kitten’s meow was more like a squall of protest. Jared glanced down at the small animal carrier sitting on the truck seat beside him. The yellow tabby had caught his eye the first moment the volunteer worker at the shelter had shown him into the room of orphaned cats. His broad nose, proud tail and coarse voice had convinced Jared he would be the perfect companion to frisky Fred and Peggy.
“Just hold on and I’ll let you out of that cage,” he told the cat as he turned off the main highway and onto a graveled dirt road.
At the end of the dusty, quarter-mile drive, stood an old square ranch house with a hip roof and a porch bordering three sides. The house and two acres had come up for rent five years ago when a local farmer had sold off the surrounding crop land and moved into town. Jared had taken it on a long-term lease, mainly to have a place to hang his hat when work brought him back to the Black Arrow vicinity.
There were times the old house stood empty for months running. But Jared had never had a problem with stealing or vandalism. There were benefits to having the county sheriff as your brother, he thought with great affection. Also to having a sister who was kind enough to keep the dust from piling up inside. And from the looks of the pickup truck parked to one side of the driveway, Willow must have taken pity on him and stopped by today to do a little cleaning.
After parking the truck in front of a faded wooden fence that separated the yard from weedy pasture, Jared climbed out and carefully carried the caged cat into the house. The moment he closed the door behind him, he was hit by the smell of fresh-baked cookies and the sound of his sister’s voice. He followed the sound into the kitchen to see her sitting on the tall barstool he kept beneath the wall phone.
“Here he is now,” she said to the caller. “So I’ll let you ask him.”
Jared cocked a questioning brow at her. She mouthed the word “newspaper” as she handed him the phone.
Two minutes later, Jared hung up.
“That was quick,” Willow remarked.
“I’m sure he’d already told you that he wanted to do an interview with me, Kerry and Peggy. I told him we’d meet him here tomorrow night.” He made a general wave in the direction of the sink full of dirty dishes. “Do you think you could clean the place up a bit?”
Willow shook her head in amazement. “Listen, little brother, you might not even need this place cleaned up when Kerry hears that you didn’t bother to consult her about this meeting. Sounds to me like you’re asking for big trouble.”
He probably was asking for trouble, Jared thought, but not the sort his sister had in mind. “I’ll get her to agree,” he told her with a confident grin, then motioned for her to follow him out to the living room. “Come here and look what I’ve got.”
“What is this?” Willow exclaimed as soon as she spotted the animal cage sitting in the middle of the floor. “You found a snake at the work site?”
He chuckled. “I’m not into reptiles. I like soft, cuddly things.”
“Hmm, don’t I know it,” she said dryly.
Jared bent down and unlatched the cage. The tabby pranced out as if he was ready to take possession of the place.
Willow squealed with pleasure, then quickly knelt down and stroked the cat’s arched back. “Oh, how adorable! Where did he come from?”
“I stopped by the animal shelter on my way home.”
His black-haired, gray-eyed sister looked up at him with disbelief. “Am I hearing this right? My playboy brother actually adopted a kitten? What are you going to do with him when your job here is finished? Take him with you?”
Jared laughed at her flurry of questions. “He’s not for me. He’s a gift to Peggy WindWalker. Her mother thought it would be a good idea to get her a kitten, so that she wouldn’t be tempted to follow her dog away from the house.”
Willow smiled at the kitten as he batted at a piece of fuzz he’d discovered under the edge of an armchair. “So you took it upon yourself to get the kitten for her,” she said with sudden understanding.
Grinning, Jared bent down and picked up the kitten. “The last time I looked it wasn’t against the law to give someone a gift.”
Willow laughed again. “Little Peggy must have made quite an impression on you. I can’t ever remember you taking such an interest in a child.” She slanted him a knowing look. “Or is it her mother that’s the real appeal here?”
Jared chuckled as he rubbed the yellow tom between the ears. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
Willow clucked her tongue in disapproval. “Jared, I can tell you right now that you’re headed in the wrong direction. Kerry WindWalker is not your style.”
Nestling the cat against his chest, Jared headed out of the room. “And how would you know my style?” he tossed over his shoulder.
Willow followed her brother into the kitchen. “Probably because I’ve watched you go from one pretty face to another these past ten years. You like easy, fun-loving women who have reputations for being just as reckless as yourself. Kerry seems like she’s the complete opposite. As far as I know she’s a nice girl. You’d be bored to death.”
He poured a small amount of milk onto a saucer then placed it and the cat on the floor. “Maybe I’m getting tired of reckless, fun-loving girls.”
Willow rolled her eyes. “That’ll be the day.”
Jared feigned an offended look. “I do have my serious moments, sis. Besides, I’m only asking her to do an interview, not spend the rest of her life with me.”
An hour later, Jared parked in front of the WindWalker house and carried the cat, cage and all to the front porch. A tight-lipped Enola met him at the door and Jared decided a door-to-door salesman would have probably been greeted with more enthusiasm.
“Hello Mrs. WindWalker. Is Kerry home?”
“She’s eating supper right now. Maybe you’d better come back some other time.”
Clearly the woman didn’t want him around. But Kerry was a grown woman with a child of her own. If Jared was going to be kicked off the place, he wanted Kerry to do it herself. Not her smothering mother.
“I’ll just wait out here until she finishes,” Jared told her.
Not bothering to wait for the woman’s reply, he took a seat on the end of the porch and placed the cat cage beside him. After a few moments he heard the low murmur of voices, then the sound of the front screen opening and closing.
Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Kerry bearing down on him and she wasn’t exactly smiling.
“What are you doing here?” she asked without preamble.
Jared stood and gave her a wide grin. “I brought Peggy a gift. Is she here?”
Kerry’s eyes darted to the animal cage. Before she could ask, Jared said, “It’s a kitty. Come look.”
Kerry couldn’t believe he was here. Again. And she certainly couldn’t believe he’d brought a kitten with him. The whole picture was sending up warning flags right and left.
“Jared, when I tossed the idea to you about Peggy having a cat, it wasn’t my intention for you to bring her one.”
“Yeah, I know. But I wanted to do this for Peggy.” He opened the cage and allowed the little yellow tomcat to venture onto the porch.
Rather than squeal with delight like his sister had done, Kerry stared stonily down at the cat as he rubbed himself against her bare legs.
“Don’t you think he’s cute?” Jared prompted.
“All kittens are cute,” she said, trying her best not to be sucked into his playful attitude. Perhaps he had truly wanted to give Peggy a gift, she