“I heard,” she yelled back, mostly because she was feeling testy and knew it would make their busybody little neighbor, Kitty Combs, appear and chew her out. “Coming.”
“Hannah Montgomery!” Mrs. Combs called as she came out on the front porch moments later. “Stop yelling like a banshee. Some people are taking naps.”
She gave a dismissive wave as she crossed the freshly cut grass to the Prentices’ porch with Neil, who was trying to hide his laughter.
“Hey, Dylan!” She grabbed him around the bony shoulders in a half hug. “Your forehead looks pretty good, considering.”
“I know! Everyone in town keeps wanting to see my Frankenstein noggin. The whole town saw me get nailed by that baseball. You’re the best! Of course, Dr. Montgomery got all tight-faced when he came over about your stuff. His mouth puckered up when he glanced at my head. He muttered something about ‘quacks.’ I swear, if Mom hadn’t made us swear not to prank him, I’d put honey on his car seat.”
She gave a shallow laugh. “Speaking of honey…you’d better not have poured honey in my underwear.”
He started gagging as Ford and Luke came out the screen door. “Hannah’s gone crazy. She thinks we’d dare touch her underwear. Ugh—that’s so gross.”
“I saidpourhoney on my undies, Dylan, not touch them.” Neil and the other two boys were trying not to laugh. “If I find a frog in my shoes, you’re all dead meat, do you hear?”
“Venison or beef?” Ford quipped back.
She gave him a playful swat as Neil greeted the other boys. “Ha ha. Your mother working like usual?”
Ford smirked. “When doesn’t she? Mom said to come for dinner after you finish your girl stuff.”
“Girl stuff?” She made a show of trying to tackle Ford, which had him dancing backward in the old game they used to play. “You’d better watch your manners.”
Luke gave a low whistle. “Did you say manners? I think yours are about to be tested. Ben Montgomery is coming down the street.”
She spun around, her heart doing a little cartwheel in her chest. Sure enough, there he was cruising toward them in Gramps’ old truck, his hand hanging out the open window. What was he doing here? She’d just seen him at the ranch.
“I wonder if he misses his truck,” Dylan commented, straddling the porch railing.
“I would if I were him,” Ford commented.
“It was mighty nice of him, though,” Luke observed. “I would have done it if I could have.”
Hannah turned to the boys. “What are you muttering about?”
Dylan’s eyes widened. “That you’re driving Ben’s brand-new truck.”
She clutched the porch railing. No wonder his scent had been so strong inside the cab. “What? I thought he was driving Gramps’ truck out of sentiment.”
Ford hooted and slapped his knee. “In what universe? Maybe for a Sunday drive down a dirt road, but not for real ranch stuff. Come on, Hannah. How long have you been gone?”
“Long enough to forget what a man’s truck means to him obviously,” Dylan quipped before Luke whacked him on the back of the head.
“Hey!” He rubbed it. “I’m healing here.”
She watched as Ben parked his truck in the Prentice driveway and swung out, all tantalizing man from the top of his Stetson to his boots.Tantalizing, Hannah?Yeah, she realized she’d be lying if she tried to use another word. BenMcAllister still looked hot as hell. Wasn’t it a little uncomfortable to still feel this potent attraction to him?
The way he’d talked last night had been a scene she’d played over and over again. She put her hand in her pocket, fingering the screw there. Today, he’d been so like the man who’d stolen her heart as he’d asked her on a picnic.
I was only hoping spending some time together would help you see the man I am now, one I want you to believe you can count on.
Those words had thrilled her, and after he’d walked away, she’d told herself to calm down. Her heart had been pounding, and she’d felt the pull of being with him again.
You better believe she’d gone and sniffed some lavender.
Only it hadn’t worked.
As she watched him stride up to the house in that powerful, no-nonsense gait, no wonder. His masculine presence was undeniable, and combined with his thoughtfulness and vulnerability, she feared she was starting to feel things for him again.
