Rancher's Refuge. Линда Гуднайт

she put her toast aside and did the trifold napkin trick before dabbing her lips. He tried not to notice those lips, shiny with bacon grease and just the right shade of pink.

      “I’ve been thinking about my dilemma,” she started.

      He was thinking about the same thing. Only problem, he didn’t know exactly what her dilemma was.

      “I looked for your purse.”

      She blinked in surprise. “Oh.”

      “I didn’t find anything. But you know that, don’t you? I didn’t find the bag because it’s not out there.”

      A pink flush crested her cheeks. Her gaze dropped to her plate, but she didn’t respond.

      “Look, lady, I don’t know you. I don’t know what your problem is, but lying isn’t the answer.” Tempted to demand she shoot straight or hit the road, he poked a strip of bacon in his mouth. Cassie would have his head if he kicked Annalisa out today. He’d promised three days, and even though he chafed with that knowledge, he’d stick by his word. Three days and no more.

      “I could have looked for a month, and I wouldn’t have found your purse, would I?”

      When she just sat there, eyes down and silent like a condemned prisoner, Austin got mad. Jaw tight, he raised his voice and growled, “Would I?”

      She jerked and pulled her arms in tight against her body. Oversize eyes stood out against a pale face. Tootsie abandoned Austin and rose up to rub her nose against Annalisa’s thigh.

      Even a dog was better with women than he was.

      In a whisper, Annalisa admitted. “No. I’m sorry.”

      Her reaction made Austin angrier. She acted like a kicked dog. She was here on his ranch, eating his breakfast. The least she could do was talk to him.

      “Just spit it out. Why were you hiding under Whisper Falls? Why are you alone in a strange place without a car or money or a phone number to call?”

      Annalisa sucked in her bottom lip. Her chest rose and fell and Austin had the awful feeling she might tear up. He tightened his grip on the fork. Give him a bucking horse and a kicking cow any day over a crying woman. He shouldn’t have yelled. She was already scared of something.

      Reining in his frustration, he lifted a hand in a plea of peace. “I had no right to yell at you. Your business is yours. You don’t have to tell me anything.”

      But that awful nagging voice in his head said he couldn’t keep her safe if he didn’t know the enemy. Visions of Blair circled in his brain like vultures waiting to pick at his wounds. Enemies come in all shapes and sizes, some of them within.

      A pulse of tension throbbed in the space between Austin and his houseguest. He watched a dozen emotions move over her face and didn’t understand any of them.

      As if she needed the contact, Annalisa absently stroked Tootsie’s fuzzy head.

      Austin’s arms itched with the need to hold her, to send her demons fleeing. The thought shocked him to the core. He’d vowed never to get that close to a woman again. In less than a day, Annalisa had him thinking insane thoughts.

      Yet, the yearning did not subside.

      In a voice so low, Austin had to lean in to hear her over the hum of the fridge, she said, “I’ll find another place to stay. Don’t worry about me.”

      Too late.

      “I said you could stay here for a day or two.”

      “But you don’t want me.”

      Oh, yes, he did. The notion came out of nowhere, a notion so bizarre and undesirable that Austin was tempted to run out the door, mount Cisco and ride as far and fast as he could. Right behind the idea came another. Give her money. Send her away.

      Yes, that’s exactly what he’d do.

      “There are a few bed-and-breakfast places in town. I’ll give you the money. You can pay me later.”

      “I couldn’t.”

      “Do you have a choice?”

      Blue eyes flashed up to meet his. He saw defiance and defeat in the same glance. “Not at the moment.”

      “All right, then. It’s settled.” He leaned back, almost sighing with relief. After breakfast she would be out of his life, out of his house. Gone.

      Cassie would have a fit.

      Annalisa rose and began gathering up the dirty dishes. The poodle followed her.

      “Leave those.”

      “I want to do them.”

      She went to the sink and he followed, noticing then what he hadn’t before. She’d been up a while and she’d been busy. The vacuum cleaner sat next to the broom on one wall. How she’d managed to use either with one arm befuddled him, but she had. The clothes drier buzzed from the utility room, and he realized she’d done laundry, too. That explained the yellow scrubs.

      As he put away the butter and jelly, she ran water to wash the dishes. One thing he’d say for her, she might wear sissy shoes, but she wasn’t lazy. Even with one hand, she was willing to earn her keep.

      He bumped her out of the way. Dishes with one hand would take too long. He had work to do. “I wash. You dry.”

      She didn’t argue but took up a dish towel and waited, leaning her cast on the counter—a splash of lime green against black-and-brown granite. “Do you know any place in town I might find a job?”

      Austin frowned. “You’re planning to stay in Whisper Falls?”

      “Maybe. It seems to be a nice, quiet town.”

      “You have family here?”

      She pressed her lips, looked away, moody. “No. No family.”

      Odd, he thought, to relocate with no family, no job, no personal belongings. “I can ask around.”

      “Thank you.”

      He held out a cup and when she reached to take it, he didn’t let go. Her gaze fluttered up, startled, and he saw panic rising.

      “What are you afraid of, Annalisa? No one here will hurt you.” He knew as sure as he knew her eyes were the purest blue he’d ever seen, someone had hurt her. “Who did this? Who hurts you? Your husband? Is that it? Are you running from your husband?”

      The last part stuck in his craw, a wad thick enough to choke him.

      She stared at him across the cup that joined their hands. A tiny muscle twitched beneath her cheekbone. Finally, she licked her lips and whispered, “Boyfriend.”

      Austin released the cup along with the breath he hadn’t known he was holding. He vacillated between relief that she wasn’t tangled up with an abusive husband and fury at her jerk of a boyfriend.

      “He broke your arm and dumped you out at the waterfall?”

      “I ran. He pushed me out of the car and tried to...” She bit down on her lip, eyes wide with the painful memory. “I ran into the woods, praying he wouldn’t follow me.”

      “Did he?”

      “I don’t think so. I think he’ll go back to San Diego without me.”

      “San Diego?” That explained a few things. His mystery lady was a long way from home.

      “We were on our way to a conference in Nashville. James likes to drive, to make a vacation out of business trips.” Her lips twisted. “To rip off the big bosses anytime he can, although he has all of them fooled. I saw the sign about the waterfall and wanted to see it.”

      “What happened?”

      She lifted one shoulder as if the load she carried was too heavy. “James doesn’t need much