by Lori Wilde
Erin smiled at his nonsense. What was it about Trent Barrett that could make her weak in the knees one second and laughing the next? The man certainly was fun to be around, but Erin had the scarred heart to prove that fun men were the most dangerous kind. They’d break your heart, usually without meaning to, but they’d break it just the same.
“I think I’m going to go inside now,” Erin told him, her smile long since gone. “Again, thank you.”
Behind her, she heard Leigh ask, “For what? The kiss?” Then Leigh laughed again.
“I don’t suppose there’s any way you could arrest her, is there?” Erin asked Trent.
Trent scratched his jaw and said, “Man, if I could, I would. Have a nice day.”
With that, he headed back toward the police station. Erin watched him go, at least she did until she realized that two ladies outside of Roy’s Cafe were checking him out as he walked by. One of them even let out a wolf whistle that made Trent laugh.
Behind her, Erin could hear Leigh sputtering with laughter, too.
What kind of town was this? What made the people here act this way?
And what was she going to do if it was contagious?
5
“Now that’s a heartwarming sight, a man and his dog.”
Trent was walking Brutus to the Wednesday night dog obedience class and so far, every person he’d met in town had felt obligated to comment on his dog. He glanced up, not a bit surprised to see his brother Nathan was the doofus this time.
“Yeah, well, at least dogs like me,” Trent shot back. He smiled at Nathan’s fiancée, Emma Montgomery. Emma leaned down and petted Brutus.
“He’s a cute dog,” she said.
Brutus, sensing praise, launched into a series of flips, hops, yips, and yaps. Way to be dignified.
Hoping to distract his brother from Brutus’ behavior, Trent asked, “What brings you two downtown tonight?”
They shared a grin, and Trent’s internal antenna went up.
“We’re out for a stroll. You know, take in the sights,” Nathan said, the grin still lurking around his mouth.
“Dang it all, Nathan, what are you up to? I already have more trouble with Leigh than ten men and a saint could handle. I sure don’t need you messing with me.”
Nathan laughed. “I said we were out for a stroll. That’s all. Ease off, there, Chief.”
Trent looked at Emma, hoping that since the woman wasn’t part of his lamebrain family yet that she was maintaining some sort of control over the man she intended on marrying. “Is that true, Emma? Are you two simply taking a walk?”
Emma looked from Trent to Nathan then back to Trent. Ah, hell, something really was up.
“We are walking,” was all she said.
Trent turned to his brother. “Where? Where are you walking to?”
Nathan’s grin grew. “Oh, you know, here and there. Here to the ice cream parlor for a cone. Then maybe later, we’ll go there.”
Trent gave his brother his meanest, most effective narrowed-eyed look. As usual, Nathan didn’t bat an eye. “Where’s there, Nathan?”
“Emma and I thought we might stop by Precious Pets to see how your puppy training lessons are going. Leigh says your dog is having some problems keeping up with the rest of the class. Maybe after Emma and I watch for a while, we can give you some pointers. Purely in the interest of helping Brutus, of course.”
Trent would rather be dipped in honey and strapped to an ant pile. And he didn’t believe for a second that Nathan’s interest was in the dog. His brother wanted to meet Erin. No doubt Leigh had been spinning all sorts of tales about the two of them. She’d probably already told most of the town about the kiss.
Great. Just what he needed. An audience. “You’re wasting your time, Nathan,” he said as he steered Brutus toward Precious Pets. “Erin’s helping me with Brutus. There’s nothing going on between us, so there’s no reason for you to stop by to meet her.”
Once again, Emma and Nathan shared a look that spoke volumes. They didn’t believe for a second that there wasn’t something going on.
“I like to meet new people,” Emma said. “Erin sounds like an interesting person.”
Trent liked his soon-to-be sister-in-law, but she wasn’t a very good liar. The two of them were taking a stroll all right, a stroll right to Erin’s shop.
“You’re wasting your time,” he said. “For starters, Brutus isn’t doing that badly, so there’s nothing interesting to watch.”
“I think I’d like to take a look at the shop,” Nathan said. “I’m always interested in new businesses coming to Honey.”
Nathan owned Barrett Software, the largest employer in town. Although Trent knew Nathan encouraged and helped other businesses, he also knew his brother’s visit this evening had nothing to do with chamber of commerce goodwill and everything to do with the Barrett ornery streak. He and his brothers and sister had a history of butting into each other’s lives. Most of the time, he thought it was a good idea. After all, they loved each other enough to care.
But being on the receiving end of that ornery streak was pretty darn annoying.
Trent had reached the outside of Precious Pets. Hoping to get this over with quickly, he shoved open the door and waved at the interior of the store. “This is Precious Pets. That’s the owner, Erin. The other people standing there staring at us are the members of Brutus’ obedience class. Now you’ve seen everything there is to see. You might as well head on over to the ice cream shop.”
But naturally, it wasn’t that easy. Nathan and Emma insisted on going inside to meet Erin. Left with no choice, Trent followed them inside and introduced them to the petite brunette.
Erin shook their hands. “It’s really nice to meet both of you. Leigh mentioned your wedding is in a few weeks. You must be busy.”
“Yes. But it’s wonderful.” Emma snuggled against Nathan, who proceeded to get a goofy look on his face.
Trent tried to resist the urge to roll his eyes but failed. At least he did manage to keep his mouth shut, but it wasn’t easy.
“We hear you’re helping Trent,” Nathan said, cutting a devious look in Trent’s direction.
Trent frowned at his brother. “Don’t you have someplace you need to be?”
A lazy grin crossed Nathan’s face. “Nope. I’m all clear. Thanks for thinking of me, though.” He turned back to Erin. “I know you’re new in town, so Emma and I would love it if you would come to our wedding. You can get Trent to show you where the church is, and the reception is going to be at our house. And if Trent minds his manners, he can come to the wedding, too.”
“Cute, real cute,” he said, shooting Nathan a narrow-eyed look.
After first making a mental note to disown Nathan, Trent decided if he couldn’t get rid of his meddling brother, then Brutus sure could. With a nudge of his foot, he got Brutus to shift toward Nathan. Spotting shoelaces, Brutus pounced on Nathan’s running shoes and set to work gnawing his little heart out.
Good dog.
“Whoa, fella, you’ve got manners as bad as your old dad.” Nathan leaned down and scooped the puppy up. “Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you,” he said to Erin. “Think you can handle these two, or should we call in some zookeepers for reinforcements?”
“I’ll manage,” Erin said with a laugh, and Trent would have resented it if the sound of her laughter hadn’t been silky and sexy and enticing. He found himself hoping she’d laugh some more because he found it as appealing as Brutus found shoelaces.
“I think Erin has everything under control,” Emma said, pulling Trent’s attention back to the conversation.
Deciding he was tired of this game, Trent snagged his puppy away from Nathan. “I think y’all have enjoyed yourself enough for one evening. Now excuse us because Brutus and I have a class to attend.”
He set Brutus down. “Come on, furball.” Then he headed toward the back of the shop to the area where Erin held the lessons. Miracle of miracles, Brutus actu
ally trotted after him for once.
Behind him, he heard his brother laugh, but shoot, he didn’t care. Just because Nathan had gone sappy and fallen in love didn’t give him the right to go meddling in other people’s lives. And Chase and Leigh were just as bad. Yeah, Erin was cute. And smart. And funny. That didn’t mean he was going to fall in love with her. Heck, he wasn’t going to fall in love with anyone. Like it or not, his family needed to jettison their plan and soon. Because if this kept up, he was going to find himself a new family.
And next time, he’d pick one that wasn’t insane.
“Wow, you certainly have a sweet tooth. If I ate that much candy, I’d get so big, I’d form my own gravitational pull. You must have one heck of a metabolism.”
Erin recognized the voice immediately. Turning, she found Leigh Barrett standing behind her in line. “Hi, Leigh. How are you?”
Leigh grinned. “Great. So what’s up with all the candy?”
Erin wasn’t sure what they were talking about, which was a fairly common situation for her since coming to Honey. “Candy?”
The younger woman pointed at Erin’s grocery cart. “You’ve got quite a selection there.”
What in the world was she—
Erin glanced at her cart, then stared in stunned silence at the contents. Leigh hadn’t been kidding. Seven or eight bags of chocolate candy sat on the top.
Erin scooted the candy aside to see if this really was her cart. Maybe she’d grabbed the wrong one. She’d stopped for a couple of minutes to talk to Delia, then she’d come right here to the checkout line. Maybe she’d gotten mixed up when she’d returned to her cart.
A quick glance at the other contents proved that she hadn’t. This was her cart, but someone had put several bags of candy in it.
How weird.
“My favorites are the ones with caramel centers. But I like the peanut butter ones, too.” Leigh leaned past Erin and said, “Ooooh, I like those nut clusters as well. Are you in a major funk and that’s why you’re buying so much chocolate? I always eat chocolate when I’m down.”
Erin pulled her attention away from the contents of her cart and looked at Leigh. “You get depressed? When? It doesn’t seem possible.”
Leigh laughed. “You’re right. I don’t get down too often. I’m an upbeat person by nature.”
Upbeat. Offbeat. Both described Leigh. “I don’t tend to get down too often, either,” Erin said.
“So what’s with all the chocolate, then?”
That’s what Erin was trying to figure out. “I didn’t put this candy in my cart,” she said, lifting it out. “I think someone else did.”
Erin surveyed the store. No one was watching her, but she couldn’t help wondering if the candy had been deliberately put in her cart. Was this another little gift like Pookie, the birdhouse, and the flowers? Or was she simply letting her imagination run away with her?
She honestly didn’t know.
She looked down at the candy. Maybe this was another of those instances. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more doubtful it seemed that someone had done this deliberately. For starters, the store was crowded, so mixing up carts would be easy. It had to be an innocent mistake.
Didn’t it?
“Don’t worry about the candy. Just set it here on the side. They’ll put it back on the shelf.”
“Thanks.” Erin set the candy aside, still puzzled. “It just seems odd.”
“I wouldn’t think anything of it. This sort of thing happens to me all the time,” Leigh said. “I once found a pregnancy test kit in my cart. The cashier was a friend from high school, and she noticed the box before I did. She told the carryout, who told the store manager, and before I could say ‘are you out of your mind?’ the whole store knew. Thankfully, Elsie VanDerHauffen was still in the store and quickly explained that the kit was hers.” Leigh rolled her eyes. “Boy, did that cause a stir because Elsie’s husband was away working on an oil rig in the Gulf and hadn’t been home in eleven months. I mean, come on, how could she be pregnant, right?”
Leigh paused, and Erin stared at her. What in the world was she talking about? But since Leigh seemed to expect some sort of response, the best Erin could manage was, “Huh?”
With a laugh, Leigh continued. “Lost you there, didn’t I? Anyway, turns out Elsie and Bemie, that’s her husband, had gone on a second honeymoon at some motel near Galveston, and she hadn’t breathed a word to anyone. But now everyone knew. So, you see my point.”
“Not even remotely,” Erin admitted.
“Someone put the candy in your cart by mistake,” Leigh said. “Just like Elsie put her stuff in my cart by mistake. Just consider yourself lucky you won’t have to worry about three brothers having simultaneous strokes like I had to. For a second there when I couldn’t convince anyone the pregnancy test kit wasn’t mine, well, let’s just say things looked bleak. All you have is a few bags of candy. No one’s going to start any rumors about you. Well, not exciting ones. Having a sweet tooth is nothing compared to having a surprise baby, so consider yourself lucky.”
When Leigh put it like that, Erin had to admit the candy didn’t seem suspicious at all. “I’m sure that’s what happened. Someone put it there by mistake.”
After putting the rest of her groceries on the counter, she told Leigh, “For a second there, I thought someone might have put the candy in my cart deliberately.”
Leigh frowned. “Now why would someone want to make you fat?” Suddenly, her expression brightened. “You mean this could be some sort of revenge thing. Wow. Wouldn’t that be something? Nothing exciting ever happens in Honey, and boy, don’t I know it. Most days this town is about as exciting as watching dirt age. Maybe you’ll bring some excitement to this town. First, there was Pookie. Then the birdhouse. And finally, the weeds thing—but to tell you the truth, I’m still not sure that meant anything. And now the candy.” She grinned. “You haven’t stolen anyone’s husband lately by any chance? Maybe someone’s trying to get back at you.”
“Of course I haven’t.” Erin drew a deep, calming breath into her lungs when Leigh looked disappointed. There was no way that Erin believed for a second that any town in which the Barrett family lived would be boring. “I just thought the candy might be—”
“A present from a secret admirer.” Leigh studied the bags of candy Erin had set aside. “They could be, I guess. But knowing how boring this place is, I think a mix-up is the more likely scenario. Still, you should tell Trent.”
Yes, telling Trent sounded like the most reasonable thing to do. And ever since Nathan and Emma had stopped by the store over a week ago, Trent had been a complete gentleman in class. Well, at least as much of a gentleman as a man like Trent could be. He still had that rogue’s gleam in his eyes whenever he looked at her, but he’d kept his hands and his lips to himself.
For Trent, that was excellent behavior.
“I think I’ll stop by the station on my way home and talk this over with Trent,” Erin told Leigh. “Just to let him know.”
“Sounds good. But Trent isn’t at the station. He’s already left for the day. Why don’t you swing by his house and tell him?”
“I couldn’t simply drop by. That would be rude.” More than that, she might end up interrupting something like a dinner party or worse, a date. “I’ll stop by his office tomorrow or the next day and tell him.”
Leigh seemed perplexed by Erin’s answer. “Why would stopping by his house be rude? This is Honey. People stop by to say hi all the time.” She opened her gargantuan purse and started digging through it. “Hold on a sec.”
Erin hadn’t a clue why, but Leigh seemed so deep in thought that she hated to interrupt her. Still, once the other young woman finally found whatever it was she was searching for, Erin intended on explaining that even though the residents of Honey might drop in on each other unannounced all the time, it wasn’t the sort of thing she was used to doing. Having grown up in a family with three sisters, she valued her privacy and
figured other people valued theirs as well.
Even people who lived in Honey.
With a flourish, Leigh yanked her cell phone out of her purse, and before Erin could do much to protest, she called Trent.
“Heads-up. Erin’s on her way over to your house,” Leigh said. Then she hung up. “There you go. All set.”
Erin barely managed to keep her mouth from falling open. At no point in the brief conversation were the words “can Erin stop by” or “would you mind” used.
Flat-out amazed by the other woman’s approach, Erin pointed out, “You didn’t ask him if I could come over. You told him. What if he’d rather I not stop by?”
“Why wouldn’t he want you to stop by? No offense, Erin, but you’re thinking way too much about this. Folks around here expect people to stop by at all times; otherwise, they wouldn’t live in Honey. They’d live someplace like Dallas or Houston where people only come over when invited.”
Leigh said the last sentence with so much distaste in her voice that Erin clearly understood that impromptu visits were considered a definite perk to small-town living. At least they were to Trent’s sister. Always a firm believer in fitting in with the natives, Erin made a mental note to not be surprised if people started showing up unannounced on her doorstep.
And as far as going to Trent’s house went, well, he had been informed, so her visit would no longer be a surprise. “I guess I can stop by for a couple of minutes,” Erin relented. “I’m sure he won’t mind.”
“Of course he won’t,” Leigh said, bobbing her head. “And if he’s got a girl or two over there, you tell them to take a hike. You’re there on official business, so they can chase after him some other time.”
Erin froze. Surely Leigh was kidding. But from the look on the young woman’s face, she realized Leigh was serious. She honestly thought Erin might run into young women at Trent’s house.
Maybe going to see him wasn’t such a good idea after all. “On second thought, why don’t I just call Trent when I get home? I can tell him everything over the phone.”