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“Miss Landry,” he began again, taking a deep breath. “I cannot in good conscience leave you here without being assured of your safety.”
“I am a grown woman, Mr. Williams,” I said, sighing. “I can handle anything that comes my way. So, if you don’t mind, I am tired, and you have bed bugs to go find at the motel.”
In the next moment, I found myself being pressed up against the counter in my tiny kitchen, his masculine scent of leather and spice enveloping me as I struggled against his iron grip.
“You were saying, Miss Landry?” His lips brushed the curve of my ear. I felt my core clench with desire. This wasn’t supposed to be happening! I thought I had the upper hand.
I struggled to free my arms, but his grip on my wrists tightened. Bringing my knee up, I attempted to slam it into the family jewels, but Mr. Williams trapped my leg with his muscular thighs. My chest was pressed tight against his expensive suit coat.
“Let me go!” I demanded.
“No.” He wasn’t even breathing hard,the bastard.
His brow rose, “I will have you know that my parentage is quite acceptable.”
Heat spread through my body. I was the last person that should be calling someone a bastard, even inadvertently.
“You have made your point, Mr. Williams. Let me go!”
There was a sliver of time where I didn’t think he would. However, he flung me away from him as quickly as he had gathered me to him.
“Now that we have that settled, let’s discuss where I will be sleeping.”
I scowled at him. “After that display, you have some fucking nerve thinking I will put you up for the night. I don’t care whatever I said before. Get out.”
“Language, Miss Landry,” he admonished. “You will need to learn to curb that tongue of yours.”
“Listen, Fancy Britches, are on my last fucking nerve. You are not getting lucky tonight. So, you can just figure something else out. I am not that kind of girl!”
Although there was a part of me that knew I was most certainly that kind of girl if he was on the offering end, I told myself to shut the hell up! It wasn’t lost on me that I was arguing with myself and I didn’t need to add split personality to my growing list of faults.
“I have not had a moment’s luck in weeks, Miss Landry. I will be staying here to protect you, not ravish you.”
“Oh,” I replied, wincing when I heard the disappointment in my voice. I swear I saw his lips twitch. Damn him to hell! “Fine, like I told you, there is a spare room you can sleep in.”
“I should be delighted,” he mocked dryly.
I motioned for him to follow me down the dark hallway. I knew that I should have replaced the light bulb, but it hadn’t mattered as much when it was just me. However, Mr. Williams stayed close behind me, his hand on my back as we walked into the inky blackness.
I flipped on the light in my old bedroom and nearly jumped out of my skin when someone shrieked from the bed.
Mr. Williams had a gun aimed at my unexpected guest. I had no idea where he had been hiding it, nor how he had managed to pull it out so quickly.
“Stop, don’t shoot, this is just Earl.” I placed my hand on Mr. Williams’ arm and tried to ignore the butterflies that were settling in my stomach.
“Who, might I ask, is Earl?” Each word was an icy blast of anger. Mr. Williams didn’t lower his gun, not even a fraction of an inch.
Earl had to be eighty and was ninety pounds soaking wet; he was no more a threat than a field mouse.
“Mr. Williams, Earl, is a… erm,” I searched for the right word. An acquaintance, Nuisance, Pain in the ass?
“I am family!” Earl’s whiskey stained voice protested. “I don’t know who you are, but Sutton always lets me stay when Martha is having one of her spells. So sorry about your luck, mister, but I am not leaving.”
He was feisty for an old coot that had wormed his way into my heart.
“What did you do to your wife?” I almost hesitated to ask, but curiosity won out.
“I am telling you, Sutton, not a damn thing! I have been the picture of perfection to that woman, and she is plumb crazy!”