Something wet and warm oozed down her palm. Blood spattered the wood floor.
Sky bit back the retort that Blue Eyes wasn’t his woman. Arguing with the old man now would be futile. Then they took Redfoot away, and it was almost an hour before Henry came back and informed Sky that his scan was clear. But to be safe, they were keeping Redfoot overnight.
“He’s sleeping now,” Henry explained to both Sky and Maria. “But there’s a cot in his room if someone wants to stay with him.”
“Since you’re picking up Jose, I’ll stay here,” Maria offered. Jose had called right after Redfoot was carted off to be tested. He’d be flying in at nine A.M.
While his foster sister stepped off to call her boyfriend, Sky peeked in on Redfoot. The old man was asleep. Sky eased toward the bed, remembering his thoughts when the old man had passed out in his arms.
“Love you,” he whispered.
He was a step out the door when he heard, “Me, too. Now find Blue Eyes.”
Shaking his head, Sky started out to his truck. Emotion filled his chest, but when he climbed into his cab, he leaned his head back and relaxed for the first time since he’d received the call.
Now find Blue Eyes.
He remembered leaving Shala at his place. Remembered wanting to kiss her. Remembered wanting to do more than kiss her. Then his mind hit instant replay, and he recalled something she asked: Did you check? Did you even look at the shots?
He’d been damn sure at first that she was the one to take the picture, but he hadn’t seen her take the shot. Then, three minutes after she insisted on her innocence, he’d believed her. Reaching down to the floorboard of the passenger seat, Sky lifted Shala’s camera. It took him a few minutes to figure out how to see the images. He didn’t find any shots of the powwow. It felt good to be right.
Not that this made her entirely innocent. She’d still broken a rule. Of course, looking at the expensive Nikon, he could almost understand why. Especially since someone had broken into the lodge to steal it.
Maybe he should bend the rule for her. Maybe. He’d see if she played nice tomorrow—real nice, not the fake approach she’d tried before he left. Yeah, he’d make his decision tomorrow when he saw her.
Anticipation stirred in his chest. But would he have time to see her? Between investigating an attempted robbery, picking up Jose, and checking in on Redfoot, could he fit her in?
I’m not leaving. I’m staying here until you hand over my camera.
He hoped she hadn’t been lying. A vision flashed through his mind, of finding her naked in his bed, warm, willing. It was a very nice vision. His body reacted, but shouldering back in his seat he gave his libido the soul-crushing news that it wasn’t happening. If by some farfetched chance she was still at his place, she’d probably be sleeping on his sofa—if she was sleeping and not waiting for him with murder and her camera on her mind. He headed home to see.
He hadn’t gotten down the block before his cell phone rang. “Hello,” he answered, his head and heart already back on Redfoot.
“Sky, it’s me.”
Sky recognized his friend Sal’s voice, the owner of the one and only hotel in Precious. It should have put him at ease, but it was after midnight. Since Sal had married Jessie, late-night calls weren’t his thing.
“What’s up, Sal?”
“There’s trouble. That Winters chick stormed into the office and woke me up squawking about how someone broke into her hotel room. I checked, and they really did a job on it.”
“Damn it!”
“She said she found her room like that, but she was bleeding pretty bad and I’m not sure if she’s telling me everything. Maybe she caught whoever was breaking in.”
“How bad is she hurt?” Sky couldn’t help but remember Redfoot’s warning.
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t let me touch her. I think it’s just her hand, but she left a trail of blood in and out of my office. I gave her another room.”
“I’m on my way.”
“Uhh…” Sal sounded nervous. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?” Sky asked.
“Because when I said I was calling the police, she went wonky on me and said if you showed up without her camera, your ass was hers. She said all she wanted was a different hotel room and her freaking camera back by morning. As she left she said that Precious could ‘freaking figure out how to bring tourists here on its own.’ And while she did say ‘freaking,’ she looked mad enough to eat her young.”
It hit Sky that whoever had gone after Shala was the same asshole who’d broken into the lodge and hurt Redfoot. He made a quick turn toward the hotel, glancing at the camera on the seat next to him. The thing was expensive, but was it worth this much effort? He didn’t think so.
Sal continued. “I’m guessing her camera was stolen in the break-in…? Not that she was making sense, but she muttered something about being trapped by a pack of wolves and ‘I’m not finding Precious so precious.’”
Wolves? Redfoot’s vision? Damn, he didn’t believe in all that shit. Unless…His dogs. Had Shala had a run-in with Butch and Sundance?
“I gave her the key to a different room, and she shot out of here like a chicken with its feathers on fire and a stick of dynamite up its butt. I hope like hell the mayor hasn’t given her a check yet, ‘cause I’m thinking, when she’s out of Precious, she’s not coming back.”
Sky didn’t want to think about her leaving. He looked at her camera. Suddenly, handing it over to her didn’t seem like a good idea.
“I’m on my way,” he said. “Just do me a favor and keep an eye on her room. Make sure no one gets to her.”
“Shit, man. You think someone is after her? I mean, I was thinking this was just a random break-in. Kids or something. Hey, maybe it’s someone who signed the petition. Or even Charlie, the guy who’s heading the whole campaign. He showed up here six times trying to convince me to sign the damn thing. He’s got a temper on him, too.”
Sky snapped, “Just watch her, okay? I’ll be there in ten minutes.” He had a sudden thought. “Sal, do you think she’s hurt bad enough to need an ambulance?”
“Ambulance? No. But with that much blood, I’d be surprised if she doesn’t need stitches. I offered once to take her to the hospital, but the look she gave me…Well, I didn’t offer again.”
When he reached the hotel, Sky circled until he spotted Sal leaning against a light post. He grabbed Shala’s camera and his Glock from the glove compartment, and parked.
“Which room is she in?”
“Thirteen.” Sal motioned a couple doors down and studied the camera in Sky’s hands. “Is that hers?”
“It’s hers. I’ll explain later, but for now do me a favor and put this in your safe.” He passed Sal the Nikon, tucked his gun into the the back of his pants, and pulled his shirt out to cover it.
“Wait,” Sal said, as if he’d just figured something out. “This is the camera you confiscated tonight, isn’t it? I didn’t see who you snagged it from.”
“Yeah.” Sky walked toward Shala’s hotel room. Sal followed.
“But why did someone break into—?”
“Maybe they thought we gave it back to her. I don’t know.” Sky needed a couple of hours to mentally go through everything.
“No wonder she went wonky when I mentioned you.” Sal chuckled and elbowed him. “You know this isn’t any way to treat your future wife and mother of your kids.”
Sky scowled. Damn it, he’d known that sooner or later that whole soul-mate thing would leak out. If Sal’s wife had the word, the whole friggin’ town would be talking about it by noon tomorrow. “I’m armed,” Sky muttered. “Don’t piss me off.”
Sal’s grin widened. “Okay, pretend I didn’t say anything. I just thought you should know what’s blowin’ in wind.”
“So Jessie knows, huh? Where’d she get her information?”
Sal shrugged. “She and Maria had lunch yesterday. But don’t blame my woman.
Gossiping is her only sin.”
Sky shook his head. Damn it, Maria knew better. Sure, she and Jessie were friends, had been since high school, but one word spoken to Jessie and even the Pope in the Vatican would know it in less than an hour.
“But just for the record,” Sal added, “you could do worse. She’s hot. Then again, after seeing her all worked up…she might be a handful.”
When Sky stopped at the door to Shala’s room, Sal said, “Let me know if you need anything.” Then he stepped a few feet away and waited.
The first thing Sky noticed was the bloody handprint on the outside of the door. His gut clenched as he envisioned Shala bleeding, and he hoped like hell she was okay. Leaning forward, he knocked. “Shala? It’s Sky. Can you open the door?” When he didn’t hear anything, he knocked again. “Shala?”
“Do you have my camera?” came the reply from the other side.
Sky looked back at Sal, who moved her camera behind his back. “No, I don’t have your camera. But I need to talk to you.”
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow when you give me my camera. It’s late. I’m tired and I’m already dressed for bed.”
Sky leaned his head against the door. “Shala, there’s blood out here and Sal, the hotel manager, said you were bleeding. Please open the door so I can check on you.”
“I’m fine!” came her sharp reply.
“You’re not fine. Open the door.”
“Okay, let me put it this way. I don’t trust you. I don’t know who is behind this…this attempt to get me to leave Precious, but it’s working. I’m leaving tomorrow. But I swear to God, you are going to give me my camera back or I’ll get a lawyer and bring the wrath of God down on you.”
Sky closed his eyes in frustration, then walked over to Sal.
“And here I thought you could talk your way into any woman’s hotel room,” his friend joked.
Sky wasn’t laughing. “Get me the key.”
“Really?” Sal asked.
“Just do it!”
Sal headed for the office, and Sky edged back toward Shala’s door. “Listen to me, lady. I’m the chief of police. It’s my job to make sure you’re okay. I’m not ‘behind’ anything. Let me in so that I find out what happened.” When she didn’t answer, he frowned. “Shala, you were at my place tonight. If I was behind this, wouldn’t I have done something then?”
“Yeah, but it happened at your place. Who else knew I was there?”
“What happened at my place?” he asked, confused but desperate to make sure she was okay. “Shala, seriously, I need you to open the door.”
“He didn’t follow me to your place, because I was looking. So someone had to have told him I was there.”
Sky ground his teeth. “Who didn’t follow you?” He put a few of the pieces together, but…“If you think just because something happened at my place that I’m behind it, you’re wrong. And let me remind you, you told half the town that you were looking for me.” When he didn’t hear anything, he added, “Come on. Open the door. Do you really think I’m behind this?”
Sal’s footsteps sounded at the same time Sky heard Shala releasing the lock. He thrust out his hand to keep Sal away.
CHAPTER TEN
The door inched open. Shala’s eyes were puffy and wet. She’d been crying. Damn, if that didn’t send tremors right to Sky’s gut.
“Can I come in?” he asked, respecting the fact that while her suspicions made as much sense as fat-free butter, to her they made sense.
She hesitated, then eased back. Sky stepped into the room and shut the door.
She wore boxer-bottom sleepwear with pink hearts and a matching tank top. They weren’t indecent or overtly sexy, but they made his knees weak. The cotton material fit her curves to a T, and the thigh-length boxers gave him his first peek at her shapely legs. Then he spotted the bloodstain on her shirt and, rightfully so, his libido was sent packing. She had a washcloth wrapped around her right palm.
“Can I see your hand?” he asked.
“It’s fine,” she replied.
“Please let me look at your hand.”
She extended her arm, and he carefully removed the washcloth. He saw a two-inch slice across her palm.
“How did this happen?”
“A knife,” she said. His gut went hard again.
“Someone came at you with a knife?”
“No. I cut it going for a knife to protect myself.”
“To protect yourself from who?”
“Well, darn.” Some sassiness returned to her tone. “I didn’t introduce myself, and neither did he. But it obviously has to be someone who doesn’t want me working for Precious.”
Sky would deal with that accusation later. Meeting her eyes, he brushed his thumb over the back of her injured hand. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”
“No.”
Okay. He believed her. “What happened?”
“A guy with a ski mask and gun tried to break into your place.”
A ski mask. So it was definitely the same guy who’d attacked Redfoot. But what exactly did that mean?
He looked back at her hand and pulled carefully at the cut to see how deep it went. The deep gash oozed blood. Frowning, Sky wrapped the washcloth back around her hand and commanded, “Get dressed. I’ll take you for stitches. You can tell me everything on the way to the hospital.”
She pulled her hand back. “It’s not that bad.”
“It needs stitches.”
“I don’t think so. It’s a straight cut. It will heal.”
“It’s on your hand. Every time you move, that cut will open up.” He looked around and spotted her jeans on the back of a chair. Picking them up, he handed them to her. She tossed them on the bed.
“I don’t think I need stitches.”
He let go of a deep breath. “Shala, change your clothes. I’m taking you to get your hand sewn up. This is not a debate.”
“But—”
“Fine. You want to go in your pajamas.” He put his hand on her back and nudged her toward the door. “They actually look rather nice.”
She put on the brakes, digging her heels into the tan carpet. Sky’s gaze flew to her feet, which were bare, petite, feminine. Her toenails were painted a soft pink and the big ones had daisies. “You have pretty feet.” He wasn’t sure why he said it, but he did.
She looked down at her toes. After a pause she asked, “Do you really think it needs—?”
“Yes.” He ran a finger along her chin and raised her gaze back to his. “You need stitches.”
She sighed. “But it’s so late, and I’m so tired and hungry, and all I want to do is go to sleep.” She paused. “I’m sounding pretty pathetic, aren’t I?”
He chuckled. “Terribly so.” Food sounded damn good. And a bed—not necessarily to sleep. Inhaling, he got a whiff of clean woman, kept his two fingers under her chin, and grinned. “Don’t make me toss you over my shoulder and drag you in.”
“You’d do that?” A hint of tease touched her tone.
He winked. “I’d probably enjoy it.” He sure as hell enjoyed touching her right now. Deep down he knew he should be thinking about getting information about the attack and not about how soft she felt. He should be mentally trying to solve this mystery, not measuring how his hand would fit the curve of her waist. He should be pondering why all this went down, not wondering how she would taste if he slipped his tongue inside her mouth. And Heaven knew he shouldn’t be thinking about those sexy naked feet running up his bare leg.
She rolled her eyes and she gave the tiniest of smiles. “Well, we certainly wouldn’t want you to enjoy anything, now, would we? Let me change clothes.”
He gave her cheek one more brush with his index finger, then pushed a couple wispy strands of hair behind her ear. Maybe because she was tired or scared, he didn’t know which, she’d let her guard slip. He wasn’t above taking advantage of it just a little. Something told him it wasn’t going to be easy to get this close again. He stared at h
er mouth and considered…
That would be pushing it. Wouldn’t it?
Maria eased open the door to Redfoot’s hospital room, careful not to wake him up. She still couldn’t reach Matt. When she’d first found her foster father, in a state of panic she’d told Matt she would call him back, but now his phone kept going to voice mail.
“He’s still not answering your calls, is he?” Redfoot asked.
His tone implied more, but Maria refused to let the old man make her start doubting. Matt cared about her. She believed that. Okay, she’d admit his frequent business trips often left her wondering, but she trusted him.
She moved to the edge of Redfoot’s bed. “You should be asleep.”
“I would be if I was home. I’ve slept on rocks more comfortable than this bed. Tell you what: you go see if you can find out where that nurse hid my underwear, and you and I—”
“You’re staying, viejo.”
“Come tomorrow, woman, I’m going home. I don’t care if I have to walk out of here and cross the town square with my bare ass winking at the entire Precious community.”
Maria grinned. “And risk sending what little population we have left for the hills?”
“My ass won’t run anyone out of town. It might convince a couple to stay.”
Maria chuckled and rested her palm on his hand, which was gripping the bed rail. “Get some sleep.” She leaned down and kissed his forehead.
“He’s not good for you, daughter.”
Maria hesitated. “He makes me happy.”
“Is that happiness making that wrinkle in your forehead?”
Maria sighed. “I’m just worried because I can’t reach him.”
Redfoot sighed. “I know what you worry about. And I believe your worries have merit. You should listen to your heart.”
Shut Up and Kiss Me Page 7