Addicted to You (One Night of Passion 1)

“Nah. The car will survive some dirt. I’ve got a nice bath ready for him up at the house.”

Barnyard hadn’t thought the bath was so nice. Katie had never seen the basset hound move so energetically until she’d attempted to scrub him clean. Barnyard tipped over the little tin tub she’d found in the shed three times before she’d wrestled him down long enough to scour years of dirt off him. Katie hoped the dog had forgiven her by the time she set a diced-up skirt steak in front of him as he sat on the kitchen floor, damp and smelling of her favorite shampoo.

He’d glanced up at her with doleful brown eyes before he’d stood to eat. Katie saw his tail wag for the first time in her life. His entire butt swayed along with it as he sloppily ate his meal.

Her pregnancy started to feel a little more real to her, even though her new doctor had informed her that the baby didn’t even measure an eighth of an inch in length at that point. Olive Fanatoon had been a godsend, as the mother of three grown children. Olive was generous with her time in answering Katie’s questions and with her sympathy when, on one occasion, Katie had burst into tears seemingly out of nowhere.

Well, perhaps it wasn’t completely out of nowhere, as she had sobbed Rill’s name repeatedly the entire time.

Stupid hormones.

When she’d first seen the positive sign on the home-pregnancy test, Katie had wanted nothing more than to talk to her mother. Bawl to her, more like it. Since then, she’d decided not to tell her parents about the pregnancy until she reached the end of her second month, just to be on the safe side. No reason to get them worried. They’d be thrilled for her, as long as she was happy.

Katie figured she’d have to polish up on her acting skills for that particular role.

She had told Everett, however, feeling like she had to, seeing as how her brother had heard what was happening in the bathroom the day she took the pregnancy test and Rill burst in on her. Everett had been extremely quiet when she told him the details of her pregnancy, but then moaned miserably when she told him about Rill’s reaction.

“Christ Almighty, Katie. What do you mean he doesn’t remember getting you pregnant?” Everett had demanded when they’d spoken on the phone earlier today.

“I mean he was stone drunk. And I’m not giving you any more detai

ls about it, either. It’s none of your business.”

“I’m not much in a mood for feeling sorry for Rill, seeing as how he got my sister pregnant and took off,” Everett grumbled, “but I can see how it might have floored him. I don’t suppose he told you about Eden?”

“Yeah,” Katie had replied flatly. “How she was pregnant when she died, and it wasn’t his baby.”

“Of all the fucking things—”

“Yeah, I see the dark irony of it all. Trust me, I’m drowning in it.”

She’d regretted saying that when Everett said he was booking a flight to St. Louis the next day. She’d scolded him out of it, saying she had her new job to attend to, and assuring him Olive and Barnyard were there for support. She told him he could fly out with her parents once she told them about the baby, if he wanted.

Katie figured she’d need a good dose of moral support at about that point, living alone on top of that hill and wondering where Rill was . . . what he was doing . . . whom he was with.

She kept dreaming about him incessantly; Rill holding her fast in his arms, his male laughter filling up the whole house, the moment when his amused expression turned hot as he looked at her. The dreams were so realistic, she’d wake up in the morning and experience her loneliness like a slap to the face. She knew she should have washed the sheets, or slept in the dormer bedroom, but she couldn’t resist lying in his bed at night, his pillow pressed against her belly and face, his scent filling her nose.

He’d tried to call her twice that Katie was aware of, but cell phone coverage in the hills was spotty and unreliable. She hadn’t gotten his brief messages until hours after the call was actually placed.

He hadn’t called for two days now, and Katie was beginning to get jittery with anxiety over that fact. She couldn’t allow herself to believe he was going to return, but she couldn’t seem to stop hoping, either, and she knew how unhealthy that was. When she realized the state she was putting herself into late Saturday afternoon as she paced around with her cell phone sitting on the kitchen table like a time bomb she couldn’t deactivate, Katie resolved to go into town and eat at the diner. One of Sherona’s meals would put her straight.

“Come on, Barnyard,” she told the dog, who had been soberly watching as she walked back and forth. He skipped in front of her, sliding on the kitchen floor before he hit the wood of the hallway.

She determinedly left her cell phone behind in the house and opened the passenger door for Barnyard to clamor into her Maserati on scrambling, stubby legs.

Barnyard turned in an anxious circle and whined when he reached the front of the diner, unwilling to plant his bottom in his usual spot. His sad eyes tore at Katie when he looked up at her.

Was he worried she was going to leave him there again?

“Would you rather wait in the car, Barnyard?” she asked him quietly.

He whimpered and Katie headed for the car. He followed her. She opened the windows, letting in a cool fall breeze, and left a more content-looking Barnyard behind.

Katie waved at several people she knew when she entered the diner. Errol was sitting in his usual booth when she arrived, but he immediately got up and hobbled toward her on his crutches, sitting beside her at the counter.

“Want something to eat, Errol?” Katie asked as she nodded a greeting at Sherona, who was at a booth giving Marcus Stash his change. Monty was talking to a man Katie had recently met named Nick Brown, who did beautiful oil paintings of the local forest and hills and sold them at the Dyer Creek Trading Company. She’d decided she wanted to buy one for the empty space above the mantel at the Mitchell place, but she hadn’t told Nick yet.

Marcus Stash looked tense as he glared at the back of Miles Fordham’s head. Miles was having a serious discussion with a man wearing a business suit, although he did keep glancing in Katie’s direction.