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“It won’t go anywhere.”
He cast her a look she couldn’t comprehend. “Maybe not, but I’ll get a better feel for it if I’m watching the engine attempt to turn over.”
“Okay. Okay.” She climbed into the car, twisted the ignition and heard the engine grind laboriously.
“Again,” he ordered, and through the crack where the hood was raised she saw his arms reach deep into the cavern that housed the engine. She pumped the gas and turned the key again. Grinding. Slower and slower, then nothing.
Three more times she tried before he slammed the hood down in frustration. “She’s dead.”
“I knew that much.”
He eyed the sky, judging the daylight. “I think I’d better drive you back to town, and we can call a tow truck.”
“Wonderful,” she muttered sarcastically, but reminded herself that at least she wasn’t stranded or alone.
She hoisted herself into the passenger side of his truck, an older model with new seat covers and a thick layer of dust. Both windows were open, and as Luke steered the rig on to the empty road, late-summer evening air streamed inside, tangling Katie’s hair and cooling her skin.
Glancing at her watch, she frowned. “Oh, this is just perfect,” she said, unable to hide her sarcasm.
“Something else wrong?”
Why did she feel like an incompetent around him? She wanted to look and play the part of the clever reporter—sassy and bright. Instead she felt like a frazzled woman who couldn’t quite get her act together. “I’m supposed to pick up Josh from soccer practice in five minutes.”
She folded her arms across her chest in frustration. “Damned machine.” Casting her would-be savior a glance, she swallowed her pride yet again. “I hate to ask, but would you mind swinging by Reed Field to pick Josh up? It’s pretty close to the high school.”
“Not a problem,” he said, and she fell back against the seat.
“Thanks. I owe you one.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
But she did. She didn’t like owing anyone, especially a stranger she’d barely met. This time, it seemed, she had no choice. Feeling the wind brush against her cheeks, she stared through the bug-spattered windshield and watched as the sun sank behind the western hills to stripe the sky in vibrant shades of gold and pink. All the while she was aware of the man beside her—a sexy stranger with a Texas drawl that seemed to bore right to the very center of her. Angry at the turn of her thoughts, she tapped her fingers nervously on the armrest.
“You okay?” Luke slid a glance her way as he braked for a comer.
She stopped fidgeting. “Fine.”
“So, what were you doing over at the Wells ranch?”
Every muscle in her body tensed. “You saw me?”
With a quick nod, he turned on to the main highway leading into town.
She had no reason to lie, though the question made her edgy. She’d had no idea she was being observed. Well, a private detective she wasn’t. “I thought I’d go check things out,” she admitted, feeling suddenly foolish, like a kid caught with her hand in a forbidden cookie jar. “I’ve been by the place quite a few times ever since Isaac disappeared, but I haven’t really pried much—well, not as much as I’d like to.”
“Nosin’ around for a story?”
“Not just a story,” she admitted, trying to contain the excitement she always felt at the thought of uncovering a mystery and being the first to report it. “I think this is the scoop of the century around here.” She turned her head to stare at his profile as he shifted down. His face, all hard planes and angles, was a study in concentration. “Where were you that you saw me?”
“At my new place.”
“Your new…?” Her throat went dry, and she licked her lips as she realized where he was going to live. At the Sorenson ranch. Dear Lord, no. Her heart turned to stone, and she had trouble breathing for a second. “Don’t tell me you bought out Ralph Sorenson.” She could barely say the name. A sick sensation curled in her stomach.
“That’s it.”
Oh, God. Her fingers clenched into tight fists. Slowly she straightened them. This was no time to fall apart. “You know Ralph Sorenson?”
“Sure do.” He slowed as they passed the sign indicating they’d entered Bittersweet’s city limits. A few streetlights had begun to glow as the first shades of evening slipped through the narrow streets and boulevards of Bittersweet. “Ralph helped me out of a jam a long time ago, gave me a job and treated me like a son ever since.”
