Her friends cheered her decision, and Madeline had to wonder how boring she really was that her friends were so excited about her making a trip to a bookstore.
MADELINE ENDED UP HAVING a fabulous day. She got to Richmond around lunchtime, so she went to one of her favorite restaurants and had lunch before heading to the store. There, she spent two hours and ended up buying an armful of books. Only two were higher than her normal price range, so the purchases didn’t even make her feel too guilty.
She stopped for a frozen coffee drink for the drive home. The sun was out. The day was deliciously warm with a touch of autumn briskness in the air. She rolled down her windows and turned the music up loud, singing with some of her favorite songs on the drive home.
Most of the route was a two-lane country road without much traffic. It was mostly straight and mostly flat, so nothing slowed her down.
So, yes, she was driving too fast. She’d been having fun. Feeling as wild as it was possible for her to feel.
Free.
And it all came crashing down like a load of bricks when she saw flashing lights on the car behind her.
Damn it all to hell. She knew the car that belonged to those flashing lights. It was the county sheriff, and he was pulling her over for speeding.
She slowed down and pulled over onto the shoulder immediately, taking a few deep inhales and trying to control her suddenly ragged breathing. She was a rule follower by nature. She’d never gotten a speeding ticket before. And stupidly it was the idea of being caught doing something wrong that upset her a lot more than the fine she’d have to pay.
She should have known her one pitiful attempt at freedom would end like this.
With Ken Harley giving her a ticket.
Ken had been elected sheriff five years ago and reelected last year. She’d known him most of her life since he’d been a deputy with the sheriff’s office when she’d been a teenager. He was a nice-looking, easygoing man in his midthirties. Although he was older than them, he occasionally hung out with her social group since he was friends with Ria’s fiancé, Jacob.
It was pretty embarrassing that he’d just caught her speeding.
She looked back in her rearview mirror and saw he was getting out of the unmarked blue sedan he always drove.
He was a big man with broad shoulders, long legs, and thick thighs.
She gulped, looking at him approach in her side mirror. She wasn’t sure why she was thinking about the breadth of his thighs, but they looked very fine in the tan trousers.
The uniform also consisted of a brown button-down shirt and a jacket with a sheriff’s star on the chest. It wasn’t the most attractive of outfits, but he managed to wear it well. He had light brown hair that gleamed gold in the sun. It looked like he needed to shave.
She stared at him speechlessly as he approached her window.
When the holy hell had Ken Harley gotten so hot?
She was in such a jittery state that she didn’t realize her window was still rolled up until he leaned over and tapped on the glass.
Her cheeks burning, she rolled it down. “Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.”
Oh, she was brilliant when she was flustered. No doubt about that.
His expression was perfectly sober, but there was a clever gleam in his eyes as he bent over farther to talk to her through the window. “What’s going on here, Ms. Jenkins?”
He always called her that. He had since she was sixteen years old. Even though she was used to it, for some reason it bothered her today. As if he was treating her like a boring old spinster instead of an attractive young woman.
She wasn’t as pretty as Skye or Ria. At least she’d never believed herself to be. She had shoulder-length hair in a medium blond, steel-gray eyes, and a curvy figure. She wasn’t bad-looking, but she also wasn’t gorgeous.
But still... Ken didn’t have to treat her like he would his grandmother.
“Nothing’s going on.” Because she was off-balance, her tone was a bit more defiant than it normally would have been. “I was driving too fast. Go ahead and give me a ticket.”
Ken’s eyes were very blue. Much bluer than she’d realized before. They scanned her face with a close scrutiny that left her feeling confused and vulnerable. “It’s not like you to speed. So why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you so we can take care of it?”
Ken had always had a laid-back manner about him that made everything he said seem casual. Low stakes. It was usually comforting and reassuring—like he was never worried—but at the moment it bugged her.
Because ridiculously she wanted him to take care of it. Even though it wasn’t his business. Even though there was absolutely nothing he could do to mend her damaged heart.
“I was in Richmond at a bookstore,” she said, giving him the easiest explanation she could come up with. “I was having a good day and wasn’t paying attention to my speed. I’m sorry. Like I said, I’ll be happy to pay the ticket.”
“Did you get anything good at the bookstore?” His eyes had moved to the bag on the passenger seat.
“Yes.” She was surprised enough to answer honestly, opening the bag to show him the stack of books. “I got a lot of good books. Plus a first-edition Emily of New Moon.” The expensive books were carefully wrapped up, so she didn’t show him those.
“Is that a good book?”
“It’s one of my favorites. By the same author who wrote Anne of Green Gables. But I don’t think it’s your kind of book.”
“What do you know about my kind of books?” The corner of his mouth turned up just slightly. It was ridiculously appealing.
“Just a guess, but I bet I’m right. I’ve never seen you come into the library.”
“I’ve got a bunch of old Westerns that belonged to my dad. I read those sometimes.”
“Really? Who wrote them? Louis L’Amour? Zane Grey?”
“Some of both, I think. I don’t pay much attention to authors. I like reading them though. Wish there were more.”
“We’ve got a pretty good collection at the library. You should stop by sometime and see if there are any that you haven’t read.”
“Maybe I’ll do that. What else did you get?”
“I got old editions of the entire Betsy-Tacy series. I love those. They weren’t even very expensive.” She patted the top book—Betsy’s Wedding—lovingly.
“And you were in a hurry to get back to read them?”
“No. I’ve read them dozens of times. I checked them out of the library for the first time when I was twelve or thirteen. I really was just having a good time and not paying attention to my speed. I felt...” She trailed off, realizing she was starting to ramble.
She never did that.
“You felt what?”
“I don’t know. Like I wanted to be a little bad for once. Like I wanted to be... free.” She stared at her steering wheel. She wasn’t sure what she expected. Some people weren’t built for being bad or having adventures. She was definitely one of those people. “You need my license and registration?”
“Nah.” He scrawled something on his little pad, tore off the sheet, and handed it to her. “I’ll give you a warning this time. Just watch your speed when you’re having fun. I know there’s not much traffic, but deer sometimes run across here, especially this time of year, and it just takes a distracted moment to run off the road. Don’t want to see you hurt.”