by Beth Andrews
Impassive tone or not, Kelsey glared at him like some sort of fierce, pixie warrior.
“Chief, I’m glad you’re here,” Michaels said unsteadily. “She’s crazy.”
“I’ll show you crazy,” Kelsey promised and stepped forward.
He really didn’t need this. Jack stalked over to Kelsey and, after a brief tug-of-war, jerked the cue out of her hands and tossed it onto the pool table.
“Now, what in the hell is going on?”
Kelsey crossed her arms. “Mini-cop over there is harassing my brother.”
Michaels’s face turned crimson. “I was checking on Mr. Ward’s whereabouts.”
“Well, you can clearly see he’s still here,” Kelsey said. “Guess that means you’re free to go.”
Ward touched Kelsey’s arm and spoke directly into her ear. She gave an ill-natured shrug and then stomped off to stand behind the bar.
Ward watched his sister walk away before turning to look at Jack with hard, flat eyes. “If you have everything under control, mind if I get back to work?”
Though Jack doubted Ward really was asking for his permission, he nodded anyway, and waited for the other man to disappear into the kitchen before motioning Michaels over.
“Officer Michaels,” Jack said, “didn’t your shift end over two hours ago?”
“No. I mean…yes. I mean, I’m on third shift.”
“And yet, here you are, not only still in full uniform, but also disobeying my direct order not to confront Ward.”
“I told you,” Michaels said petulantly, “I was checking to make sure he hadn’t skipped town.”
“Officer Harden is on duty at this time with orders—” he stressed the last word so the kid couldn’t miss his meaning “—to report Ward’s whereabouts.”
“We wouldn’t have to waste our time following him around if we’d just arrest him,” Michaels mumbled.
Jack stepped forward. The kid was smart enough to scurry backward until he bumped into the door. “I’m still police chief here, which means I’m still in charge of this investigation.”
Michaels lifted his chin. “Not for long.”
Jack held Michaels’s gaze until the cockiness disappeared from the kid’s eyes and he looked away. “Long enough to tell you that if you disobey a direct order again, you’ll face a suspension of duty. As it is, I’m issuing you an official reprimand for the stunt you pulled here today.”
Michaels blanched but recovered faster than Jack would’ve expected. “What about her?” He jerked his head in Kelsey’s direction. “She threatened to assault me.”
“I’ll handle it.”
“Sure you will,” Michaels said, sneering.
“I said, I’d take care of it.” At the quiet authority in Jack’s voice, Michaels swallowed and averted his gaze. Keeping his eyes on the kid, Jack opened the door. “Whether you like it, I’m still the officer in charge. You might want to remember that.”
Michaels stiffened, nodded abruptly then stormed off. The door slammed in Jack’s face with a resounding bang.
“That idiot is a one-man gestapo,” Kelsey called.
The pounding in his head intensified as he crossed back to the bar. “Michaels won’t bother you or your brother again.”
“Good.” Kelsey turned and presented her rigid back to him.
“We need to talk.”
“I have nothing to say.”
“Then you can listen.”
“Not interested.”
“Don’t push me, Kelsey,” he warned.
She looked over her shoulder. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
But she’d already pushed him, hadn’t she? She’d pushed him until he’d lost control. Until he’d gone against the instincts that told him he couldn’t, shouldn’t get involved with her.
“I want—”
“It’s past time you learned, you don’t always get what you want.”
“I realize I probably didn’t handle the situation as well as I could have—”
“You mean you don’t always make the women you have sex with feel cheap and dirty?”
He’d expected her bitterness, knew he deserved it and possibly worse. What he hadn’t expected was the slight, almost undetectable tremble in her voice. The hint of dejection and humiliation in her eyes.
Or that he’d want to do whatever it took, say whatever he needed to say, to make that pain disappear.
“I never meant to hurt you, Kelsey.”
“You didn’t,” she said quickly, looking away. “We both know last night was a mistake. You want to lay the blame at my feet? Fine. I accept full responsibility. Feel better?”
Hell no, he didn’t feel better. “All I want is a chance to explain why I said what I did last night.”
“No explanation necessary,” she said as she walked around to the front of the bar. “You made it quite clear what you think of me.”
When she would have walked past him, he stepped in front of her. “We have to talk about it sometime.”
She looked him dead in the eye. “I’d rather walk through hell barefoot, naked and doused in gasoline.”
She neatly sidestepped him and stormed off. Frustrated, he moved to go after her when Ward’s voice stopped him.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Jack swore and turned to see Ward lounging in the kitchen doorway. “Do what?”
“Chase after her. When Kelsey gets a mad going, the best thing to do is wait it out,” Ward said. “I know my sister. She’s impulsive, rash and rude. Her temper is quick to flare and slow to die down. And when she gets mad, she gets mean.”
“Thanks for the insight, but—”
“She’s also smart,” Ward continued as if Jack hadn’t spoken. “Smarter than even she realizes. She has a wicked sense of humor, is a whiz with numbers and is loyal to a fault. She’s cautious with her heart, but once she cares about someone, she sticks with them through thick and thin.”
“I know all I need to know about Kelsey,” Jack said in exasperation. “So if you have something to say, spit it out.”
Ward straightened, his face expressionless, his voice cool. “Kelsey puts on a decent show but she’s not as tough as she acts. And if you hurt her, you’re going to answer to me.”
THE SCENT OF SAUTÉED ONIONS and peppers, along with the low hum of voices and music from the bar, met Kelsey as she descended the back stairs into The Summit’s kitchen. Spotting Allie at the stove, she stepped off the lowest stair only to be waylaid by a child’s joyful cry. Before she could evade Emma, the girl flew across the room and attached herself to Kelsey’s leg.
“Uh, hey there, kid. What are you doing here?” she asked, awkwardly patting Emma’s head. She searched the large room. “Your dad’s not here is he?”Emma grinned. “Daddy had to work late so Aunt Allie’s babysitting.”
“Thank God.” The last thing she wanted was to go another round with the police chief. “Maybe my luck’s about to change.”
Emma pulled back, her face scrunched into a frown. “Huh?”
“I said, uh, isn’t that a lucky change?”
Emma rewarded her quick thinking with a big smile and finally let go of Kelsey’s legs.
“I didn’t realize you two knew each other,” Allie said, watching them intently.
“Kelsey helped me and Daddy make cookies.” Emma tugged on Kelsey’s hand and pulled her over to the large table. “Daddy made some and they were yucky, but Kelsey’s were real good and you don’t even bake them,” she continued as she climbed onto a chair. “You just mix some stuff and plop them down.”
“Oh, really?” Allie raised her eyebrows.
“Look, Kelsey.” Emma, standing on her chair, shoved her hands in Kelsey’s face. “Daddy did my nails last night.”
“Oh…ahh…” She tried to focus on Emma’s tiny, pink nails, ignoring the sweet image of Jack painting his daughter’s nails. “Those are—”
“And I’m gonna spend the night at Hayley’s Saturday and her
mom’s gonna put makeup on us and do our hair real fancy and we’re going to rent a movie and make homemade pizza and stay up real late, maybe even midnight.”
Kelsey blinked. “Well, that uh, sounds like—”
“And,” Emma continued, barely pausing for a breath, “today we learned what to do if there’s a ’mergency, like if your grandma is choking on a grape or there’s a fire or if a bad man has a gun. Then we had a practice spelling test and I missed two words but Aunt Allie said if I got a hundred on the test tomorrow she’ll take me for ice cream. The words are real hard ’cuz I’m in first grade but I’ve been studying them every night.” She jumped off her seat. “I have the list in my backpack, wanna see it?”
“How about you wash your hands and eat your dinner first?” Allie suggested. “Then you can show Kelsey your spelling.”
“Okay,” Emma agreed as she skipped out of the room.
Dazed, Kelsey asked, “Do they serve that kid speed for lunch or what?”
“She’s always wound up after school.” Allie expertly flipped a chicken breast on the stove-top grill and glanced at Kelsey. “You look tired. What’s the matter? Did you and Dillon have another argument?”
“Hard to argue with someone who barely speaks to you,” she said. She knew she had clear signs of a sleepless night—dark circles, puffy red-rimmed eyes, pale complexion—she didn’t need to be told she looked awful. Kelsey grabbed a slice of raw pepper and popped it into her mouth. “Even when I try to pick a fight with Dillon he doesn’t take the bait.”
“What is it then?”
“Nothing. Everything’s fine. I didn’t sleep well last night, that’s all.”
“Uh-huh,” Allie said. “Funny how you and Jack didn’t say anything about making cookies.”
“Not much to mention. You know, I really am beat,” she said, adding a totally fake yawn for effect. “I think I’ll just eat upstairs, maybe read a bit and call it an early night.”
“Fine. Don’t tell me what’s going on between you and Jack.” Allie laid a fresh roll on a baking sheet and slid it into the oven. “I’ll just allow my imagination to fill in the blanks.”
“It’s no big deal. I went over to Jack’s house a few nights ago to talk to him about Dillon. When I got there, he and the kid were having a slight problem and I helped them out.”
“So you and Jack have gotten past your apprehension toward each other?”
Kelsey, in the act of eating another slice of pepper, choked. Eyes watering, she coughed and cleared her throat. “I’d say we’re past the apprehension stage all right.”
Yeah, she and Jack had moved beyond apprehension and on to hostility. At the rate they were going, they’d be at full-blown animosity by the end of the day.
Allie took the rolls out of the oven, placed a chicken breast on each one and topped them with thin slices of mozzarella cheese. “That’s great. And it was so nice of you to help him out that way. Especially with all that’s going on.”
Kelsey’s face grew warm. “I wasn’t helping Jack so much as Emma.”
Who would be returning with her nonstop chatter any minute now. If that wasn’t reason enough to escape, she didn’t know what was.
“Look, I’ll just come back later, okay?” Kelsey backed up a step. “When you’re not so busy.”
Emma rushed back into the room at the same time the waitress came in from the bar and dropped off a meal order.
Allie read the order slip. “Don’t you want something to eat?” she asked Kelsey. “After I take care of this, I can fix you something.”
“Don’t bother. I have some food upstairs. I’ll just make myself a sandwich.”
Emma tugged on Kelsey’s jeans. “Are you going upstairs? Can I go, too? Please? Please?” she begged, looking up at her with pure adoration.
Okay, so the kid made her heart melt a little. She wasn’t totally unfeeling.
Kelsey felt Allie’s eyes on her. She sighed. No way could she turn the kid down. “If it’s okay with your aunt.”
“Can I, Aunt Allie?”
“I don’t see why not,” Allie said.
Emma squealed in delight and ran across the room to grab her backpack off a bench by the door. She raced for the stairs. “Come on, Kelsey.”
Kelsey tore her gaze away from Emma’s retreating figure to find Allie staring at her, one dark eyebrow raised, her blue eyes filled with curiosity.
Jeez, it was a good thing she had put Jack out of her mind for good. Otherwise, she might have to admit how much Allie resembled her brother at the moment. Freaky.
“Are you sure there’s nothing going on between you and Jack?” Allie asked in an undertone.
Talk about a loaded question. Kelsey met Allie’s gaze head-on. And told her the only thing she was absolutely sure of. “There is nothing, and I mean nothing, going on between me and Jack.”
The look on Allie’s face said she didn’t believe it. Well, that was just too damn bad. Oh, maybe there had been a tiny, little something going on between them, but that was over. Done.
After the way he’d hurt her, Kelsey would do anything, and everything, in her power to keep it that way. Hey, mistakes happened—don’t dwell on them. Better yet, pretend they didn’t happen at all and forget about them completely.
But just because she was becoming an expert at forgetting her mistakes didn’t mean she couldn’t learn from them. She’d learned a doozy last night. She needed to stay far away from Jack Martin.
JACK SLID ONTO A STOOL at the end of the bar and watched Luke Erickson, the only other patron still at The Summit, smile at Kelsey. Whatever the ski bum was saying made her grin. Jack clenched his hands.
Kelsey could handle herself. She’d proved it these past few days. She hadn’t had any problem ignoring or avoiding him had she?She wouldn’t have any problems handling a kid like Luke, either. Even if he was single, good-looking and had more money than brains. If Luke went too far, she’d cut him down to size with that sharp tongue of hers.
When Luke reached out and laid his hand on Kelsey’s arm, Jack narrowed his eyes. His vision blurred when—instead of biting the kid’s hand off—she smiled at him.
Kelsey laughed at something the ski bum said and Jack got to his feet. He moved down a few stools so that Kelsey would have to speak to him. Acknowledge him.
Though she only had eyes for Luke, she visibly stiffened when Jack sat down. “We’ve already had last call, Sheriff.”
“I know.” He kept his voice even. “I’ll just have a soda.”
She frowned but got his drink and set it on a paper napkin in front of him all without so much as glancing his way.
“Hey, Jack,” Luke said as Kelsey went to wipe down the other end of the bar.
Jack nodded.
“Does she know you’re the chief and not the sheriff?” Luke asked him.
“She knows. She just says it to tick me off.”
Luke grinned but wisely kept from saying how it seemed to be working.
Jack picked up his drink and moved down a few more stools to sit next to Luke. He sipped his drink. “Weather’s turning,” he commented mildly. “We’re due for some freezing rain. You should head out before it starts.”
Luke looked from Jack to Kelsey and back, before sighing heavily and standing up. Despite his pretty looks, Luke was brighter than Jack had given him credit for.
“I guess I’ll be going,” Luke told Kelsey. That’s right, kid, move along. “Thanks for the beer.”
Kelsey smiled again and Jack wanted to wring Luke’s neck. “That’s what I’m here for,” she said.
Luke walked out the door leaving Jack and Kelsey alone. After a slow, burning eternity in hell—at least that’s how it felt to Jack—she returned to stand in front of him.
“We’re closing,” she told him flatly.
He leaned across the bar and caught her by the wrist. “I really blew it, didn’t I?”
She attempted to pull away but he wouldn’t let her. “I don’t know what you’r
e talking about.”
“Kelsey, you can’t avoid me forever—”
“Wanna bet?” When she tugged away this time, he let go. She took a hasty step back.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Allie approaching them. He got to his feet. “Come with me,” he urged lowly. “We can grab a cup of coffee. If I could just—”
Allie went behind the bar. “No hassling the bartender.”
He kept his gaze on Kelsey. “I wasn’t hassling her.”
“I don’t have time for this,” Kelsey said. “I have to help Allie clean up and—”
“I’ll help.”
“What?” Kelsey asked at the same time Allie said, “Excuse me?”
“I said, I’ll help you clean up.”
“I don’t need your help.” Kelsey slapped the cloth onto the bar. She grabbed a tray of empties and stormed through the doors to the kitchen.
“What was that all about?” Allie asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Oh, no, you don’t. That was definitely not nothing.” She crossed her arms. “That was something. What did you do to her?”
“Kelsey and I had a…misunderstanding.”
“Uh-huh. The next thing you’re going to tell me is that there’s nothing going on between the two of you. That you and Kelsey are just friends.”
“No. I’m not going to try and tell you that.” Any man would be crazy to want to be just friends with someone as sexy and desirable as Kelsey. “I can’t get into it so you’re just going to have to trust me here, Allie.” When she opened her mouth—no doubt to argue with him—he added, “Please.”
She dropped her arms. “Fine, but remember, there’s a lot at stake here.”
“Besides Ward’s freedom?”
“Dillon’s innocent. I have faith he’ll be fine.”
“Then what are you so worried about?”
“I know about the problems Mark Crandall is causing with city council, Jack. He wants you to resign—”