Darby.
She had her index finger positioned over the doorbell that she was obviously about to ring, and she shrieked when she saw him. Lawson made his own sound of surprise, but his was mixed with a little confusion. He had no idea why his ex was there. Or better yet, why she was in red stiletto heels and a raincoat. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
“Oh,” she said, studying his face. “You didn’t get my message.” Before he could answer that, though, she motioned toward the driveway. “What’s Prissy Pants doing here?”
Since the chicken was now pecking at the grass in the front yard, she’d obviously figured out how to get out of his truck. “How’d you know that was her name?”
Darby’s eyes widened. Her mouth opened. And she suddenly looked about as comfortable as a steer’s rump on a hot branding iron.
“I saw her at Vita’s,” Darby stated.
Lawson could fill in the blanks. There was only one reason people went to see Vita. For fortune telling, curses or potions. Great. Maybe Vita had put together a curse for Darby.
“And you really didn’t get my message?” Darby continued, again before he could speak. “I came by earlier to bring over some beer and food, and I left it with one of the workers.”
So, Darby had done that. The cold beer suddenly didn’t taste that good, so he set it aside. “Thanks. That was nice of you.” Well, it would have been if Lawson had wanted her to do that. He didn’t. “What’d the note say?”
She got another of those uncomfortable “branding” looks. “That I’d heard you were back from your trip and that I was coming over. I added if that didn’t work for you, then you could call me.”
He tried not to sigh too loud but failed. “It’s not a good time.”
Darby’s uncomfortable look morphed into one of desperation. Lawson might have added an explanation to go with that bad-timing remark if Darby hadn’t thrown open her raincoat. She didn’t have on a stitch of clothes underneath.
And she’d obviously opted for a Brazilian wax and gold navel ring. Body glitter, too.
Normally, those were things he would have noticed and perhaps even appreciated. Of course, a naturally adorned naked woman would have gotten his attention just the same. But in this case, the attention didn’t result in a hard-on. Heck, he didn’t intend to admit this to anyone, but he didn’t even get any twinges in that area.
“Lawson,” Darby said, and she launched herself at him.
He caught her, whirling her around so that her naked body didn’t smack against his, and in the same motion, he maneuvered her inside. It was best not to have any ranch hands or visitors witness this. Because this was going to lead to Darby feeling embarrassed. Something he was already feeling.
Lawson didn’t say anything, but Darby must have realized that he wasn’t exactly taking her up on this not-so-subtle offer. In fact, while keeping her at arm’s length, he pulled the sides of the raincoat back together.
She stared at him, her bottom lip trembling a little. “I thought...well, I thought...” But Darby waved that off. “Vita said if I had any chance of winning you back that it would be today.”
Lawson just lifted an eyebrow. No need for him to spell out that Vita just wasn’t a reliable source for relationship advice. Of course, he did have a chicken prancing around in his yard, and that was proof that Vita could be convincing.
“I know it was stupid to believe her, and now I feel stupid, too.” Tears welled up in Darby’s eyes.
Lawson hated the tears. Hated even more that he was responsible for them. But what he hated most was that he had no idea what to say to Darby that could fix this. That’s why he settled for an “I’m sorry.”
She nodded, blinked back the tears and then tipped her head to his beer. “Can I have one of those, and then I’ll be on my way?”
It was a simple request, but Lawson wondered if this was some kind of ploy. Maybe Darby thought if she got drunk, or if she got him drunk, they’d land in bed.
“It’s just a beer,” she added because she probably saw his hesitation.
Lawson continued with the hesitation a couple more seconds before he sighed and headed to the fridge.
“I saw the for-sale sign on your house in town,” she called out. Apparently, she’d moved on from a seduction attempt to small talk. “Any offers yet?”
“No.” But sometimes houses in Wrangler’s Creek stayed on the market for months. This wasn’t exactly a hotbed of Realtor activity. That was okay though. There was no mortgage on either of his places, so he wasn’t strapped for cash. That was one of the few advantages of being a Granger.
When Lawson came back into the living room, he was pleased that Darby had kept her raincoat closed. He wasn’t pleased, though, that she had picked up the binoculars and was using them to look out the front window.
“Oh,” she said.
For just one syllable, it had a lot of emotion in it. Hurt, yes. Some anger, too. And her eyes were narrowed a little when she looked back at him.
“Eve,” she added.
“Dylan,” he explained. “That’s his idea of a housewarming gift.” He so wished, though, that he hadn’t explained that because it put a new spark of hope in Darby’s eyes.
“Oh,” Darby repeated. This time a sliver of a smile tugged at her mouth. She looked out the binoculars again and no doubt had Eve in her sights. “Oh.”
This time, though, the oh was different. There seemed to be some alarm in it. Lawson got confirmation of the alarm when Darby added, “Oh, God. You have to do something to help her.”
That sent Lawson scurrying to the window. He practically shoved the beer into Darby’s hand so he could take the binoculars and have a look for himself. It was Eve all right, and she was still in the garden.
But she was no longer alone.
Eve appeared to be having a showdown with none other than the Grim Reaper.
CHAPTER NINE
ALL THE CRYING had made her congested and plugged up her ears, and that’s probably why Eve hadn’t heard the footsteps behind her a lot sooner.
Especially these footsteps.
When she finally heard them and whirled around, she immediately spotted the intruder. It would have been impossible to miss him. He was wearing a shiny black cape that puddled on the ground and thigh-high leather boots with platform heels that added a good four inches to his already six-foot height. He was also carrying a black metal shield and a scythe blade.
Clearly, this was one of the hornies but one who preferred to dress the part rather than just deposit horns here or there. He had on the garb of a Swaron warrior, the characters who routinely kidnapped and tortured Ulyana so they could in turn use her to get to Stavros.
In the scripts, Eve had the same reaction every time a Swaron appeared. A sharp gasp, followed by a look of terror in her eyes. She did that now out of habit. And also out of habit, she reached for one of her prop knives. Which wasn’t there, of course.