A Place to Call Home (16 page)

“Told you. I don’t play fair.” She stepped inside and shut the door.

Chapter Nineteen

Monday morning couldn’t come quick enough for Mac. No matter what he did, he hadn’t been able to come up with an excuse to go by Hannah’s yesterday to see her. Christ, only a day had passed since the barbeque and he missed her. What the hell had gotten into him? He scrubbed a hand through his hair, already knowing the answer.

Sex.

He needed to fuck Hannah soon or he would lose his friggin’ mind. Never—even as a horny teenager—had he been so obsessed with fucking a woman. Once he got Hannah into bed, he’d get his hormones under control and then his brain would have a blood supply again, giving him back his IQ.

But the thoughts of Hannah’s slender body, with her beautiful face framed by all those long, wild, red curls drove him crazy day and night. Damn. He couldn’t work with a hard-on straining against his jeans. And that was another thing he couldn’t wait for. Once he fucked Hannah, he would walk comfortably again without the constant reminder from his cock of just how badly he wanted the little brat.

Cursing, he got back to work.

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Hannah and Sandy walked into Hannah’s house carrying bags from their all day shopping trip.

“Hannah, it was nice to spend the day together. I’m so glad you were home when I stopped by,” Sandy said breathlessly. “I don’t have a lot of friends. My money scares people off.”

“Really?” Hannah said, sitting on the stairs, still not sure if she should kick herself for opening the door to the bubbly lady earlier. “Now I think that’s not true at all. Look at all the people who said hello to you today. I swear if we didn’t have to stop every five seconds for you to greet someone then we would’ve been home hours ago.”

Sandy’s face drooped into a soured look. “I’m sorry.”

“Stop it.” Hannah took her hand and tugged her down beside her on the step. “That was a compliment. You’re a very popular woman, Sandy. How many parties did you get invited to? How many teas? I didn’t know people still had teas,” Hannah noted, and laughed. She could imagine Sandy sitting with a tiny teacup, sipping it daintily.

“Well, it is the South, you know. Traditions die hard down here.” Abruptly Sandy sat up straight with a starry-eyed expression and excitement in her voice. “Oh, you’ll have to come with me to some of the teas, Hannah. You’ll just love them. We sit around and gossip,” Sandy finished quietly as if the world could hear her.

As sweet as Sandy was Hannah needed to get rid of her new self-appointed best friend since Hannah needed a nice long bath and a big glass of wine. Hannah could only take so much Southern sweetness for one day and Sandy oozed with sugar. Enough that Hannah wished to hear her curse just once or talk bad about someone. She’d never met someone so angelic. No wonder she didn’t have many friends. Who wanted to compete with perfection?

“Hannah? Did you hear a word I said?”

Caught daydreaming, Hannah sighed. “I’m sorry, Sandy. I had a great time today, but I’m beat.”

“We need to do it again soon,” Sandy agreed.

“Do what again soon?” Mac asked, appearing out of nowhere to stand in the kitchen doorway.

Hannah jumped and whirled around on the step to face him but remained seated. “Where’d you come from?” She hated how quietly he could walk into a room.

“I was setting up sawhorses in the back yard. The crew and me will be here tomorrow to start the job as planned.” He turned and acknowledged Sandy. “Hi, sugar. Didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Oh, we just got back.”

“Back?” Mac leaned against the wall, crossing his arms.

“We had a girl’s day out.”

Hannah cringed. Sandy was too damn excited about it.

“You seem to be having a lot of those lately,” he said to Hannah.

“Didn’t know I needed permission,” she said, sarcastically.

He shoved away from the wall. “Hardly,” he said, holding his palms out. “Hopefully she didn’t manage to get you in any trouble, Sandy. She’s known for that.”

“Oh, go to hell, Mac,” Hannah said, offering a short giggle to hide her embarrassment of him catching her off guard. Oh, my God. What if she had been divulging her secret sexual fantasies about him? A quick glance at pristine Sandy and Hannah admitted that wouldn’t have happened…but still. “And don’t you tell me not to swear. I’ll swear if I damn well please. This is my house. And shouldn’t you be working instead of walking in on a private conversation?” She tried to keep her voice calm and not show how much he frazzled her just by standing so close.

He smirked. “Actually I’m done for the day. Was just heading out, brat.”

 “You know what would be fun, Hannah?” Sandy jumped up with an obvious attempt to change the subject. “You and I should go out on the town some time. You know, a girl’s night out.” She giggled.

Before Hannah could answer, Mac spoke. “Sandy, that probably wouldn’t be a good idea. Since you’re a sweetheart, Hannah’s not the type you should hang around with.”

“What?” Hannah practically screeched. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“For one thing you’re trouble and Sandy’s not. I won’t have you corrupting her. She’s one of the last honorable women around.”

The Southern belle beamed like a schoolgirl.

“Really?” Hannah turned to Sandy. “I’m free still. How about a girl’s night tonight?”

“Really?” Sandy clutched her hands together. “That would be wonderful.”

“Hannah,” Mac said, his voice dripping with a warning.

She ignored him and spoke to Sandy. “Hopefully we’ll get lucky tonight. You know, meet a couple of cowboys.”

Sandy dismissed the idea. “Maybe you but not me.”

“Nonsense. I’ll do your hair and makeup. It’ll be a blast.”

“Hannah,” Mac said, his tone firm, warning of his displeasure.

“You were leaving, weren’t you, Mac?” Hannah said with faked politeness and gestured toward the door.

“Can I talk to you privately?”

“No. I have company.” She turned her attention back to the sweet woman.

Did he just growl? She almost laughed.

“Now, Mac, Hannah is nothing like that,” Sandy said, floating across the floor like a ballerina to entwine her arm in Mac’s. “Tonight is about a couple of ladies getting together for girl time. You don’t have to worry about me, you silly guy.”

Mac kept his eyes on Hannah’s. “Sweetheart, you’re not the one I’m worried about. You’re not trouble with a capital H.”

“Why don’t you leave now, Mac?” Hannah said, opening the door, standing with one hand on her hip. “I’d like to relax before getting ready to go out.”

“No problem.” Mac walked by her to the door then turned back. “You ladies have fun tonight. Stay out of trouble, brat.” He winked and then left. Just like that.

“Oh, the nerve of that man. I don’t know why I let him get to me the way he does,” Hannah said, pacing.

“Now, Hannah. Mac is the sweetest man I’ve ever known. Don’t be hard on him.”

“Then you don’t know too many men, Sandy. The man is rude, obnoxious, arrogant. Argh! I must be insane to have hired him. We’ll kill each other for sure.”

Sandy paled.

“Oh, Christ, Sandy. I’m only speaking out of temper. It’s a joke.”

“Okay.” Her wide eyes showed disbelief in the way they searched Hannah’s face. “Do you still want to go out tonight?”

“Absolutely. We said we’re having a girl’s night and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. If Mac thinks I’m trouble then I guess I better just go out and cause some then.”

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Six hours later Hannah had caused a lot of trouble. At ten o’clock at night, she sat in the sheriff’s jail cell. Her cellmate, Sandy, had just been sprung by her brother. Now Hannah awaited the one person she didn’t want to see to pick her up. Could her night get any worse?

When she and Sandy had walked into the Rodeo Bar & Grill for their ill-fated girl’s night out, Hannah had been looking forward to blowing off steam and having a good time. Sandy exuded too much sweetness for Hannah to worry about getting into any trouble with, but then again, Hannah had only ever needed herself to get into trouble. And tonight had been no different.

When Hannah had invited two cowboys to join her and Sandy, it had been in hopes of getting poor Sandy laid, since the girl obviously needed to have some action between the sheets. Sandy had been widowed two years earlier, and Hannah was sure she’d not had sex since. So in an attempt to get her new friend laid, Hannah invited over the cowboys who had already sent two drinks to their table. Hannah had made it clear she had no interest in them but her adorable friend could use some male companionship. All had occurred according to plan since one of the cowboys had indeed been infatuated with Sandy.

Thirty minutes later Hannah had become bored to death of listening to Sandy’s sugar-sweet life stories.

“Wanna dance?” a deep voice said from behind her.

Hannah had turned and gladly accepted the man’s offer. Unfortunately, Mr. Cowboy Number Two had decided to cut in, but the man refused. How was Hannah to know all hell was about to break loose?

When the fists flew Hannah heard Sandy scream, “Hannah, help!”

“Christ,” Hannah said, and ran to her side. But when Hannah’s ass got pinched she turned around to find the culprit, Mr. Cowboy Number Two.

“Hey, knock off the shit,” Hannah yelled over the commotion.

“Make me, darling,” the jerk said.

Now maybe she’d taken her temper out on him—the very temper Mac had put her in earlier—but at that moment she hadn’t cared. She’d hauled off and let her fist split the loser’s lip.

Hannah had ducked in time to miss a chair that flew over her head.

Sandy screamed some more. “Hannah. Hannah, help me.”

God, her squeaky, sugary voice could be heard over the hustle and bustle of the melee.

Hannah had climbed over men pounding each other bloody. When she had finally reached Sandy’s side, the poor girl had been crying and hysterical. Holding her hadn’t helped to calm her.

The sheriff and his deputies had arrived and quickly brought the scene under control. As luck would have it Mac’s brother Josh, of course, had been on duty. At least he’d personally taken care of her and Sandy.

“Now I don’t want to see you ladies in handcuffs,” Josh had said, grinning at Hannah.

Oh, how he’d loved her predicament, hadn’t he? “But I still have to place y’all in the back of my cruiser.”

“Why?” Hannah asked, her temper brimming to the edge with heat.

“Well, the bartender pointed you out as the cause of the trouble, so I’ve got to bring you in,” Josh said.

“He what? I didn’t start anything,” Hannah said before he drove them to the sheriff’s office.

Hannah refused to speak to Josh on the ride but when the sheriff met them at his department she had plenty to say. Once again she had worked herself up into a good temper. “Sheriff, this is inexcusable. Your deputy here took the stupid bartender’s side. I did nothing wrong.”

The sheriff walked her to the back. “You need to calm down, Ms. O’Leary. Or else.”

“Or else what?” she demanded.

He tossed her into a cell and slammed the door.

Her chin shot up. “I can see you have nothing better to do around here than arrest innocent women.”

“Don’t recall saying you were under arrest, my dear,” the sheriff said and walked back to his desk.

“Then why did you lock me up?” she’d said through gritted teeth.

“To cool that temper of yours down some. Now sit tight. And behave yourself.” The sheriff had plopped his fat ass into the chair.