The Deputy's Perfect Match. Lisa Carter

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СКАЧАТЬ My first time to help out, too.”

      “Oh.”

      He’d have given a week’s salary to know what was going through that brilliant mind of hers. He didn’t have to wait long.

      “Why not?”

      He rapped his thumb against the steering wheel. “Too busy.”

      “Too busy doing deputy stuff?”

      “Something like that.”

      He steered the truck beside a bevy of other vehicles outside the hip-roofed barn. “We’re here.” Parking, he allowed the swirl of dust heralding their arrival to settle.

      Charlie spotted Sawyer Kole in the corral with a handful of children and a horse. The very pregnant Honey rested against the fence railing. Charlie was nervous. Nervous about what would happen next.

      About how Honey would react to Evy being here. About how Sawyer would respond to him being here. Sure enough, when Charlie unfolded himself out of the truck, Sawyer’s arctic-blue eyes narrowed. Evy opened her door and got out.

      Following her husband’s belligerent stare, Honey turned. “Charlie? What are—?”

      Charlie knew the moment Evy stepped around the truck.

      Because Honey went ramrod stiff. “What’s she doing here?”

      Her husband refastened his gaze onto Evy. Sawyer took a step forward. Frowned. Halted in his tracks. The lead on the horse hung limply in his hand.

      Charlie’s heart pounded. He didn’t like the intense look Sawyer gave Evy. Did they know each other?

      Evy inched closer to Charlie. At his elbow, she shrunk into his side. Doing that melding thing she did. For protection? For invisibility?

      Broadening his shoulders, Charlie creased the brim of his cap with his hand. “We came to volunteer. Heard you might need a few more hands with so many folks away for Labor Day weekend.”

      Sawyer seemed to come to himself. “Don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of meeting your friend.” He looped the lead around a fence post and came out of the corral. Wiping his palm on the side of his Wrangler jeans, Sawyer headed their way, hand extended to Evy. “I’m Sawyer.”

      Charlie’s gaze bounced between Evy and Kole.

      Behind the glasses, those enormous eyes of hers had fixed onto the cowboy. And she moved away from Charlie to grasp hold of Sawyer’s hand.

      Charlie’s stomach cramped. Something curled in his chest. Suddenly he wanted nothing more than to pick Evy up in his arms, plop her inside his truck and speed away.

      Toward hot cups of tea, Chinese food and library books. He shouldn’t have brought her here. She—he—they didn’t belong here.

      She’s mine, he wanted to shout. Not yours.

      But he did none of that. Like an idiot, Charlie just stood there. Hands stuffed into his jeans pockets. Watching. While Sawyer Kole inexplicably took someone else from him.

      “My name is Evy.” A shy smile, which twisted Charlie’s gut. “Evy Shaw.”

      Sawyer’s brow knotted. “How is it, in a town the size of Kiptohanock, we haven’t met before, Miss Shaw?”

      Charlie’s heart thumped in his chest. Honey followed on her husband’s boot heels. With one look at her face, Charlie could tell Honey was furious. At him.

      “She’s the librarian.” Honey glowered. “No reason for you to have met.”

      Charlie had wanted Sawyer and Evy to meet officially. He ought to have been more careful what he wished for. Sucker-punched by the unexpected sense of proprietorship toward Evy, he ground his heel into the dirt. She didn’t belong to him. He didn’t know why seeing her and Sawyer together disturbed him so much. Honey was right about it not being a romantic kind of connection. But there was a connection, something Charlie didn’t understand.

      So he drew on his fallback emotion when it came to feeling out of control. Anger.

      He inserted himself between the cowboy and Evy. “I guess not everyone is a reader like me.”

      Evy’s gaze flicked to Charlie. “No.” A sweet smile for him. “That’s true.”

      “I feel somehow, though, we’ve met before.” Sawyer tilted his head. “Do we know each other, Miss Shaw? From somewhere besides Kiptohanock?”

      Charlie held his breath. Evy—with reluctance, he thought—shook her head. Disappointment spiraled. He let the breath trickle slowly between his clenched lips.

      So this was about Evy. All about her. Not Kole. Which only made Charlie feel worse, not better. Honey had been right about Evy’s fixation on the Duer clan. Did Evy have a sinister motivation in coming to the Shore?

      “Put us to work, Kole. That’s what we’re here for.” His mouth tightened. “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

      The look Sawyer sent his way could have scorched the earth. “That your way of talking so somebody like me can understand?” There’d never been any love lost between him and Charlie.

      Honey gripped Sawyer’s sleeve. “Sawyer...”

      “If the horseshoe fits.” Charlie jutted his jaw. “Then, yeah.”

      He and Kole were never destined to be friends. Too much history. Bad history.

      Sawyer pushed the brim of the Stetson higher onto his forehead.

      Charlie frowned. Sawyer’s gesture seemed familiar. But he couldn’t place where or why.

      “Maybe you and Miss Shaw could help Mr. Keller with the other group of kids by the creek.” The smile Sawyer threw his way wasn’t meant to be friendly. “And leave the cowboying to the real cowboys, Deputy.” His attention returning to Evy, Sawyer tipped his hat. “Ma’am.”

      Charlie’s blood boiled. Cupping her elbow in his palm, he gritted his teeth and dragged Evy around the corner of the house.

      He didn’t like the way Evy peered over her shoulder, focusing on Honey and Sawyer as they walked away. She stumbled.

      “Watch where you’re going, Miss Shaw,” he growled.

      Evy stopped. “Are you mad about something?” she whispered. “Mad at me?” She blinked rapidly behind the glass frames.

      Charlie hated the uncertainty in her voice. And one look at those eyes of hers... He had no right to be angry at her.

      No business taking out his angst about Sawyer Kole—Honey, too, if the whole truth were told—on Evy.

      He let go of her. “Is there a reason I should be mad at you, Evy? You haven’t done anything wrong, have you?”

      The bridge between her perfectly arched brows pinched. “No, I guess СКАЧАТЬ