Beauty and the Brit

by Selvig, Lizbeth

  “Must it be today?”

  She eyed him suspiciously. “I need to use it tomorrow morning.”

  “Fine. I’ll have it to you by 9:00 a.m.”

  “You?” She was flabbergasted. “You’ll get my car? Why?”

  “Because you made a good point, I don’t want you leading Hector Black here, accidentally or otherwise. I have someone who’ll drop the car off in Faribault fifteen miles north of town in the middle of the night, and someone else who’ll bring it here.”

  More convoluted scheming.

  “I would never purposely lead him back here.”

  “No. But If Hector Black or your brother is trying to find you through the car, maybe the police can lure one of them out. If not, the car’s yours and we all stay a little safer.”

  “Keep the riffraff out, right?” Rio asked a little more sarcastically than she should have.

  “Exactly.” Tanner Hewett was a handsome man beneath his wall of anger. She wondered what had made him so unpleasant. “But there’s also your safety. There’s never been a murder in Kennison Falls, so the records say. I don’t plan to have you be the first.”

  A statistic? That was all he cared about?

  “Fine.” She picked a small sticky notepad off Faith’s desk. After scribbling quickly, she peeled off the top paper and thrust it at the chief. “This is my cell phone number. I’d like to know the minute you have the car.”

  “I can do that for you.”

  The man was an enigma. Half antagonist, half seemingly willing helper.

  “Thank you. What will I owe you?”

  “We’ll work that out when I’ve got the car.”

  The idea of paying out close to two hundred dollars still stung, but with the hope of money coming in, the prospect wasn’t as terrifying.

  “I appreciate your help, Chief Hewett.”

  “I want this situation resolved, too, Miss Montoya. The sooner I don’t have to worry about gangs from Minneapolis finding out about our little town, the happier I’ll be. I’m hoping this will speed up the process of getting you home.”

  Her jaw worked soundlessly. Of all the arrogance . . . Just about the time she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

  David touched her again, this time on the shoulder. She lifted her eyes to his and found an angry light she’d never seen in them before. He leaned close to her ear, and breath tickled the soft skin of her lobe. “Ignore his tone. Like you did last night. It’ll be okay.”

  Shivers flooded her system. He pulled away, leaving the comforting scent of his aftershave.

  “That would be good for all of us, Chief,” she managed to say without rancor.

  David smiled, coolly. “Thank you from me, as well,” he said. “And you and I will be in touch on our other issues.”

  “Yes, we will.” The chill hadn’t left Hewett’s eyes either.

  “I think you’ll find our group is more than willing to find some legal way to compromise. We love that space, so we’ll all work it out.”

  “I’ll look forward to the interactions.”

  Once outside again, Rio let out a huge breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Wow.”

  “He’s quite a fellow, our new chief.”

  “Quite a fellow? He’s an arrogant asshat.”

  He snorted. “Usually arrogance comes about because of some insecurity.”

  “Are you always so understanding? You compromise on everything, even that little spot you all want to keep using. Why back down?”

  “Because he’s right. We were breaking the law. We just always had permission before. If he’s not going to give his, then we run the risk of losing it completely if we counter him.”

  She made a rude snort.

  “You feel the same way,” he continued. “I know you do. I saw it last night. You didn’t antagonize him when you could have. You knew it would do you no good.”

  He was right. Still, his reasonable tone rankled. “You can read my mind, can you?”

  “You’re pretty open and honest, love. It’s an attractive quality. Something I could use a little more of.”

  “You? If you’ve ever told a lie in your life, I’ll clean ten stalls tomorrow morning.”

  “I’ll tell Andy to come in later.”

  He chuckled and put his arm around her shoulders to guide her away from the station door. “You’re a breath of fresh air around here, you know. Come on, I’ve got horses to ride, and you’ve got one more afternoon of vacation if you’re hell-bent on taking a job.”

  “You don’t really think I’m crazy?”

  “I do. But I also understand.”

  “Do you?”

  “I’m beginning to. You’ll be more stressed if I make you relax.”

  Yeah, she thought. He’d hit that nail on its head.

  FRED WOKE DAVID from a deep sleep with frantic, watchdog barking that only meant one thing—there were people around. But at 5:45 a.m.? He crawled from bed and cracked his blinds to see a pair of headlights swing past the house and shine toward the barn. Frowning, he grabbed a pair of jeans from the floor next to his bed. Rummaging in the gray, predawn dimness through a basket of unfolded laundry, he found a T-shirt, and as he yanked it over his head, the blinds lit up again from the outside. A second glance revealed a second car.

  “Bloody hell,” he mumbled.

  It didn’t occur to him what might be going on until he was in the foyer slipping a pair of running shoes over his bare feet.

  “David?”

  He glanced back up the stairs. A disheveled Rio eyed him uncertainly. “Is it possible this is my car?”

  “I’m about to go find out. You should stay here in case it’s someone you don’t care to meet.”

  She rubbed her eyes and yawned absently. “I’m pretty sure if Hector or Paul had found us, they wouldn’t drive up in two cars with their lights blazing.”

  Good point. He stared, entranced by the vulnerability sleepiness gave her, and dry-mouthed at the careless sexiness she clearly didn’t know she exuded. A worn pair of cotton sleep pants covered in hearts hung low on her hips. A minty-green, spaghetti-strap, knit shirt thing clung to her torso and left her soft breasts outlined by the dim light. She pulled on a lightweight hoodie as she came down the rest of the stairs, a pair of flip-flop sandals slapping softly against her soles.

  “All right,” he said. “Let’s go see what’s going on.”

  He held the door and she ducked under his arm. Soft strands of her burnished hair flopped in messy disarray across the top of her head. He desperately wanted to smooth it. He refrained.

  Over the roof of the state-of-the-art arena, the one to which he’d let his father add every bell and whistle, streaks of purple and gold heralded the sunrise. Two car doors slammed. Rio pointed.

  “That’s my car.”

  Two shadows moved toward them, and David couldn’t miss the tall, solid physique of Dewey Mitchell, who ran the local gas and service station. It made perfect sense to have Dewey involved, David thought. He imagined there wasn’t much trouble Dewey couldn’t get himself out of.

  “Sorry to wake you.” Dewey’s laconic voice cut through the morning air. “We were hoping to leave the car and go so it would be here when you got up.”

  “It’s no trouble at all,” David replied.

  “It was cool. We were kind of part of a sting.” A younger man trailed Dewey, one David recognized as Gladdie Hanson’s grandson Joey, who’d been working at the garage all summer.

  “A sting?” Rio asked, her voice no longer sleep-soaked.

  “Rio, meet Dewey Mitchell. Dewey, this is Rio Montoya, the owner of the Taurus.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Dewey’s big grip engulfed Rio’s pale hand, but she shook firmly. “This is Joey Hanson. Got him to come along and be my getaway driver. I’m sorry to say, the fellow the police are looking for never showed up.”

  “Showed up where?”

  “The way I understand it, the Minneapolis police ha
d a plainclothes officer take your car from the impound lot around one this morning and drive it to Rosemount, ’bout twenty miles from here. They left it sit there about four hours, and then Joey and I went to pick it up. Guess they watched it pretty closely, thinking somebody would try to find it to find you?”

  “That’s crazy!” Rio looked from Dewey to David.

  “I admit I laughed when Chief Hewett first asked me to help with this,” Dewey said. “It seemed like maybe he’d been watching too much Law & Order.”

  “No lie,” Rio agreed.

  “But turns out it was really the Minneapolis police thought this up. They want this guy, too. Guess he’s been moving around outside his normal area, held up two convenience stores, and disappeared again. All Hewett had to do was find a person to bring the car back.”

  “I’m sorry you had to get involved.” A tinge of the Rio-hardness David was coming to recognize rising behind the words. “I don’t mean for other people to be a part of this.”

  “It was cool,” Joey said. “Really.”

  “Well, you got the car,” David said. “Thank you.”

  “Yes. Thank you.” Rio’s voice thinned.

  She stepped away and took a walk around her car, stopping on the far side to squat and disappear from view.

  “She’s awfully young to be in such a fix.” Dewey looked to David.

  “She’s older and tougher than she looks,” he said. “Impressive girl, actually. Her brother is friends with the bloke wanted for arson. Personally, I’d like to know why a two-bit thug is so interested in her. It doesn’t make sense. But this is a start to solving the puzzle, I guess.”

  “I’m glad we could help.” Dewey stuck his hand out. “We don’t need anything else.”

  “Nice of you, mate,” David said. “Are they compensating you for the trouble?”

  Dewey blew out a dismissive breath and waved his hand as he turned. “Civic duty. It’s just what you do.”

  David stood back as Dewey and Joey said their good-byes to Rio, hopped in the second car, Dewey’s gray Sonata, and drove off. He waited for Rio to finish her slow inspection of doors, glove box, and boot. When she returned to his side, she held one piece of paper—the note Hewett had described: “Return to Rio Montoya.”

  “It’s Paul’s writing, for what it’s worth.”

  “Does that mean anything, do you think?”

  “Only that he’s been in the car recently. There’s a new dent on the driver’s door and a scratch along the lower half of the driver’s side rear door, so somebody played a little rough with it.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  She shrugged. “It’s an inner city car. It shouldn’t look pretty. It just pisses me off that Paul is part of this.”

  “Come on, love, let’s go inside. I know you drink coffee. Do you drink tea?”

  “Herbal tea. Sometimes.”

  “I’ll see what I can find.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  * * *

  DAVID BROUGHT THE tea to the deck off the back of the house that faced a stand of hardwoods ringing the property. Dawn made the trees to the west glow. He would have fallen for the land his farm sat on even without the buildings. The rolling mix of pastureland and woods made it one of the prettiest places in the area. The fact that the house and barns had been ready to update had made purchasing it irresistible.

  He wished Bridge Creek wasn’t at such a crossroads. The recent economy had wreaked havoc with luxury businesses like his. And his father’s working visit the previous summer had been an enormous drain on his meager savings. The bells and whistles on the new arena hadn’t been covered by the insurance money he’d gotten to replace the one lost in the tornado. Two years ago already. How could that be?

  “This is nice.”

  Rio came through the patio door with two mugs. Her hair still tangled in crazy waves, but her features had softened, and her vulnerability had returned. He set his pot of hot water on the small table in front of a double rocking lounger and sat. She sat beside him.

  “It is. Perfect sunrises. A little wildlife hops and past now and again.”

  “The only wildlife we regularly see in the cities are squirrels and birds.”

  She poured tea from the pot into the two mugs and lifted hers between cupped palms. He liked watching Rio inhale, close her eyes, and lift her bare feet up to tuck them beneath her. Her knee brushed his thigh.

  She needed this haven. This escape. It was the reason he’d let her perception that he was wealthy go unchallenged. He normally didn’t appreciate being lumped into the category of gentry, even though he’d worked very hard on his ten-year plan to turn Bridge Creek into a showpiece that could attract top level riders. He’d saved. He’d allowed his mother to pour her time and talents into the place. He’d allowed his father to use his name to start building the facility’s reputation.

  But he was out of funding, out of options, out of ideas after the past few years’ big hits. He could still afford to go out to dinner. Still afford to shop for groceries certainly. But his budget was stretched. Rio didn’t need to think she was any more of a burden than she already did. She wasn’t a burden. Neither was her sister. One good thing his eccentric mother had taught him was that people came first and that, somehow, Heaven would provide.

  “Earth to David.”

  He blinked. “Sorry. I’m afraid I was just thinking that today’s the day my mum is arriving.”

  “Do you know when?”

  “Mid-afternoon, according to her messages. I’m not to pick her up. She wants her own car so she will rent one. I guess we’ll just have to be surprised.”

  Her eyes gave away neither anticipation nor dread. “Are you sure we’re not in the way?”

  “I am sure. I’m not saying you won’t want to run screaming.”

  “Are you trying to scare me?”

  “No. There’s no way to describe Mum, that’s all. Like I told you, she’s adorable and vexing all at once. The main reason she and my father split up is because they were mutually uncontrollable. He couldn’t control her with inflexibility and firmness, and she couldn’t change him with sweetness and stubbornness.”

  “Sounds like they should have been soul mates forever.”

  He laughed at the wry humor in her voice. “In an odd way they still are. There are still fireworks when they’re together. The explosiveness is more fun now that they’re divorced.”

  She settled deeper into the rocker. Her left leg remained folded beneath her, but she planted her right sole on the cushion and hugged her knee and thigh while sipping her tea.

  “Mmmmm.” She closed her eyes. “What’s this?”

  “Some minty cocoa thing. I grew up on stout Yorkshire tea so this stuff is a bit anemic. It smells good, though, and it’s good for guests.”

  A thump punctuated his explanation, and both of them looked to the cat padding across the deck after having jumped from the railing.

  “Thirty-one!” Rio said.

  David eyed the bundle hanging from its mouth and tried not to laugh. “Uh, Rio, be warned—”

  The cat dropped the dead mouse on the decking in front of them, looked up, and let out a yowl that announced her presence to the whole farm.

  “Ohmygosh!” Rio screeched like a girl in a cartoon and twisted on the seat right into his chest. She buried her eyes, and he wrapped both arms around her.

  “It’s just—”

  She was laughing, and this was no giggle but an enormous, rolling guffaw complete with gasps for breath. He held her, her body shaking uncontrollably against his. She’d landed so spontaneously in his arms that it seemed the most natural thing in the world. She pulled away to wipe her eyes.

  “I’m sorry.” She coughed. “I did not see that coming.”

  “I warned you about the mice.”

  “You did.” She unrolled herself from the ball she’d become and groaned. “Ow. I still can’t move fast. I think my legs hurt more than they did yesterday.”

&nb
sp; “My poor little greenhorn.”

  Her smile sent his pulse on a free-for-all. Having her so genuinely happy—or seemingly so—made his worries feel lighter. The young orange-and-black cat meowed again and leaped onto the chair.

  “She brought that as a gift, you know,” he said.

  “I do know.” She pulled the kitten onto her lap, and David marveled. The animal was pretty but had won no friends. With Rio scratching its belly, however, it acted like God’s gift to personable cats. She lowered her voice to a sexy coo. “Thank you, sweet little Thirty-one. You’re beautiful and thoughtful, but can I ask a favor? Since dead animals aren’t my favorite thing, how ’bout you just bring yourself next time?”

  The cat whirred like a little trolling motor.

  “You have a way with her.”

  “Nah, she just found a kindred spirit.” Rio nuzzled the cat.

  Having Rio as a kindred spirit would be nice, he thought. But nothing could be further from the truth. She was his opposite in so many ways—a fighter, unafraid to speak her mind, protective, and focused. All qualities he pulled out only if he really needed them. Even so, she felt perfect, half-leaning on him as she fondled the cat’s ears.

  “What do you have in common with a little cat like that?”

  “We’re both oddly colored. We’re both a little leery of the world. We’d both kind of rather be alone . . .”

  She trailed off as if embarrassed, and David seized the opportunity to straighten and take her by both shoulders to turn her toward him. The cat hissed like a cobra and swiped at him with claws unsheathed.

  “Hey now!” Rio picked up Thirty-one and held her in front of her face. “I like him, so you be nice.”

  David reached to stroke the kitten, and it hissed again.

  “Right. We’ll have no more of that.” Calmly he took Thirty-one by the scruff of her neck and held her the way a mother cat would. “You can play with Rio later. It’s my turn.”

  He reached through the deck rails and set the cat on the grass. She protested plaintively. Then he bent over, grasped the tip of the dead mouse’s tail, and picked it up.