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me.”
    She faced him, taking another sneak peek at him in those jeans. “Okay.” She’d have done that anyway.
    Catching his gaze moving from her chest to her face, she felt as though the fireworks were starting early right here on her back patio. She checked for a wedding ring and didn’t see one. Why would a man who looked as good as him not be taken by now? Surely he had to at least have a girlfriend.
    “How old are you?” she asked. He didn’t look much older than her.
    A slight smile toyed with his mouth and then vanished as though he’d curtailed the enjoyment of her question and the possibility that she was interested in more than his protection. “Twenty-eight.”
    Only three years older than her.
    “Your girlfriend must not like you having to stay here,” she said, hoping she wasn’t being too obvious, a roundabout way of finding out if he was single. And why was she doing that anyway?
    He pushed off the door frame and stepped onto the patio, walking in that macho way of his to the edge of the artfully placed stone. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”
    “Does your family live here?”
    “I don’t have a family.”
    The flat sound of his tone alerted her curiosity. “None?” Surely he had some kind of family.
    He was standing so close to her she could smell his cologne. Nice. Subtle. Deep and just enough spice. But his short answers had her wondering. “What about your parents?”
    Looking out into the yard, he didn’t respond. Whatever had happened to his parents was painful for him to talk about.
    “Don’t you have anyone close?” How sad if he didn’t.
    He turned back to her with much less angst. “Anna. She’s my…mother.”
    Gemma didn’t know what to say. Anna was a mother figure to him and he’d obviously lost his real parents somehow.
    “She won’t be able to stay away,” he said with a fond grin, surprising her. He didn’t have any trouble talking about Anna. “Knowing I’m shacked up with a woman.”
    She smiled. “You’re working. Bo Fargo told you to stay with me.”
    “That won’t matter. She’ll take one look at you and…” He didn’t finish.
    “And what?” She had to bite back the direct questions popping up in her mind. What had happened to his parents? How had he come to be close to this woman named Anna?
    His gaze fell all over her body. “Never mind.”
    “Too late, Deputy McCall,” she coaxed. “What will she think?”
    He grunted his amusement. “That there’s something going on between us.”
    “She’d like that?” So would Gemma…
    “She’s been hounding me lately to settle down again.”
    Again? “You were married before?”
    The tension reappeared beyond the iron wall that shielded his eyes. “What do you want to do for dinner?”
    Wow. That was definitely another touchy subject. He didn’t like talking about his family or his past relationships. Except for Anna. How odd.
    Sensing she’d get no more information out of him, she remembered she was supposed to meet Lacy. “Oh.” She checked the time. “I almost forgot. I have to stop by Cold Plains Coffee to pick up Lacy.”
    “You have plans tonight?” The annoyance in his tone was unmistakable.
    What didn’t he like? The fact that she had to go out and he’d have to go with her or that it was Lacy she was going to see? “We’re going to a seminar.”
    “You just went to a seminar.”
    Clearly, he didn’t approve of them. “When I called to tell her I couldn’t stop by today, she asked if I’d go with her tonight.”
    After a lengthy pause, he said, “Be careful who you befriend at those.”
    His warning made her search his eyes to see if he was serious. He was. “Do you mean Lacy?” She laughed a little. Lacy was the friendliest person she’d ever met.
    “Haven’t you noticed anything odd about the community center?” He turned to face her full-on.
    “No. It’s modern and beautiful and it serves a wonderful purpose.”
    “Yeah, yeah. Samuel is a godsend. What