Noah put her age somewhere near thirty. Up close, her skin was flawless, her makeup so carefully applied as to appear nonexistent. And as the breeze shifted direction, the air carried a subtle hint of fragrance—something delicately feminine. Soft. Unobtrusive. Almost elusively compelling.
Just like the woman herself.
He found himself relaxing despite his instincts to the contrary. He didn’t want to like her, even if he admired her spunk. And he sure didn’t want to be attracted to her, yet it was hard to prevent. Noah chided himself for being mildly distracted by the rise and fall of her chest. She’d gone back to looking unruffled, but he could almost hear her thoughts whirling.
“If you must know, Sheriff, I’m here sketching.”
He’d give her points for originality, but she’d lose on the delivery. He didn’t have to see her eyes to know they’d be shifting away on that answer.
“Not much scenery here in town,” he said mildly.
“You’d be surprised.”
Her tone was dry, but her meaning unmistakable. He was the scenery she was talking about.
He knew women found him attractive. His daughter had once come home after a dance to gleefully inform him that he was considered the catch of the county. Now that same sense of embarrassment crawled over his skin at her deliberate stare.
She lifted her chin and her expression became serious. “I’m not sketching scenery, Sheriff,” she said. “I’m a clothing designer. I came here to soak up some atmosphere for a new winter line.”
Noah didn’t have to ponder that one. “This is February.”
Sky found herself on the verge of smiling. She caught herself in the nick of time. This strangely compelling attraction she felt was dangerous. The sheriff was the sort of man a woman spun fantasies about, the kind of man they put on billboards to convince men—and the women in their lives—that some product could make them look like him.
It was a delicious fantasy. He was a delicious fantasy.
Too bad he was her daughter’s adoptive father.
CHAPTER THREE
SKY TRIED to steady the erratic beat of her heart.
When she’d asked the man at the gas station about Lauren, he’d casually pointed her out. Sky hadn’t seen her daughter up close yet, but she’d been following her, trying to learn all she could while remaining unobtrusive. She hadn’t yet decided on an approach.
The moment she saw the sheriff looking over her car, she recognized him from the airport. There was no mistaking the sexy stranger in uniform or not. To think she’d come so close to meeting her daughter within minutes of landing here in Texas. This had to be some sort of fate at work. For a second she was tempted to tell this incredibly handsome man who she really was. Fortunately, caution prevailed.
“Designers have to work well ahead of the calendar year, Sheriff,” Sky said, stalling as she tried to decide the best tactic to take. “The designs I’m sketching right now are for next winter,” she explained.
The sheriff had a devastating smile that invited a person to smile back. Sky ordered her pulse to behave. She wasn’t here to have a flirtation, and based on her observations, Lauren would drive past any minute now. Sky had hoped to arrange an “accidental” meeting of some sort today, but she could hardly do that under the watchful eyes of Lauren’s adoptive father. Sky had to get rid of the man somehow.
“I don’t suppose you would have some identification I could see,” she asked, trying to reassert control of the situation.
His eyes glinted.
“I think that’s supposed to be my line.”
“You aren’t in uniform,” she pointed out.
“But you’re the one who called me sheriff.”
“I might have made a mistake.” A big one. She had no business baiting the one man who could ruin everything.
He surprised them both by chuckling. The deep sound rippled over her nerve endings, bringing an inadvertent smile to her lips. But when he slid his fingers deep into the front pocket at his hip, her mouth went dry. She followed his fingers, drawn to the fit of his jeans over that nicely muscled form.
Good grief, what was wrong with her? She never stared at a man like this. She was too old to be gawking at him like some virginal schoolgirl even if he was as tempting as sin itself.
He smiled with chocolatey rich brown eyes and she knew he’d noticed her watching him. Warmth bathed her cheeks and she forced herself to look away. A woman could lose all coherent thought staring into eyes like those.
He withdrew a folder and flipped it open. Sky barely glanced at the badge inside. She already knew what it said and she was busy being irked by the chemical rush feeding her hormones.
“Now that I showed you mine,” he said softly, “how about a peek at yours?”
She could actually feel her blush growing brighter. Not for the first time she cursed her porcelain skin, which made blushing an uncontrollable fact of life. That was bad enough, but for some stupid reason she couldn’t seem to catch her breath. The lines beside his mouth and eyes deepened. Another smile edged up the corners of his lips as he slipped the folder back inside his front pocket.
She should be striving to convey her annoyance. Instead, his expression made her feel vividly alive and totally female. The heady rush made it impossible to dislike the man. Still, she’d better get the upper hand fast.
“A quick peek like that hardly merits a full display on my part,” she said tartly. “I haven’t broken any laws.”
“None that I know about, anyhow.”
God, but he had a killer smile. The perfect accompaniment for that deep sexy voice and those seriously dangerous bedroom eyes. Madison Avenue would kill to have him.
“You really are the local sheriff?” she asked, stalling.
He tipped back the brim of his hat, watching her steadily. “Duly elected and everything.”
She’d bet every female in the county had voted for him just to catch a glimpse of that smile.
The abrupt sound of a car horn made them both jump. Sky’s mouth turned into a desert when she realized she was about to have her “accidental” meeting after all. Her daughter was right on schedule and Sky still wasn’t prepared.
Her knees threatened to buckle. She wanted to wipe away the sudden dampness from hands that were visibly trembling. Instead, she clutched her bag more firmly, drawing it against her like a shield. This was her daughter, a piece of her very being that no one and nothing could deny. And not a sound issued past her dry, parted lips.
The sheriff had spun to face the vehicle behind him. The functioning portion of Sky’s mind told her he was cursing under his breath as he hurried forward. He wasn’t going to want to learn why she was here. Her worst-case scenario would come true if she didn’t handle this perfectly.
But that was her daughter sitting there!
“Hey, Dad!” Lauren called through the open window on the passenger’s side of her car. “Marvin wants to know what you want done with the truck. He said you just walked off and left it there. I told him that oil leak must have gotten the best of you.”
“Lauren, I’m busy right now.”
Instantly, her eyes darkened in concern. Sky wanted to protest. She wanted to come forward. Yet she stood mute as stone, emotion obstructing the words clogging her throat.
This was her daughter. That small, precious life she’d carried inside her body for nine long months, the infant she had never seen, was now a grown woman staring