She narrowed her green eyes at him. “Do you have plants?”
“Nope. I kill them all. I do have a rabbit. You can come by and feed him when I’m away on vacation.”
“Do rabbits bite?” Her gaze quizzed him.
“I don’t think so. I just got him.”
“Do you take vacation?”
“You ask a lot of questions.”
“I don’t like owing people.”
He could understand and respect that. “I’m just helping out because it’s the right thing to do. I’ll be going, though because clearly you don’t want the help. Good luck, and I hope you and Landon don’t freeze tonight.” He turned and scanned the area for Landon. A blue jacket ducked behind an evergreen to the south. A smile tugged at his lips. Yeah, the kid was cute. The mother was damn near stopping his heart, but the kid was cute all right.
“Wait.” Her voice was hesitant.
He turned back to her.
“Would you mind taking a look at the heater?”
The smile tugged harder, and he couldn’t fight it off. He ducked his head and stepped past her. She smelled of fresh air, and rugged cliffs.
“Landon, come inside.” She yelled past him. Landon ran into the house with sticks and dumped them by the fireplace.
He’d never been inside the guest house. The place was wide open with a small kitchen to the back. He could pace the room in ten strides. The furniture was dark, and the walls were paneled except for the back wall which was all windows and had a view of the lake. That glass would break without much effort. He’d call Badger about setting up an alarm system here too. If Raine and Landon were going to stay here, they might as well have extra protection. And if by chance she was running from someone, like an ex-husband who maybe had an affair with his secretary, the alarm might be enough to scare him off. The executive types didn’t really want trouble. They wanted a clean divorce.
“The furnace is in the basement. Landon, we’ll be right back.” She led the way giving him a good view of her backside. Knock it off. When was the last time he was with a woman? He couldn’t remember. Pretty pathetic.
The basement had low ceilings, and a dirt floor. Very little light came through the dirty windows too small for a person to crawl through. Okay, no need for alarm sensors on those. Raine yanked on a string and brought to light the one bulb. He retrieved his Anker LED flashlight from his metal box.
“Wow, that’s bright.” She shielded her eyes.
“If you want to see what’s coming at you, this is what you want in your hand.” He kept the light away from her as he poked around by the furnace.
“Do you think it’s going to be an expensive fix? I don’t need a brand new heater, do I? Mr. Badger still hasn’t returned my calls. A new heater could take a while to fix and he’ll probably want to get estimates. I should’ve had the house inspected before we got here.”
Was all that rambling how she really talked or was she covering up nerves? He rummaged around in his tool box.
“You’re not saying anything. It’s bad, isn’t it? You know what, let me go check on Landon while you finish here.” She ran up the steps.
The silence washed over him. He worked better without the talk, but he hadn’t minded Raine’s runaway thoughts as much as he thought he would.
He finished up, and the furnace rumbled awake. He turned out the light on the way up the steps. She had started a fire. The room was quickly warming up.
“Mom is making hot chocolate. Do you want some?” Landon had taken a seat at the table. His stuffed monkey had the seat next to him. “Walter will let you sit with him if you want.”
“Landon, sweetie, Mr. Shepherd doesn’t want to sit with Walter.” She turned to him. “Sorry about that.”
He removed Walter from the seat, plopped down, and placed Walter on his lap. Landon’s smile broke wide across his face. Chase’s heart shuddered a little in his chest. He had wanted to prove to the lady he didn’t mind stuffed animals at all. A long time ago, in another life time, he had a room in his house filled with stuffed animals. His heart shuddered some more. “I’d love some hot chocolate. Consider it payment for the furnace. You don’t have to feed Elmer.”
“What was wrong with it?” She brought over two cups of steaming mugs and dropped one large marshmallow into Landon’s. “Would you like a marshmallow?”
“I’m good, thanks. Your pilot light was out.”
“Seriously? I didn’t check that. Stupid.” She tapped at her head. “Thank you for fixing it.”
“No problem. It was an easy miss.”
“Maybe, but not for me. I can’t afford to make simple mistakes like that.”
“Everyone makes mistakes.” He knew that better than anyone, yet he couldn’t forgive himself for the biggest mistake he ever made no matter how hard he tried. “An unlit pilot light is no big deal. Don’t sweat it.”
“Easy for you to say. You knew where to look and you don’t have anyone to worry about.” Her voice shook. She stroked the top of Landon’s head.
“Mom, stop.” Landon squirmed under her touch the way little boys do.
He stood. “I’d better be going. Thank you for the hot chocolate.”
“But you didn’t even drink it.” Landon leaned over the still full mug then looked up at him wide-eyed.
“You know what, kiddo, I remembered a phone call I have to make. How about I take a rain check on that drink?” He shoved his arms back into his coat.
“What’s a rain check?”
“He means another time.” Raine turned her back and wiped her nose with a dish towel. “Landon, why don’t you unpack those school supplies we bought?”
“Why now?”
She turned back to face her son. “Because I don’t want you to forget anything, okay? Please go and do that for me.” Landon dragged himself off the chair. “Bye, Chase.” And scurried from the room. Tears brimmed in her eyes.
He didn’t know what to do with a crying woman. He should make a quick escape before she was full on sobbing. “See you around.”
“Chase, please wait.” Her voice was a whisper. She pushed off the counter and closed the distance between them.
“Look, I can see something has you upset. You don’t owe me an explanation.” He didn’t want to be dragged into her mess. He should’ve minded his own business and not fixed the damn furnace, but the pain in her eyes made him want to put an arm around her petite shoulders and pull her close. Instead, he backed up.
“I’m sorry about just now. It’s not like me to break down in front of Landon. We’ve been through a lot lately, and your kindness toward him, well it was unexpected. Thank you.” She folded her hands together.
He waited for her to say something more, to tell him what her story was, but she stood there with her green eyes fixed on his, and red blooming on her neck and cheeks.
This woman gave him thoughts he hadn’t had in a very long time. He swore he’d never get involved again after Denise left him, but something about Raine Kennedy made him want to peel the layers back just a little and look inside. Shit. “You’re welcome. I’ll see you around.”
He didn’t wait for her to say anything else. He showed himself to the door and shut it behind him. The cold air froze his lungs, but he welcomed the numbness.
He didn’t want to feel anything because he’d worked hard to fight his emotions. Now this woman and her child were cracking that veneer. Was he ready to try again or was he just too tired to keep fighting?