“Me?”
“Yeah, you. Your poker-faced, show-no-emotion default setting may fool other people, but even you have your tells. And I happen to be very astute.”
“I have no tells.” He lifted one hand from the wheel and rubbed the back of his neck.
“There’s one now. Face it, I can read you like a billboard. What’s bothering you?”
He dropped his hand and glanced at her again, this time over his sunglasses.
“Oooh. That’s your exasperated look. This is fun. I can play all night. Or you could just tell me what’s weighing on you.”
He sighed. “You might have been right about Justin spray-painting your shop.”
She didn’t know what she’d expected him to say, but this wasn’t it. “I know I’m right, but what makes you think so now?”
He ran down the exchange he’d had with his brother. Her first impulse was to hug him for going to the trouble to get a nice bottle of wine for her, which only highlighted how screwed up her priorities were when it came to this man, but she forced herself to focus on the pertinent information. She blew out a breath and shook her head. “I guess there’s nothing worth reporting to the sheriffs? It’s not like he confessed. He just happened to use the same word—circumstantial evidence.”
“Not even circumstantial evidence, and nothing the sheriff’s department can do anything with. But my gut says he did it. Anyway, I hope threatening to rip his balls off scared him straight, but if not…”
“If not, my handy-dandy spy cam will catch him in the act next time.”
Shaun steered into the long, winding, and deeply rutted drive leading to the Browning spread. “Yeah. Next time. In the meantime, however, he might tell Tom we’re involved, just to stir up trouble. I didn’t confirm, nor will I, because it’s nobody’s damn business, but if rumors start circulating he’s the most likely source.”
She couldn’t pretend she didn’t care. She did, and she hated the idea of her personal life torpedoing her campaign. She could practically hear Tom calling her a manipulative Mata Hari, sleeping with his son in a ruthless attempt to get the inside details of his campaign. Nothing could be further from the truth, and she could use the “I refuse to dignify that with an answer” tactic without compromising her honesty.
“As long as nobody credible catches us together, it’s Justin’s word against mine, and his word carries very little weight around town.”
Her smile felt stiff on her lips, and Shaun looked far from happy with her reply, but she shook her head. “Let’s change the subject. Tonight is all ours. I refuse to let Justin ruin it.”
Shaun drove between the main house and the horse stalls, both of which bore the telltale signs of construction, and parked on the far side of the barn. “I thought we could spread our blanket out by the pond. It’s down that way.”
She grabbed the blanket from the backseat, jumped out of the Jeep, and winked at him. “Sugar, I know my way to the pond. Been there plenty of times.” Those visits had involved skinny dipping more often than not. How long had it been since she’d indulged in an illicit swim? Too long.
He raised his sunglasses to the top of his head. “Sweet Virginia, you’ve never been to the pond with me.”
The laugh bubbled out of her before she could stop it. Lord save her from cocky men. Or maybe not, she corrected when he hefted an insulated backpack out of the backseat, rounded the car, and took her hand.
At the bottom of the hill, she spread the blanket and then crouched down to straighten the edges. Shaun put the backpack down, sat, took his sunglasses off and hung them from the neck of his T-shirt. She leaned past him to straighten the opposite edge.
“Stop fiddling. I had no idea you were so OCD.”
She shook her head and continued smoothing the blanket. “I cut hair for a living. I’m very particular about my edges.”
“You realize the only real purpose of this blanket is to prevent you from getting grass stains in some personal places once I strip off that pretty red dress and do all the things I have a mind to do to you tonight?”
His words sped up her pulse, but she stood and slowly smiled at him. “You’ll have to catch me first.” She toed off one boot.
He remained seated, but narrowed his eyes as she kicked off the other boot. “I’m a fast runner.”
She grabbed the hem of her dress and lifted it over her head. “The question you need to be asking yourself is, ‘Am I a fast swimmer?’”
His eyebrows shot up. “Sweet Virginia, you think you can outswim a Navy SEAL in that little pond?”
In answer, she tossed her dress behind her. It landed in a low-hanging branch, like a haphazard red flag. Her bra soon followed, and then her panties. Then she turned and raced toward the water, feeling the heat of his gaze on her the entire time. “I think I’ve got a damn good head start.”
Chapter Thirteen
Shaun took a moment to appreciate the view of Ginny sprinting naked into the water, and the idea of all that bare skin sleek, wet, and pressed up against his. When she’d gone out a few feet, she dove under, as fluid and graceful as a mermaid, disappeared for almost a minute, and then resurfaced in the waist-deep water and smoothed her hair back from her face. She turned to him.