Читать книгу The Hamilton Heir - Valerie Hansen - Страница 12

After they’d completed the meals-on-wheels deliveries and dropped the carrying boxes back at the church, Dawn expected Tim to merely let her off at her apartment and be on his way. However, when he parked, he got out.

She looped the strap of her purse over one shoulder and hesitated on the sidewalk. “Thanks for the ride.”

“No problem. I actually enjoyed myself. Some of those people are fascinating.”

“Told you so.” He was still not making any move to get back into his car and she wasn’t sure what to do about it. “Well, good night.”

He quickly circled the BMW and joined her. “I’ll walk you up.”

“That’s not necessary.”

Tim was firm. “I think it is.”

“Well, I don’t. I come home every night by myself and go in without an escort.”

“Tonight, you have one.”

“I don’t need one.”

“Humor me. I’ll feel safer knowing I took you all the way to your door.”

“Are you implying that my neighborhood isn’t safe at night because I don’t live in a gated complex like you do?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“No, but you implied it.”

Tim stared at her, his expression unyielding. “Look. I don’t care where you live or what your neighbors are like. You heard what happened to Felicity Simmons. My brother Chris had to be assigned as her bodyguard.”

“That was a stalker, not a random crime. Felicity told me all about it.”

Tim folded his arms across his chest, struck a nonchalant pose and began to smile. Dawn could tell by the smug look on his face that he wasn’t going to back down.

“You’re going to stand there all night if I don’t let you walk me up, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Sure am. I can hold out as long as you can.”

“Probably longer,” she muttered, pouting. “Okay. You can escort me to my door if it’ll make you happy. But that’s as far as you go. You’re not coming in.”

“Of course not.” Tim fell into step behind her. “You didn’t think I was hitting on you, did you?”

The thought had occurred to Dawn, especially after his compliment about her hair, but she kept her wild imaginings to herself. Of course Tim Hamilton wasn’t hitting on her. It was ridiculous to think he might be interested in her when he had so many high-society glamour queens to choose from. As his administrative assistant, there wasn’t a day went by that she didn’t have to field at least one or two calls from women like that. It didn’t matter that Tim rarely followed up on their invitations. They were still standing in line and waiting to go out with him whenever he was ready. That was all that counted.

The few minutes it took them to climb three flights of stairs to her apartment wasn’t long enough for Dawn to quiet her nerves or settle her mind. She still had butterflies in her stomach when she reached her door, turned to face Tim and held out her hand. “Good night.”

Belatedly, she realized what a mistake that normally inconsequential gesture was. Tim grasped her hand but instead of shaking it the way he would have if she’d been a man, he cradled her fingers gently and looked directly into her eyes. Dawn couldn’t move, could hardly force herself to continue breathing.

“I want you to know how much I value the opportunity I had to make the rounds with you tonight,” he said quietly, sincerely. “You gave me a new appreciation of the hard work so many volunteers do. I honestly had no idea.”

She strained to pull her hand away and he reluctantly let go. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. And thanks for giving all that extra food from Betty’s to the last family. I’m sure the Martins are grateful. They need all the help they can get, especially until Jordan’s able to go back to work again.”

“Glad to do it.” Tim smiled. “You warned me I’d better not throw anything away and it seemed a logical alternative. I’m glad I was there to help you carry that heavy case of baby formula up those stairs for them. Do you usually lug it all that way yourself?”

“Sure. When I need to.”

Tim stepped back and thrust his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “Well, you must be tired, so…”

“Exhausted,” Dawn said. “Thanks for the ride.”

He took another step away. “You’re welcome.”

Turning, she fumbled to get the key into the lock, finally succeeded, and started to duck into her apartment. Just as she did, something very substantial pushed past her legs without a sound.

All she had time to shout was, “Beau, no!” before the mastiff leaped and pinned Tim against the wall of the dimly lit hallway.

Dawn grabbed the dog’s collar and tugged, yelling, “Beau! Down.” He yielded easily.

To Tim she said, “Are you okay?”

“I think so.” He was wiping his face and seemed short of breath.

“I’m so sorry. Beau’s usually very good about staying inside. I didn’t think he’d burst out like that. He must have heard my voice and…” And sensed how nervous I am, she finished silently.

The astonished expression lingering on Tim’s face made her grin in spite of the embarrassing situation. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I think so. Boy, does he have bad breath!” Tim stared at the now-lethargic-looking animal seated at her feet and panting as if it had just chased down and captured a man-eating lion. “What is he?”

“A dog.”

“I’d already figured out that part. What I mean is, what are you doing with an animal the size of an elephant in your little apartment? Does your landlord know?”

“Yes. I’m allowed to have one pet as long as the other neighbors aren’t bothered by any noise. Beau’s so quiet I doubt most of them even know he’s here.”

“Beau?”

“Short for Beauregard. A proper Southern name, don’t you think? Beau was my brother’s dog. After the terrible accident I told you about, Phil didn’t want Mom to have to deal with caring for Beau, too, so he asked me to take him in.”

“And, of course, you did.”

“Sure. He’s a wonderful companion. Very gentle.”

Tim was brushing himself off as if contact with the mastiff had left him muddy. “I’ll have to take your word for it. I haven’t had much experience with dogs and such.”

Dawn was aghast. “You never had a pet when you were a little boy?”

He shook his head. “I think the girls had some goldfish once. I can’t remember for sure.”

“That is so sad.”

Shrugging, Tim continued to brush at his dark slacks. “Not to me, it isn’t. We had plenty of other interests, like school and sports. I never felt I was missing anything by not having a dog shedding all over the furniture and chewing up my shoes.”

“Well, you were,” Dawn said.

She guided Beau toward the apartment door with a light touch on his collar and urged him to enter ahead of her. As she followed, she noted that Tim was still standing in the dim, narrow hallway, staring after her. His expression made her wonder if he was having trouble digesting her candid criticism of his childhood.

Probably. Tim wasn’t very good at recognizing the wisdom of ideas that differed from his own, no matter how sensible they were. The Hamilton way was the only way, according to him, and, sadly, he usually refused to listen to any opinions to the contrary.

Dawn spent a restless night. She had belatedly come to the realization she didn’t have a ride to work the following morning and had spent hours trying to decide what to do about it. No way was she going to ask Tim to come and get her. No, sir. Not after the way his compliment about her hair had shaken her up. And putting the whole incident out of her mind was beyond impossible. So she’d phoned her friend Gabi Valencia, and begged Gabi to give her a ride into Davis Landing on her way to her job at the hospital’s administration office.

Gabi picked her up early, as Dawn had requested. “You should have called me yesterday, when you found out your car was out of commission,” Gabi said. “I’d have helped you with the meals. There’s plenty of room in my van.”

Too weary to deal with the teasing she knew would ensue if she told Gabi everything, Dawn decided to hold back some of the details of her unsettling evening. She wrapped her light jacket more tightly around herself and held it there, her arms crossed. “I would have asked you, but I thought Talia had soccer practice on Monday nights.”

“That’s old news. Both my girls change their minds so often it drives me loca.” She smiled over at Dawn. “So, how did it go with you and the boss man last night?”

Dawn’s head snapped around. “How did you know he was involved?”

“Small town. Big, talkative church,” Gabi said with a smile. “I probably knew who you were with before you made your first meal delivery.”

“Probably. It was quite an evening.”

“Bad?”

“Not exactly.” Dawn was shaking her head slowly, pensively. “Tim—Mr. Hamilton—was a perfect gentleman. And he related well to the oldsters, especially Stuart Meyers.”