Chapter Three

      “Join us,” Bess requested in a tone of voice reserved for gracious-but-demanding older ladies. “I know you’ve met my nephew. Ethan was just scolding me for not telling him you’d moved to town.”

      Robin placed her tray on the table, wondering on which side she should sit. Bess didn’t move, so Robin looked at Ethan. His broad shoulders took up most of the molded vinyl seat. With a slight smile, he politely slid over to make room.

      “Really?” she answered. Why in the world would he expect his aunt to tell him about her?

      “Now, Aunt Bess, I didn’t scold you. I was just surprised that you arranged for Miss Cummings to move to town, since you hadn’t mentioned your involvement.”

      “Well, I can’t remember everything, can I?” she answered with a laugh. “I’m just glad there was a place available when Sylvia called. I knew our little town was just what you needed to…well, you know.”

      “Um, yes.” Robin took a deep breath. A stab of guilt over her actions spoiled her appetite. Could she ever really live down walking out on her fiancé? She wasn’t sure, but she certainly didn’t want to discuss her personal life in this crowded restaurant. She smiled in her most convincing manner. “I’m sure I’ll be very happy here for a while.”

      “Of course you will,” Bess said.

      Of course I will. She just needed a little time. A little distraction. And at the moment, she couldn’t think of anything more distracting than the man sitting beside her. The man who’d held her in his arms last night.

      Bess Delgado must be the woman who had called Ethan’s dispatcher to check up on him last night, Robin realized. The woman she’d thought was a girlfriend…or more. The thought of the sexy chief of police living with his doting aunt brought a secret smile to Robin’s face.

      “My great-aunt Sylvia is going strong. She’s busy with the charity flower show right now.”

      “Sylvia always did have a green thumb,” Bess said with a fond smile. “We met at the Tyler Rose Festival, back in the early fifties. We’ve been friends ever since, finding we had far more in common than our love of growing things.”

      “Go ahead and eat your meal,” Ethan offered. “We promise not to keep you from your burger.”

      Robin nodded, then automatically took a bite despite her waning appetite. Not filet mignon, but tasty. She refused to think about how many calories she was consuming, even though she no longer had to fit into a creamy-white designer wedding gown—with dozens of seed pearls and yards of lace, she reminded herself with a pang of longing. Not that she’d wanted to go through with the ceremony. But that dress had been her dream wedding gown, and she regretted having to store it for sometime in the future—sometime that might never come.

      She felt self-conscious after a minute or so. Ethan and Bess had finished their meals and were taking sips of their beverages just to have something to do, Robin suspected. She placed her burger down and dabbed her mouth with the napkin. “I broke down the boxes and took the trash to the nearest Dumpster,” she told Ethan. “Maybe the raccoons will leave me alone tonight.”

      “Oh, they’ll probably come around looking for a meal, but if they don’t find anything, they shouldn’t make any racket.”

      “I wouldn’t want to call 9-1-1 again,” she teased, hoping to lighten her mood. “I’ll get a reputation as a crazy city woman.”

      “Not as long as I back you up. I’ll be glad to vouch for the presence of wild animals.”

      “But not dangerous ones,” she replied before taking a sip of milk shake.

      He smiled slightly, his gaze straying to her lips as they puckered around the straw. “You never know.”

      Robin felt a blush creeping up her neck. She hadn’t blushed in years. Maybe she was reverting back to high school behavior. Maybe she was just really confused about all her feelings lately. She just hoped Bess hadn’t noticed anything…strange in their banter. Robin didn’t want to give one of her great-aunt’s best friends the wrong idea.

      Because she really wasn’t interested in getting involved with anyone. Even someone as handsome and compelling as Ethan Parker. Even if he did make her pulse race. She wasn’t going back to Gig, but eventually she’d return to her real life in Houston. To her business, friends and family. A short fling with a small-town lawman wasn’t in her nature.

      “Robin, you must come over and visit me tomorrow. I know you probably have better things to do than spend your day with an old lady, but I’d just adore the company.”

      “I’d love to visit,” she said sincerely. “Just tell me when and where.”

      “I live with Ethan, you know. He needs someone to take care of him.”

      The police chief moaned. “Aunt Bess, you know I can get by on my own. You’re living with me because we both want it that way. You’re family.”

      “Of course, dear,” Bess said in a tone that meant I’m rolling my eyes at you.

      Robin stifled a chuckle. “Is there someplace we could go for lunch?”

      Ethan took one of his cards from his wallet badge and wrote his home address on it for her. “And this is our home number,” he said, looking up with his sparkling blue eyes, “just in case you need to report any midnight visitors and prefer to bypass the emergency operator.”

      BESS WAITED UNTIL Ethan went outside to water the garden before she called Sylvia in Houston. Her longtime friend had a condo in the same building as Robin, and spent a lot of time with the girl. When Sylvia had called to say her great-niece had finally come to her senses and called off the wedding, Bess had heard the relief in her friend’s voice. Sylvia obviously hadn’t thought the match was a good one. And she thought Robin needed to get away for a while. Someplace nice and quiet, away from worrisome parents and upset, would-be in-laws. Not to mention the jilted fiancé.

      Bess had cringed a bit at the knowledge that Robin’s young man’s hopes had been