“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “I haven’t talked to him about it.”
“I’m glad you didn’t confront him,” Lane said, putting his arms around her and pulling her to his chest.
“I wanted to talk to you first and see how you thought I should handle it,” she admitted.
“You’re not going to take care of this,” he said firmly. “I am.”
She frowned. “But it was my things he took. I should be the one to talk to him about it.”
“I understand that you want to have your say and I respect that,” he said, as if choosing his words carefully. “But in this case, I wouldn’t advise it.” When she started to protest, he held up one hand to stop her. “Consider this. Roy Lee’s behavior wouldn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, be considered stable. I’m not saying he’s dangerous, but that’s one chance I’m not willing to take.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked, suddenly concerned that they might be dealing with more than she’d realized.
“I’m going over to the bunkhouse to find out where Roy Lee put your things, then I’m going to tell him to pack his gear and get off the property,” Lane answered. He pointed toward the house. “I want you to go inside and lock the door.”
“I’ve had them locked all day, even though I knew he was working away from the house with the other men,” she admitted.
He nodded. “Go on inside while I take care of getting rid of Roy Lee.”
“Be careful,” she said as a shudder ran through her.
“Don’t worry about me, babe. I’ll be fine.” He gave her a quick kiss. “I may not be in for a while. I’m going to make sure Roy Lee gets everything packed and loaded into his truck. Then I’m going to see that he drives away.”
An hour later, Taylor breathed a sigh of relief when Lane used his keys to let himself into the house. “Did you have any trouble getting Roy Lee to leave?” she asked, walking over to wrap her arms around Lane’s waist. His arms immediately closed around her and pulled her close.
“No. At first, he tried to talk his way out of it, but when I told him we knew that he had signed for the boxes, he explained that he stored them in the hayloft in the barn.” Lane shook his head. “He was waiting for a chance to bring them to you when I wasn’t around.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” she said, snuggling against his solid chest.
“He wanted to ask you to go dancing with him and decided that he’d have a better chance of you agreeing if you thought he’d found your missing things.” Sounding tired, Lane finished, “Roy Lee is socially awkward and clearly has a few issues with reasoning, but I still don’t think he meant any harm. He was just trying to impress you because of a deep infatuation.”
“Is that your professional opinion?” she asked, leaning back to look up at him.
He grinned. “Sure, if you want to call it that.”
For the first time since he had returned from helping his brother, she noticed how exhausted he looked. “I’m so sorry you had to deal with this, Lane, especially after such a long day. You look like you’re ready to drop in your tracks. I’m afraid I was too upset to make the dinner I had planned, but while you take a shower, I could make some sandwiches for us.”
“That sounds good,” he said, yawning. He kissed her forehead, then stepped back to unsnap his sleeves and the front of his shirt. “I won’t be long.”
While Lane went upstairs, Taylor set to work and in no time had several sandwiches prepared for them. When she looked at the clock on the stove, she frowned. Lane should have finished with his shower and been back downstairs by now.
Deciding to check on him and find out what was keeping him, she headed to his bedroom. She started to knock on his door and discovered it was partially open. “Lane?”
Her heart skipped several beats when she found him lying on the bed sound asleep beside his clean clothes. His nude body was every bit as magnificent as she remembered from the night before and even completely relaxed, his physique was impressive.
Taylor’s chest filled with an emotion she was determined to ignore as she moved his clothes, then reached to pull the comforter over him. He had been thoroughly exhausted from working on his brother’s fence all day, yet when he returned home he had insisted on coming to her rescue and dealing with Roy Lee.
Quietly leaving the room, she went back downstairs to the kitchen. She wrapped and put away the sandwiches she’d made in the refrigerator, then she cleaned the kitchen. After checking the door to make sure it was locked, she turned out the light and headed back upstairs. When she reached the doors to their bedrooms, she looked from one to the other. She knew where she should sleep. But that wasn’t where she wanted to be.