A Hero To Count On. Linda Turner
thought about it for the rest of the day but couldn’t come up with anything. Then she sat down to dinner with the rest of the family and once again found herself seated across from Hunter. He took one look at her and winked, and suddenly she knew what she had to do.
“You should have stuck around this morning,” Hunter told her with a grin. “What’d you do the rest of the day? Miss me?”
“Not at all,” she said dryly. “Instead, I’ve been giving it some thought, and I’ve decided Elizabeth and Rainey were right. I need to join a dating service.”
“Are you serious?”
“That’s wonderful!”
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Buck asked with a frown as his wife and sister voiced their approval. “There’s no way to check these guys out.”
“Buck’s right,” Hunter said, scowling. “You think you had trouble with your married boyfriend? Wait till you meet a con man who takes a woman for everything he can get while he tricks her into falling in love with him. Men like that feed on women like you online.”
“What do you mean…‘women like me’?” she demanded indignantly. “I’m not some naive innocent who’s never been out on my own before. I know a line when I hear one.”
“Really? Then why did you believe Mr. Wonderful when he told you he loved you? If he really loved you, why’s he in Paris with his wife?”
“Hunter!”
Katherine waved off her sister. His words hurt, but she knew Hunter was right. “I made a mistake,” she said bluntly. “I won’t do it again.”
“How do you know that? Married men are smooth talkers, and an on-line dating service is perfect for them. They tell you women anything they want, charm you, and you fall in love before you even see the whites of their eyes.”
“Maybe some women do, but I don’t!”
“Sure you do. Don’t take it personal. All women are patsies when it comes to smooth talkers. You just can’t help yourself. You’re a woman.”
Narrowing her eyes at him, she studied him in irritation. Why did he always sit directly across the table from her? Every time she looked up, she was looking right at him. “And you’re a man. Does that mean you’re a male chauvinist p—”
“Katherine! That’s no way to treat a guest.”
“Let her be,” John chuckled when Elizabeth sent her sister a reproving frown. “He asked for it.”
Sitting back in his chair, Hunter grinned across the table at Katherine. “Why am I a chauvinist when I’m just trying to warn you about some loser looking to take advantage of you?”
“Because you’re implying that women are so foolish that they need a keeper,” she retorted. “I can take care of myself, thank you very much, and so can Elizabeth and Rainey.”
“Did I say you couldn’t?”
“No, but you implied—”
“I’m a pretty up-front guy, Kitty-Kat. If I thought you were incompetent, you’d know it.”
Just as he’d expected, she stiffened at the nickname. “My name is Katherine,” she told him coldly.
Damn, she was easy to tease. Making no effort to hold back a grin, he said, “I like Kitty-Kat better. It’s got a ring to it, don’t you think?”
“When did you say you were leaving?”
“I’ll let you know,” he promised, chuckling.
He didn’t, in fact, intend to go anywhere anytime soon. There was no job in California. He worked for himself as a private investigator, though no one here knew that, not even John. He’d intended to tell him, but when John called him to tell him he’d been shot, he’d decided it would be best, at least for now, to keep his occupation to himself while he looked into what the hell was going on at the Broken Arrow. He didn’t want the neighboring ranchers or the good citizens of Willow Bend to guess what he did for a living, so he’d made the trip to Colorado with the excuse that he wanted to check on his half brother before taking the fictional job in California.
Guilt pulled at him at the thought of deceiving his brother, but he knew John would understand. And over the course of the two weeks he’d been there, things had been extremely quiet. He didn’t expect that to last for long. Trouble never did. He’d learned that years ago, when he’d first worked in military intelligence, then for the CIA. He’d still be working for “the company” if it hadn’t been for Sheila.
His jaw tightened at the thought of his ex-girlfriend. Beautiful, smart, fearless, she was everything he’d wanted in a woman…or so he’d thought. In reality, she was a Cuban spy. When he became suspicious of her, she fled the U.S., but not without first warning him that he would pay for destroying her cover.
Two weeks later, a sniper took a shot at him from a bridge in Virginia. The police claimed it was just a random act of violence, but he knew better. Disillusioned, he quit, changed his name and disappeared for awhile. When he finally settled down, he chose a town in Texas that was so small that everyone literally knew everyone else. No one, he’d promised himself, who wanted to harm him or his family would ever be able to sneak into his life again without him knowing about it.
And since John was engaged to Elizabeth, that made her—and the rest of the Wyatts—family. He intended to watch over all of them and find out who the hell was trying to drive them away. He didn’t believe for a moment that it would be easy. He didn’t know the people of Willow Bend, didn’t know the dynamics of the place or which of the local citizens thought they’d been robbed of the Broken Arrow by Hilda Wyatt’s will. Who was desperate enough to attack the ranch? Who wouldn’t blink twice at blowing up the old Spanish gold mine or burning the cabin where John and Elizabeth planned to live? Who shot his brother?
He would find out, he vowed silently. He’d have to keep a low profile, though. As long as everyone thought he was a flirt and a tease, just killing time until his new job started, no one suspected his real reason for being there. He intended to keep it that way.
The minute dinner was over, Katherine helped Elizabeth and Rainey with the dishes as she waited for Buck to finish his evening work on the computer in his office. She hadn’t bothered to bring her laptop with her because of the difference in electrical outlets, so she had no choice but to sign up for online dating on the ranch computer.
Just the thought of that brought the sting of a blush to her cheeks. She knew it was crazy, but she hated to look for a man online in front of her entire family. It was like…kissing a beau in front of her father. She shouldn’t have been self-conscious—after all, she was twenty-eight years old, for heaven’s sake. She wasn’t doing anything illegal or immoral, and she certainly had nothing to be embarrassed about.
So why did she feel like a sixteen-year-old sneaking out to meet her boyfriend?
“Well, if it isn’t Miss Five-Foot-Two-Looking-For Mr.-Lonely,” Hunter suddenly said from behind her. “What are you doing skulking in the back hall? I thought you’d already be scouting out the loser hunks on the Internet.”
Startled, she whirled to find Hunter surveying her in amusement. “Do you have radar where I’m concerned or something?” she snapped. “Every time I turn around, you’re right behind me. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were following me.”
“It’s those big blue eyes of yours,” he teased. “I just can’t resist you when you bat them at me.”
“When I what?” she gasped, outraged. “I don’t do anything of the kind!”
“And then there’s that come-hither smile of yours,” he continued with a broad grin. “I’m telling you, if you put a picture on the Internet that captures your eyes and smile, you’re going to be beating men off with a stick by the end of