Pure Bliss

Chapter Seven

James drove into town, a frown on his face. “Do we have to take that dog with us everywhere we go?”

“I think he’s sweet,” Hope said, grinning as she turned slightly to acknowledge Butch’s presence.

“He’s not kissing you,” James grumbled. He was going to need a shower after this little trip into town.

“He likes you,” Noah said. “He’s just a big old lover, aren’t you?”

“He needs a bath.” James sighed as the damn dog’s head came to rest on his shoulder. Butch was sitting in the back of the cab, and since they had taken off for Bliss about twenty minutes before, Butch had shown him a whole hell of a lot of doggy affection. Noah had always had a heart for big, ugly mutts. Ever since they were kids, he was a stray magnet.

The trouble was James didn’t want doggy affection. He wanted Hope. He’d woken up with a wretched hard-on, and for the barest moment in the minutes between waking and full consciousness, he’d thought about just rolling over on top of her and kissing her. He could make them both happy. He could make love to her while she was still sleepy and vulnerable, before her reason came back, and by the time he’d slid inside her, there wouldn’t be any going back. He wouldn’t have a choice if he made love to her. She wasn’t like his other women. If he made love to Hope, it would be a commitment, and while he was still half-asleep, that had seemed like a fine idea.

And then his goddamn, interfering brother had sat up and started talking about plans for the day. Plans. All of James’s plans were blown, and now the only kisses he was getting came from a mutt with doggy breath.

And to top it all off, there was traffic. Traffic. He was stuck at one of the two damn stoplights in town behind a dilapidated RV. James hung his head out the window, trying to get a sense of what was going on. There was a line of vehicles but not what he was used to seeing. People in Bliss tended to drive trucks, SUVs, and Jeeps. These were what he would term city cars. Outside of the RV, there was a Volkswagen Beetle that had seen way better days, and several sedans. The Beetle had a sign on the top of its dome proclaiming that someone named Madame Valentina provided expert palm readings.

God, it was starting. The crazies were coming to town, and given where James lived, that was saying a lot. When Mel was one of the saner people in the area, James preferred to hunker down. By the time the first snow fell, Bliss would be back to normal. Apparently snow killed the “vibes.” He’d also noticed a lot of the psychics, warlocks, or whatever they called themselves tended to prefer warmer climates.

The light changed, and James was finally able to move.

“You guys can really just drop me off. I know you’re busy.” Hope spoke briskly as she looked out the window, carefully avoiding glancing at either James or Noah.

James turned to her. He noted Noah did the same thing. They were both simply staring at her.

She looked between the two of them. “Fine. But don’t complain later when you’re bored waiting around for me.”

What exactly did she think he was going to do? Did she think he was going to wait in the truck? “I’ll handle it.”

Noah laughed.

“What?” James asked.

“Good luck with that, brother,” Noah muttered.

“Handle what?” Hope asked, her voice tight. She was back in dowdy clothes this morning. He’d preferred the pajamas. She’d looked young and sweet with her hair around her shoulders and her eyes soft with sleep. He really wanted to take her hair out of that ponytail. He sort of wished Trev hadn’t retrieved her clothes from her car. Then he could find something pretty for her to wear. He liked the idea of buying her nice clothes, like she would be wearing them just for him. But since he hadn’t had the chance to buy her clothes, the least he could do was handle her car.

“I’ll handle Long-Haired Roger. I know a little something about cars. I also know Long-Haired Roger will try to keep the cost to a minimum by using crap-ass recycled parts.” He knew that because Roger had fixed his truck more than once in the last couple of years, and he’d worked hard to make sure James could afford his bill. Roger was a fine man, but James didn’t want Hope driving around in a car that had been fixed with parts someone had found at a junkyard. In fact, he intended to see if Roger wouldn’t just tell her to get a new one. He hated the way her car always shuddered when it started or stopped.

“Uhm, that’s exactly what I want him to do, James,” Hope said, her hands on her lap like they hadn’t clutched him all night long as she’d slept. “I don’t have a lot of money. I need my car.”

“I told you I would handle it.” She didn’t seem to be understanding. Stubborn. She was awfully stubborn.

Noah groaned.

“Do you mind?” James asked. He didn’t need the peanut gallery’s opinion.

“Nope. I’m finding this intensely entertaining.” Noah craned his neck and looked around. “The place still looks the same. Wow, I missed Stella’s.”

“You are not taking charge, James.” Hope turned to him, a stubborn gleam in her eyes. “You’re not my husband, and you’re not my dad.”

“I’m damn straight not your dad, but I’m the man responsible for you.”

“What century are you in?” Hope asked, indignation evident in her tone.

He pulled his patience around him. This was why he didn’t do relationships. He was shitty at them. Cows. He understood cows. Cows didn’t yell at him when he tried to take care of them. “Look, Hope, Logan talked to me before he left. He asked me to look out for you. I agreed. That makes me responsible for you.”

“And Logan was responsible for me how?”

“Because he cares about you, Hope.”

Noah stayed silent, but he didn’t miss his brother’s shit-eating grin. Asshole probably knew exactly what to say to get her to understand, but he remained frustratingly silent.

“Well, I care about him, too.” Hope took a deep breath and went quiet.

James drove past Stella’s and Trio. He found the road that led to the Feed Store Church and went north before turning onto the side street that housed the garage, beauty parlor, a ski shop, and the post office.

“Whoa, when did Polly decide to light up the world?” Noah asked, staring at the enormous neon flashing lips that marked the site of Polly’s Cut and Curl. He watched in obvious awe as the lips blinked on and off, opening and closing in a kissing motion. “I think you can see it from space. Does Mel know that Polly’s putting out the astral equivalent of a request for an escort?”

James couldn’t help but laugh. His brother was always quick with a joke or an observation. “It was brought up at a town hall, but Mel assures everyone that aliens are far more interested in probing than kissing.” He pulled into the parking lot and had a sudden plan. If Hope wasn’t around, she couldn’t cause trouble. “Hey, Hope, why don’t you go on over to Polly’s and get your nails done? I’ll handle Roger.”

She smacked him on the arm—and not a girly slap. “Jerk.”

Noah let her out, holding her hand to help her down. Hope didn’t look back as she strode into the office, her sensible bag on her shoulder.

“What did I do?” James asked, his arm still stinging.

Noah laughed as James got out of the truck. “Man, you don’t get how to handle her at all. How long have you known her?”

“About a year. I thought she would like getting her nails done. She works a lot of overtime. I thought it would be relaxing.” Yeah, he would hide behind that.

“No, you thought it would get her out of the way, and then you could make sure her car got fixed properly and maybe make it take a little bit longer than it normally would because that means she has to stay out at the G while she’s getting it fixed. You were thinking it might make her dependent on you, and then you’d have a better shot at her.”

His brother knew him way too well. “I thought it was a good plan.”

“It is. I agree wholeheartedly, but you’re going about it all wrong. You’re expecting her to be compliant, and that little filly is anything but compliant. We have to be sneaky.”

“You have a plan?” James hated to ask, but Noah was always good with a plan. Noah had been the brains behind their operation.

“Yep. Follow my lead. When the time comes, distract her while I explain to Roger that we’ll handle the bill, and he should take his time and do it up right.”

Tag team. Damn it, it made sense. “Fine. Our dads never had this trouble with Mom. When did you get so sneaky?”

Noah frowned, a line appearing between his brows. “I learned from the best.”

Ally. They were going to have to talk about Ally. Noah wasn’t going away. Hell, James couldn’t even get away from his brother when he was in bed. Though it had been nice when Noah made coffee. “Sorry about the divorce. Is it final?”

They started walking toward the office after Noah gave Butch the command to stay. “It’s final. We divorced six months ago, but the marriage has been over for years. You were right about her. I was a fool.”

He didn’t like the defeat in his brother’s voice. Despite his anger at Noah, he was still his kid brother. Hope was right. Noah was his family. “So you decided to come back to Bliss because Stef gave you a job? I assume it was Stef who said you could have a job. Or did you just show up and hope for the best?”

Noah’s jaw straightened. “Stef hired me. And I can find a place to stay. Even if I have to live in Creede.”

James pushed through the doors of the shop. “It’s your home, too.”

“Are you sure?” The question came out of Noah’s mouth in a flat monotone that told James his brother wasn’t at all sure what his answer would be.

His mother would have his ass if he told his baby brother he couldn’t stay in his childhood home. But that didn’t mean he had to like it. “Just stay away from Hope.”

“Not going to happen, Jamie. You need me. She needs me. Bitch all you like, but you need me.”

They turned the corner. James was just about to explain that he needed Noah like he needed a damn hole in his head when he stopped at the sight in front of him. Oh, he needed something all right.

He needed his baseball bat. That was what he needed. He was really shocked by the flare of righteous indignation that shot through his system. Hope stood in the middle of the garage floor, but she wasn’t anywhere close to being alone. She was surrounded by two large men, both flirting outrageously with her.

Yeah, he would need his brother because he was about to start a fight.

“Who the fuck are they?” Noah asked, his voice low. “Wasn’t Roger’s mechanic a big old hefty dude with a mullet?”

The new mechanics weren’t close to hefty. They were both well over six feet and probably didn’t have an ounce of fat between them. One had longish brown hair and a scruffy beard, while the other’s black hair was shorter and his face clean. But Clean Shaven Dude had a problem with shirts. He’d taken his off. Hope smiled up at the guy, a softness on her face James hadn’t seen in a long time.

“We’re going to have to find another shop,” Noah said.

“So you think it’s fixable?” Hope asked, her eyes spending too much time on Scruffy Guy’s shoulders.

“Absolutely, love. Me and Cade here can fix just about anything with wheels.”

“He’s being humble.” Cade winked down at her. “We can fix anything. We’ve got a gentle touch.”

They were about to have two busted lips. “Hope, you want to introduce us to your friends?”

There was no way to mistake the mischief in Hope’s eyes. “Friends? Really, James. These are the mechanics working on my car. Jesse McCann and Cade Sinclair. We were just discussing how long it might take to get it back.”

“Hey,” a new voice said. Long-Haired Roger walked in, his coveralls covered in oil. “No one told me we had company. Cade? What is wrong with you? Where the hell is your shirt, son?”

Cade grinned, but picked back up his T-shirt and shrugged into it. “Anything you say, boss. We were just telling Miss Hope here that her electrical system is shot.”

“Not that it was all that great in the first place,” Jesse admitted. “This car is ten years old. I can tell you that if the electric hadn’t blown, the engine was going to go soon. That tuna can has a hundred and fifty thousand miles on it.” He turned judgmental blue eyes on both he and Noah. “Which one of you is her man? Why would you let her drive around in a death trap like that?”

“Neither one is my man,” Hope replied, and James was damn happy to see her frown at the scruffy mechanic. “And I couldn’t afford anything else.”

“Now, Hope,” Roger said with a conciliatory pat to her back. “We’re going to work something out. I promise. Don’t you listen to those boys. They like to make everything sound worse than it is. We’ll fix your car, or I’ll help you find another one.”

Cade smiled down at her. “Jesse and I are working on a real sweet ride. We can get it to you for a good price.”

“Where the hell did you find these guys?” James asked.

Roger turned back to them. “I was real lucky. After I had to turn down that nice Russian fellow because he scared the crap out of me, I was worried I would have to cut back on work, but Cade and Jesse showed up one day on their motorcycles and said they would work for one paycheck.”

Cade smiled, his eyes never leaving Hope’s chest. Fucker. “We knew we wanted to live here. We’ve been looking for a place to call home for a really long time. When we heard about Bliss, we knew we had to come here.”

Roger leaned in, whispering James’s way. “I think they heard about our low cost of living.”

Nope. They’d found out how easy it was to share in Bliss. James knew all the fucking moves. They were crowding her, one on each side. Cade would play the hard-ass while Jesse would be the sweet one. They wouldn’t leave any exits for the girl they wanted to get in between them. They would form a plan, and each would have a role to play. He knew damn well how that game went because he’d practically invented it with his brother.

“When the hell did Long-Haired Roger go bald?” Noah asked, his mouth hanging open.

Roger turned, and his eyes widened as he really looked at Noah for the first time. “Noah Bennett?”

“Yeah, hi, Roger.” Noah turned sheepish again, his face falling a little.

Roger’s face went red. “My dog died. How do you like that, Mr. Vet? Did you like New York City? I hope you did because my Princess paid the price.”

Long-Haired Roger stomped into his office and slammed the door.

“Is he talking about that ancient Chihuahua he used to have?” Noah asked, staring after him.

James couldn’t help but shake his head. “Yep. She died about two years ago.”

“That dog was eleven hundred years old. I remember her. She was blind and had arthritis in every joint, and he had to feed her baby food because her digestive tract was shot. She was hypoglycemic and had hydrocephalus, which was why the poor thing could barely raise her head. I won’t even go into the problems with her patellas. And yet that dog lived years longer than anyone would have recommended. How is this my fault?”

“What did he just say?” Jesse asked.

It was nice to know at least they weren’t the brainiest of men. Score one for the brothers. Fuck. He was not thinking like that. He was mad at Noah. He couldn’t trust Noah. “What my brother is trying to say is that dog was a miracle on four legs.”

“She wasn’t on four legs. She couldn’t walk. Roger walked her around in a baby carriage. Once I even saw him chewing up food and feeding it to her like a momma bird. He’s the crazy one.” Noah seemed just about ready to continue the argument when Hope put a hand on his arm.

“He and Liz never had kids. Princess was their baby,” Hope explained. “I’m sure he still misses her. You wouldn’t have been able to do anything if you had been here. But you can start repairing your reputation. You can apologize.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Noah insisted.

Hope obviously wasn’t listening to any excuses. “From what I understand, you walked away and left everyone in the lurch. Until you acknowledge that, how can you expect them to trust you?”

Noah’s shoulders sagged. “I’ll go talk to him.”

She’d gotten to Noah in a way James never could have. She’d stated the problem simply and with no real judgment that would have sent his brother into a tailspin of defensiveness. He listened as Noah rapped on Roger’s door and began to make his first real headway in coming home for good.

Hope had done that. Sweet Hope, who was also practical and plainspoken and kind.

Why did he find that so damn sexy?

“So, Hope, we haven’t seen you around town. Why don’t we remedy that? Let us take you out to dinner tonight.” Jesse sidled up to her, getting way too close for James’s comfort.

“She’s not going out with you,” James said. He held off picking up the nearest wrench and bashing Scruffy’s head in. Hope already thought he was some form of lesser man. Violence would be something she would likely take exception to. So he put an arm around her shoulder and went for compromise. She wanted him to get along with Noah? He could give in this once. “She’s going out with me and my brother.”

She shook her head but didn’t move out from under his arm. “Playing it that way, huh, James? Fine. I’m going out with them because it’s relaxing. I love to listen to them argue.”

“We do it all for you, baby. Now show me what’s going on with her car. You might have to use little words because I really know horses better than cars. Hope here knows everything so don’t worry about her.”

She elbowed him, but there was a happy light in her eyes. “Jerk.”

He kept his arm around her while they got the full tour of just how fucked up her vehicle was.

Noah walked out of Long-Haired Roger’s office with a feeling that something had finally fallen into place. Roger was insane, for sure, but he was also right in a way. He hadn’t just moved. He’d walked out. Noah had left his home behind. He should have talked to people, explained why he was doing what he was doing. He should have worked hard to arrange for another vet. He should have called and checked up on the people who had been his family.

He hadn’t acted like a friend or a brother or a son. He hadn’t acted like a neighbor. He’d been an obsessed asshole.

He looked across the garage at Hope. Damn, he was getting obsessed again, but this time it was over the right type of woman. Ally would have turned her nose up and rolled her eyes and told Noah that he didn’t need Long-Haired Roger. Hell, Ally would never have walked into this garage in the first place. If her car had gotten so much as a scratch, she would have whined until Noah bought her a new one.

Ally had no idea what it meant to be really loved. But Noah was starting to remember.

“Where did the other one go?” Noah asked. The douchebag with the beard was talking to Hope. The one who liked to strip was nowhere to be seen. He kind of wanted to punch them both, but Hope would have his ass.

Why did he like that idea?

“I don’t know,” James muttered, his gaze firmly on Hope. “He walked out the back door a little while ago. But they’ve backed off. I made sure of it.”

At least James was doing one thing right when it came to Hope. “Good. I talked to Roger. We’re going to take care of the repairs to her car. If the estimate goes over five grand, then Roger is going to sell us a car for that much. He’s going to take at least a week before he can give her a firm estimate. He’s really busy, you see.”

He’d had to smooth talk the hell out of Roger to get him to agree. And he’d had to promise to stay in Bliss until he died and to help Roger find a new dog. Both promises were fairly easy. He was a stray magnet and really damn good at matching pets to owners. His last brilliant move in Bliss had been to match a nasty mutt named Quigley and a set of twins with equal personality problems. He could find Roger a baby no problem.

And he was never leaving Bliss again. He’d learned his damn lesson.

“Good.” James settled his hat back on his head. “I think Hope’s planning on leaving, but she can’t without a car.”

Noah really didn’t like the idea of Hope leaving, so he was mighty happy he’d made the deal he had. He was going to have to make them all over the county. He had to go out tomorrow and talk to Max and Rye. He wasn’t looking forward to it. He might have to work for free for a year or two. Hope turned her head toward him, and his breath just about stopped. Yeah, he didn’t give a shit about the cash.

James stared at him.

“Really? Dude, you’re looking at her like she’s got a halo on her head. Didn’t you learn your lesson with Ally?” James asked.

“She isn’t Ally.”

James threw his head back and laughed.

“What?”

“I’m just realizing a few things.”

“Well, hell, brother, fill me in.”

James pointed straight at him. “Ally damn near broke you. She turned your whole fucking world upside down. She lied to you and used you, and here you are six months later back for more.”

It really did make him sound like a fool. Maybe he should back off. Maybe he should think about this more.

“Don’t frown like that,” James admonished. “I wasn’t saying it was a bad thing. I was just thinking that five years with a greedy bitch didn’t wipe out your childhood. I was thinking it was a good thing.”

Noah froze because his brother was right. Five years of being abused emotionally didn’t erase all the decades of watching real love. Watching his dads and his mom had merely made the longing sharper, less avoidable. He knew what he wanted. He’d gone about it all wrong. He’d allowed childish jealousies to lead him, but he wanted real love now. He wanted what his parents had. “I’m not a kid anymore. I want a family. I want what our dads had. I want the same thing you want.”

James took a step back. “I don’t want that.”

“How can you say that?”

James turned his face down. “I don’t want to fucking fade away. Look, I want a family, but what we had growing up just isn’t going to work for me. I watched my dad die because your dad and their wife were gone. He just sat down and waited.”

And that seemed like a beautiful fucking thing to Noah. “What’s wrong with that? I think they’re together again.”

“And if they aren’t? If this is all there is?”

His brother’s low words struck a chord in Noah. How much had being alone affected his brother? “Then at least they had each other. At least they really loved someone and someone loved them.”

“You weren’t here. You didn’t watch it.”

“I watched Momma die. I watched our dads have to live through it. I know I wasn’t here for Dad, but watching Papa was bad enough. And I know damn well he wouldn’t have taken back a moment of it. Not even the end.” He’d watched his fathers both die inside the day his mother had passed, but they’d found comfort in each other. “You remember what they did the night before her funeral?”

“They sat up all night and talked. They talked about her. I think they went through every picture we had.” James’s face was red, and Noah could tell he was trying to hold it together. How hard had it been to have to live in that house every day and know what he’d lost? To have to live with the ghosts of his family? Would the burden have been easier if Noah had stayed?

They had been raised differently. Other brothers were raised to know they would leave one day and that their relationship would be at best friendly—a congenial friendship made up of holidays and birthdays. That wasn’t how he and James had been raised. Their role models had been two men sharing a wife, sharing the burdens and joys, knowing always that they weren’t alone. They had their dads to look up to, and hanging out with Max and Rye hadn’t helped. Max and Rye Harper had always known they were halves of a whole and incomplete without the other. He and James weren’t twins, weren’t even blood, but their childhood had made promises that Noah had broken.

And it looked like James was paying the price.

“Are you two okay?” Hope asked, walking up to them. “Are you fighting again?”

“No,” Noah said. “We were just talking about our dads.”

Hope’s face went soft, and without a moment’s hesitation, she walked up to James and wrapped her arms around him. For the barest second, Noah worried James would just stand there. He had never been one to show his emotions. He was a stoic cowboy to the end. Except now his brother’s arms clutched at Hope. He pressed her close, and his face became buried in her hair. They stood that way for a long moment, James seeming to take comfort from the petite woman.

“She’s taken then, huh?” The scruffy one sighed. “All the pretty ones seem to be taken.”

“Yes, she’s taken. She belongs to me and my brother.” He said it quietly because he was pretty damn sure both his brother and Hope would disagree with him. It didn’t matter. He could be stubborn, too.

Jesse shrugged. “One of these days. Where did Cade slip off to?”

Hope’s eyes were suspiciously bright as she and James let go, but his brother seemed much more in control. “Okay, someone promised me lunch. I am totally letting the two of you pay since it seems like I’ll need every dime to get a new car. Oh, and afterwards I need to stop by and help Nell set up her stand. I think she’s selling bread and some kind of dream catcher. But it could be tofu and cruelty-free undies for all I know. I just promised I would help her set up. I have a schedule to keep after all. Just because I’m not working right now doesn’t mean I don’t have plans. Oh, god. I was supposed to have dinner with Lucy last night. I’m a horrible person.”

“She called the house.” James put an arm around her shoulder. She didn’t move away. “She was worried, but I told her you were all right.” He looked over at Noah. “Lucy is one of the new folks in town. She’s working at the tavern that Callie’s husband runs. Hope is her friend.”

“Thanks for explaining to her,” Hope said.

They started walking toward the door, James and Hope, side by side. One day he was going to be on the other side. That would be his place. He would prove he belonged there.

“Are you coming?” Hope asked, a hint of a smile on her face.

He caught up as fast as he could. Maybe it wouldn’t take so long. Hope was stuck with them for a while. Anything could happen as long as James didn’t kick him out. He certainly hadn’t expected to sleep with her cuddled between them last night. He felt surprisingly optimistic for the first time in a long time. He was back at the G. He was making headway with his family. He’d met a woman he really liked.

Things could work out.

He pushed through the doors as he felt his stomach growl. “I am ready for some lunch.”

Hope gasped as she looked at the truck.

“What the hell?” James asked.

There was a single flower on the hood of James’s truck. It was perfectly white and wholly incongruous. “I think someone likes you, James.”

James rolled his eyes. “I have to have a talk with someone. It seems like a girl I was dating has taken the whole two times we went out way too seriously.”

“Serena?” Hope asked. Noah couldn’t help but notice her face had gone utterly white.

James sighed. “Yeah. Hope, you gotta believe me. I never promised her a thing. It was two dates, but on one of them I brought her some gardenias because it was the opening night of her play. I kinda slept through most of it. She must have thought she was being cute. I’m going to talk to her.”

Hope shut down, her face going blank. “What you do about Serena is none of my business. Could you get rid of that thing, please?”

She opened the door of the truck and got inside without another word.

“Fuck.” James tossed the flower aside.

“Don’t beat yourself up. I don’t think she’s upset about Serena. She freaked out when she saw that flower. Why would she be afraid of a flower?” Noah was certain of it. Her skin had turned pale, and he’d worried for a moment that she was going to pass out again. Hope was deathly afraid of something or someone, and that flower was a clue.

“Are you sure?” James tossed the flower into the garbage bin against the side of the building. “I haven’t always treated her right. I don’t have the best reputation.”

Noah shook his head. “I’m sure.”

“Why would a little flower put that look on her face?” James asked.

Noah had no idea. But he was going to find out.

Christian Grady watched from across the way. He could see Hope’s face plainly, though she could not see him from behind the tinted windows of the beauty parlor. His new friend, Lucy, had been extremely talkative on their little date the night before. He’d kept his hands to himself and focused on her. He was a perfect gentleman. He knew exactly how to deal with someone like Lucy. She was looking for some combination of boyfriend and father figure.

Rather like his Hope.

“I’ll have a place for you in just a minute, sir.” The woman who had introduced herself as Polly winked at him. She was pure small town with her helmet of bleached-blonde hair and a face that bore far too much makeup. Still, all women could prove useful, and small-town women lived to gossip.

He thanked Polly but kept his eyes firmly on Hope. Her eyes widened as she walked toward the truck and caught sight of the flower. He knew that look. He’d seen it before on many faces.

Fear.

He’d hoped there would be a bit of nostalgia in her eyes when she saw his gift, but he was willing to settle for fear. He’d covered their marital bed with gardenias the first night of their honeymoon. The very smell of gardenias made him think of Hope.

“I’m ready for you. Just come this way. Oh my god, is that Noah Bennett?” Polly asked.

“Who is he?” It was good to have a name. Lucy had mentioned someone named James Glen, who apparently spent an enormous amount of time with cattle, but she hadn’t mentioned a second man. He wondered briefly which one had walked out with his arm around Hope. Christian meant to cut that arm off.

Polly took off on a wave of gossip. “Noah Bennett is the prodigal son. He left Bliss over five years ago. Took off for the big city. I never thought I would see him in these parts again. Hell, I’m sure surprised he had the guts to go in there and talk to Long-Haired Roger. He blames Noah for the death of his dog, and let me tell you, Long-Haired Roger takes that very seriously. Now not regular Roger. He has a dog or two, but he mostly trains them to protect him when the feds come after him. He thinks he’s going to secede from the US and set up his own little kingdom, so he’s probably right about the feds coming in one day. Although I don’t think they should take him too serious now. The man can’t boil water. I seriously doubt he can run his own government, even if it’s only him and his wife and possibly a Sasquatch. He claims he sees one all the time and that he’s real friendly-like.”

Christian took a deep breath. She was going to prove tiresome, but necessary. She was obviously a talker, and he could use some information before he finally made his intentions very plain to Hope. He had to know what he was getting into and just how much he could plan on getting away with.

The truck that Hope was in started to pull away.

Years he’d waited, and his patience was starting to wear thin. She thought she could bring other men into their little game? “Perhaps he’s come back for that woman.”

“Hope?” Polly laughed. “Oh, that girl never dates. She’s practically a nun. I’m surprised she’s staying out at the G. James is a bit of a ladies’ man. Maybe he’s thinking about settling down now that his brother is back. He’s not getting any younger and that ranch needs a mistress. They could do worse than Hope. She’s a sweet little thing. I wish she’d let me do something about that hair. I would love to put some highlights in it.”

Christian remembered the way her hair would hang in waves down her back. He liked the fact that she was living like a nun. She’d been so pure and innocent. It was the thing he’d loved most about her. She’d been a virgin when she’d come to him. She’d been his sweet child bride and the best cover of his life. No one would suspect the quiet preacher with the soft, submissive wife was doing anything criminal. He needed that again. Everything had gone right when Hope had been at his side.

As for her nearly killing him, what marriage didn’t have a few problems? He took a deep breath and smiled at Polly. “Lead on, ma’am. I’m just happy to find such a nice salon in a small town.”

“And I find it nice to have such a gentleman for a customer. What is it you do?”

Christian sat down. “I’m a preacher, ma’am.”

And he wasn’t going to let any man come between him and his god-given wife.