Trouble in Paradise

by Hatcher, Robin Lee

  It’ll be good practice for when I have kids of my own.

  But when, if ever, was that going to happen? He was thirty-five years old. Thirty-five, widowed, and not seeing anyone at present.

  Nat had taken his time after Joanne’s death before he tried entering the dating scene, and when he did think he was ready, he’d found there weren’t many women out there who interested him. Mostly that was because of his newfound Christian faith. He wanted a relationship where both man and woman embraced things like chastity, fidelity and the desire to make an until-death-do-you-part commitment. He’d been surprised to find how those requirements severely limited his choices, even in the Christian community.

  The image of his slightly odd but definitely cute neighbor drifted into his thoughts. He’d noticed her Bible when seated beside her in church that morning. The leather-bound book was well-worn, its pages highlighted and underlined with dates and comments written in the margins. He’d also noticed the smile that had curved her rose-tinted lips as she lifted her voice in song.

  Most appealing.

  He gave his head a quick shake. What was he thinking? Shayla Vincent? She was the last woman he’d want to get involved with. She might be a believer, but she was also a city girl from a place that almost never saw snow. The chances of her sticking it out in Rainbow Valley through a hard winter were slim to none.

  No, sir. When the time came, God would bring the right woman into his life. Nat would be patient and wait.

  * * *

  With smoke billowing behind her, Shayla raced through the front door, carrying a charred roast in its pot. Eyes watering and throat smarting, she tossed the ruined meat over the deck railing, dropped the pot and oven mitts onto the deck, then sank onto the top step, fighting the urge to dissolve into tears of frustration.

  “Don’t like well-done beef?”

  She looked up to find Nat O’Connell leaning his hip against his pickup, arms crossed over his chest. A half smile curved his mouth, and his eyes twinkled with amusement.

  It figured he would be present to see what happened. He seemed to show up during her worst moments, didn’t he?

  “The oven overheated,” she explained.

  He pushed off the truck and strode toward her.

  “The whole place isn’t going to burn down while we talk, is it?”

  “No.” She glanced over her shoulder. The smoke was beginning to clear. “But maybe it should,” she added with a note of disgust.

  “Why don’t I check it out?”

  “Be my guest.” She didn’t bother to rise. Merely slid to one side so he could get past her.

  One more thing needing repair. One more drain on the inheritance that had seemed bountiful when she received it but now seemed inadequate. She could almost hear her mother saying, Come home, dear, where you belong.

  She pressed the heels of her hands against her closed eyes, her elbows resting on her thighs.

  “I opened the windows,” Nat told her a short while later. He sat down on the step next to her. “It’s the thermostat, I think. Or maybe the element. Shouldn’t be too expensive to replace.”

  She straightened and looked toward him. “Even for a stove that old?”

  “We’ll get it fixed. Don’t worry.”

  Don’t worry. Easy for him to say.

  “I’ll run into town as soon as the hardware store opens in the morning. With luck, Ed will have the part in stock. Plenty of old stoves in this valley.”

  “You don’t have to do that. If you tell me what I need—”

  “Glad to do it.” He patted her shoulder and smiled. “And since you’ll be busy cleaning my house all this next week, you sure aren’t going to have time for it.”

  Her heart started doing a little soft-shoe routine in her chest, then burst into overdrive. Her body felt too warm, the heat radiating from where his hand had touched her.

  “Nearly forgot what brought me over.” He straightened. “I was thinking this afternoon about you being in this cabin all by yourself and wondered if you might like some company.”

  Was he saying he wanted to be with her? Her pulse quickened even more.

  “I’ve got some sheltie pups that are just weaned and thought you might like to have one.”

  Of course. He was offering her a pet to be her companion, not himself. How could she have thought otherwise? Even for a millisecond. Worse. Why had she wanted to think otherwise?

  “You like dogs, don’t you?” he continued, oblivious to her thoughts.

  “Yes, I like dogs.”

  “Good.” He stood. “I brought one with me.” He headed for the truck.

  Shayla’s sister Anne was the classic beauty in the family. If it was beautiful Anne living in this cabin, Nat wouldn’t be bringing her a puppy for company. He’d be bringing flowers.

  She clenched her teeth. She had to get off this pity-me kick.

  Nat opened his truck door and reached inside. A few moments later, he returned to where she sat, carrying with him a little orange-and-white ball of fur with big golden-brown eyes and a shiny black nose. Shayla couldn’t help laughing as she accepted the quivering, tail-wagging, whimpering pup, her disappointment instantly forgotten.

  “Oh, she’s adorable.” She met Nat’s gaze. “Is it a she?”

  “Yup.”

  “What’s her name?” She rubbed her cheek against the puppy’s soft coat.

  “That’s up to you. She’s yours if you want her.”

  “I probably need my head examined, but yes, I want her. How could I give her up after seeing her?” The puppy licked the tip of Shayla’s nose, and she laughed again. “Is this how you find homes for all your puppies, Mr. O’Connell?”

  “Hey, whatever works.”

  She looked at him, feeling his warm smile all the way down to her toes. “That’s dirty pool.”

  He shrugged even as his grin broadened. “So shoot me.”

  “Don’t tempt me.”

  But shooting him was the last thing she wanted to do.

  * * *

  They made a cute picture, the tiny sheltie and the curly-haired woman. Nat liked the way Shayla’s eyes sparkled with pleasure. He’d bet she was the type to stop and smell the roses.

  Although he knew he should head back to the ranch, he settled once again onto the steps. “So what’re you gonna call her?”

  “I don’t know.” She held the puppy at arm’s length and studied her. “What are her parents’ names?”

  “The mother is Paradise Belle. Her sire, Lakeside’s Shadow Boy, lives up in the Coeur d’Alene area.”

  Shayla’s eyes widened. “This isn’t just any puppy, is it?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean those are fancy-sounding names for regular pets.” She frowned, her gaze suspicious. “How much are you selling the rest of the litter for?”

  He got up. “The usual.”

  To avoid more questions, he headed for his truck to retrieve a temporary supply of puppy food and dog necessities.

  “Feel free to bring her with you tomorrow. No point leaving her alone all day.”

  After leaving the supplies on the deck, he got into the pickup, held his arm out the window, and waved.

  “See you in the morning.”

  Chapter 4

  Bleary-eyed from a sleepless night—thanks to the cries of a puppy separated from its mama—Shayla followed the two-mile driveway toward the ranch house, a cloud of dust rising in the compact’s wake. Beside her on the car seat, puppy dozed, muzzle on front paws.

  “Sure, you can sleep,” Shayla muttered while stroking the sheltie’s head.

  As she drew closer to the house and outbuildings, she caught a glimpse of gray out the comer of her eye. She turned her head and saw Nat cantering his horse toward a small herd of grazing Herefords. She let up on the gas and allowed the car to coast to a stop so she could watch.

  It was a beautiful sight, observing the way horse and rider moved as a single unit rather than separate enti
ties. She’d attended a few rodeos in her lifetime, so she wasn’t totally ignorant of the way cutting horses worked. But this was different. This was the real thing, not some show for a stadium full of greenhorns. She was left almost breathless by the sight.

  Nat rode with skill and ease, even when the horse set its front legs, then changed directions. He had a lariat in his right hand while holding the reins with his left. His black cowboy hat was pulled low on his forehead, shading his eyes from the bright morning sunshine.

  “I think I could watch him all day long.”

  As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she felt the heat of embarrassment rush to her cheeks. That sort of thinking had to be driven straight out of her mind. Murder and mayhem, not romance, should be occupying her thoughts. She was a mystery writer, not a rodeo groupie.

  Resolutely she turned her gaze onto the road ahead and pressed on the gas pedal. The car jumped forward, the four-cylinder engine whining its usual tune.

  Nat must have heard it, because he rode into the barnyard a minute or two after she arrived at her destination.

  “Morning,” he called.

  She got out of the car, the puppy in her arms.

  He reined in, then swung down from the saddle, leaving the reins trailing on the ground as he strode toward her.

  “Good morning.” Her mouth felt dry as cotton. She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue.

  “How’s the pup?”

  “Noisy and messy.”

  He grinned. “Yeah, aren’t they though? Did you give her a name yet?”

  “Honey Girl. Honey, for short.”

  “I like it.”

  Whimpering, Honey Girl wriggled, trying to get down. Shayla set her on the ground. For a moment, she watched the puppy scampering through the tulips and daffodils that bordered the porch. But eventually her gaze returned to Nat. He was still looking at her, still smiling.

  “I’ve got a small kennel off the back porch where you can keep her while you’re working. So you know she’s safe.” He tipped his hat back slightly. “You can stop and play with her whenever you like.”

  Oh, her reckless heart. Thumping away like a bongo player. This was too incredible for words. And it was unlike her. She wasn’t given to longing after handsome men like Nat—and certainly none had ever given her the time of day.

  “Murder and mayhem,” she repeated softly to herself. She had to think of Nat O’Connell as nothing more than potential research material. Nothing more than a model for Chet Morrison, her protagonist.

  “Something wrong?”

  She realized she’d stared at him for the longest time. Her cheeks flushed hot for the second time in less than fifteen minutes.

  “No. I was just thinking. About my book.” She hurried after Honey Girl, glad for a distraction.

  * * *

  Nat shook his head in bemusement as he strode toward the barn a few minutes later. Shayla was a strange one, all right. He couldn’t quite get a handle on her. One minute she was all smiles and laughter. The next she was as flustered as a wet hen. One time she’d seem real sure of herself. The next she didn’t have a lick of confidence.

  And then there was the way she talked to herself. A hundred years ago, they would’ve locked her up in an asylum. Or at least in the attic of the family home.

  Well, maybe that’s how city folk were nowadays. Living with air pollution from millions of cars probably did something to their brains. All that traffic and all those people everywhere you turned would be enough to drive anyone crazy.

  He opened the gate to the kennels to let Bonny and Coira out. Then he fed and watered them, as well as Belle and her pups. When that was done, he entered the barn to saddle a new horse. A glance at his watch told him he’d better hurry. He was supposed to meet Ty by the irrigation ditch in half an hour.

  Dragging his saddle off the saddle tree, he wondered again why anyone would want to live like people did in the big cities. If it was him, he’d head for the hills as quick as he could. Then again, maybe that’s what Shayla had done. Maybe this was where she’d come running to.

  No. That wasn’t likely. It almost always worked the other way around.

  If he was smart, he’d quit thinking about the little flatlander and get on with his day. What she did, the reasons that had brought her here, were her own business and no concern of his. Best he remember that.

  * * *

  Three hours later, Shayla knelt on the kitchen floor, scrubbing for all she was worth. Perspiration beaded her forehead and dampened her underarms. Straggly curls fell forward into her face, refugees from her ponytail, and she constantly had to push them away with the back of her hand.

  She was about finished when she heard the creak of the rear screen door opening, then closing. She sat back on her heels and glanced over her shoulder. But instead of Nat, as she’d expected, there was another cowboy standing there, this one with golden hair, brown eyes and two-day-old stubble on his jaw.

  And dirty boots on her clean floor!

  “Hey!” she shouted at him. “I just mopped.”

  He stepped backward, into the small mudroom adjacent to the kitchen. “Sorry.”

  “It’s all right,” she mumbled, not meaning it.

  He removed his hat. “I forgot the boss said he had someone coming in to do the housecleanin’. I’m real sorry about my boots, ma’am.”

  Ma'am? The word made her feel ancient.

  “We’ve been irrigatin’ all momin’. Again, I’m right sorry about dirtyin’ your floor.” He looked it, too. Then he grinned. “My name’s Ty. Ty Sheffield. What’s yours?”

  “Shayla Vincent.”

  “Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”

  She couldn’t stop herself from laughing softly as she rose to her feet. “Shayla will do.” If he called her ma’am again, she was going to throw the scrub brush at him.

  “You’re the one living over at the Erickson place.”

  “It’s my place now.”

  “Well, if you need any help, all you gotta do is ask me.”

  “Thanks.”

  The screen door creaked again. A moment later, Nat appeared behind Ty. Shayla felt her heart flip in her chest. Like flapjacks on the grill.

  Oh no. Now she was starting to think like them.

  “Careful, boss.” Ty held out an arm to stop Nat from going around him. “She’s likely to wallop you if you track mud all over the place. You know how women are about their clean floors.”

  Shayla supposed some would be offended by his remarks, but try as she might, she couldn’t summon indignation.

  “The kitchen hasn’t looked this good in years,” Nat said, drawing her gaze to him. “I didn’t expect you to get so much done in one morning.”

  “I come from a big family,” she answered, hoping to shake off the spell he’d cast over her. “You learn how to clean things fast.”

  “We were coming in for a bite to eat.” Nat took a step back. “We’ll use the bootjack first so we don’t track up the floor.”

  Shayla envisioned how she must look, standing there with her messy hair, sweaty shirt and soapy-water-dampened Levi’s. So what was new? She always looked dreadful when he was around. It was preordained or something.

  “Care to join us for lunch?” he asked as he entered the kitchen in his stocking feet.

  She ran a hand over her hair. “Well, I hadn’t—”

  “No point you driving back to your place. There’s plenty to eat here.” He headed for the large refrigerator. “You like tuna salad sandwiches? It’s all ready except for spreading it on the bread.”

  “Tuna salad?”

  “Bet you thought us cowpokes only ate beef and beans.” Ty came to stand beside her.

  “Yes, I suppose I did.”

  Ty pointed toward Nat. “The boss here’s somewhat of a gourmet cook.” He winked at her. “Comes from livin’ in this big ol’ house all by his lonesome for so many years, I reckon. Nothin’ else to do but learn to cook.”


  She wanted to ask how many years he’d been alone. Instead she bent over and lifted the bucket of soapy water. “I’ll get rid of this, then freshen up a bit.”

  “You’ll find whatever you need in that first bathroom at the top of the stairs,” Nat told her.

  She carried the bucket into the mudroom, dumped its contents into the extra deep sink, then beat a hasty retreat to the second-floor bathroom.

  * * *

  A few minutes after Shayla disappeared, Ty leaned a hip against the counter, watching as Nat prepared a plateful of sandwiches. “She’s cute.”

  “Is she?”

  His young friend chuckled. “As if you hadn’t noticed.”

  He ignored that.

  “Well, then, I guess that means she’s fair game. Always did like tiny gals with curly hair.”

  Nat shrugged, at the same time pressing his lips together.

  “What d’ya know about her?”

  “Not much.”

  “C’mon, Nat. Spill, will you?”

  “Okay. Okay.” He snapped the plastic lid onto the container and shoved it into the leftover-crowded refrigerator. “She’s a writer. Came here from Portland to write a novel. A Christian murder mystery, she says. Got a passel of brothers and sisters.” He carried the platter of sandwiches to the oak table against the wall opposite the windows. “That’s it. That’s all I know.”

  “And no steady boyfriend?”

  He felt unreasonably irritable. “I guess not, given she’s here alone.”

  “Couples have been known to keep those long distance relationships. Silly notion, if you ask me. When you love each other, you stay together.”

  Ty’s words sent Nat’s thoughts speeding back in time, back to the day Joanne packed her suitcase to leave.

  * * *

  “It doesn’t mean the marriage is over, Nat.” His wife turned toward him. “I need… I need some time away. That’s all. Some time to myself. I’ll spend a few months at the artists’ colony, and then I’ll come back.” She was lying—and they both knew it.