Because of Audrey

How many ways was he a failure these days? Too many to count.

* * *

GRAY DRUMMED HIS fingers on the steering wheel of his Dad’s old Volvo and cursed the vehicle from here to eternity.

It had broken down halfway between Accord and Denver. For twenty minutes, he’d been waiting for the tow truck he’d called. Time was passing, and it didn’t look as if he’d make it into Denver today, leaving another day without this blackmail issue settled one way or the other.

Sure, he could wait for the DNA results, but for how long? Since he didn’t trust the woman, he planned to stop at a lab in Denver to pick up a test kit on his way to her home and have her do it in front of him. How she could cheat was beyond him, but he wasn’t taking chances. And, today, he could see her, test her with questions, judge her responses. Maybe denounce her outright and put the issue to bed, so he could move ahead with the other problems in his life.

“Action,” he stated aloud. Life was about action. Business was all about making incisive timely decisions, and here he was sitting on the side of the highway, stymied.

When he noticed his fingers doing their neurotic dance, he grasped the steering wheel to stop them. He couldn’t sit still these days. Ants crawled under his flesh.

Where had his cool, calm manner gone? Where had he gone?

A vehicle pulled to a stop on the shoulder of the highway in front of him. Not a tow truck. A hot-pink Mini.

A woman got out.

Audrey.

Of course, it had to be Audrey. It couldn’t have been someone he liked, or at the very least, someone with whom he wasn’t fighting.

She ran along the shoulder, careful, he noted, to approach on the passenger side away from traffic, calling, “Harrison?” In response to the concern on her face, he immediately rolled down the window. When she saw that it was he who was stranded and not his father, her expression eased.

“Get in,” he said.

She climbed in slowly, as though reluctant to join him.

“What happened?” she asked as she sat next to him, bringing with her a cloud of her gorgeous heady perfume.

A momentary shame, a memory of how he’d left her yesterday, flooded him. In her shop, he’d scared her, and it showed now on her face. Untrusting, she crowded the door.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

At her puzzled frown, he continued, “For frightening you yesterday. I did, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did. I hadn’t thought you were that kind of person.”

That shame burned a hot spot in his chest, and he said, “I’m not. I’m under a lot of pressure these days.” He glanced at her and then quickly away. “But that’s no excuse. Sorry.”

“Okay.”

He could feel the lovely heat of her full body warming his right arm even though she was a couple of feet away from him. Her face, though? That was pure, innocent. Did she understand what she did to men? Did she get how sexy that contrast was?

He looked out his window toward the cars streaming past them, counting them, doing anything to distract himself from her as a woman. And God, she was a woman.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“Denver.”

Denver. Exactly where he needed to be today.

“For the day or overnight?” he asked.

“Just for a couple of hours. I’m interviewing occupational therapists for my dad.”

“Dad says Jeff’s got macular degeneration.”

“Yes. He has trouble doing anything on his own, and I need someone to come in to train him to take care of himself. I’m trying to build up my business. I’m away from the house hours on end every day.”

Must have been tough to deal with. Gray still had his reservations about paying Jeff a retirement rather than making the man go on disability. He planned to pay Jeff a visit one day soon to determine how severe his vision problem was. No need to share that with Audrey, though. No sense in giving them a warning that he was coming. He needed to know exactly how bad or how good Jeff was. Was the retirement really necessary?

Audrey was going to be in Denver for only a couple of hours, but that was all he would need to determine whether the woman blackmailing Dad was a fake.

If he asked to hitch a ride with Audrey, would she ask what he was doing in Denver? Did it matter? He could always lie.

Despite plotting behind her back to check out her father, he asked, “How would you feel about having company for the drive?”

“You?” He heard the glint of humor in her voice. She had a beautiful smile that lit up the interior of the car. “I don’t mind, but on one condition.”

Gray tensed. “What?”

“No talk about my selling the land. No pressure. No mention of it at all.”

He glanced at her and noted signs of tension around her mouth and eyes, despite the humor. She had issues, too. Worry about her dad, he guessed. If it was more than that, he didn’t want to know. They were on opposite sides of a business battle, and that precluded any and all intimacy, including simple curiosity about her life. Enough said. He ignored the tension on her face.

“No talk of selling.” He’d pushed her yesterday. She’d said no. If the blackmailing woman he talked to today was a fake, some of the pressure would be off. He could take his time persuading Audrey to sell for the future benefit of his parents and Turner Lumber.

“I’m waiting for a tow truck. Are you in a rush?”

“I have an appointment, but I have a little ti—”

At that moment, they heard the truck pull up behind them.

Gray got out to talk to the driver, who popped the Volvo’s hood and looked at the engine.

He tested the battery and it was fine.

“Not sure what your problem is,” he said. “Maybe the alternator.”

“My parents need a newer car.”

“Hey,” the guy responded. “These things happen to all cars. This one’s in good shape. You should see some of the junk I’ve picked up off the roads. This car’s been cherished.”

Yes, Gray knew that. His dad took care of his vehicles, and they lasted forever. Too bad it had to break down today, though.

“Do you want it towed to Denver?” the tow truck driver asked. “My buddy’s got a shop. He does great work.”