Riggs clenched his hands by his sides. He’d never, ever, been rough with a woman. But Gretta’s cutthroat techniques tempted him to physically shake her.
She’d always been trouble. He hadn’t liked her in high school, and he sure as hell didn’t like the way she was pushing Kate now. “Come on, Kate. Let’s get out of here.”
Kate crossed her arms over her chest and gave Gretta a chilly look. “I have nothing to say to you now, Gretta, and I never will.”
A spark of admiration for Kate stirred inside Riggs. Kate might have backed away from trouble as a teenager, but she’d stood her ground with Gretta the same way she had with protestors at the meeting.
“Thank you, Stone,” Kate said. “I’ll get that list to you as soon as possible.”
“I’m going to talk to Jimmy,” Stone said. “Maybe he saw more than he thought he did.”
Kate murmured okay then started to walk away and dismiss Riggs. But Riggs didn’t intend to allow her to go home alone so he rushed to catch up with her. What if Billy was waiting?
And if Billy hadn’t painted the graffiti, the culprit might have hung around to see Kate’s reaction. He also might be stalking Kate.
Gretta was watching them as if she sensed they were keeping something from her, so he lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper.
“I rode with Stone,” he said. “Do you mind dropping me by the station to pick up my truck? Then I’ll follow you home and make sure no one is lurking around.”
Her gaze darted back to Gretta as if she expected the woman to pounce again. But Gretta had finally turned her attention back to work and was snapping pictures of the graffiti.
“I suppose I could do that. I owe you one.”
Riggs brushed her arm with his fingers. “You don’t owe me anything, Kate.”
Her bright blue eyes met his, worry and fear mingling with other emotions he couldn’t quite define.
She obviously didn’t want to spend any more time with him than she had to.
He squashed the hurt that realization triggered. It didn’t matter what she thought of him. All that mattered was keeping her safe.
“All right, let’s go.” She checked her watch. “I’m supposed to meet the security company soon.”
Riggs followed her to her rental SUV. Maybe on the drive to the police station, Kate would tell him more about Don Gaines and the reason he harbored such animosity toward her.
KATE FELT GRETTA’S scrutinizing gaze as she’d walked to her car. She shouldn’t let the woman bother her, but old scars ran deep.
Darn it, she was trying to move on with her life and make positive changes. Why couldn’t she shake the hurt that woman had caused with her juvenile gossip rag?
Quickly starting the engine, she pulled onto the road leading back to town.
She didn’t trust Gretta. The woman was a user and didn’t care who she walked all over to get her story. More than once she’d lied about classmates to stir up a frenzy and create drama and conflict.
Sure, she’d retracted the story later on, claiming her source had been misinformed. But the damage had been done.
Kate didn’t believe the source was the problem, either. Gretta was a thrill-seeking, attention-hungry, manipulative liar. Embellishment was her trademark.
“I admire the way you stood up to Gretta,” Riggs murmured.
His approval sent a warm feeling through her. Why, she didn’t know. She and Riggs were simply acquaintances.
Although she was grateful for his support over the new school. With his popularity in town, he might sway others to come around.
They reached the police station, and she swerved into the parking spot beside Riggs’s pickup then angled her head to study him.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” Kate asked.
Riggs shrugged. “Maybe I’m a nice guy.”
Kate laughed softly.
“That’s funny?” Hurt tinged his eyes.
“No, it’s just that I can’t figure you out. Here you are babysitting me on your day off when you could be out having fun with one of your women.”
Riggs arched a brow. “One of my women?”
A blush crept up Kate’s neck. “You know what I mean.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “You think all I do is screw around, don’t you?”
She bit her lip, sensing she’d offended him. “It’s not a criticism. We’re not even friends, so what you do on your own time is none of my business.”
“Right.” Pulse hammering, he reached for the door handle. “Maybe I did screw around in school, and afterward for a while.” His voice thickened. “But people change, Kate. I’ve changed.”
Riggs Benford had changed? He wasn’t a womanizer now?
Seriously?
“I didn’t mean to offend you, Riggs.”
He squared his shoulders. “I didn’t realize you were so judgmental, Kate.”
For a moment, Kate simply stared at him. She felt as if she’d been reprimanded.
But he was right. For all her talk about being positive and moving forward, she still saw Riggs as the teenage flirt he’d been in high school.
Yet on some level she knew he had changed. He risked his life to save others. She’d also heard he visited the children’s hospital in his uniform to cheer up sick children.
“I really am sorry,” Kate said. “I’ve lived alone a long time, Riggs. I’m not used to answering to anyone.”
His eyes turned smoldering. Intense. She hadn’t felt this kind of sexual awareness in...she couldn’t even remember.
She didn’t want to feel it for Riggs.
Still, for a brief second, she couldn’t drag her gaze from his. Her body tingled as if his fingers were raking over her just as his eyes were. Heat stirred deep inside her, dormant needs and fantasies simmering beneath the surface.
It had been forever since someone had held her. Kissed her. Loved her.
She missed being touched. Missed the intimacy.
Most of all, she missed having someone to share her thoughts and dreams with.
The one guy she’d dated in college certainly hadn’t wanted to talk. And he definitely hadn’t wanted a future with her.
She jerked her mind back to reality.
Sexy or not, Riggs had abandoned his child. He might volunteer at the children’s hospital, but his own son lived in Briar Ridge and he’d never even acknowledged him.
“We may not have been friends in the past,” Riggs said, “but we could start now.”
Kate’s breath quickened.
Riggs stared at her for a long tense minute, as if hoping she’d say something, but she clamped her teeth over her bottom lip.
A second later, something akin to disappointment flashed in his eyes before he climbed out, strode to his truck and got in.
Tension coiled inside her as she pulled from the parking lot and headed for her house.
But Riggs’s words taunted her as she drove.
Yes, they could be friends. But it terrified her that she might want more...
RIGGS FOUGHT ANGER at Kate’s reaction as he followed her. Not that he blamed her for her opinion. At one time, he’d welcomed the reputation as a love-’em-and-leave-’em kind of guy. No strings attached, no commitments, no one to tie him down. That had been his motto.
But he had changed, dammit. Had started to want more.
It bothered him that Kate couldn’t see deeper than the surface.
That she must believe the rumors about him and Cassidy and that baby. A baby that was now a fifteen-year-old teenager. One who attended Briar Ridge High.
He had no idea what Cassidy had told her son about his father. He sure as hell didn’t think she’d told the boy he was his daddy.
But who really knew what Cassidy would do? She was brash, unpredictable and needy.
On Saturday night, she frequented bars dressed in low-cut tops and miniskirts, hanging on any guy who’d buy her a drink. Sure, she had the same right as a man to put herself out there. But she couldn’t handle her liquor and didn’t discriminate about who she took home to bed. Rumors surfaced that she traded sex for drugs on occasion. Made him wonder what kind of mother she was to her son.
Roy. That’s the name Cassidy had given the boy. He was thin, gangly, and wore dark square-framed glasses. Riggs had seen him at the arcade, totally enthralled in video games. And he was always alone, as if he had no friends.
Not your problem.
Neither was Kate.
But here he was following her to her house like a lovesick puppy, declaring himself her protector when she clearly did not want his protection.
But, dammit, he cared what happened to her.
It’s just because she’s in danger. You could never be what Kate wants. A husband... Father to her kids... You’re too much like your old man.
No...hell no, he wasn’t. He’d worked hard not to be like him at all.
His father had been mean and cold and talked with his fists. The best thing his mother ever did was leave him. Riggs just didn’t understand why she hadn’t taken him with her.
Better to stay single. Unattached. Guard his heart.
Kate parked in her drive, climbed out and hurried up her porch steps. He parked beside her, leaving room for the driver from the security company, and surveying her property as he walked up to her porch.
More dark clouds rumbled above, casting an ominous gray over the mountains and adding a chill to the air. One of Kate’s shutters had come loose and flapped against the pale blue siding.
She unlocked the front door and hurried inside just as he stepped onto the welcome mat.
Although he didn’t feel welcome at Kate’s, and that bugged the hell out of him.
She paused at the door, the dim light painting lines around her heart-shaped face. “Thanks for making sure I got home okay,” she said softly. The shutter flapped again, and she startled.
He jammed his hands into his pockets, determined to remain cool. “Sure. If you have a hammer and some nails, I’ll repair that shutter.”
She looked as if she was going to argue, but the shutter banged again. “Thanks, but I can fix it myself.”
God, she was stubborn. “It’s no problem, Kate. I’ll repair it while the security company installs your system.”
She hesitated, and his gut tightened. “Are you afraid of me?” he asked gruffly.
Her eyes widened and she clamped her teeth over her bottom lip.
“You are, aren’t you?” His chest throbbed at the thought.
“No,” she said quickly. “I’m just nervous about the threats.” She shrugged. “Besides, I’m not used to relying on a man to take care of things for me.”
He raised a brow at that. “Then you’ve been hanging out with the wrong men. You deserve someone who’ll treat you right, Kate.”
Suddenly he wanted to be that man.
Her eyes searched his again, as if she was trying to figure him out. Indecision warred in his mind, but he decided he had to win her trust.
That meant being honest and sharing something he’d never told a damn soul.
“Can I come in a minute?” he asked gruffly. “We should talk.”
Wariness darkened her eyes but she stepped aside and gestured for him to enter. “I guess that would be all right.”
He entered the foyer, rubbing a hand down his neck. “I know you don’t trust me, but I swear I would never hurt you, Kate.”
“Then tell me why you’re really doing this.”
Man, she was direct. He wanted to say because he liked her. But that was putting himself on the line. And judging from her reaction, she didn’t want to hear it.
“Because I owe your mother,” he admitted.
Her brow furrowed and she folded her arms across her chest. “What do you mean?”
He ground his teeth, struggling for the courage to admit the truth. “Yeah. She was good to me.”
“She was good to all her students,” Kate said softly.
“I know.” He shifted, uncomfortable, but he’d started this and he was going to damn well finish. “I was having trouble in school,” he said. “I thought I was going to lose my position on the soccer team, lose my chance at a scholarship. All the rumors about me didn’t help.”
Cleary, he’d said the wrong thing, because suspicions flared in her eyes.
Damn, she thought he was referring to Cassidy.
KATE ORDERED HERSELF to keep an open mind. Maybe there were two sides to the story about him and Cassidy. Perhaps he’d tried to be a father to the boy and Cassidy had rejected him for some reason.
Although she couldn’t imagine anyone rejecting Riggs.
“It’s not what you think,” he said quickly. “I don’t mean trouble as in the law or with a girl,” he said pointedly. “I had trouble reading. I struggled through classes and got poor grades. But your mother picked up on the source of the problem.”
Surprise made her stomach tighten. “You’re dyslexic?”
He nodded then cast his head down slightly. “Kids laughed and teased me when I was little. I failed classes. They called me names—stupid, idiot.” He blew out a breath. “I thought I was stupid. So did my father, and he never missed a chance to tell me.”
Compassion filled Kate as she pictured Riggs as a little boy being laughed at. And angry at his father who should have supported him.
Although she remembered hearing that Riggs’s father had been abusive.
The truth dawned on her. Riggs’s cocky, tough-guy attitude had been a cover-up so no one would see his pain.
“Oh, Riggs,” Kate said gently. “Dyslexia doesn’t mean you aren’t intelligent. It’s a learning disability.”
Anguish twisted his face. “I know that. At least, I do now. Your mother tutored me in private and taught me techniques to read so I could pass my classes and stay on the soccer team.”
Tenderness for Riggs welled inside Kate. Just like everyone else, she’d only seen the surface side of Riggs. And she’d made judgments based on his appearance and his past when he was just a kid.
Her mother would not be pleased with how she’d been treating him.
He was a man now. They were both different people.
“I’m glad my mother recognized the problem and that she helped you. She’d be proud of the man you’ve become.”
A relieved look settled in Riggs’s eyes, making him look so vulnerable that Kate ached to comfort him.
Then a look of masculine desire filled his eyes and her heart fluttered.
“She’d be proud of you, too, Kate,” he said softly. “Proud of what you’re trying to do for the town.”
Forgetting all her reservations, Kate took a step closer, her heart hammering.
She lifted her hand and stroked his jaw, heat stirring inside her as her fingers brushed his coarse beard stubble.
God help her. Riggs was all masculinity and sexual prowess.
She wanted to kiss him so badly, her mouth watered.
Desire flared in his eyes as if he felt the pull between them. But just as he angled his head and moved toward her, the doorbell rang.
Kate started and Riggs growled a curse.
The security company had arrived and saved her from making a fool out of herself.
HE STRUCK THE match and watched the flame flicker to life. Fire had always fascinated him.
The sudden burst of orange and red and yellow. The heat rolling off the fire. The way the flames caught and spread so quickly, feeding on oxygen and eating up everything in its path.
It was a thing of pure beauty.
It could also be deadly.
His pulse jumped as the flame burned bright and tall, leaping and dancing against the darkening sky, consuming the matchstick until it disintegrated in his fingers. Heat scalded the tip of his thumb and he tossed the last of the match to the ground, then sucked his thumb into his mouth to ward off the sting.
The flame started to die in the brush, but a gust of wind resurrected it and embers burst to life in the thick straw and broken tree limbs. He glanced around the wooded area.
It was deserted. No one knew he was there.
No one would.
He should stomp out the fire. But he was mesmerized by the way it started to grow, slowly jumping from one patch of brush to another. Broken pieces of tree limbs and pine straw crackled and popped, the flames rippling through the forest, creating a path of destruction in its wake.
Heat seared his skin as the fire intensified. Flames shot upward and smoke thickened the air, creating a gray fog. Memories surfaced. The first time he’d played with matches.
He’d seen his mama take a man into her bedroom. Heard them grunting and groaning. Saw the chubby man walk out naked, sweat pouring off him as he grabbed another beer and carried it into the bedroom.
He’d wanted to burn down the house that night.
Kill that bastard.
When the man finally staggered out to his truck and roared away, he’d been relieved. Then he’d seen his mama passed out with her bottle.
He’d covered her naked body with a blanket and then snatched her Camels and matches and slipped outside. First, the old metal trash can. He lit the cigarette, inhaled and coughed his head off. He’d dropped it in the can and it had caught the trash. Paper and plastic melted and sizzled. The flames had grown bolder, shooting up from the can.
While his mother had slept off her drunk, he’d gone inside, broken one of the kitchen chairs, carried it to the backyard, and fed it to the flames.
He’d fallen asleep by the firelight, smiling as he’d imagined it spreading to the house and taking his mother with it.
The next day, she’d never even noticed. From then on, fire had become his obsession.
Now he inhaled the pungent odor of burning wood and excitement zinged through him as the flames raced along the forest floor. A patch of fire slithered up a thin pine and lit the sky as the needles caught.
Houses lay nearby, just beyond the hill.
Kate McKendrick’s house.
Another smile tugged at his mouth.
Seconds later, a siren wailed in the distance. Someone had seen the smoke and called it in.
Heart hammering, he turned and ran back through the woods to where he could hide and watch the chaos.