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Cassidy eyed the wrecked room in undisguised horror. This was all her fault. Why had she ever agreed to stay here? It had been a mistake from start to finish. “I’ll pay to replace everything that shattered and arrange to have your carpet cleaned.”
He shot her an infuriated glance. “If you value your life, don’t go there. Idon’t expect you to pay for a damned thing. Clear?”
She studied the glittering shards of their wineglasses dotting the carpet. “Clear as Waterford crystal.”
“I’ll have a little chat with Hutch in the morning and get this nonsense straightened out. In the meantime, Ithink there’s a dish or two on the cart that hasn’t been dumped. Why don’t we shower and meet back down here in ten minutes?”
Sensing it was wiser to agree than argue, she acquiesced with a nod. “Though I would like to suggest we try paper plates.”
There was a moment of absolute silence and then a reluctant laugh from Ty. “With plastic knives and forks?”
She grinned. “And foam cups for the wine.”
He gave her a gentle push toward the door. “Go on and get cleaned up. And don’t worry about the mess, okay?”
“I’ll try not to worry too much.” She hesitated in the doorway. “By the way, thanks for filling up the gas tank. It was sweet of you.”
“I didn’t want you to run out,” he said with more than a touch of irony. It only took a second for her to catch the double meaning.
The instant she had, she did precisely that. Sheran.
“What doyou mean, we’ve run out?” Cassidy coasted her car to the side of the road in the nick of time. The engine gave a final coughing sputter and died. “How can we be out of gas? Itopped off the tank on my way back from San Antonio three days ago.”
“Let’s see, three days ago.” Ty frowned in mock concentration. “Oh, right. That would’ve been the day you went into town to do...things, as I recall.”
She folded her arms across her chest and locked gazes with him. “Exactly. Things.”
“Well, one of the things you might have considered doing was filling up the tank.” Ty pointed at the gauge, flicking it withhis finger. “When that needle points to the big E, it means you’re sucking fumes. Or didn’t Hutch ever explain that to you?”
“Oh! I’m telling you I topped off the tank on my way back to the ranch,” she argued. “I should have a full tank. See that big, fat F at the top of the dial? Hutch told me that means full and that’s what the damn tank should be.”
He grinned at her sarcasm. “Why, Ido believe my sweet Southern belle just said a naughty word.”
“Damn it all, see what you made me do? Inever swear.”
“It’s all my fault, right?”
“Hey, you’re the one who insisted we take my car into town.”
“With good reason, if memory serves. Iwanted my mechanic to check it out while we picked up groceries for Edith. If you’re still bent on driving this thing all the way to Georgia, I’d feel a lot better if it had a chance of actually getting you there.”
“Thanks a lot. Instead we’re out of gas in the middle of nowhere like a couple of teenagers on their first date.” She glared at him, her gray eyes as stormy as a weather front. “Why did you have to live in the middle of nowhere? What’s wrong with civilization anyway?”
He shrugged, planting a booted foot against the inside of the door. “I like some space between me and my neighbor,” he said, giving the door a good hard kick. It reluctantly creaked open, allowing him to escape. He reached into the back and plucked out the plastic bags of groceries. “You coming?”
She wasted several seconds shoving at the door on her side before giving it up as a lost cause. Wiggling out from behind the steering wheel, she tumbled headfirst through the open window. “How far is it to the ranch?”
“Not far. Fifteen, twenty miles. If we hustle, we’ll be there by dinnertime.” He tried not to chuckle at her expression. “I’m kidding, honey.”
Relief blossomed across her expressive face. “It’s not fifteen or twenty miles?”
“Oh, it’s that far all right. But I expect we’ll get a lift before we’ve hiked too many hours.”
“Thank heaven.”
He pointed his boots toward home and kicked them into gear. “And when we get there, I’m going to have to kill your son again.”
“Hutch? What does he have to do with...?” She slowed to a stop, then turned around to glare at her car. “Oh, he didn’t!”
