* *
Hank’s words lingered in Lizzy’s head for the rest of the afternoon. There’d been a challenge there, no doubt about it The man had actually been flirting with her, which had to be a first She couldn’t help wondering whether that was because he’d finally seen that she was all grown up or whether something else was going on. living with a houseful of manipulators had made her wary of sudden shifts in attitude.
Of course, wariness wasn’t enough to keep her home. She was curious to see just where this brand-new attitude would lead them. In fact, now that she’d been reassured by her father’s doctor that his heart had suffered no permanent damage, she could devote all of her attention to Hank and figuring out just how much he really mattered to her.
Cody wandered in as she was pacing in the living room, awaiting Hank’s arrival.
“Going someplace?” he asked, looking her over, then scowling at the short skirt she’d chosen.
“I have a date.”
“With?”
“Hank.”
His gaze narrowed. “Is that right?”
“Do you disapprove?”
“Of Hank? Of course not. But you might want to consider adding a couple of more inches to that skirt before you walk out the door.”
Lizzy glanced down. “Why? Don’t you think he’ll like it?”
“Oh, he’ll like it. A little too much would be my guess.”
She grinned. “Then I got it just right, I think.”
Her brother studied her worriedly. “Lizzy, what are you up to?”
“Up to?” she repeated innocently. “I have no idea what you mean.”
“Oh, yes, you do. You’ve got that sneaky-female look in your eyes.”
Lizzy laughed. “And what would you know about sneaky-female looks?”
“I’m married, aren’t I? Melissa always gets a look just like that in her eyes right before she pulls the rug out from under me. I’ve watched my own daughter use it on every man she’s ever dated, too. Now that Sharon Lynn’s engaged, poor old Kyle Mason spends most of his life looking thoroughly bewildered by her. I actually feel sorry for him.”
Lizzy gave a little nod of satisfaction. “Then I suppose I’ve finally got that right, too.”
Something that might have been panic flared in her brother’s eyes. “Lizzy, I will not have you going out with Hank and doing something you’re going to regret.”
“Regrets are for people who never took any risks,” she retorted.
“Risks?” Cody demanded, his voice escalating. “Just what risks are you intending to take?”
Lizzy heard Hank’s car outside and decided Cody had had about all he could take of her teasing. She reached up and patted his cheek. “Don’t worry about a thing, big brother. I’ve got everything under control.”
Cody moaned.
Lizzy walked out on him before he could get it into his head to try to run Hank off the property. That was not the sort of trouble she’d intended when she’d made this date. No, if there was going to be trouble tonight, it was going to be between her and Hank Robbins.
She could hardly wait.
When Lizzy got outside, Hank was exiting his pickup. He almost stumbled at his first glimpse of her. His stunned expression was everything she’d hoped for when she’d chosen the skirt of which Cody so vehemently disapproved.
“Too anxious to wait for me to come in and get you?” Hank inquired, giving her a lazy, purely masculine once-over that raised goose bumps.
“Protecting your sorry hide,” she declared, refusing to rise to the taunt “Cody’s into his big-brother mode. If he’d seen you looking me over like that, there’s no telling what he’d do.”
His gaze strayed to the midthigh hem of her skirt “I can imagine. That skirt ought to be banned in most parts of the world.”
“You don’t like it?”
“Oh, I like it,” he conceded. “It just changes my plans for the evening.”
“In what way?”
“I don’t think we’ll be dining out in town, after all.”
Lizzy chuckled. “Suddenly can’t wait to get me alone, huh?” she taunted. She had deliberately—and successfully—provoked one reaction out of him. Now she was working on one far more dangerous.
“Not exactly,” he retorted. “I’m just afraid I’d have to strangle half the men in town for salivating over you. Fortunately, Mrs. Wyndham hasn’t left yet I’ll call her from the truck and tell her to fix something.”
“Sounds good to me,” Lizzy said, thinking the evening couldn’t have looked more promising.
“You haven’t gone and turned into a vegetarian, have you?”
“And have Daddy disown me? I don’t think so.”
“Then I’ll tell Mrs. Wyndham to leave a chicken roasting or defrost a steak or something,” he said, still sounding as if he’d been poleaxed.
Lizzy gave him a knowing look, then turned toward the truck and hesitated as she contemplated the long step up to get inside. It was the one thing she hadn’t considered when she’d chosen her outfit for the evening. Obviously, she’d been living in the city too long, where flashy cars, not practical trucks, were the norm among the men she’d dated.
“An interesting quandary, isn’t it?” Hank in quired, laughter threading through his voice. “Either you ask for help or you scramble up on your own and expose yourself—” he chuckled “—to humiliation.”
“A gentleman wouldn’t need to be asked,” Lizzy declared.
Before the words were out of her mouth, he slipped up behind her. She felt his hands circle her waist and the next thing she knew she had been lifted off her feet and settled snugly into the passenger seat of the 4X4. But Hank wasn’t half as quick to release her as he had been to lift her up. His work-roughened hands slid from her waist to settle briefly on her thighs. Her suddenly all too bare thighs.
Lizzy’s breath caught in her throat, and heat climbed into her cheeks. Her pulse ricocheted wildly as Hank leaned closer and closer still until his lips were almost on hers. She waited impatiently for him to close the distance between them.
The man had impeccable timing. She’d give him that. Just when she thought her heart was going to burst with longing, his mouth settled over hers, soft and gentle and coaxing. It was nothing like their greedy, frantic kiss that morning. This one was all about subtle nuances and pure temptation.
The kiss lasted an eternity, or maybe it only seemed that way because it stole her breath and left her reeling. If she was over the man, his kisses shouldn’t have any potency at all. One should have been pretty much like another.
Instead, they seemed to get more and more devastating. That morning, Lizzy had been thoroughly shaken by the discovery that time hadn’t dimmed the power of Hank’s kiss to rattle her completely. She was even more shaken by this one, in part at least because he had initiated it. It only confirmed the risk she was taking in seeing him tonight Somewhere along the way, he’d gone and changed the rules on her.
First he’d openly flirted with her, and now this kiss. Whatever restraints he’d placed on his actions years ago seemed to be a thing of the past. The turnaround was unexpected and dangerous, but it played nicely into