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An amused chuckle floated across the line. “My dear Miss Sattler. I hope I’m not calling too early.”
She refused to let that rattle her. “I’m a balloon pilot. Dawn means sleeping in for me.”
He gave another condescendingAren’t you amusingchuckle. “Glad to hear it. I was hoping to meet you for breakfast.”
Erin cackled outright. “Pity I have other plans.”
Somewhere in the distance, a horse whinnied, and the small herd of cattle lowed.
He’s coming,my dragon rumbled.They can sense it.
Erin frowned and stepped quietly to the porch, looking around. I followed her, listening in.
“Going ballooning?” Harlon had the nerve to ask next.
Erin gritted her teeth. “No, I am going to hang up. Goodbye.”
He cut in quickly. “We really must talk.”
“Must we? I think not.”
My eyes caught on the laundry hanging on a line outside the main house. A moment ago, it had been hanging limp. Now, it was gently flapping in the breeze.
My dragon rumbled, uneasy. How close was Harlon?
In the paddock, the horses grew more restless, tossing manes and stomping hooves. The air crackled with the pent-up energy of an encroaching storm.
My ears twitched, alerting me to the background sound on Harlon’s end of the call. A car rattling down a bumpy road?
I turned, looking up at the point where the ranch driveway crested a rise.
“All I ask is a moment of your time,” Harlon said as the engine in the background grew louder.
Two streams of light appeared on the rise, and a moment later, the sun glinted off metal.
Harlon,I nearly grunted, recognizing the bracket-shaped headlights of his SUV.
But the phone was on speaker, and I refused to give him the satisfaction of hearing me curse.
The cattle rumbled, making for the canyon at the far end of their enclosure.
“Are you asking or demanding?” Erin snipped, watching the road as intently as I.
The vehicle stopped, along with the engine noise on Harlon’s end of the line.
“Asking, of course. I wouldn’t dare intrude.”
Erin snorted. “No? I suppose you missed theNo trespassingsigns, then?”
She motioned urgently to the main house, mimicking a second phone. I yanked mine out and held it out while she dialed her sister’s number. Then I went inside and waited breathlessly for Pippa to pick up.
“Pippa, this is—” I started.
She cut me off. “I see the car. Is that him?”
“Yes.”
“What about whatshername — that vampire?”
