“It’s Angel’s Rest on the map. Angel’s Rest Healing Center and Spa. My friend Celeste Blessing bought the property and has built a fabulous business that brought the town back from the brink of bankruptcy. She’s restored Cavanaugh House, the home of one of the original founders of the town. Now it serves as the main building of what is a sprawling luxury resort. Angel’s Rest is a great place to stay if you’re looking.”
“I actually called there yesterday and tried to rent a room. They’re booked up.”
“Summertime.” He winced and nodded. “Plus, we have a big destination wedding here this weekend. A whole bunch of folks are coming in for it from out of town. If you don’t already have a reservation, finding a room might be tough.”
She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll just keep moving.”
“You’re traveling alone?”
This time rather than hesitate, she speared him with a look. “Is that a question an intelligent woman would answer? Tell me you’re not on the top ten list of charming serial killers.”
“So you think I’m charming?” His grin went a bit wicked.
“I think I’m probably acting too trusting.” His line about beaten and battered and close to being broken had lured her as sure as wisteria blossoms do bees.
“You have a point,” he agreed. “Okay, more about me in an effort to put your fears to rest.” He leaned up on his hip and pulled his wallet from the pocket of his jeans. He flipped it open and fished inside. “Here’s my card.”
Hannah accepted the plain white card with black printing and read it. TIMBERLAKE AND MCBRIDE, ATTORNEYS AT LAW.
“I’ve heard all the lawyer jokes, so spare me.”
Quietly, she said, “Actually, I have a lot of respect for attorneys.”
“Do you, now?” he said with approval in his tone. “That’s a pleasant change from what I usually hear. Yes, I’m a lawyer, and before moving to Eternity Springs, I was a district attorney in Fort Worth, so I’m on the white-hat side of things when it comes to killers. Now, however, the bulk of my practice consists of mostly of drafting and reviewing contracts. I’m single, love a good rib eye, fast cars, college football, and bespoke suits. I just moved into a new home on Hummingbird Lake, and I’ll be standing as co-best-man along with my cousin Tucker at our cousin Jackson’s wedding on Saturday. That’s the destination wedding I mentioned. They all still live in Texas.”
Trying to process all the information, Hannah said the first thing that popped into her mind. “So what brings you to Lover’s Leap so early this morning?”
“Well, you want the long answer or the short?”
“Either is fine.”
“Let’s go with short. I have a serious life decision pending, and this is a good, contemplative place. I need to pick a name.”
“A name for what?”
“I’m adopting…” He hesitated a moment before completing his sentence. “A dog. A pup.”
“Boy or girl?”
“Boy.”
“What breed?”
“Irish setter. A friend of mine’s dog recently had a litter. I need to come up with a name for him. I’m really not sure where to start. I’ve never done this before.”
“He’ll be your first pet?”
Boone shook his head. “The first name I picked all on my own. It’s a lot of responsibility. If I get it wrong, it’ll follow him the rest of his life.”
“Ah. I see.” Part of her wondered if he was putting her on, but she didn’t think so. He seemed sincere, and his concern for his pet was endearing. “I’m an animal lover myself, but isn’t it possible you’re giving this decision too much weight? You could name your dog something as inappropriate as, say, Lamp. He’d go through his life happily answering to it.”
“I don’t know.”
Hannah warmed to her subject. It was a nice distraction from her reality. “He’s a dog. As long as you give him care and attention and biscuits, he’ll be happy. You’ll have to live with the choice, but he won’t care. It’s not like he’s going to walk up to you one day and say, Dad. Seriously? Lamp? What were you thinking?”
Boone licked his lips. “But what if he could do exactly that? Say the little guy will one day grow up and come to me and ask why I chose the name I chose. I want to be able to support my decision.”
“This is a very strange conversation to have with an attorney.”
“Just go with me here, would you? I figure there’s a reason your path and mine crossed this morning—that’s the way things work in Eternity Springs—and I need to bounce this off someone. Where do I start?”
“Maybe you should google popular names for male dogs?”
Boone scowled. “I don’t want to tell him that I picked his name off Google.”
Hannah did something then that she never believed she’d do today, of all days. She laughed. Suddenly, for reasons beyond her understanding, she wanted to help Boone McBride, Esquire, pick out the perfect name for his dog.
* * *
Damn, but the sparkle in those fabulous eyes combined with a smile on her face transformed fragile loveliness into fascinating beauty, the kind that made him think of classic movie stars in their heyday. Liz Taylor eyes. Katharine Hepburn burnished tresses. The patrician nose, high cheekbones, and full lips of Loretta Young.
The hourglass figure of Brigitte Bardot.
Despite all that gorgeousness, she could use some color. Her complexion was pale, not fair-skinned pale, but unhealthy pale. She wore black—black jeans, a plain black T-shirt. A black backpack sat at her feet.
She gave him an encouraging smile. “Maybe start here. Do you want a name that has meaning, or do you care more about how it sounds?”
Boone dragged his hand down his jawline rough with a three-day beard while he hauled his attention away from her charms. He wasn’t sure exactly how he’d let things get so far off track. He wasn’t looking for a name for his dog. He was pretty sure he wanted to call the pup Lucky. What he needed was a name for his son, but he wasn’t ready to roll that out to Hannah Dupree.
The woman had scared the living daylights out of him. He’d acted instinctively to put himself between her and the cliff’s edge, but had he misjudged her intentions?
Maybe. Maybe he’d overreacted. That was certainly possible. He admitted to being oversensitive where suicide was concerned. However, the fact that she had brought it up suggested that the subject had been on her mind. So he’d done a little two-step atop his soapbox and then changed the topic, gripped by a sense that he was meant to be here in this place, at this time, for this woman.
Be a light.
Maybe he needed to burn his candle on two different ends—the baby and this redheaded beauty. Or perhaps this was just a start, and he needed to stock up on batteries. He should have questioned Celeste about the whole light thing. Although knowing her, she’d said all she’d intended to say about it.
Be a light.
He looked into those startling eyes. Curiosity had replaced the anguish of moments before. He wanted to fall into those eyes. “Boone?”