Stranger in Town (Dundee, Idaho #5)(42)
Author: Brenda Novak

Her tires crushed several pinecones as she turned into Gabe’s drive and headed through the trees that towered along both sides. She loved the dappled sunshine and the scents she encountered up here, even the ones associated with Gabe—especially the ones associated with Gabe. He was the kind of man who never smelled distinctly of cologne. She doubted he wore any. Generally, he smelled of freshly laundered clothes, warm skin, cool air and fresh-cut wood.

Spotting that handcrafted chair on his porch again, she smiled. He could do anything. She’d never seen furniture so—

Suddenly her smile faded. What was she thinking? He couldn’t walk or play football, which were the two things he wanted to do more than anything else. And he couldn’t do them because of her….

With a sigh, she cut the engine and got out. She should’ve moved away when her mother died. She should have gone to college somehow. She could have searched for grants, explored the possibility of student loans. She could have done any number of things.

Instead, she’d married Russ.

When she reached Gabe’s front door, she knocked loudly, then turned to gaze out over the yard. Because of a slight breeze, the weather was cooler today than it had been for the past week. She imagined Christmas here at the cabin, knew it’d look like a winter wonderland.

The minutes stretched, but she couldn’t hear Lazarus inside and no one came to the door. Where was Gabe? He knew she was coming and she could see his truck in the drive.

After another quick knock, she finally went around to the gate. Sure enough, as she drew closer, she could hear the grating of an electric saw. He was working in his shop.

She let herself into the backyard, where she found Lazarus lying on the porch at a relatively safe distance from the noise. He stood as though he wanted to greet her but didn’t approach when she veered toward the workshop, where Gabe was sitting, wearing a pair of goggles and cutting a thick piece of wood.

“Hello!” Hannah called out but he couldn’t hear her. When she deemed it safe, she touched his shoulder.

The sudden silence rang in her ears when he turned off the saw and lifted his goggles. He twisted to look up at her, but he didn’t smile. There was a hard edge to the set of his jaw, and she could see lines of tension in his face.

“Cleaning stuff’s in the house,” he said. “Door’s open.”

Hannah hesitated. Something was obviously wrong. After seeing him in such good humor last night, after talking freely with him and having him taunt her and tease her, this turn of mood stole all the warmth from the day.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Of course. I’m always okay.”

But he wasn’t. Hannah could tell he was trying for his usual façade of indifference, but for some reason he was struggling to pull it off today. The tension humming through him was almost palpable.

She certainly hadn’t expected such a drastic change in him. But emotion was normal, she reminded herself. This was what she wanted from him. Something real, even if it wasn’t nice. “You’re upset.”

He started to put his goggles back on, but she stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Why, Gabe?”

His eyes narrowed. “I can’t imagine.”

“You were fine last night. What happened?”

“Nothing new.”

“Does it have to do with your father?”

She felt the muscles of his arm bunch beneath her hand—right before he shook her off. “You might as well go home. The window thing…and dinner. It’s not going to work out today.”

“Maybe dinner’s not going to work out, but I can still do the windows,” she said.

“I don’t want you to.”

“Why not?”

No answer.

“Gabe, quit shutting me out,” she said gently. “We all hurt once in a while.”

The scowl that marred his good looks deepened. “I didn’t have time to make dinner.” He dug a twenty out of his wallet and tried giving it to her. “Here, get something in town.”

She batted his hand away. “I don’t want your money.”

“Fine.” He tossed the bill on a nearby table and started the saw again.

Despite the noise, Lazarus slunk closer. His wet nose nudged her palm, and he watched Gabe as though he sensed his master’s pain.

Hannah wanted to help Gabe. She just didn’t know how. He’d asked her to leave, but she knew if she did she’d probably never hear from him again, except maybe in the capacity of Kenny’s coach. He was trying to regroup, put the distance back into their relationship.

“Gabe.”

His dark head whipped around to look up at her. “Damn it, I said—”

“I know what you said,” she shouted because he hadn’t stopped the saw. “But I’m not leaving. I’m asking you not to make me suffer through any more of your unhappiness.”

The saw stopped.

Hannah’s heart pounded as Gabe stared up at her with a scorching anger in his eyes. But she didn’t regret what she’d said. If he wouldn’t pull out of his emotional nosedive for his own sake, maybe he’d do it for someone else. “Please?” she added softly.

He shook his head as if what she asked was too much for him.

Hannah meant to soothe him in a way she might have soothed Kenny or Brent. She needed to reassure him, to reassure herself that they could get through the aftermath of that damn accident. If only he’d open up, they could do it together. But when she bent forward to press her lips lightly to his forehead, she suddenly found his mouth instead. She wasn’t sure if she’d changed targets or he’d moved, but the next thing she knew, she was kissing him as though she’d rather die than stop.

CHAPTER TWELVE

IT HAD BEEN AGES since Gabe had kissed a woman. And it felt even longer. Almost at first contact, the anger that had simmered inside him since he’d left Finley’s Grocery rose up like a great tidal wave. As she parted her lips and welcomed the eager onslaught of his tongue, that anger seemed to crash into and ignite with the surprising passion of her response. For one fleeting second, he wanted to bite her, to hurt her the way he was hurting, to maim, to punish, to strike out. But that passed almost immediately. Then the anger and everything else distilled into one very primitive urge, and all he could think about was burying himself inside her. He imagined driving into her again and again, could almost feel his muscles shake with the strain, his nerves tense with the anticipation….