Читать книгу Night Hawk онлайн | страница 57

Talon brought over the notes Kai had made and laid them out in front of himself. He glanced across the table at her. “This is pretty remarkable, Kai. You’ve cut the repair bill in half on the tractor.”

Kai felt heat in her cheeks. “Thanks, Talon.”

Gil growled, “It might save us money, but I don’t like Kai being around the likes of Harper.”

Talon nodded. “Yeah, this isn’t the best of all worlds,” he agreed. Giving Kai a look of concern, he said, “Did Harper bother you while you were over at his place?”

“No. He introduced me to his repair boss, José, and I never saw him again.”

“I don’t like it,” Gil muttered, giving Talon a hard look.

Kai shook her head. “What is everyone talking over my head about?” She gave Talon a frustrated look.

Cass, who sat next to her, said, “Harper is a woman chaser, Kai. He’s got a seriously bad reputation in town.”

“He didn’t come on to me. He overheard me talking to Joe at the John Deere place.” Kai saw Gil give her a look of disbelief, but he kept his mouth shut, his large, callused hands clasped tightly on the table.

Talon moved his fingers through his short hair. He stared at the bill. “She’s saved us a helluva lot of money. And every penny counts.”

“Not at her expense, it doesn’t,” Gil growled in warning, looking each man in the eyes.

Kai’s skin ruffled beneath his growl. He sounded like a pissed-off grizzly. She refused to look at him, again feeling that intense sense of protection suddenly blanketing her. It almost felt as if he was staking or claiming her! Thinking she was imagining things, she said quietly, “Look, I’m twenty-nine years old. I can take care of myself. We need that machinery shop that Harper’s got. He said I could come back at any time if I wanted to rebuild something. He’d charge me a fair-market price.” She gave Talon a pleading look. “I only got two pieces of machinery fully vetted today. There’s eight more pieces of equipment out there. And I think you can tell from how much repair has to be done to bring that tractor and baler back to life we need what Harper is offering us. I think it was nice of him to do it.”