Imperfect Rebel Read Online Free Page B

that night, and what Regina hadn't offered, the cheerleader had.
    Not that any of that had any relevance to the fascinating creature sitting next to him, doing her best to pretend he didn't exist. He'd put on his cowboy boots for her, and she didn't even notice when he propped them on the dashboard. But she was aware of him all right, and she was madder than a wet cat about it. Hell of a reaction to the electricity bouncing around in here.
    "I never got a chance to look at the place. Is it in good repair?" he asked, trying to divert her attention from her mad-on. He loved Spanish moss, and admired the way it drooped over the crushed shell highway they roared down. He trusted the truck had four-wheel drive or they'd be headed for a skid shortly. He wasn't too eager for a repeat of the day's earlier catastrophe. Broken hands or head would not bode well for his currently flagging career.
    Good thing he'd sent in that last batch of strips before setting out on this adventure. One more black mark against his name and his agent was likely to can him. A cartoonist without a career was a pretty sad affair.
    "It needs a new roof," she answered curtly. "No one lives there, so I don't pay much attention to what shape it's in."
    "Why haven't you sold it then? Beachfront property has to be worth a mint."
    "This isn't California, and I like my privacy. Keep that in mind, and we'll get along fine."
    Jared hummed a country song he'd heard on the drive down and tried to imagine why a creative woman like this would be hiding in the outback of a swamp, but his mind wouldn't settle on any one reason. Maybe she was an inventor afraid of someone stealing her ideas before she patented them. If she wasn't, she ought to be. That cackling witch sweeping across the road on her broom was enough to cause heart failure. He particularly liked the witch's stringy hair and red shoes.
    "Fine with me," he agreed easily. "I was feeling burned out and needed to get away from distraction to finish this project." Finish , his foot and eye. All he'd written so far was cow manure. He had to raise it to bullshit, at the very least. He'd manage. He always had.
    Except for that last project. He hid his grimace at the unfamiliar sensation of the ground cracking under him. "Failure" wasn't in the McCloud family credo.
    He'd rather think about the current object of his interest. "I've always found the pounding of surf relaxing."
    "Swell for you," she mocked. "It's hurricane season. Maybe you'll hear some real surf."
    "I live in Miami. I know hurricanes," he said comfortably, not about to be scared off, if that was her intention.
    "Surf is about all you'll hear out there. I don't think the place is wired for much more than a light and a stove and the well pump."
    "Mind if I upgrade the wiring if I need it? Computers are finicky about electricity." He hadn't counted on rewiring, but if there was electricity, it shouldn't take much to run in a line or two for his stuff.
    She shrugged. "Your money."
    She didn't even ask him how long he would stay. Entertaining.
    In the interest of seeing just how far she could ignore him, he hunted for a more telling question. That didn't take much thought. "Why'd you change your mind?"
    For a moment, he thought she wouldn't answer, she stared out the windshield so fiercely.
    "I like my privacy," she repeated.
    "That doesn't answer the question." Jared tried not to smile as she struggled to find an answer that wasn't an answer. His older brother, Tim, had once warned him that he would someday run into a nutcase who would blow him away for his annoying persistence, but Jared figured he'd take his chances. Risk nothing, gain nothing, was his motto.
    He wondered if she'd forgotten the question or simply refused to answer further, but she finally gritted her teeth and shot him a glare.
    "I prefer you to the sheriff."
    Remembering the paunchy, balding man of the law, Jared crossed his arms and lifted his eyebrows. "Gee, gosh. I'm overwhelmed."
    He