Echo Lake. Carla Neggers
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Heather grabbed her laptop and measuring tape off the table. “Enjoy.”
“Another time, maybe.”
Adrienne arrived with the fresh wool socks and echoed Vic’s invitation, but Heather didn’t budge. It wasn’t them, she knew. It wasn’t even Brody Hancock as a Diplomatic Security Service agent, back in Knights Bridge. It was herself. She couldn’t pin down what she was feeling, just that she was off—and such uncertainty wasn’t her norm and made her decidedly uncomfortable.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, slipping on the dry socks and her boots.
Vic had the refrigerator door open and was pulling out vegetables and different varieties of local cheese. Adrienne grabbed a knife and a cutting board and smiled. “We’ll save you some for lunch tomorrow.”
“Thanks. Your hors d’oeuvres will be better than anything I bring.”
“What was that you had today?” Vic asked her.
“Leftover lasagna.”
He raised his eyebrows. “That was lasagna?”
Heather laughed. “Now you sound like my brothers. I’ve never been much of a cook.”
“But you’ll build me a great new kitchen,” Vic said.
“In the meantime, we will definitely save you leftovers,” Adrienne added.
Heather thanked them again and headed out, careful not to disturb Rohan as she shut the door softly behind her. With any luck, she’d be on her way before Agent Hancock arrived for wine and hors d’oeuvres.
* * *
Naturally, her truck wouldn’t start.
Heather banged the steering wheel with one hand. Frustration wouldn’t get her anywhere, and she wasn’t wearing gloves. It was dark and her truck—which she’d bought at a deep discount from Eric, her eldest brother—wasn’t in the mood for the late-January cold.
That kind of day was turning into that kind of night.
She climbed out as she debated her options. Before she could decide what to do, she heard the crunch of footsteps on the sanded driveway behind her.
“Of course you drive a truck,” Brody said as he approached her from the guesthouse.
Heather realized right away that her intense reaction to him at the brook hadn’t been a fluke. It wasn’t going anywhere, not tonight, at least. She tried to ignore it.
“I’m in the construction business,” she said. “A truck is practical.”
“And you’re a practical sort.”
“Do I hear skepticism in your voice, Agent Hancock?”
“You went after Rohan with no hat, lousy gloves, lousy boots—”
“Not lousy. They’re actually quite nice gloves and boots. I admit they weren’t the best choice for what I ended up having to do.”
“You’d have been in a mess if you’d fallen out there.”
“I left a trail. Vic or Adrienne would have found me, and, as it turns out, you were on the case, anyway.”
“As tough as any Sloan, aren’t you? Are you ever a girly-girl?”
“I met you three hours ago, and you’re asking me a question like that?”
He grinned. “I didn’t say I expected an answer, and we didn’t meet three hours ago. We met when you were a wild-haired kid in braces.”
“Everyone remembers me as a wild-haired kid in braces. It doesn’t faze me that you’re another one. Now I’m all grown up, and my truck won’t start. I could get one of my brothers out here to help jump-start it.”
“I was hoping to avoid your brothers.”
“A tough guy like you afraid of a few local guys? I don’t believe it.”
“I didn’t say I was afraid.”
His quiet, self-assured tone sent another surge of heat through her. She had to get a grip. Truck, she told herself. Work the problem. She peered down the driveway toward the back road that led into the village. “I could walk,” she said. “It’s not that far, but it’s very cold tonight.”
Brody shook his head. “You’ve already had one go at freezing today. What are the odds Vic has jumper cables?”
“Slim to none.”
“That’s what I think, too. Come on. I have a car. I’ll give you a ride home. You can leave your truck here tonight and figure out what to do in the morning.”
“You haven’t had too much wine?”
He seemed amused. “No, ma’am. I haven’t had a drop of wine yet.”
“Sorry. It was rude of me to ask.” Why couldn’t she control her mouth around him? “I only had a few sips because I knew I had to drive. If you’re a federal agent on duty day and night, you have to watch yourself, right? You can’t be getting drunk.”
“Again this habit of saying whatever is on your mind. You can walk with me to get my car or wait here.”
“I’ll go with you. I don’t want to stand still in this cold.” She shut her truck door. “Thank you.”
“Not a problem.”
He set off down the driveway toward the guesthouse, setting a brisk pace as Heather caught up with him.
“I wouldn’t have guessed you’d be working for Sloan & Sons,” he said. “It got its name before you were born, didn’t it?”
Heather nodded. “My parents had given up on having a girl and figured one or more of the boys would end up working in the family business. No harm done if they didn’t.”
“Do all your brothers work there?”
“Three of them. Justin, Brandon and Adam. Eric’s a police officer, and Christopher’s a firefighter. Justin’s a volunteer firefighter, too.” Heather shoved her hands into her coat pockets. She was already cold from her failed attempts to start her truck. “Do you remember the order? Eric, Justin, Brandon, Adam, Christopher, me.”
“Big family,” Brody said, his tone neutral. “No guy in your life?”
“You know, you have no room to talk when it comes to saying whatever’s on one’s mind.”
“So that means no guy. Having five older brothers—particularly your five older brothers—must make having a relationship a challenge.”
“You mean do my brothers vet potential guys in my life? It doesn’t work like that, but I can hold my own with them. I’m good at taking care of myself—as you saw earlier today, I might remind you.”
“Here we go again. You did great except for falling in the brook and getting hypothermia.”
“I accomplished my mission while minimizing the risks. I did fine without you.”
“You did better with me.”
Heather rolled her eyes. “Not funny, Agent Hancock.”
He shrugged. “True, though.”
They came to his car, which she hadn’t noticed earlier. It wasn’t a rental. It was an old BMW two-door with New York plates. “You’re from New York?”
“It’s where the car’s registered.”
“That’s not what I asked, is it?”
He didn’t respond. He wasn’t pretending he hadn’t heard her, she decided. He was flat-out ignoring her. She wondered if it was a polite way of getting across that he was a federal agent who had no intention of telling her much