“Katherine!” Lilith gasped and pointed toward the front door.
Pistol raised, Kateri flung herself around.
Stag Denali stood there, lowering his rifle. “I would have come in sooner, but I hated to interrupt the family reunion.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
WELCOME TO VIRTUE FALLS
FOUNDED 1902
YOUR VACATION DESTINATION ON THE WASHINGTON COAST
HOME OF THE WORLD FAMOUS VIRTUE FALLS CANYON
POPULATION 2487
The July 4th weekend had begun. The day was warm, the sky was clear and Virtue Falls’s sidewalks thronged with happy, sunburned tourists and smug, prosperous locals.
Kateri walked along Main Street, headed downtown toward Town Square Park. She wore a black sheath designer dress topped by a short-sleeved black jacket. Her black flats shouted expensive. Her hair had been cut and styled within an inch of its life. She wafted Chanel No. 5 Parfum Grand Extrait in fragrant waves behind her.
Dressed in his signature tailored black jeans and starched white shirt, Stag Denali swung into place beside her. “Been back long?”
“Came here right from SeaTac Airport. Got in town about five minutes ago.” And he’d found her right away. That pleased her more than it should.
“I see your sister took you shopping in Baltimore.”
“Dragged me.”
“That afternoon in your house … I thought you were going to murder her.”
“I wanted to. So badly.” Kateri lifted her hand and waved fondly at Moen, who stood across the street, staring at her with his mouth open. “She did save my life, and in retrospect I enjoyed seeing her swing that precious antique raven at Terrance’s skull.”
Stag grinned. “I wish I’d seen that. Every time you tell the story, I think it’s more awesome.”
With innate practicality, Kateri added, “Also, I wasn’t sure we weren’t going to get killed, and I didn’t want to go into the afterlife tangled up with her.”
“Very sensible. You look good.” He leaned close and took a deep breath. “Smell good.”
She wanted to begrudge Lilith the effort and embarrassment of shopping, but he was right. She did look good. “I clean up well.”
“You look better naked.”
He was a sweet talker. “You would know.”
“Why don’t you take your hair down?” He poked at the stiff creation with his index finger. “You resemble your sister when it’s fixed like that.”
“Don’t be mean.” Kateri gingerly touched the upsweep fashioned of her own long, dark hair. “It’s going to take an hour to pull out the pins and wash out the hair spray.”
“So it’s a major operation?”
“Painful, too. I’ll pull out half my hair with the pins.” She’d been gone, but Bergen had kept her up to date with what was happening in town. “I hear that the ballistics on one of the bullets pulled out of John Terrance’s chest matched the bullet that killed his son.”
“I heard that, too.”
She looked him right in the eyes. “You really ought to get that weapon registered.”
“Or what?”
“Or I’ll have to detain you.”
With a touch too much eagerness, he asked, “Will you tie me up?”
She stopped. She glared.
He took her arm and tugged her along the sidewalk. “I already got it registered.”
“And already got another one that’s not registered.”
With a display of false innocence, he widened his eyes. “Hmm?”
He had Thor’s looks and Loki’s craftiness and if it wasn’t for his touching propensity to be in the right place at the right time to save her life, she really would have to bring him in. “Thank you. For killing John Terrance Jr. and making sure John Terrance Sr. bit the dust.”
“Does that mean you finally trust me?”
She stopped. She turned and placed her hand on his arm. She looked up into his eyes. “Lilith kept saying I learned things when I lived with my family. Well, I did. One thing. I learned how indifference and exasperation could feel like cruelty, and how the wounds left by cruelty never quite heal. I learned … how to be a better person than my father, my stepmother and my stepsister.” Hastily she added, “Which isn’t saying much, but right now, I’m feeling pleased with myself. And … not pleased with myself. Because I learned something else. I learned to be suspicious of everyone.”
“Not a bad trait for a cop.”
“True. A better trait for a cop is to figure out who the good guys are before the bad guys take me out.” She stepped in front of him, stopping him in midstride. “You’re one of the good guys. Thank you for backing me up.” She took a long breath, bolstered her own courage. “I, uh, I love you.”
He laughed at her, and mimicked her. “I, uh, love you, too.”
She hadn’t expect that. She’d hoped for it, but she hadn’t expected it. “Really?”
“Really.”
She wanted to kiss him, but other people were on the streets. Little kids. Tourists. Locals. If she did kiss him, she didn’t know if she could stop and she didn’t think he would, and she really didn’t think the sheriff of Virtue Falls should be arrested for public lewdness. So she smiled at him, really smiled, and admired the way he smiled back. Her admiration went on for a little too long because someone whistled. She glanced around, and walked on.
Stag caught right up with her. “Did the will get read?”
“Yes.”
“How much did your daddy leave you?”
“You wouldn’t believe it.”
“He stiffed you.”
“Left me half a million dollars.”
Stag put his hand to his chest and staggered backward. “Good. God. Gertie.”
She laughed. “Are those the new swear words for the tough Indian bouncer?”
“I don’t swear much. Mostly I beat people up, shoot them and build casinos that will give Native Americans the money to live a better life.”
“Fair enough.” She loved him. He loved her. He was a good guy, mostly, and she was pretty sure she was leaving a trail of little red and pink cartoon hearts. She should be embarrassed. But she wasn’t. She was just happy.
She stopped in front of Mrs. Golobovitch’s apartment. “I need to stop and get my dog.” She knocked. She heard the barking frenzy that meant Lacey knew who was at the door. Mrs. Golobovitch opened it and Lacey raced out and danced around Kateri’s legs. She had ribbons on her ears and a ribbon tied to her collar, and when Kateri sat down on the step and picked up her dog, Lacey smelled clean and felt slightly damp. Kateri held her in her arms …
And Lacey sniffed suspiciously. Sniffed her face, her hair, her neck.
Then … she turned and looked at Stag for confirmation.
“It’s her,” he told the dog.
Outraged, Kateri said, “While I was gone, you seduced my dog?”
He flirted with his eyes. “I’m irresistible.”
“Every day, Lacey goes with him to work.” Mrs. Golobovitch looked pleased to see them together. “But she misses you at night!”
“At night?” Kateri looked sternly at her dog.
Lacey sighed and laid her head on Kateri’s shoulder.
“All right then. That’s better.” Kateri hugged her. “Thank you, Mrs. Golobovitch. I’ve got a check for you and I brought you a gift from Baltimore.”
“I love gifts!” Mrs. Golobovitch exclaimed. “Is it a raven?”
“Uh, no. No more ravens. Edgar Allan Poe’s raven went back to Baltimore and with great ceremony was presented to a museum.” Kateri put Lacey down and hooked her on the leash. “Mrs. Golobovitch, I’ll bring everything by later!”
Stag gave Kateri his hand, pulled her to her feet. They walked on. “What are you going to do with half a million dollars?” he asked. “Buy that house you want?”
She grinned at him. “I already did.”
He laughed, picked her up, hugged her. “Good for you!”
&n
bsp; Lacey barked and danced.
“Yes, and good for you, too,” he said to the dog. He put Kateri back down. “You’re going to need a yardman with experience. When I was a kid in Alaska, to make money, I mowed lawns in the summer and strung holiday lights in the winter. I know the trade.”
“But I’d be foolish to take the first applicant for the job.” Kateri resumed her stroll toward the center of town. Lacey and Stag walked beside her. “How much do you charge?”
“I’ll do it for room and board.”
“Room and board? For mowing my lawn?” She was enjoying herself far too much. Teasing with Stag, seeing people’s reactions to her appearance, knowing that in less than a block she’d be at the city center: Town Square Park, Oceanview Café, City Hall … this was Virtue Falls, and here she was at home.
“I’m handy around the house, too.” Stag made his voice low, husky, suggestive. “Good with electrical, fix a leaky faucet, change the light bulbs.”
“That’s all stuff that has to be done maybe once a year.” Kateri’s practical streak could not be tamped down by rampant and eternal love. “Can you vacuum? Load a dishwasher? Do the laundry?”
The pause went on long enough that she stopped to look sternly at Stag.
In a normal voice, he admitted, “Yes, I can do all that stuff.”
“Will you do it without being nagged?”
“Depends on how often you think it needs to be done.”
“It needs to be done when it needs to be done.” She shook her head and walked on, much to Lacey’s approval. “You just failed the roommate application.”
He caught up with her. “I’ve got furniture.”
Kateri hesitated.
“Nice furniture.” He used that sexy voice again, then added an element of persuasive. “You’re going to need it, what with the stuff that got shot up during the final confrontation with John Terrance. Plus I know you’re dealing with increased square footage. You’ll need a second bed, a better couch, some art for the walls…”
“Damn!” She thought furiously. “Okay, we’ll split the household chores according to the schedule I devise. You do your laundry, I’ll do mine. And you let me drive your car.”
Now right in front of the Oceanview Café, he stopped, and in a voice of outrage, he repeated, “Drive my car.”
She turned and walked backward. “I’m the sheriff. I can handle a car like that.”
“Drive my car.”
“You can ride with me.”
“Drive my car.”
“Good. We’re agreed.” She returned to him, wrapped her hands around his arm and leaned close, going in for a kiss and to hell with public decency.
He stopped her with his hand on her shoulder. He looked into her eyes, and he wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t teasing. “I only let relatives drive my car.”
Lacey sighed a long-suffering sigh and sat down.
“If we were relatives we couldn’t do the—wait.” Kateri stepped back. “You mean marriage?” She should get points for saying it without stammering.
“That’s what I mean.” He didn’t stammer. Not even close. He sounded very sure of himself.
“I never thought that you … Believed you would…” Now she was stammering. “I mean, you’re a free spirit.”
“I’m a felon. Marrying the sheriff will keep me on the straight and narrow. Plus I love you and you love me and we make each other happy. Plus your dog loves me. See how easy that is?”
Guy was pretty smart for a bouncer.
Right there in the middle of the sidewalk in front of the Oceanview Café, he got down on one knee. “Kateri Kwinault, will you marry me?”
Faces. In the windows at the café, at the police station across the street. Grins. From everybody on the street, in the park, driving by.
Lacey getting up to stand beside him like his best man. Or best dog. Whatever.
Nothing private about this. But so, so sweet.
Putting her hand on his chest over his heart, Kateri smiled into his serious, handsome, beloved face. “I would be honored.”
He took a few moments to let that sink in, then delved into his pocket and came up with a ring box. “I’ve been carrying this around for a while. I didn’t know what you would want, so I got something I thought was pretty.” He opened it and showed her.
Crafted of silver, the ring was woven into a mosaic of branches, leaves and flowers.
“Oh.” A breathless sigh. She lifted it from its velvet bed. “That’s beautiful.”
He took it from her and slid it onto her finger.
“It fits and I love it,” she said.
He looked relieved. Which was funny, considering that from him, she would have taken a Band-Aid wrapped around her finger. He kept her hand in his and stood in a nice, long, smooth slow motion.
More pink and red hearts dancing over her head, bobbing and kissing and popping. Could anyone else see them, hear them? She sure hoped not.
He said, “Okay then. What do you want to do to celebrate?”
She gestured at the Oceanview Café. “We’re right here. Maybe we could go in for a piece of pie and some coffee?”
“High-roller, huh? You really know how to live it up.” He held the door for her.
She walked in.
Stag followed, his hand on the small of her back.
The old farts were griping about politics. Or maybe kids nowadays. Or maybe uppity female sheriffs.
Cornelia sat in her usual chair at her usual table, frowning intently at her computer, oblivious to the conversations around her.
The new waitress, Linda, shouted, “Were you born in a barn? Shut the door.”
“Who’s that? Who’s that?” Deaf old Mrs. Branyon blinked at Kateri, then announced loudly, “My God. That awful Indian sheriff is back. She’s in a dress. Did you see she’s in a dress? Who does she think she is?”
Like a queen, Rainbow was installed in an easy chair at the end of the counter, graciously accepting flowers and tributes. At the sight of Kateri, her thin, pale face lit up.
Kateri put her hand to her heart. It overflowed with gratitude and love for Virtue Falls and she was sure that, from now on, there would be crimes no more serious than shoplifting, speeding and tourists flashing the locals.
An unsmiling Deputy Bergen stuck his head in the door. “Sheriff, glad you’re back. Can you come in to work? Now? We’ve got an interesting situation on our hands.”
ALSO BY CHRISTINA DODD
Because I’m Watching
Obsession Falls
Virtue Falls
Candle in the Wind
Treasure of the Sun
Castles in the Air
Priceless
Greatest Lover in All England
Move Heaven and Earth
Once a Knight
Outrageous
A Knight to Remember
That Scandalous Evening
The Runaway Princess
Someday My Prince
Rules of Surrender
Rules of Engagement
Rules of Attraction
In My Wildest Dreams
Lost in Your Arms
A Well Pleasured Lady
My Favorite Bride
Scandalous Again
Just the Way You Are
One Kiss from You
Almost Like Being in Love
A Well Favored Gentleman
Some Enchanted Evening
Close to You
The Barefoot Princess
Dangerous Ladies
Trouble in High Heels
The Prince Kidnaps a Bride
Tongue in Chic
My Fair Temptress
Scent of Darkness
Touch of Darkness
Thigh High
Into the Shadow
Into the Flame
Danger in a Red Dress
Storm of Visions
Storm of Shadows
In Bed with the Duke
Chains of Ice
&n
bsp; Chains of Fire
Taken by the Prince
Secrets at Bella Terra
Revenge at Bella Terra
Betrayal
The Smuggler’s Captive Bride
Last Night
Kidnapped
Wilder
Wild Texas Rose
Stone Angel
Lady in Black
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
New York Times bestselling author CHRISTINA DODD builds worlds filled with suspense and adventure, and creates the most distinctive characters in fiction today. Her fifty-seven novels have been translated into twenty-five languages, featured by the Doubleday Book Club, recorded on Books on Tape for the Blind, and been called the year’s best by Library Journal. Dodd herself has been a clue in the Los Angeles Times crossword puzzle. With more than fifteen million copies of her books in print, her legions of fans always know that when they pick up a Christina Dodd book, they’ve found, as Karen Robards writes, “an absolute thrill ride of a book!”.
Enter Christina’s worlds and join her free mailing list for news, exclusive excerpts, and book sales at her website, www.christinadodd.com, or sign up for email updates here.
Thank you for buying this
St. Martin’s Press ebook.
To receive special offers, bonus content,
and info on new releases and other great reads,
sign up for our newsletters.
Or visit us online at
us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup
For email updates on the author, click here.
CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
The Woman Who Couldn't Scream Page 31