Free Last Night's Kiss by Shirley Hailstock

still owned it.
    “Maybe his dad was the reason he returned.”
    “Bailey can use some looking after, but Adam could have hired someone to do that.”
    “A nurse is no replacement for family.”
    “He has a lot of family here. Any number of his cousins would have moved in with Bailey. Adam was about to get the job of his life. Then suddenly he’s back in Waymon Valley.”
    “You think there’s another reason for him being here?” Rosa thought about that. Usually that meant a woman.
    Vida was nodding. “He hasn’t said what, but I know Adam. And he’s not telling us everything.”
    “You two have a very special relationship.”
    “The Osbornes and I have a special relationship. I learned to ride horses on their ranch. Medea taught me how to make the best corn bread in the West. Bailey told me stories about the settlement of Waymon Valley that were more alive than anything I learned in a school history class. And Adam and I practically grew up together on roads that are now streets.”
    “I understand a little more now.”
    “What do you mean?” Vida sipped her lemonade.
    “He’s extremely protective of you.”
    “Not just me.” She smiled. “It’s his nature. He’s a sucker for a woman in jeopardy. He’d do the same for anyone.”
    Rosa wasn’t so sure—although he had come to her aid in Butte when he thought she needed it.
     
    “Have you lost your mind?” Adam nearly shouted when Rosa pulled into the driveway after dropping Vida off at her house. She opened the door and he brushed by her, walking into the middle of the room. He stopped as if he hadn’t decided what to do after getting inside.
    “Not to my knowledge,” Rosa answered, her tone as soft as his was harsh.
    “Why did you let Vida go roaring down the road like that? If she’d hit something, she could break that leg again, not to mention breaking your pretty little neck.”
    “Welcome,” Rosa said, acknowledging his lack of manners. “Won’t you come in?” She closed the door.
    He glared at her but didn’t bother saying hello.
    “Vida may have been roaring, but it wasn’t down the road. And her leg was not broken. And in case you haven’t noticed, she’d not an invalid. She seemed to do very well taking care of herself without you around for several years to my personal knowledge. You’re acting like her father and even if you were she’s way too old for you to make decisions for her.”
    Rosa moved to the counter that separated the kitchen from the large living room. “Why are you really here? This is no longer your house. You don’t have the right to come barging in here reprimanding me as if I were a child.”
    He took the time to look her up and down, slowly as if he were deciding something. “I can see you’re no child.” His voice was low and sexy.
    Rosa’s body flashed hot under his stare. After a moment of enduring it, she said, “What is it about me that you don’t like?”
    “You’re beautiful,” he replied. “Too beautiful.”
    It was the last thing she expected to hear. Adam certainly wasn’t like other men she’d met. Most of them followed her around like a lapdog. Adam followed her around, but only to get a rise out of her. And she seemed to play right into his hands.
    “Beauty isn’t something I can do anything about,” she said. “My looks were determined by my parents, the ones I never knew. But it’s worked for me. And it worked for you. Don’t think your face didn’t get you into places where others would have been turned away.” She paused a moment. “But you’re not here to talk about my face.” She looked at him a moment. His expression was unreadable. “Why don’t you tell me about her ?”
    “Her? Who?”
    “The other woman. The beautiful one. The one who was too beautiful.”
    His shoulders dropped a second later. Rosa knew she’d touched a nerve. She moved around the kitchen counter. Opening the refrigerator, she took out a carton of ice cream and filled two bowls.