by David, Kori
Mike grinned. “Yeah, Lily bakes, but Elizabeth tends to start fires when she tries to cook. Zach doesn’t even let her near the microwave anymore. Besides, Jesse is an absolute whiz with a steak, and Zach is the master at smoking ribs.”
Shelby’s stomach rumbled at the mention of all the food. She let go of Mike’s hand—she hadn’t even realized she was still holding it—and moved to the back patio doors. Outside on the large deck she could see tables set up with a red-and-white-checkered cloth, pitchers of lemonade and iced tea.
Rebecca stood at the corral, petting a black-and-white Shetland pony that was clearly enjoying the attention.
Zach’s son ran up and started pointing, and all four of the kids raced into the barn.
Shelby wasn’t sure, but Rebecca looked like she was smiling. Her heart cracked at the sight. So many months had passed since Rebecca had smiled.
“She’s in good hands,” Mike said, coming to stand beside her. “Jesse tells me the cat had kittens so they’re probably heading inside to check them out.”
“It’s been a long time since she’s been around kids her age. We were so afraid she’d be taken away from us, either by the courts or if the father every showed up, that we kept her close.” She turned from the patio and faced him. “This year has been crazy.”
Mike put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “We’ll find some answers for you.” He nodded toward the barn. “And for her.”
“But it’s not your problem. Why are you going through all this effort for us?”
Mike opened his mouth, but whatever he might have said was lost when Lily and Elizabeth came inside talking and laughing.
“We’re just grabbing the coleslaw and salad from the fridge,” Lily said. Then she winked at them both.
“Unless you’d like us to leave? It looked like we interrupted a moment,” Elizabeth added with a grin.
Mike dropped his hands.
Shelby missed their warmth, but she conjured a smile for the ladies. “He was reassuring me. I’m a nervous wreck at the moment.” She watched Mike turn and disappear outside. She wondered what he might have said. Shrugging away the thought, she pasted a smile on her face and went to help the two women talking so animatedly in the kitchen.
Chapter 10
“What’s it like to be famous?” Lily asked.
Dinner was long over, and the kids were all inside, watching the latest animated movie. Shelby had seen more smiles out of Rebecca today than she’d seen all year long, and she had these wonderful people to thank. They’d made them both feel welcomed and part of the family. This was the first question about who Shelby was, and it didn’t bother her in the least, because she could tell they were merely curious.
“It’s one of the most amazing things. The money is great, but the loss of privacy is hard. Everyone seems to know what I’m doing before I do.”
“Beth is famous,” Zach said. His wife was snuggled up in his lap. “She’s a writer.”
“I’m not famous,” she muttered.
Mike frowned as he came outside and took a seat next to Shelby on the porch swing. He stared at Zach and Elizabeth. “I have enough chairs for everyone, Beth.”
She smiled and shrugged. “This is where he puts me.”
Shelby hid a grin. “Do you write under a pen name?”
“She’s Elizabeth Richardson,” Zach said with pride.
Gasping, Shelby could feel her eyes widen. “I love your books. My best friend, Abby, is a rabid fan, and she would buy us both a copy of your book when the newest one was released.”
Beth smiled, but Shelby could see a faint blush. The woman was a New York Times bestselling author for her last five books, and here she was in the backwoods of Arizona, snuggled up with her husband.
“Lily’s a world-famous photo journalist,” she said. It was like she was pushing the focus off of herself. “Her pictures broke open the Huerta cartel case five years ago.”
“And almost got me killed in the process,” Lily said.
Her husband wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they both smiled. “Thank God some devilishly handsome hero drove in to save the day,” Jesse said with a straight face.
Zach and Mike groaned, and Elizabeth laughed out loud. Lily rolled her eyes and snorted, “He smelled like stale beer and sweat. Then he proceeded to have a shootout in the middle of a border town owned by that same drug cartel. I’m amazed we got out alive.”
No wonder these people were so welcoming. Her life was nothing interesting compared to everyone here. She just stood on a stage and sang. She was about to say so when Mike’s cell phone rang.
“Hanson,” he said.
Shelby noticed Zach’s and Jesse’s body language changed very subtly. They were on alert as they waited to hear what was going on. Mike had already told her these men were his trusted friends, and they all helped out each other, without question, when needed. She was sure they were completely aware of her situation. Probably had more information than she did.
Mike wasn’t giving much away, just listening and giving an occasional grunt. Then he disconnected and looked at everyone. “We may have caught a break in the case.”
Shelby let out a big sigh, thinking this was great news. “That’s wonderful.”
But Mike shook his head. “It’s just another clue, and one that will still take time to track down. But it might be the one thing we have that will help us nail this guy. In the meantime, they haven’t found the missing woman yet, and her disappearance is going on two days at this point.”
“That poor woman,” Beth said quietly.
Zach tightened his arms around her.
Lily shivered, and Jesse threw an arm around her. “I can’t even imagine what she must be going through,” she whispered.
“If she’s even alive,” Mike said.
The statement was stark and bare, but it’s what they’d all been thinking. Crickets chirped in the sudden silence, as if a veil had dropped over the happy atmosphere of the night. The wonderful food she’d eaten churned in her stomach as the fissure of guilt cracked open just a little more. Shelby knew it wasn’t her fault exactly, but in a way—it was, and nothing anyone could say would stop that feeling. Tara Schumway was likely being held and tortured because she looked like Shelby and fit into some twisted scheme of a psychopath.
“My new guy’s got a real talent for this,” Mike continued. “He and Casey are working hard on the case.”
“Who’s the new guy?” Jesse asked.
Shelby watched Mike’s face change from deadly serious to a rather evil grin. And he glanced at Zach, who was playing with his wife’s hair although, it was clear he was listening. She wondered what Mike was thinking because that grin was getting bigger.
“Daniel Wolfe,” he said. “You remember him from your case, don’t you, Beth?”
Shelby looked over and saw Beth’s eyes widen about the time a bear growled. Except, the sound wasn’t from a bear, it was Zach. “Of course, I remember Daniel. He took a bullet for me.”
Jesse laughed and winked at Mike, who was still grinning broadly. “He took a bullet, because he was infatuated and rushed into the situation like some kind of rookie.”
“He was a rookie to that kind of case,” Mike said with a nod. “That was over five years ago.”
“Time to go home,” Zach said. Then he stood up with his wife in his arms. He frowned at his friends as they laughed at him.
“I can walk.” But she wrapped her arms around her husband’s neck and smiled.
Shelby covered her own smile and looked down at her hands. The big—still scary to her—guy had an enormous romantic and protective streak that he probably rarely showed to anyone except his wife. She was happy to see it, because it made her less wary of the solemn-faced man. And the carrying thing must be something that happened quite often because their son, Xavier, popped out of the house and said, “Time to go?”
“How did you know?” Mike joked.
The kid shrugged and smiled,
“Dad always picks up Mom when he’s ready to go home, otherwise Mom just keeps talking to Aunt Lily.”
Zach shook his head and turned to leave, throwing a “keep me informed” look over his shoulder as his family left toward the front of the house, where the vehicles were parked.
“What was that about?” Shelby asked. Everyone was still smiling.
“Beth had a stalker problem about five years ago,” Jesse said. “The situation was getting progressively more violent when she finally asked for help.”
Mike joined in. “At the time, my detective was in burglary and was assigned to her case.”
“And he was totally captivated with Beth,” Lily added.
“Anyway,” Mike said, “he happened to be from the same hometown as both Beth and Zach, and some other odd coincidences cast suspicion on him as the stalker. Needless to say, Zach is overly protective of his wife, and he still views Daniel with wariness.”
“He doesn’t like the way Daniel looks at Beth.” Jesse laughed.
“That poor man is so intimidated by Zach he doesn’t even talk to her,” Lily said. “Unless, she corners him to say hi.”
“Which only makes everything worse.”
They all broke out into laughter. Nice to know she wasn’t the only one who’d been through this kind of thing. Beth was such a sweet woman, that Shelby couldn’t imagine someone trying to hurt her, or even wanting to. But that was the problem, there were sick people out there who didn’t think like normal people. The constriction in her chest eased up just a tiny bit, but the stain of guilt was still there.
The patio door opened, and two sleepy-eyed girls came out and crawled up into their parent’s laps. “We’re ready to go home now. And Rebecca’s sleeping on the couch—she didn’t even make it to the end of the movie,” they said in unison.
“Guess that’s our cue,” Lily said. “It was really nice meeting you, Shelby.”
Shelby stood with Mike. “The pleasure was all mine, really. I never get to meet nice folks and just be a normal person for an evening. This was amazing.”
“You should keep her, Uncle Mike.”
“We like her, and she’s pretty.”
Shelby wasn’t sure what to say to the twins who were looking at their “Uncle” as if keeping a woman was his choice. As for Mike, he looked like he swallowed a bullfrog. His friend Jesse threw his head back and laughed.
“I’ll think about it, okay?” He finally choked out.
Lily winked at Shelby as she carried one of the girls and dragged her husband, who had the other twin, with her. “Good luck with that, Mike,” she said as they rounded the corner.
When they were alone, Shelby shoved her hands in her jeans pockets and tried to contain her grin. Mike’s dark complexion looked a bit darker around the ears, and she was deciding if it was actually a blush or not. The lights cast quite a few shadows, and when he finally looked at her, his expression was under control again. Too bad.
“Let me show you the bedrooms. It’s late, and I’m sure you’d like to get to sleep.”
Sleep was the last thing on her mind, but she accepted the suggestion. If nothing else, she wanted to get Rebecca settled in a room and under the covers. The night was chilly up here in the mountains. Shelby followed Mike inside.
He went straight to Rebecca, and scooped her up into his arms so smoothly that she never moved.
The sight melted her heart a little bit. He’d make a great father. Whoa. That door is closed, she thought to herself.
She tried to shy away from the idea of Mike with a houseful of kids, but the image circled back around her brain as she followed the big man holding her little girl so tenderly. He turned into a smaller room that was clearly a spare and laid Rebecca on the bed. Shelby moved to take off Rebecca’s shoes and tuck her in, placing a kiss on her pert little nose.
They left the room, cracking the door slightly so Rebecca didn’t get scared in the middle of the night. Not that she normally woke up. That girl slept the sleep of the innocent.
“Let me show you to your room.”
The room was big, masculine, and clearly the master. “But this is your room,” Shelby said.
“The room is closest to Rebecca’s, and I thought you’d want to be nearby in case she needs you. I’ll be fine in the other guest room.” He pointed down a short hallway. The one on the left.” He nodded toward the room. “The wives left your bags and things they bought for you both inside.”
What a sweet thing to do. “I really love your friends, Mike.”
“I do too.” He said it simply, and then turned and walked down the hall.
***
He wasn’t sure what woke him, but Mike was instantly alert. He lay still and looked up into the corner of the ceiling. There, a small black sensor showed a steady green light. His alarm was courtesy of Zach and Jesse, who were the best in the home and business protection industry. If there was a perimeter problem, the light would flash blue. And if there was a breach to the home itself, it would flash red. Green meant everything was good.
He slowed down his breathing, getting his body under control. Mike had been in the middle of an intensely erotic dream involving his houseguest, and if he jackknifed out of bed, he was afraid he’d injure himself.
Listening hard, he heard something coming from the front of the house. After sliding out of bed, he slipped into his jeans, grabbed the gun that was on the nightstand, and padded out of his room. No alarm was full proof, and he didn’t take chances.
The door to Shelby’s room was closed, but a quick peek inside Rebecca’s room showed the girl was still asleep.
Soundlessly, he moved down the hallway. His gun was down by his leg, but he was fast enough to bring it up if he found an actual problem. Coming out of the hall, what he found was a problem, but of an entirely different kind. And his body went into overdrive.
Damn.
Shelby sat on the wood floor, haloed by the moonlight streaming through the back patio door. She was using that light to write notes on the many pieces of paper surrounding her crossed legs.
Her very bare, crossed legs.
She wore one of his old blue flannel shirts, the tails riding up her thighs and the too-long sleeves rolled and cuffed at her wrists. The hair that she hated so much was a tangled riot of gold around her face. It obscured her expression from him, but not her voice. She was singing.
The tune was something new, because he knew all her songs word for word, and he’d never heard this one before. But for some reason, it sounded somewhat familiar. He slid the gun into his jeans at the small of his back and leaned against the wall. He was afraid she’d stop if she knew he was there, and he just wanted to look at her. Jesus, he missed this woman.
Shelby hummed the tune that only she could hear in her head, as she made notes. Then she started to sing.
It was quiet, but her voice was pure magic, wrapping around him and sending him straight back to the old days when she would take over his bed with her guitar and notes and write music.
The last note ended softly. “I always did write my best stuff at your place.”
Since she knew he was there, he moved closer and took up a position on her right side. He wanted to see her face, and she looked so beautiful sitting in the moonlight that he was half afraid she was a fairy, her wings hidden until she flew away. “I was just thinking that tonight was like the old days. Me waking up in the middle of the night with you singing and writing.”
“I’m still a night owl, and I do my best stuff when everyone else is sleeping.”
“I would imagine that being an entertainer keeps you up and out ‘til all hours of the day and night as well.”
Shelby shrugged and finally looked up at him. Her blue eyes were luminescent in the pale light. “I could say the same about you. Homicide isn’t exactly a nine-to-five kind of job.”
Mike gave a faint smile. “I sometimes wonder why I even bother to sleep.”
Shelby laughed lightly.
Mi
ke’s gaze was drawn down from her face. His shirt was misbuttoned, as if she’d been in such a hurry to leave her room that she couldn’t be bothered to button the shirt correctly. And he was glad, because he got an incredible view of her cleavage. No bra. Which made him wonder if she wore any panties.
Calm down, Marine.
He had to give himself a pep talk or his body would go off like a damned teenager with his first crush. When he pulled his gaze from the tantalizing sight of her body, he found himself the focus of an intense once-over. And he felt her eyes like an actual caress.
His jeans became uncomfortably tight as her gaze seared the muscles of his chest and arms. Mike enjoyed the way she looked at him. He was proud of his body, he used it like the machine it was; to fight and win against whatever obstacles might be in his way.
Right now, the obstacle was that damn shirt.
But he wasn’t sure he even wanted to fight or win, even though the sexual tension was thick.
She reached up to push the hair off her forehead, pulling his shirt tight across her breasts.
She had to be doing that on purpose, but he couldn’t pull his gaze off the intriguing gap the strained buttons made. And when she focused on the bulge in his pants and bit her full bottom lip, he almost lunged. But doing that would plunge him into a rabbit hole big enough to swallow his soul, which was still scarred from the first time around.
“What do you think of my new song?” Her voice was husky, but she stayed still on the floor.
“It’s a hit.”
“It will be—for someone else.”
Mike frowned as he considered her words. “Why wouldn’t you keep that one for yourself? It’s beautiful.”
“I’m getting out of the business,” she said it quietly. “That’s why these concerts are so important and why I have to be there. A lot of money is on the line. Enough that I can retire and take care of Rebecca. I want her to have a normal life. Being on the road with me isn’t good for her. She needs stability and a set of friends that she’s not scared she’ll lose if she goes on the road for a year or more.”