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He edged his way toward the doorway of the large room and stepped out into the relative quiet of the big old house’s foyer. Nobody was out here, and he wondered where his coat had disappeared to. He didn’t have a clue and decided to get it from Mason in the morning. He made a beeline for the front door before anybody could come out of the other room and spot him. He gratefully stepped outside into darkness, relishing the cold, fresh air on his overheated skin.
There were way too many cars parked all over the lawn and front yard, but thankfully Spencer had had the foresight to park his 4×4 outside the farm’s front gate. It was a short walk to the gate, but at least he wasn’t blocked in. He didn’t even mind the sluggish drizzle, just happy to be away from all those people.
The farm was situated about three and a half miles outside Riversend, and the short dirt road that connected the farm to the main road was unlit. Because it was so dark, Spencer jumped and then cursed out loud when his headlights picked up a single slender figure walking briskly in the dark ahead of him. The cursing became more potent when he realized who it was.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” She was literally the last person on earth he wanted to see right now, but he couldn’t in good conscience let her continue to walk into town alone. He slowed his car down when it was abreast of her, but she kept her gaze straight ahead and continued to walk, ignoring him as he kept pace with her. He let down his passenger window.
“Daff?” At the sound of his voice, she finally stopped, her pale face lit only by his dashboard display.
“Spencer.”
“Why the fuck are you walking out here alone in the dark?”
“My car was blocked.”
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“Don’t you live at the farm?”
“No, I’ve been renting Daisy’s house since she moved in with Mason.”
“Get in, I’ll drive you,” he commanded reluctantly.
“That’s fine, it’s not far.”
“It’s a fifty-minute walk. Probably longer in this weather and in the dark. Get in.”
“Spencer . . .”
“Get in the goddamn car, Daff!”
“Hey, watch it! You don’t get to talk to me like that.”
“I do when you’re being an idiot.” Her perfectly arched brows puckered into a frown as she glared at him. She wrapped her coat more tightly around her slender frame and continued walking. His car crept along beside her.
“Leave me alone, Spencer,” she huffed a few moments later.
“No. If you won’t get in, I’ll damned well keep driving beside you to be sure you get home safely. Of course that’ll take about fifty minutes when I could get you there in, what? Five? Less?”
She stopped again and, with a muttered curse, yanked the passenger door open and clambered into the seat.
“I’m only doing this because I’d rather not deal with you for longer than I have to,” she seethed, and he shook his head.
“No argument from me,” he agreed. “Fasten your seat belt.” He watched her do that before gunning the engine and heading toward town.
God, she smelled really, really good. He couldn’t quite place the fragrance; he wasn’t very good with stuff like that. Honeysuckle, maybe? Or was it vanilla? Did those two things even smell the same? He had no clue, but he couldn’t get enough of it. It made him want to lean toward her and bury his nose in the elegant, silken curve of her neck and just inhale her.
“For the record, walking down an isolated dark road in the middle of the night is a dumb thing to do.”
“It’s safe enough. I’ve done it heaps of times.”
“Have you forgotten what happened to your sister last year?” he growled, infuriated by her blasé response. Daisy had been ambushed and attacked on a similarly dark road.
“It’s safer here,” she pointed out, and he scoffed at that.
“You never know who could be out there lurking in the dark, Daff. Don’t do it again.”
“You have no right to tell me what to do, Spencer.”
“Somebody has to. Might as well be me.”
“Why did you leave the party?” she asked. She was staring out the window while her hands fidgeted in her lap. Her restlessness was contagious, and he found himself tapping nervously on his steering wheel.
“Not my scene. Why did you leave?”
“I’m tired. I have work in the morning, and I didn’t feel much like socializing.” It was a more detailed answer than he’d been expecting, and he mulled over it for a moment.
“I didn’t really know anybody there,” he admitted. “And I wanted to avoid being ambushed by your aunts again.”
Her head swiveled, and a grin lit her face. Spencer cursed the lack of decent light in the car because he couldn’t see every nuance of that smile.
