Heiress for Hire (22 page)

"Oh, there she is!" Amanda pointed toward the gravel driveway. "Baby, honey, are you okay? Don't move, Mommy's coming to get you."

The dog yipped, and Danny let out a sigh of relief. That he cut short when he glanced at the sky. Not good. "Uhh… Amanda, you might want to hurry."

"What? Why?" She picked up the pace in the rubber boots.

Danny started to run, though he was a good hundred feet behind her. "The hawks!" They were circling, three of them, probably thinking Baby was a big mouse or a rabbit.

"Hawks?" Amanda screamed, already running with an odd loping sort of gait before she stumbled to a stop, kicked the boots off and started running like an Olympic track star.

She was an orange blur, screaming the whole way with some sort of warrior cry. Danny might have admired it except he was afraid Amanda was going to get one nasty initiation into farm life and see her puppy snatched up right in front of her by a predator.

His boots ate up the distance between them, and he was only two steps behind her when he saw one of the hawks dive. "Get down!" He tried to push her aside, but she smacked at him.

The dog was barking, Amanda was screaming, and Danny was trying to reach Baby around Amanda's flailing arms, when she suddenly launched herself through the air and landed on the gravel with a loud crunch and smack.

Her body covered Baby in a cocoon right as the hawk descended, talons open, and screeched in outrage. The bird tried to stop and reverse but managed to slice a claw right across Amanda's shoulder as Danny knocked the thing back with his fist.

Feathers flew, blond hair whipped around, and blood beaded on Amanda's bronze skin as the hawk retreated.

Danny made sure the hawk wasn't coming in for a second dive before he turned and dropped to his knees next to Amanda and touched her back. "Alright, you're okay, he's gone."

She was shaking and sucking in her breath with long raspy gasps, but she managed to say, "Nobody messes with my dog."

Danny's heart was thumping about a thousand beats a minute, and he shook his head. "Jesus. I guess not, Princess." He laughed in relief. "That is one lucky poodle."

Amanda sat up and shook her hair back. Baby was clutched in her trembling hands, and the damn dog looked oblivious. Her tongue lolled on her chin, and she gave a yip of excitement when she saw Danny. The only sign of her near-death experience was her orange hair bow, which was drooping to one side, and some grass clinging to her striped doggy T-shirt.

He lifted Baby out of Amanda's hold with one hand and wrapped the leash firmly around his wrist. He dropped the dog to the ground and reached back for Amanda. "Come on, sugar, let's get you cleaned up."

"Everything stings," she said, as she took his hand. "Ow. Ow. Ow."

Danny saw her knees when she straightened up, and he whistled. "Took a top layer of your skin clean off."

She looked down at the bloody, dusty, gravel-pocked mess her knees and shins were. "Eewww. No wonder it hurts like hell. And my shoulder feels like my finger did when I cut it with the nail scissors then accidentally spilled half a bottle of nail polish remover on it."

"The hawk clipped you." Danny tried to sound calm, but he was feeling a little sick. He wouldn't have been able to forgive himself if Amanda or her dog had been seriously hurt. As it was, she looked like she had taken a dirt bath. "Can you walk, or do you want me to carry you?"

That drew a snort of amusement from her as she gingerly took a step. "I'm five foot ten. Carrying me is not an easy feat."

"I've carried bales of hay that weigh more than you." He wasn't lying. Meringue was probably heavier than she was.

"Is that supposed to impress me?" She took another step while he wrapped his arm around her waist in case she went down.

"It's just a fact, that all." Their hips bumped and Danny jerked left, trying to adjust so he wouldn't bruise her up any worse. Only he was still holding her and she was taking small steps, so they wound up knocking into each other even harder.

"We're doing the bump," she said, with a forced laugh. "Are we having a seventies moment?"

No, he was having a serious moment. Looking over at her, a feather sticking out of her hair, her eyes wide and glassy, her lips cracked and dusty, her chest dangerously close to popping out of her dress like twin water balloons, Danny saw an amazing woman.

"That was brave, you know, diving onto the dog like that." It had done things to his insides—was still doing things—to see her risk herself for someone else. Amanda was a caring person, though somehow he had the feeling that she had never been cared for.

He wanted to find out about her, understand, hear what her life had been like. He was starting to suspect that all that money hadn't bought a whole lot of attention or affection for Amanda from her parents. There was a look she sometimes had, beneath that sneer, that just ached with want.

He could see it in her when she looked at Piper.

And he didn't think she even knew it.

"Stupid is probably more accurate than brave." Amanda limped alongside of him, wincing. "But truthfully, if I had to do it again, I would. I mean, I couldn't let that thing hurt Baby. She's just the sweetest little pumpkin… and I would do anything to keep her from getting hurt."

She looked at him then, thoughtful, a slight smile playing around the edge of her lips. "You would have done it too. I know you would have. You were trying to get around me to save her."

Danny shrugged. "I wouldn't want to see an innocent dog get killed either."

"You're just a big marshmallow, aren't you?"

That wasn't any big secret. He had always been something of a sucker. "Maybe that's why I could never get the girls. They don't want nice guys. Too boring."

"You're lying. You were probably homecoming king, all-star football player, everyone's friend. I bet the girls were throwing themselves at you."

"Nope. Just Shelby. And that took some convincing. I'm telling you, women are the same as girls—they don't want Mr. Unexciting." Hadn't Shelby told him that in so many words when he'd suggested they get back together at the beginning of the summer? Right about the time Boston and then Amanda had strolled into town?

Danny didn't begrudge Shelby her happiness with Boston—he cared about her and wanted her to have whatever she wanted. But the truth was, Danny was dull, and he knew it.

Amanda stopped walking and shrugged her shoulder, wincing at the pain. She stared him straight in the eye. "Mr. Exciting isn't all he's cracked up to be. Some women would prefer to find Mr. Dependable, Mr. Honest, or Mr. Unselfish."

All three of those described him, or at least he liked to think they did.

But he didn't have a chance to respond, because his mother had come out of his house and was standing with her hand over her eyes.

"What the hell was all that ruckus about? You scared Piper half to death."

"Where is she?" Danny picked up the pace, wanting to reassure his daughter.

"In the house, showing your father her Barbies." Willie shook her head. "Never thought I'd see Daniel down on the floor playing with a doll, but he's taken with that little girl."

Then she took in Amanda's appearance. "You fall in the yard wearing those high heels of yours?"

"No," Amanda said in a tight voice. "I was attacked by a hawk."

"What? You're joking." His mother looked Amanda up and down with a raised eyebrow.

"No, she's not. Her dog was in the drive and a hawk swooped down looking for a little lunch."

To his mother's credit, she didn't laugh, though he suspected she wanted to. "Dog okay?"

"Yes." And Baby gave a bark of excitement to prove the point, rushing toward the door when she saw Piper emerge.

"What happened to you?" Piper looked horrified.

"It's a long story," Amanda said, leaning on his arm. "One I'll tell you later after I've recovered with a full-day spa package including Swedish massage and a soothing facial, all while sipping a giant mocha latte."

Willie and Piper just stared at her. Amanda sighed. "Or not. Maybe I'll just wash my knees and get on with it."

"Don't be a fool," his mother said. "Your shoulder is sliced clean open. Get in the house, and I'll clean you up."

Amanda hesitated. Looked to Danny for guidance. He nodded. Though she had a gruff approach, his mother was a good nurse in situations like these. Better than him—his hands were too big and clumsy, and blood didn't always sit right with him. He could slaughter a chicken and never blink, but give him a little human bleeding, and it was iffy.

His mother shouted, "Get! Now! In the house."

Amanda jumped. "All right. Sheesh. Hold your horses. Or cows or chickens or whatever. I'm not my usual speedy self today."

When she limped to the door, she put her hand on Piper's back and rubbed it. "I'm pretty tough, aren't I, kid? I tried to tell your dad, but he wouldn't listen. So I showed him instead."

And Danny couldn't help but grin. She had grit, Amanda Delmar.

Willie sized up the blonde as she perched on the toilet lid.

She was a mess. Dirt and twigs in her hair, dust covering her from head to toe, and grass blades clinging to the terrycloth of her dress. Her feet were dusty and brown, her knees had gravel imbedded in them, and her shoulder was smeared with a sluggish stream of blood from a two-inch scratch.

No tears. No complaining. Just impatience and a haughty look like she wanted to be done with the whole thing.

Willie had to reassess her opinion of the girl just a little. She wasn't a whiner, and she was loyal to her dog. That said something about a woman.

She got out a washcloth, lathered it up, and set it on the counter next to bandages and antibacterial gel. "I guess we forgot to mention the hawks."

"I guess so," she said dryly.

"We didn't used to have any around here, but in the last few years we've seen their numbers go up. They keep the mice and moles down, so they're helpful. But they have been known to make off with a small dog or two."

Amanda shuddered.

Willie adjusted her reading glasses—wasn't fifty too damn young to wear reading glasses?—and started in with the tweezers.

"Ow! Shit, that stings."

Now the whining started. "You want me to leave the gravel in? Let skin form around it, so it gets infected and you have white knots of pus on your knee that the doctor eventually has to lance open and suck out?"

That shut her up. The blonde tucked her palms under her legs and pursed her lips closed.

Willie quickly picked out gravel with the tweezers, dropping the bits into the wastebasket she'd moved next to her feet. "Funny thing about the hawks… my nephew Owen got married two years ago to a real piece of work. Thought she was something. But we saw through her—she couldn't look any of us in the eye, if you know what I mean."

"Oh, I know what you mean."

And given the tone of Amanda's voice, Willie was certain she did.

"But Owen, he was determined. He thought we were a bunch of nosy old women and what did we know? So she plans this whole big ridiculous wedding, with limos and tuxedos and doves. Can you imagine? She said the pair of doves represented their love and should be released on the steps of the church after the ceremony. So they hired this handler to let those rented doves loose."

It still made her chuckle just thinking about it. "And off this perfect pair of white doves goes up into the summer sky… and one of them gets picked off by a hawk not sixty seconds after their release."