“Sure have.” Peggy nodded. “Sarah told me he’s staying over at her place. Since the phone company sent workers to town she’s turned her place into a sort of bed-and-breakfast. You know that, right? I guess he asked around and people told him he could get lodging there. From what she told me, he’s a real charmer.” Then, curious, she asked, “So what’s he got to do with you?”
Blake’s mouth tightened like she didn’t want to talk about him but then she started and when she did, her eyes flashed with a fire Peggy hadn’t seen before. “He’s a charmer, all right. Charming as a snake.”
“Why, whatever do you mean? Do you know him?”
“That man is the reason I left Dallas and came to Pequoia.”
Ted gave a grunt and folded his arms over his paunch. “One of them heartbreaker kind of guys, huh?”
Blake heaved a sigh and then she shook her head. “It was more than that. We were business partners. He let me down.” That was as much as she was willing to share just then but there was one thing she had no hesitation in declaring. “I’ve got to get that man out of this town. Either he goes or I go but we’re both not staying in Pequoia.”
“But how are you going to get him to leave?” Peggy gave her a bewildered look. “We can’t exactly tar and feather him and run him out of town.”
Ted gave another grunt, a much more belligerent sound this time. “Want me to go over there and rough him up?”
That got him a glare from Peggy. “Will you be quiet? You’re not as young as you used to be, you know. And anyway, that’s no way to handle this.”
Blake shook her head. “I don’t want Ted to get involved. And Peggy, I’m just telling you this because you’re the mayor. I want you to be prepared if anything goes down between me and that snake.”
Peggy’s eyes widened. “What are you planning to do? I don’t like the sound of that, Blake. I don’t want you to do anything stupid.”
Blake waved a dismissive hand. “I’ll be fine. I won’t do anything illegal, if that’s what you’re worried about. I just plan to be ready in case he tries to get too close.”
Peggy narrowed her gaze. “Meaning?”
“Meaning, it’s time for me to run.” Blake pushed back her chair and got up, obviously eager to avoid interrogation, but Peggy wasn’t about to let her escape so easily.
“You sit right back down, Blake Beaumont. You’re not leaving until you explain yourself.” She gave the tabletop a smart pat.
"Aw, let her go, Peg. She’s got enough on her plate. She doesn’t need you nagging her, too.”
Peggy could have killed Ted. He’d gone and spoiled everything just when Blake looked like she would have sat down again. “You stay out of this, Ted.”
He surprised her when he ignored her command. He simply got up, walked over to where Blake stood then turned to smile down at her. “Be a sweetheart and put the coffee on till I get back,” he said. “I’m going to walk Blake home.”
He didn’t even wait for her to reply. As soon as Blake bid her goodbye Ted led the way to the front door, leaving Peggy sitting there at the kitchen table.
“Well,” she whispered as the door closed behind them. And then she got up, filled the percolator with water and plugged it in.
***
“Thanks, Ted, but you know you don’t have to do this, right? It’s not like it’s dark. I can walk home by myself.”
“Nothing doing, Blake. I said I’d see you home and that’s what I aim to do.” Ted’s tone was resolute which told her she wasn’t going to get rid of him that easily.
It wasn’t that Blake minded the company. She just didn’t want to put him out of his way, but since he insisted who was she to tell him no?
In the end, though, she was glad he was walking her home. Ted could be funny when he was in the mood and it looked like this was one of those times because he started telling her about an episode on the telephone company’s worksite that had her laughing.
“I told the kid not to climb up there without a harness,” he was saying as he strode along beside her. “But did he listen to me? Nah. I know what I’m doing, he says. Been doin’ this for nigh on a year.” Ted shook his head. “Next thing you know, it’s him I see tumbling off the ladder. I had to grab him on the way down before he broke his neck. I just had time to snag him by the seat of his pants and swing him over onto a pile of hay. He got a face full of grass but at least it broke his fall.” He shook his head again. “Dang fool.”
“I’m glad you were there to rescue him.” She reached over and gave Ted a congratulatory pat on the back. “I’m sure his mom is grateful.”
“Uh-huh. His supervisor, too. His boss chewed him out good. He didn’t even know the guy had gone up there without his harness.” He gave a hiss of annoyance. “The things you do when you’re young and stupid.” He’d just sucked in his breath to say something more when he frowned. “Expecting someone?”
Blake followed his gaze and found herself staring at a big, black and expensive-looking Mercedes Benz SUV parked in front of her building. Immediately, her heart tightened. Had Jerome decided to pay her another visit?
She didn’t have time to answer Ted’s question. He’d seen her face and the look there told him all he needed to know. He set off toward the vehicle, leaving her in his wake, and he was cracking his knuckles as he went. Ted must have totally forgotten Peggy’s warning because he looked like he was rearing for a fight.
There was no way Blake was going to let things get that far. She hurried to catch up. “Hold on. Let me handle this.”
“Not on your life. No man is going to come here and think he can bully you. Not in this town, he’s not.” Ted did not slow down. Within seconds he’d reached the SUV with Blake right by his side. It was when she skidded to a halt at the driver’s side that she got a good look at the person who sat there, and it was no Jerome Slater. Not by a long shot. The person who turned his head at her arrival, his eyes hidden behind the tinted lenses of sunglasses, was none other than Ryder Kent. Ryder was home.
“Ryder.”
At her gasp, his lips curled into that crooked smile she knew so well and then he raised his hand to lift his sunshades off his face and up onto the top of his head. “Blake.” There was a slight, almost imperceptible crack in his voice, but she heard it.