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understatement."
    He slid his arm along the back of the porch swing and settled himself into a comfortable position. "It's probably hard to keep a step ahead of him even at his young age."
    "I'm lucky if I can keep a step behind him." Leah wished she could relax, but every alarm was sounding in her mind at Shane's nearness. His male scent permeated the heat-drenched night, making her acutely aware of the man beside her and the fact he was still beside her. "Of course, the worst problem is he doesn't relate to children. He likes to be around adults, and even that can be a problem at times. Most adults aren't comfortable around him."
    "Yeah, that could be a problem, especially with the Neds of this world."
    Leah had a sudden vision of Ned standing before Joey in his bathrobe and flip-flops, trying to have a conversation with the child. She could see the man running down the street like his silly teenage daughter, screaming the sky was falling. Leah laughed. "He takes some getting used to."
    "Who? Ned or your son?"
    "Actually, both."
    "I'd better warn you now. Ned is our neighborhood snoop. His wife Madge is almost as bad. But Ned went so far as to take a correspondence course on how to be a detective about a year ago. Our lives on Willow Street haven't been the same since. Poor Betsy. I think she dresses the way she does to separate herself from her parents."
    "Since you're here, I assume Betsy is okay."
    "Popping her gum and trying to decide where to put another earring. The only bad thing that happened to her was that she swallowed her gum, which, knowing Betsy was probably a huge wad. She's lucky she didn't choke. Of course, that hasn't stopped her from continuing to chew several pieces at once."
    "When I saw Betsy, I had my doubts about her babysitting my sons. I wish I had listened to my instincts and not gone to your mother's tonight."
    His arm slipped farther along the back of the swing, his hand touching her shoulder. "I'm glad you didn't. We wouldn't be sitting here like this if you hadn't come over to my mother's."
    The feel of his fingers seared through the thin material of her blouse. She felt branded, and couldn't understand her reaction to a mere touch.
    "It's not often I get this much excitement in one evening. If you haven't already noticed, Shady Oaks is a quiet town."
    "That's one of the reasons I picked Shady Oaks to live in. Quiet is good." Quiet could be heaven, she thought, realizing how very little of that she had had in her life.
    "As mayor, I'm glad not too much has happened to require my time. I didn't want the job, but no one else would run against Ned last spring. It's a thankless job, one better suited to a mediator. All I've had to do is arbitrate squabbles."
    Leah closed her eyes and relished the rare quiet of the evening and the caressing motion of his hand as he drew lazy circles on her upper arm and talked about some of the more interesting fights he had settled. Not surprisingly, Ned and Madge were at the center of at least half of them.
    "When does the man have time to work?" Leah asked, her body relaxing completely, her head dropping back against Shane's arm.
    "Ned is independently wealthy. He inherited some money a few years back from an uncle, and has made our lives miserable ever since. Too much idle time on his hands."
    Every muscle in her body seemed to liquefy. The warm night air wrapped her in a cocoon, and Shane's masculine voice lured her into a sense of peace. "He needs to get a hobby."
    "He has one. Causing trouble in Shady Oaks."
    Leah laughed and found she snuggling farther into the arc his arm formed along the back of the swing. She hadn't felt this comfortable in a long time. "I suspect his next hobby will be evicting the Taylors from Shady Oaks," she let slip out.
    "Oh, he'll forget about the incident with Betsy. He'll find a new crusade tomorrow. In fact, when I left their house, Ned was already sitting in front of the TV and watching a rerun of Murder, She Wrote . No doubt