sure we can figure out a way for a pretty girl like you to be part of the show.” The girl beamed at the compliment. “But it’s critical that no one, not even your very best friend, knows that I’m here right now. Seriously, I’ll have to leave and never return if word gets out. You know how it is once news starts spreading on social media. The press will be here in a heartbeat, and I can’t have that...”
“I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die. I won’t tell anyone if you’ll promise that my friends and I can be part of the show. I didn’t get the photo of you before. Y’all moved too fast.”
Ty swiped his finger across the screen on Emily’s phone, which he still held. He nodded.
“She’s right. No picture. And she won’t ever be taking pictures of anyone without asking permission first, right?” He gave his daughter a stern look and handed her phone back to her.
“I’m sorry, Daddy. I promise. I just lost my head...”
Bree smiled. “It’s all right, Emily. Just remember to keep my secret, okay?”
Emily nodded, hugged herself and danced back into the kitchen.
Bree grabbed the hamburger in front of her. A girl had to eat, right? She took a large bite of it and sighed. This burger alone might make up for the lousy day she was having.
She wasn’t at all surprised to hear another grunt from Cole.
“You proud of yourself, Hollywood? Lying to a nice kid like that?”
She was too ashamed to have any fight left in her. She wiped her mouth with a napkin before answering, and her voice was barely a whisper.
“No. No, I’m not proud at all.”
Ty’s voice was low. “Then why did you do it?”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, blowing the air out slowly through her lips. She didn’t care about Cole’s opinion, but Ty deserved the truth. She raised her head and met his puzzled gaze.
“I thought it would be kinder than telling your daughter that someone out there wants to burn me alive. Because that’s what the truth is. I have a stalker, and the whole situation has taken a bad turn. I’m trying to lay low for a while until they can find him. Nell’s daughter, Caroline, is my cousin’s friend, and she suggested I come here.”
Her gaze dropped back to the bar, and the room fell silent. Ty turned and took a bottle from a shelf. He poured the golden liquid into a shot glass and slid it into her hand. She downed it with one swallow, welcoming another burn. She looked up and nodded, and he refilled the glass. But this time she took just a sip before taking another bite of her burger.
“Someone’s threatening to kill you?” Ty asked.
She shrugged. “Or worse. He says he needs to ‘cleanse me by fire’ to remove my sins and make me worthy. He broke into my beach house Saturday while I was gone and burned all of my clothes, because he thinks I dress like a whore.” She took another sip from the glass. “And he sent a threatening message to my cousin’s home in New York while I was there, even though I hadn’t publicized the trip. So now I’m on the run.”
She tried to give Ty a smile, but felt her mouth trembling, and bit down on her lower lip to steady it. Cole, who’d been still and quiet at her side, inhaled sharply. She looked over, but he turned away, staring at Ty. Once again, the brothers carried on a silent conversation. Cole shook his head abruptly, but Ty just glowered at him. Cole’s shoulders slumped and he nodded as he took a step closer to Bree. He lifted his chin toward the shelves behind the bar.
“Give me a hat” was all he said.
Ty handed him one of several Hide-Away ball caps for sale above the cash register. Cole moved behind her and put his hands on either side of her face, making her gasp. He pulled her hair back and through the opening of the cap, creating a ponytail as he pushed the hat low on her head. Before she could protest, Ty started to explain.
“If Emily recognized you, someone else might. Cole will take you out to Nell’s place in his truck. He lives out that way. That fancy car is no way to lay low in this part of the country. My guess is half the town already knows there’s a ninety-thousand-dollar Mercedes parked at The Hide-Away. Leave me the keys and I’ll pull the car around back, then take it home after dark and put it in my barn. I’ll see if my wife, Tammy, can take you shopping for something a little more...casual. We’ll tell people you’re a college friend of Caroline’s. Everyone loves Caroline Patterson...er...McCormack. She’s married now, right? She married that guy from Boston?”
Bree nodded, feeling stunned. “Yeah, they got married in Barbados. Look, why are you doing this? You don’t know me, and you don’t even like me.” She looked over her shoulder at Cole. His close proximity was making her nervous.
Cole arched an eyebrow at her. “Call it that ‘Southern charm’ you were looking for. We help people in trouble down here.” His mouth twitched again. She decided that was the closest thing to a real smile the guy had. “Even people we don’t like.”
COLE CALDWELL STOLE a sideways glance at the redhead as he drove out of Russell. She was pressed up against the passenger door, with Maggie curled up on the seat between them. While the dog generally rode with her nose pressed snugly against Cole’s leg, today she lay facing their guest. Her head rested on Bree’s thigh, and Bree was absently scratching Maggie’s ear.
Traitor.
Despite the ridiculous layers of makeup, Brianna Mathews could easily be the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Pulling her hair up under the cap revealed her long, slender neck, fine-boned face and those deep green eyes. Her skin was like porcelain. She was tall, almost as tall as he was. And she moved with a natural grace that said she was confident and very aware of herself. The whole package was sexy as hell.
Too bad she was such a flaming, toxic viper.
The lady could peel paint off the wall with those angry eyes of hers. And her sharp tongue could probably flay a man alive. Cole shifted in his seat, suddenly uncomfortable and surprisingly aroused by that thought. He sure as hell didn’t want anything to do with this woman or any other woman for that matter. And it seemed the feeling was mutual. He grunted to himself, earning him another one of her icy glares.
“What?” she snapped.
He shook his head in the closest he’d come to amusement in a long time. Baiting her temper was as easy as shooting very big fish in a very small barrel.
“Oh, nothin’. I’m just picturing you settling into Nell’s hundred-year-old bungalow. All by yourself. No Starbucks. No fancy parties to attend. No television cameras. Girl, you’ll die of loneliness out here.”
She turned to stare out the passenger window. Her voice was quiet.
“It’s better than dying in a pool of blood.”
Well, hell. She’d just managed to turn him into a complete jackass, hadn’t she? No, actually he didn’t need her help with that. He’d done it all on his own. After a year of feeling pretty much nothing but anger, he now felt guilty. He winced at the sharpness of it.
“Sorry.” There’s a word he hadn’t said in a while. “I wasn’t making light of your...”
“Situation? My very interesting situation?” She dropped her head back against the seat of his pickup then turned to look at him. “We don’t exactly bring out the best in each other, do we?”
He snorted. “Apparently not.”
Awkward silence filled the cab as he made a few more turns. The roads got progressively smaller and the fields got bigger. He slowed the truck as they approached a yellow farmhouse with a wide front porch. There was a wooden farmstand next to the road with a simple sign that read Nell’s Produce. He glanced over at the stand