Oh hell…
He watched as Dr. Montgomery spun around and made tracks through his grass to his front door, slamming it with enough force to make the dog across the street start barking.
“Dammit,”he growled.What the hell else can go wrong?He strode quickly up the sidewalk.
Jolene opened the door before he could knock, jerking her chin to the house next door. “I’ll bet that wasn’t a fun conversation.”
“I’d rather tangle with a cougar.” He eased his cowboy hat off and glanced uneasily toward the living room. “Are all your Stitch & Bitch ladies gone?”
He’d heard tall tales about the so-called crafting nightattended by many of the women business owners in town. Hen-cackling laughter loud enough to raise the dead in the town’s graveyard, people said, and enough girly drinks to fuel an entire college student’s spring break. And on some occasions, dancing on tables both in and outside, depending on the weather.
Logan had been called a couple of times to tell the gals to pipe down, which only amused the men in town and made their infamous reputation grow. Tonight, he wasn’t amused.
“I sent people home early after our visitor.”
“I heard,” he bit out. “Where’s Hannah?”
“In the kitchen.” Jolene shooed Dylan back up the stairs when he appeared. “My boys are fit to be tied, and frankly, so am I.”
He put his hands on his belt buckle. “Fill me in.”
“Taft arranged with the immigration folks to get her back into Scotland so she could stay. Forever if she wants.”
“What?”The urge to pound something was rising. “Terrific.”
Jolene tapped him on the chest. “She’s on his radar now. I don’t care if he used Amber’s threatening her as an excuse. Having him come tomyhome after arranging the impossible changes the landscape.”
He rubbed his unshaven jaw. “Look, it’s another tactic to keep Will’s plans at Wild Mountain from materializing.”And maybe to keep me from having her…
“I agree, but that’s not all.” She worried the turquoise beads at her neck. “Ben, he threatened her parents.”
All right, that shocked him. “How?”
“Nothing specific,” she said with a dark frown. “But it shook Hannah. Taft’s more dangerous than Amber in some ways. I know you two are giving it a second chance, but you need to let her seriously think about whether going back to Scotland is right for her. I asked you to come and pick her up so I could tell you so to your face.”
Now his anger had an outlet. “Dammit, Jolene! Don’t you think I know that?”Now I’ve got to worry about Taft fixating on her.“I love her. I couldn’t live with myself if she got hurt.”
Jolene made another shooing motion, this time to Ford. “Ben, I know all that. I don’t want to lose her either. But she needs to weigh her options. Going back to Scotland is a good path for her.”
His heart broke a little. “You like Neil for her.”
She swatted him like she would her boys. “Ben McAllister, I like the man Hannah wants forher,but yes, Neil’s a good man.”
God, how much more was he supposed to take today? First from Dr. Montgomery and now from Jolene. “Fine, I agree with everything you just said. Except Hannah couldn’t love him like she loves me.”
Jolene laid her hand on his shoulder. “We’re both straight shooters, Ben. Encourage her tothinkabout going. I don’t think any of us would be able to forgive ourselves if something happened.”
“It’s not like you to talk scared, Jolene.”
Her eyes went flat. “I’m not, but I see enough trouble in my place to know when it’s smarter to walk away.”
When she’d only just come back to him? “Fine, I’ll talk, but I don’t like it.”
She pointed at the kitchen. “I’d only planned to give her two margaritas, but after Taft came, I ended up giving her two more. She’s overtired and a little tipsy. Probably a little scared, but she won’t show it.”
Then she left him standing in the entryway. As he started for the kitchen, he caught Dylan and Ford peering between the staircase rails, eavesdropping, worried expressions on their faces. He wished he could assure them.
Entering the Prentices’ homey apple-green kitchen, he barely glanced at the humorous signs on the walls that saidThe Messier The Kitchen, The More The Loveand DANGER:BOYS EATING. Hannah sat at Jolene’s chipped linoleum kitchen table. Her ponytail was listing to the side, and she was holding her drowsy head up with her hand.
