AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As she shot a glance at Landry, she wasn’t surprised to find he’d been watching her. He was looking smug, as if he knew why she’d chosen clothing that covered more of her body. What arrogance.
She groaned and stalked into the bathroom, closing the door and locking it. She could hear him searching the apartment and closed her eyes for a moment, imagining him going through the chest of drawers and her thong underwear.
Reminding herself that Landry in her underwear drawer was the least of her worries, she opened her eyes and reached in to turn on the shower—and screamed.
CHAPTER TEN
Landry practically flew into the bathroom, throwing open the door and almost knocking Willa down as he burst in, weapon drawn.
The bathroom was small and it only took him an instant to see that none of Freddy D.’s men were hiding in it. He heard a soft rustle and looked toward the bathtub.
The shower curtain was partially drawn back—just enough that he couldn’t miss what was lying in the tub.
He flinched at the sight of the huge snake coiled in the bottom of the bathtub. He gently stepped back, putting Willa behind him as he did so. The snake was watching him through narrow slits, its tongue flicking from its wide flat head.
He’d seen his share of rattlesnakes, but this one had to be over six feet long—and appeared ready to strike.
In one quick movement, he was through the bathroom door and had the door between he and Willa and the snake. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at her.
Her face was stark white, her eyes wide and scared, her hands trembling.
“What was that?” she whispered.
He grinned. “Don’t they have rattlesnakes in South Dakota?”
“Not that big.”
He chuckled and looked around for something to get the snake out of her tub.
“How did it get in there?”
“It came up through the pipes.” He turned to look at her. She didn’t really believe that, did she?
She’d sat down on the end of the bed but instead of looking scared, she looked angry. “It’s whoever shot at me in the trees.”
He didn’t correct her as he opened the broom closet in the kitchen and pulled out a mop with a strip of sponge held in by eight inches of metal.
“What are you going to do?” she asked, sounding scared again as he passed her.
“I’m going to get the snake out of the tub, unless you want to shower with it.” He opened the bathroom door quietly and slipped into the bathroom, moving behind the shower curtain. He could hear the snake trying to get out of the high old-fashioned tub. He took a breath and drew back the shower curtain with one hand, the mop handle in the other.
The snake turned at the sound, but Landry was faster. He slammed down the base of the mop, pinning the snake’s head to the bottom of the tub, then gingerly he reached in and grabbed the snake behind the head and picked it up.
It twisted in his grasp. It was one heavy snake. As he stepped out of the bathroom, Willa let out a startled cry.
“Is it dead?”
“Not hardly.” He moved to the back window near the couch, opened the window and pushed out the screen. Standing on the couch, he raised the snake and slid it through the open window, grabbing its tail to slow its fall as the snake disappeared.
“You let it go?” She sounded horrified.
“It was just a snake,” he said, stepping down off the couch. “No reason to kill it.”
Willa stared at him as if she’d never seen Landry Jones before. What kind of man couldn’t kill a rattlesnake?
“You can take your bath now,” he said.
She stared at him a moment longer then turned toward the bathroom, a little leery of what else she might find in there. “Are you sure—”
