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He chuckled. “Needed some on-the-spot tailoring, but they work fast in Austin.”
“You’re going to make heads turn. You stay away from those single girls over at the diner.”
He winked at her. “Nothing to worry about there, I promise.” He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, then headed out.
Ginger returned to her chair and let out a long sigh. “Did I not tell you Friday night that man is hotter than the freakin’ sun?”
* * * * *
Ryan made his way up Main Street, greeting people he passed along the way. Most of them he knew. They welcomed him back to town and listened to what he had to say about the robberies. Spreading this word was important. Unfortunately, there was another word on the street, which his Aunt Lydia felt compelled to point out when he stopped into her shop.
“Well, don’t you look handsome,” Martha Hinton said after she handed over cash to Lydia for her cut and color. She gave Ryan a maternal hug. “So good to have you back.”
“Nice to see you, Mrs. Hinton. How’s the family?”
“Everyone’s just fine, thank you. Lex is off to college in the fall and Carrie started high school this year.”
“They grow up so fast,” Lydia said, a hint of envy in her eyes. It vanished quickly, though.
Mrs. Hinton left the salon, but Ryan noted his aunt had two other customers, both under the hairdryers in the far corner.
Speaking in a low tone, no one but Ryan heard her as she said, “Martha told me you walked Ginger to her car last night, then followed her out of town. Martha’s Cadillac was behind your truck until you reached the junction heading out to the lake.”
“The sheriff wanted me to make sure she got home safe. You heard what happened to both her and Reese, right?”
“Indeed I did. I also heard your truck left Ginger’s early this morning.” Her shoulders bunched as she said, “Now, Ryan—”
“Please don’t lecture me, Aunt Lydia,” he interjected. “I’m looking out for Ginger. She was in a very serious and potentially dangerous situation the other night and I don’t want her to be an easy target, because these guys might still be in town.”
“That’s another thing. If she’d keep her nightgowns off the street, she wouldn’t invite that kind of trouble into her life.”
He had to keep a level head with that one. “It didn’t have anything to do with her nightgowns. I witnessed the majority of the incident. They got one look at her and liked what they saw. She did everything she could to keep herself out of harm’s way, but they pursued her.”
“Well, I’m just saying,” his aunt huffed.
“By the way,” Ryan continued, ignoring her admonishment of Ginger. “I’m not going to make dinner. Not while I’m working this case.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, Lydia said, “I don’t approve of where this is going, Ryan. Not with
your new job or your association with Ginger Monroe.”
“With all due respect, what I do with Ginger is my own business. The only thing people should be talking about right now—including you—is the robberies. Everyone needs to know what’s happened in town so they can be prepared if these two criminals strike again. And hopefully protect themselves against them.”
It was quite evident she didn’t take kindly to him shutting her down. She bristled and her lips pressed together, but she couldn’t say anything further because the timer on one of the dryers beeped.
“I’ve got to get back to work,” she said as she turned sharply on her simple flats and stalked across the room to attend to Emelda Grant, the mayor’s wife.
He left the salon, not particularly thrilled he was living in a fishbowl, but at the same time, he didn’t have anything to hide when it came to Ginger. There was nothing wrong with the townsfolk knowing how he felt about her or how much time he spent with her. His intention was to be exclusive with her, so he wasn’t making anyone else jealous or hurting other women’s feelings. He suspected Ginger shared his viewpoint, so there wasn’t any reason to let the talk in town affect them. Too bad it created such strife within his family.
Continuing his sweep of the area, he caught a few exchanges over the radio between Sheriff Johnson and Deputy Dan Baker, indicating their searches hadn’t turned up any useful leads. The two thugs were obviously keeping to themselves between their bouts of criminal activity. It made Ryan nervous about where they’d strike next.
Sheriff Johnson told him to knock off at six so he could follow Ginger home again. Reese continued to stay with Liza, and Dan volunteered to add the B&B to his patrol, in the event the thieves decided to use the keys that were in Reese’s purse. The sheriff and his seasoned deputies had scoured the town and the outskirts with no sign of the suspects. It was unfortunate neither the two-pump gas station, nor the grocery store, had video surveillance equipment on the premises. There’d been no witnesses when the suspects had filled their tank, and no one had taken note of them outside the grocery store, so the make and model of the vehicle they drove was still a mystery.
At the sheriff’s office, Ryan changed into the pair of jeans and the white button-down shirt he’d worn to Austin that morning. He returned to Ginger’s shop as she was packing a few items into one of her monogrammed shopper’s bags.
“Interested in a police escort home, ma’am?” he asked in a playful tone.
She smiled sweetly at him, making his gut clench and his groin tightened. No two ways about it, he was crazy about her.
