Falling for the Lawman by Ruth Logan Herne

Author:Ruth Logan Herne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-08-31T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“You don’t look ready.” Zach’s dubious voice held a strong note of misgiving.

Ready?

Piper turned from the computer, saw how clean and dressed up Zach was, and wanted to kick herself. They were supposed to go on a date tonight, but after this morning’s political bombshell, she’d assumed—wrongly, it seemed—that they’d be sitting home, pouting.

“Fifteen minutes.” He stepped through the door and tapped his watch. “We’ve got reservations and luckily I assumed you were running late when I saw you stomping in from the milking parlor twenty minutes ago.”

“Fifteen minutes? No way can I—”

“Fourteen. Clock’s ticking, Piper.”

He wasn’t taking no for an answer, and that made her feel good inside. Treasured.

She hurried upstairs, took the fastest shower ever, slipped into the second dress she owned since Zach had already seen the first one, and added an ankle bracelet to her left foot, earrings to her ears and a touch of mascara. She slid her feet into sling-back high heels, wondered if sandals might be better, decided against it because her toes looked horrible, and was back downstairs in the allotted time.

Zach whistled. “Impressive.”

“The timing or the girl?”

“Both. But mostly the girl.”

His eyes added certainty to the words, and that made a flush rise up from somewhere deep within her. When Zach offered a compliment, the weight of sincerity made it special.

She’d never experienced that before and decided she loved it. Honesty, appreciation and a sense of humor, rolled into one great cop, heart and soul.

A keeper.

Was he?

He offered her his arm in a most courtly fashion.

She accepted it and proceeded down the back steps with him.

“Trooper Zach and Piper, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” a neighbor girl spelled out from a table near the ice cream window. “First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes a baby in a baby carriage!”

“Junie!”

Zach opened the door to his SUV for Piper and waved to the mother. “Nothing I haven’t been thinking myself, ma’am.”

“Do tell.” The young mother saw Piper’s look and laughed out loud. “Trooper, I do believe you’ve struck Piper speechless and that’s a rarity around here.”

“Almost as good as sighting an evening grosbeak before the leaves have fallen.”

“You’re a bird-watcher?” Piper leaned out the open window of the SUV.

Zach tipped his head to Junie’s mother, grinned and climbed into the driver’s seat. “I prefer the term ‘birder,’ but yes. I am. Check the glove box.”

Piper hit the latch. The glove box held several books about birds, with detailed pictures and descriptions. “Whoa. You are a birder. For real.”

He steered the SUV down the drive and onto the road, then tapped the console box between them. “Equipment.”

She sent him a funny look, then opened the box. Two pairs of binoculars sat inside, clearly well-used. “When do you do this?”

“When I need time to think. To pray. To figure things out.”

“Do you hate my barn cats?” she wondered out loud. “Because their primary job is to catch rodents. Rats, mice, moles and the occasional dead snake don’t bother me at all, but they do catch birds now and again.

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