brothers. Going with you will save me the hassle of renting a car here.”
“You could have ridden with your mother and her chauffeur.”
Arms folded in front of him, he lounged to one side. “Not going to happen.”
She slid him a glance, wishing he didn’t look so big and strong and immovable. “Why not?”
His gaze roved her knee-length khaki shorts and red notch-collared blouse before returning to her face. “Because I don’t want to spend the entire journey dodging questions I don’t want to answer.”
His lazy quip brought heat to her cheeks. “Hint, hint?”
“If the shoe fits...”
Boy, he was maddening .
Worse, she didn’t know why she was letting him get under her skin. She dealt with difficult people all the time.
Maybe they weren’t six feet five inches tall and handsome as all get-out, and military-grade sexy, but...still...
Aware he was watching her, gauging her reactions as carefully as she was checking out his, she lifted her chin. “What were the other reasons?”
This time he grinned. Big time. “It’ll save me from leading the search party later.”
Knowing a thinly veiled insult when she heard one, Hope scowled. “ What search party?”
“The one that’s sent out to find you and your baby in the wilds of Laramie County when you get lost after dark.”
Hope inhaled deeply. Breathed out slowly. Gave him one of her trademark watch it looks. “I think I can read a map, Captain .”
“No doubt, sweetheart,” he said in a droll tone. “But unless you can telepathically figure out which road is which when you come to an unmarked intersection in the Middle of Nowhere, West Texas...you might want to rethink that.”
Being lost with a baby who needed to be fed and diapered every few hours was not her ideal scenario, either. “Fine.” She gave him a warning glance. “But you’re driving so I can work.”
He took the keys. “Wouldn’t have it any other way. My only question is—” Garrett eyed the pile of luggage and baby gear still sitting in her driveway “—can you and/or your significant other load the car?”
There he went with the questions about her private life again. Although, why it would matter to him she had no idea. But to save both of them a great big headache, she figured she might as well be blunt.
“First of all, there is no significant other,” she retorted, and thought—but couldn’t be sure—that she saw a flash of something in his blue eyes as she continued expertly packing the cargo compartment with the rest of her gear. “Second, it’s not that much stuff.” She went into the house and returned, toting a sound-asleep Max—who was already belted into his safety seat—to the roomy SUV. Garrett watched her lock Max’s carrier into its base in the center of the rear seat.
“If you say so.”
Clearly, he still had something on his mind.
Hope straightened. “What is it?”
“I’m all for getting my mother out of the public eye. But are you sure this is going to work? Property records are public. The press could still figure out where she’s gone.”
Hope appreciated his concern for his family’s welfare. “They could.”
“But...?”
“It’s unlikely a Dallas news crew will travel three hours out to Laramie, and then back, just to hear a no comment from someone other than your mother. When they could easily interview someone from a nonprofit right here in the metroplex who has a lot to say about how they and the people they serve have been wronged.”
“You’re the scandal manager.” Garrett settled behind the wheel, his large, muscular frame filling up the interior of her car. Frowning, he fit the key into the ignition. “But can’t you pressure the news organizations to present both sides of the story?”
“Yes, and for the record, I already have.” Hope climbed into the passenger seat and closed the garage via remote. “But the Dallas papers and TV stations can still keep the story going—and ostensibly show