Free Running Blind by Linda Howard Page A

eat before your food gets cold,” she added, stepping away to make a quick escape before she slipped up again and showed more interest than she wanted.
    Finally he looked down at his plate, and he heaved a big sigh. It was so unexpected, so … 
human
, that it stopped her. “Stone cold, this would be the best meal I’ve had in weeks.” Then the laser beam gaze came back to her. “You didn’t answer my question.”
    Carlin gave him a fake smile. “Not gonna.” She turned away from him then, went back to the counter where she grabbed a carafe of coffee and refilled a few mugs even though Kat had made the rounds just a few minutes ago. She looked at everyone in the place
except
Zeke. She smiled at those men she already knew as regulars, but her thoughts were churning. Was Zeke with the hard green eyes and way too much interest going to force herto leave a good situation before she was ready? Possible. Maybe even probable.
    She’d always known Battle Ridge, Kat, and The Pie Hole wouldn’t last; she’d never had any intention of staying. Even though she’d stumbled onto room and board and nice people, Carlin had been poised to leave, possibly in the middle of the night, without saying goodbye, without offering explanations. It was as if she’d been standing on the edge of a canyon, knowing that sooner or later she’d have to jump.
    But she didn’t want to jump, not yet, and it made her angry to think that she might have to leave because some cowboy started asking too many questions. What business was it of his where she came from, anyway? None, that’s what.
    Stubbornness was a character flaw, but in that moment she mentally dug in her heels. Maybe she couldn’t stay here forever; maybe she couldn’t entirely let down her guard, but she was damned if one nosy cowboy was going to run her out of town before she was ready to go.

Chapter Five
    Z EKE ATE TOO fast, his gaze staying on the new waitress—“Cautious,” my ass—as he shoveled in the hot meal. Something about her didn’t ring true, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on the problem. Maybe there was no problem. Maybe his dick was getting in the way.
    When she finished waiting on the men at the counter, Kat headed his way with two boxed pies in her hands. After eating Spencer’s cooking for a while, the guys were going to inhale those pies tonight.
    She placed the boxes on the other side of the table, then slid onto the opposite bench. “How’ve you been?”
    “Busy.”
    “I know summer is a tough time on the ranch.” She sounded almost … sympathetic. That wasn’t like her. Kat was a no nonsense “buck up and do what you have to do” kinda girl. “Have you had any luck finding a new housekeeper?”
    The sparkle in her eyes, the unusual attempt at sympathy—why did he think this wasn’t just a casual question from a caring cousin who was merely concerned about his home life?
    “Nope.”
    Kat’s mother, Aunt Ellie, had moved away from BattleRidge years ago, after remarrying—to a decent man, this time around, one who didn’t need to have his ass kicked as he was being run out of town. Kat looked a lot like her mother, and she had also inherited Aunt Ellie’s touch in the kitchen.
    “You can always leave this behind and come work for me.” It wasn’t the first time he’d made the suggestion, or the first time she’d laughed at the very idea. He wasn’t serious, anyway. She had her own business, her own life, and while blood might be thicker than water that didn’t mean she was going to throw away everything she’d worked for just because he couldn’t find a combination cook/housekeeper.
    “In your dreams. But I
did
have a thought …” There was that sparkle again, the one that made him wary. For as long as he could remember, that particular twinkle in her eyes had always meant trouble. “The new girl, Carly …”
    “No,” Zeke said decisively.
    “You didn’t even let me finish the sentence!”
    “Not