Pepper, the Highlander & the Dead Guy

After Ian stepped outside, I turned to my dad. “I assume you no longer think Ian is a suspect since—tell me if I’m wrong—you seem to like him.”

“He seems likeable enough and you’ve always had good instinct about people even when you were young. And while I tend to agree with you when it comes to Ian, my gut tells me that he’s not a murderer, though he may somehow be connected to this and not even know it.”

“Because Struthers was from Scotland?”

“It can’t be a coincidence,” my dad said, and I had to agree.

“You’re right. It doesn’t seem likely. But what’s the connection?”

“Once I find that out there’s a good chance I can find the murderer,” my dad said, then swallowed the last of his tea and stood. “Keep your cell phone on you, Pepper, and no more scenes like the one that took place at Treetops today. You are the sheriff’s daughter, so behave.”

“When do I get a chance not to behave?” I asked teasingly.

“When I’m not sheriff anymore,” he said with a wink and headed toward the door. It opened and Ian walked in before my dad reached it. “Keep an eye on her.”

“Always,” Ian said.

Ian refilled my wine glass, though this time he didn’t stand on the other side of the counter. He stood close to me, close enough to kiss me. I wish I had the nerve to kiss him, but I was too afraid something would go wrong if I did.

I went to move away from him a bit for my own sanity and bits of forest debris fell from my hair. I’d forgotten what a mess I must look and was so glad I hadn’t kissed him. My smudged face was anything but appealing.

That’s why he shocked me when he leaned in and kissed me and not a simple kiss. His hand went to the back of my neck, held it firm and his lips let me know that he’d been waiting to kiss me. I had no trouble returning the kiss.

“A shower,” I said through a haze when the kiss ended.

“What?” he asked, shaking his head.

“A shower. I need a shower.”

“I can go and return later,” he said, though he certainly didn’t look like he wanted to.

“No. Stay,” I said quickly, sounding desperate.

“Good, ah dinnae want to leave,” he said with a smile.

Why was it his responses always melted my insides?

“I’ll go take a shower,” I said, sliding off the stool and smiled as I continued to look at him as I headed toward my bedroom. I stopped as soon as I realized the message, I might be sending to him. “That’s not an invite.”

Not that it wasn’t appealing to have him join me, but it was too soon for that.

Ian looked amused and said, “I know, but I’m a patient man.”

I laughed softly and couldn’t believe the words that came out of my mouth before I hurried off. “Not too patient I hope.”

17

I concentrated on work the next day in between thoughts of Ian. We got pretty hot and heavy on the couch last night, but I wasn’t ready to become totally intimate with him just yet. I wanted to know more about him and what he expected from me. Was it a short-term thing he was looking for while here or did he expect each time he returned to Willow Lake he’d pick up where he’d left off until he left again? That wasn’t something I wanted. The thought even upset me. And that he was my neighbor only made it worse, since it would be difficult to avoid him. And what would happen when he found a wife?

I did a quick first draft of the proposal Sylvia wanted done. It was mostly my thoughts and ideas and later I’d arrange it into a full cohesive proposal. I had planned on doing the video I never got to finish yesterday but the weather wasn’t cooperating. As beautiful as it was yesterday it was that rainy and miserable today. But that’s autumn for you.

I decided to do a quick, update video of my stock room to post. It’s a favorite of my viewers, a reminder for them to do the same while new people to my website get an easy lesson in how to arrange stock for easy access and ease of restocking. And those who aren’t even preppers find it helpful, many leaving comments or contacting me with suggestions of their own that I put together and share with my followers.

I have a room off the kitchen where I keep prepper stock for easy access and a large room in the back of the garage where long-term, survival stock and other essential prepper items are stored. Today I was concentrating on the easy access prepper stock.

I set the video camera and did a quick intro to the room. “Hi preppers and welcome to my basic prepper stockroom.” I panned the camera so they could see the well-stocked shelves that went around the whole room. “The small rectangular freezer in the middle is the perfect place for me to set my bags and boxes on when restocking, not to mention the food it holds.