Her brown eyes looked up as Queenie finished a round on the course and barreled toward him. Her tan coat gleamed with health and her strides were long and smooth. She barked twice on her way.
Lucas braced himself for impact. The Belgian Malinois jumped for him. He wrapped his arms around her and endured her enthusiastic licks. Going down on one knee, he let Queenie find her footing, ruffled up the scruff of her neck and scratched her ears.
“I won’t leave you like that again,” he said. “I didn’t need you this time, girl.”
She gave a high-pitched yip, as though admonishing him. He chuckled and stood as Elle came over.
His sister hugged him. “Any luck?”
“No.” He didn’t like lying to her, but he couldn’t risk anyone finding out Demi was at his cabin. Not only as a precaution, in case Demi was right and she would be arrested, but also to win her trust.
“Guess you should have taken Queenie.”
“Guess so.” He petted the dog’s head and stood. “Where’s Danica?” He hadn’t seen his other younger sister. She could usually be found in the training center, since she was one of the unit’s best trainers.
“She took the day off. She and Shane Colton had plans to do something.”
“What about the rest of the clan? Where’s Carson?”
“Where he usually is, at the police department. Vincent is either at the college or with Valeria Colton,” Elle said.
“I thought she broke up with him months ago.” He knew full well the young couple was still together since he’d just seen them at the inn. But the last thing he wanted to do was mention that.
“She did, but rumor has it they’re still seeing each other and planning a Christmas Eve wedding.”
Their youngest brother had taken quite a shine to that Colton girl and caused a scandal when he’d proposed to her last winter. A Gage marrying a Colton? No way.
“So much for the Gage–Colton family feud over a poker game that cost our family some land,” Lucas said.
Elle smiled. “A hundred years is a long time to hold a grudge.”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
Edmund Colton had begun developing the town in 1890 and gotten rich in the process. The Gage family had embarked on a competition to see who could make more money. Some years they did.
“Let’s hope Devlin doesn’t believe the rumors—or hear them for that matter.”
“You’re that sure Demi isn’t the killer?”
He hadn’t been certain where Elle stood on who the killer really was. He’d suspected she was on the fence and her question just confirmed it. “Yes, I think I am.”
“I better get going.” Lucas signaled for Queenie to come with him. “I’ll see you soon, sister.”
“That’s good, brother.” She turned back to the training area and headed for the kennels.
Lucas went inside and walked toward the front entrance. On his way a policeman spotted him and headed to intercept him.
John Williams was an older cop with years of experience behind him. Lucas had worked with him on a few cases. He seemed like a nice enough guy, except he was rather rigid when it came to criminals. If they were guilty, by God, they belonged in jail. He worked hard to put them there. Lucas respected that about him.
“You’re back,” John said, shaking Lucas’s hand.
“John. Yes, just got back yesterday.”
“I take it you didn’t find her. I didn’t hear about any arrests.”
“We have enough reason to believe she isn’t the Groom Killer.”
“There’s plenty of evidence to prove she is,” John said. “I know some around here believe she’s innocent, but there are others who aren’t so quick to agree.”
John’s attitude enlightened Lucas about his stance on the matter. Lucas wasn’t surprised. Williams was the kind of cop who required the evidence in hand before he’d be convinced.
“Finding a smoking gun would help. I’ve got to run. Good seeing you, John.” Lucas started walking away.
“What if you do find that missing gun and it has Demi’s prints on it?”
Lucas looked back. “Then we have our Groom Killer and we better find her.”
John half smiled. He obviously liked Lucas’s response. Lucas would do what was right. That was in his nature. John knew that about him. Everyone did. Integrity meant everything to him.
“Hey, Lucas.”
Lucas turned before reaching the door and saw Officer Hunter Black approach. His reddish-brown hair waved as he jogged.
“I heard you were back. Any luck? I know you didn’t find Demi, but did you get anything else? Any possible leads on Devlin?”
“No, unfortunately.” He wouldn’t explain how Devlin attacked and chased them. The owners of the inn had agreed not to say Lucas and Demi were there. They did not know Devlin was the one who had attacked. But Valeria had called 911. The fact that they were there might get back to the RRPD.
“There are a lot of people who want him caught. He can’t run forever.”
“No, we’ll catch him.”
Hunter nodded. “Men like him make me wish I’d have left Colton Energy sooner.”
Hunter had quit his high-paying career at Colton Energy to escape the greed and takeovers. After his parents died when he was fifteen, he was taken in by a neighbor, Mae Larson, who’d turned out to be a criminal herself, along with her grandsons, the Larson twins. Hunter had good reasons for joining the force.
“There are some around here who still think Demi is guilty,” Lucas said, voicing his frustration.
“Yeah, some do doubt Demi’s innocence, but they’re pretty much outnumbered by those who don’t.”
That was enough to be concerned about. What did the chief think? Lucas didn’t want to ask.
“How’s Layla doing?”
“Much better now that her father’s apologized for trying to force her to marry Hamlin Harrington. He didn’t know Hamlin’s son could be the Groom Killer.”
“Is the Groom Killer.”
“Is. But we still need some hard evidence.”
“I’ll find it.”
Hunter scrutinized him, tipped off to the level of Lucas’s determination. “You’re awfully supportive of a woman who, up until now, seemed more of a rival.”
“I never had anything against her. We competed for bounties on occasion. We never really got to know each other.”
“Now you do?” Hunter leaned in. “You holding out on me?”
Lucas shook his head. “I felt terrible for going after her as the Groom Killer, when Devin set her up all this time.”
“Yeah. Innocent and on the run. Not a good place to be. Too bad you couldn’t find her to let her know she’s got nothing to worry about.”
Lucas didn’t mention why he didn’t agree Demi had nothing to worry about. “What’s Fenwick Colton going to do to save his company now?”
“I don’t know. He has until the end of this month to come up with something. Layla is trying to help him. Not so much for him. She loves that company like it’s her own. She’ll do it for the family.”
Lucas hoped she’d find a way, because if she did the K-9 unit and training center would be saved, as well. Fenwick funded the center. Without funding, the unit would not exist. Running a K-9 center was expensive.
The thought of losing the center presented another problem for Lucas, on top of catching the Groom Killer. Maybe he could think of a way to help Layla.
* * *
Demi looked out the living room window again. Still no sign of Lucas. The more time that passed, the more she worried that she should never have trusted him. She had showered and dressed in jeans and a soft gray knit sweater. She spent the morning playing with Wolf until he started to get tired and then put him down for his nap. While he was awake, she’d had something to distract her
.
She paced to the kitchen and then back to the window. This time she saw Lucas driving toward the cabin. She waited to see other vehicles. Lucas stopped the rental and got out. His dog, Queenie, was in the passenger seat and jumped out after him. He opened the back and took out two grocery bags.
Still no sign of other vehicles.
Lucas entered the cabin. Queenie bounded in, stopped short when she saw Demi and looked up at Lucas for direction.
“Nobody else is coming,” he said, closing the door.
Her whole body sagged with relief and a burst of humor because he’d read her so accurately. He hadn’t turned her in.
“A girl can never be too sure.” She took in how good he looked in his jeans as he turned and removed his jacket and slung it over a kitchen island chair.
Then he faced her and said to Queenie, “Go say hi.”
The beautiful dog barked twice and trotted over to her. Demi crouched and greeted her. A well-trained dog, Queenie had poise but also an instinct for detecting good character. Demi scratched the most important parts and said, “Hello, Queenie, good to see you again.”
Queenie’s gold-tinged eyes twinkled with love between sweet blinks.
“You can baby her,” Lucas said. “You won’t ruin her.”
Demi didn’t speak to her in baby talk. As a freelance bounty hunter, she had no K-9 and considered all the dogs at the center sort of like coworkers, much different than pets. Lucas had teased her for not talking to Queenie like a pet.
He crouched with her and scratched Queenie, who turned worshipful eyes to him.
Demi could feel their close bond and admired it for a moment. When Lucas looked up, his eyes captivated her. From soft love for his dog, they changed to something warmer for her. The attraction she had felt numerous times before and could always subdue now expanded.
He had also responded to the pull. Had he subdued this before, as she had? They had been intrigued by each other and had hidden it. She’d hidden it because she could not imagine becoming romantically involved with him. They butted heads far too often. Had they ever gotten along? His determination to beat her to bounties annoyed her and compelled her to best him. She had, many times, but he had also and just as often. She had often wondered if her being a Colton and his being a Gage had influenced his aggressiveness in that regard.
Why had he hidden his attraction?
“You never liked losing to me,” she said.
“What makes you say that?”
“You didn’t.”
Queenie’s eyes followed the back-and-forth talk.
“I was competitive,” Lucas said. “So were you. You got angry if I caught the bounty before you.”
“Only when you knew it was my bounty.”
Chuckling, he stood. Queenie remained sitting. “Just because you called it your bounty didn’t make it yours.”
There he went again, riling her. She stood, too, and Queenie went to a dog bed in the living room and lay down.
Lucas must have enjoyed getting her going. He often did that when he won a bounty. She’d always thought he was gloating, but the light in his eyes and his affectionate tone now made her reevaluate. Had he been teasing her all this time? Teasing or not, she didn’t like it. But she did like that he was attracted to her. She didn’t want to like that. In fact, she grew uncomfortable.
“Easy. We both liked catching the bounty, that’s all.”
“You teased me on purpose.” She felt slighted and her ire rose.
“Of course I did. You took me seriously and I found that endearing. You were so easy to make mad.”
She humphed and went into the kitchen. “That wasn’t very nice.”
“You’re getting mad again.”
Opening the refrigerator, she realized she was, and over something silly. Why did she get so offended by him?
Because he was handsome. Because she had dreams about him. Because she’d thought he didn’t feel the same about her.
Why was she even entertaining these thoughts? They were the least compatible couple she could think of.
Except for their reluctance to get involved with anyone. Sure, they had different reasons, his a lot more unreasonable than hers, but overall they both would have difficulty entering serious relationships again.
She almost flinched when he came up behind her and put his hand on her arm.
“I’m sorry. I adore you when you get mad.”
Taking a bottle of water out, she faced him. “Adore me?”
“You were always so easy to set off, but what made it adorable was that you weren’t aware I was teasing.” He paused and added in a playful tone, “And that you were so easy to make mad.”
He’d gotten in her face about how slow she was or that she thought she was a better bounty hunter but he proved every time that she wasn’t. He had critiqued her methods, from being unable to track fugitives by their electronic transactions to questioning the wrong people. He hadn’t smiled or laughed while he said those things, egging her on.
But his eyes had always had that sparkle, like they did now. His eyes had always been the thing that tickled her feminine senses. That had only worked to fuel her temper.
He hadn’t been getting in her face. She’d taken insult over something benign. He’d kept that fact from her, that it had been benign. Then again, she shouldn’t have been so naïve.
Realizing that made her even more uncomfortable with the chemistry they had together, chemistry that had stirred to new heights now that they were spending so much time together.
Had her naïvety allured him? She wasn’t sure she should be flattered. Demi didn’t think of herself as naïve. Her quick temper had blinded her, most likely.
“Well, I’m not so easy to make mad anymore,” she said with more sass than she’d intended.
He moved a step closer, a short step with smooth a movement that drew attention to his trim stomach and muscular arms and shoulders. “No?”
Did he have to do that? She could smell him now. And his chest beckoned her to run her hands over the hard plateau.
She shook her head.
“Are you sure?”
Seeing his eyes had a familiar light, she hardened herself to a warming reaction. Not anger. Far from it. “I’ve had a lot of time to work on it.”
“I bet I could still make you mad.”
“You just admitted to teasing me. Now I know.”
He lifted his hand and brushed some hair off her cheek, the bob style swinging back down but not sticking to her skin. The touch sent tingles spreading from there and down her arms.
“I could find another tactic.”
And he would. Lucas Gage had a confident personality. Until now, she hadn’t realized he also possessed a lot of charm. She almost told him this tactic would not make her angry. Quite the opposite.
“Be careful. You might fall for me more than you want to,” she said.
“We were talking about making you mad.”
“Yes, and you have way too much fun doing that.” She would not enlighten him that his flirty tactic would—and did—have the opposite effect.
He chuckled, that deep raspy sound she loved but had never admitted to loving.
“My secret is out.” His voice caressed her just as his hand did.
She could think of nothing clever to say. She couldn’t think. Not with him wooing her this way. He had to be aware that’s what he was doing.
What if he wasn’t? Or what if he was but couldn’t or wouldn’t stop himself?
His head lowered.
He was going to kiss her and she’d let him.
Oh, no.
Wolf’s cry interrupted. Too happy to attend to him, Demi left the bottle of water on the counter and made her way upstairs to the second bedroom.
She changed him and sat in a
chair in the bedroom to feed him. Lucas appeared in the doorway with a fairly large box. It was a crib. Gaping at him, she couldn’t find the words to ask why.
“I went to the next town to buy it.” He set the box down and proceeded to open the top. “I picked up a few other things we might need, too.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Diapers. Food. A playpen and some toys. A few others.”
He’d gone to the next town so as to not raise suspicion, of course. If anyone in Red Ridge had seen him buying a crib and other baby items, they’d know he’d lied about hiding her at his cabin.
“You sure are proactive.”
He looked at her. “It’s just easier if I go.”
“You’re awfully excited about Wolf.” He had to be. Why had he bought all that for Wolf?
“Excited? He’s a great baby. I want him to be comfortable. And you.”
As she continued to look at him without responding, she sensed him question himself. He had enjoyed picking up the things for Wolf. True, he probably did want Wolf and Demi comfortable while they camped out in his cabin, but most of what motivated him had more to do with Demi and Wolf than making them comfortable. Did he think she would just stay here and not go after Devlin—prove her innocence?
“Lucas, I’m going to dress up in a disguise and go into town to search for that missing weapon.” She didn’t know where she’d start, but she had to start somewhere and staying in this cabin would get her nowhere.
“I can do that. You don’t have to worry.”
Oh, yes, she did. She had to take care of herself and Wolf. “I can’t sit here and do nothing, and there is only so much I can do on the internet.”
“Then we both go under disguise. We start with Devlin’s condo. What are you going to do with Wolf?”
Demi bit her lip, her ire still roiling. There was only one solution. “I can ask Brayden to watch him.”
“No.”
“You can go to him and tell him I’m here. He’ll come here and no one will ever know.”
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