She put the empty glass down and turned back around to face him, leaning against the counter to take the weight off her bad leg. “A huge golden stag ran me off the road.” She said it like she didn’t expect him to believe her.
“A stag?” he said, confused. “Wait, you mean a deer?” Finally, something that made sense. “We have a lot of problems out here with deer-versus-vehicle accidents. Sometimes the deer loses, sometimes the motorists does. And that’s when the driver is in a car or a truck. On that bike, you’re lucky you weren’t killed.” His heart clenched at the sudden image of the scene he could have come upon, sending out a grateful thought to a god he didn’t worship anymore.
“Yes,” she said dryly. “Someone is going to be very disappointed.”
As he tried to figure that one out, she took a shaky yet still somehow threatening step forward. “Not that I don’t appreciate the ride back, but why are you here? I thought we had a deal that you were going to leave me alone for three days. It’s barely been one.”
“I got called in to Peter Callahan’s office. His assistant Maya wanted to lodge a harassment complaint against you.” Liam frowned at Baba. “She says you accosted her in the parking lot, made all sorts of crazy accusations. Callahan wanted to have you arrested, but I managed to convince him to settle for a warning and a suggestion that you leave the area.” He shook his head, frustrated. “What the hell were you thinking?”
A red flush spread across Baba’s high cheekbones and her nostrils flared. “Are you serious? First the woman tries to kill me, and then she sics the law on me?” Her accent grew markedly stronger as her voice rose, and she added a few words in Russian that Liam didn’t need a translator to know were probably extremely rude.
Liam stared at her. “Do you know your eyes are glowing?” he asked in a level tone. It must have been a trick of the light, but it was a little freaky. And what was that “tried to kill me” comment all about? They were clearly back to odd, mysterious, and infuriating. Or at the moment, infuriated.
Baba made an obvious effort to calm down, breathing in and out through her nose a few times and clenching and unclenching her hands.
“Sorry. I need to work on my temper.”
“You need to stay out of these people’s way,” he said flatly. “They’re very powerful around here.”
Baba gave him an assessing look, her amber eyes back to their normal piercing stare. It made him feel a little like a bug under a microscope.
“The charming Maya told me that her boss owns the people who run the town—is that true?”
Somehow he thought there was a question there she wasn’t asking out loud.
He shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. They certainly seem to have a lot of influence these days. I just try to do my job and stay out of the politics. At the moment, I seem to be succeeding.” He volleyed the hairy eyeball back in her direction. “By the way, do you realize you’re bleeding all over your fancy rug? You should have told me you were seriously hurt. Let me take you to the hospital.”
“Pah,” she said, curling her lip in a way he found perversely adorable. “It’s not that bad. I’m a fast healer.”
Liam sighed. He didn’t know for sure who Barbara Yager was, but one thing was certain: she was the most stubborn woman he’d ever met.
“Fine. Tell me where you keep your first aid kit and I’ll patch you up myself.”
She gave him a blank look.
“Right. Of course you don’t have a first aid kit. You probably just put herbs on whatever cuts and burns you get.” He sighed again. “Why don’t you get out of those torn leathers and into a tee shirt and a pair of shorts, and get me a bowl of warm water and a clean cloth. I’ll go fetch my kit from the car.”
He was almost out the door when she said, “Lavender and aloe for the burns. Maybe honey, depending on the cut. It’s antibacterial, you know.”
Great. Now he had a mental image of her smeared with honey. He was never going to be able to use the stuff on his toast again.
*
WHEN HE CAME back in, Baba was sitting on the couch, her bad leg up on the dog’s furry back and a bottle of beer in her right hand. The tank top and shorts she wore did a nice job of exposing the extent of the road rash on her left side, and Liam hissed through his teeth in sympathy at the sight.
“That’s got to smart,” he said, trying not to stare at her long, slim thighs. The bright red blood dripping from her left knee proved to be distracting enough. “Are you sure you don’t want me to take you to the emergency room?”
Baba shook her head. “Machines instead of medicine; no thank you. I told you—I’m a fast healer. A couple of these,” she lifted her beer, “and a good night’s sleep, and I’ll be fine.”