She was still amazed every time she recalled the way Andrew had calmly disarmed and subdued the kid. She’d thought he looked vaguely intimidating before. And then she’d seen the way he’d looked when that hoodlum had started toward her with an unveiled threat in his beady eyes. She had fully realized then that Andrew was not a man one would want to cross.
She didn’t think Andrew lost his temper often; she didn’t think he would have to. Just a hint of the power hidden behind that cool facade of his would be enough to alarm most people.
Nicky had always admired peopl
e who didn’t fall to pieces in a crisis. She’d always considered herself to be that type; in her family, she’d had to be the strong one. So, she and Andrew had that trait in common—though she wasn’t sure he would see it that way.
She’d been driving north for more than fifteen minutes, lost in her own thoughts while the dog dozed on the floor behind her seat and Andrew sat quietly, apparently recuperating. Andrew finally broke the silence. “Where does your uncle live?”
“Tipton County. The nearest town to him is Munford.”
“How long will it take us to get there?” he asked, sounding resigned.
“Another half hour,” she estimated. If I speed a bit, she could have added, but wisely did not.
Andrew touched his head again, making her wonder just how badly it was hurting him. “You aren’t too tired to drive?”
She shook her head. “I slept late this morning. I’m not at all tired.”
He nodded and leaned back against the headrest again. “If you don’t mind, I’ll rest awhile.”
“Go ahead,” she said generously. “You need it.”
He glanced over the seat, apparently satisfying himself that their canine hitchhiker wasn’t causing any trouble, then closed his eyes. Studying him in the shadows, Nicky noticed that he had very long eyelashes for a man. His cheeks were firm and lean, his chin strong and just faintly cleft.
His mouth was delectable. Beautifully shaped, even if it rarely curved in a smile. Two deep vertical creases were carved between his eyebrows, furthering the impression that he frowned a lot—either from displeasure or deep concentration. Perhaps both.
He would not be an easy man to know or to love, she’d bet. But she couldn’t help being drawn to him. He had looked at her so flatteringly in the club, had danced with her so attentively. He’d left his friends and family without a backward glance when she’d asked, and had mingled among her own uninhibited crowd with patience and civility. He’d allowed a filthy mongrel into his impeccable Range Rover without much protest, and had then relentlessly overtaken a young tough with a gun. Now he was trusting her with his vehicle and his life on the road to a destination unknown to him.
She couldn’t help wondering why he’d come with her. Why he was still with her. Was it only deeply ingrained manners? Had leaving his club with her been an impulse he’d regretted almost immediately, but was too polite to show? Was he now counting the moments until he could gracefully get rid of her, as well as the dog?
Reluctantly she pulled her attention back to her driving. As tempting as it was to keep staring at him, she doubted that Andrew would appreciate a traffic mishap on top of everything else that had happened that night.
ANDREW DIDN’T FALL asleep during the drive, but he dozed, allowing his thoughts to drift. He tried not to think about the events of the past hour or so, from finding the stray dog to his visit to the hospital emergency room. He couldn’t remember his painful fall without cringing. Served him right, he thought morosely, for feeling like a hero after using his karate skills in self-defense for the first time.
Instead of dwelling on his humiliation, he thought about Nicole, and the way he’d felt when he’d first seen her. Danced with her. Kissed her.
Nothing that had happened since had completely diluted the staggering effects of that magical midnight kiss. He still wondered what it would be like to kiss her in private, with no one to observe them or interrupt them.
It was Nicole’s voice that roused him from his sensual fantasies. “Andrew? Are you awake?”
He opened his eyes, suddenly aware that the vehicle was no longer moving. “I’m awake.”
They seemed to be parked on a country road. There were no street lamps, so the only illumination in the vehicle came from the dim lights of the dash. Even with her skin tinted green, Nicole was stunning. He could feel himself falling under her spell all over again.
“Andrew?” She sounded concerned. “Are you all right?”
“Mmm? Oh, yes, I’m fine.”
“You didn’t answer me. I asked if you’d like to stay here in the car and rest while I take the dog to my uncle.”
He forced himself to pay attention. Glancing out the side window, he frowned. “I don’t see a house.”
Or a driveway, for that matter. As far as he could tell, they were parked in the middle of a rutted dirt road, with nothing but trees on either side of them.
“You can’t see Uncle Timbo’s house from the road. I’ll have to walk a few yards through the trees. He’s sort of a recluse.”
“Doesn’t he own a car?”