An Officer and a Maverick

Chapter Three

When Russ pulled the sheriff’s department cruiser to a stop in front of her house, Lani opened the rear door. It was a short ride from the office, but he hadn’t said a word to her the whole time. The overhead light revealed the tension tightening his jaw.

“Can you get inside by yourself?” he asked.

She almost winced at the curt, cold tone. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

“There might not be anyone home. You don’t have a purse and that means no keys.”

Guilt swept through her, and she wished for another cup of wedding reception punch and whatever magical ingredient had made her bold and fearless. She didn’t feel that way now.

“I can get in. Thanks.” She met his gaze. “Look, Russ, let me just say—”

“Please close the door, Lani.”

“Okay. I’m sorry. Good night.” Empty words because she knew his night had already been anything but good. Thanks to her. But the next time she saw him at the Ace in the Hole, she would buy him a beer and not let him ignore her. “I appreciate you bringing me home.”

She got out, shut the cruiser door then watched until the red taillights disappeared when he turned the corner. One glance at the house’s dark windows told her that her parents and sister were in bed, which was a big relief. There might just be a chance that her fountain performance would slide by under the Dalton family radar.

Her parents kept an emergency house key hidden in the backyard under one of the bricks that lined the patio. She retrieved it and let herself in the French door to the family room. Moving quietly through the shadowy interior toward the kitchen, she saw the microwave’s green digital readout of the time. Holy cow, how did it get to be so late?

Apparently, time really did fly when one was having fun. And she really had been—between the time she’d gotten Russ talking about himself and the moment he’d frozen her out after making love to her. Probably she should feel remorse about being “easy” but couldn’t muster it. What happened had really meant something to her but now, thinking about being in his arms, the experience seemed surreal, as if she’d been dreaming.

It was good she wouldn’t have to face her family right now. She’d have time for her head to clear and sort out what went down before seeing anyone.

Suddenly, she heard the click of a light switch and lights blazed on.

“Where in the world have you been?” Her sister, Lindsay, was standing at the bottom of the stairs where the kitchen, family room and front hall all came together.

Startled, Lani let out a screech. “Dear God, you scared the crap out of me.”

“Sorry.” Her sister didn’t sound sorry. She sounded irritated and anxious. “I heard noises and came down to check it out.”

“Why are you still up?”

“Couldn’t sleep. I was worried. In the park I looked everywhere for you. We were supposed to meet after the fireworks and come home together.”

“Unless one of us hooked up, remember?” When they’d discussed the plan, Lani had added that but was joking. She wasn’t psychic and never in the world could have predicted she would hook up with Russ.

“I guess that means you were with a guy?” Lindsay’s brown hair was pulled into a messy ponytail on top of her head. She was wearing boxer-style sleep shorts with SpongeBob SquarePants printed on them and a pink, spaghetti-strapped tank top.

“Define with,” Lani hedged.

“Look, I saw you get out of the sheriff’s car just now. Why did he drive you home? Something is up, and I want to know what it is.”

Her sister’s voice was a little louder, and Lani glanced at the stairs leading to the second floor, where her parents were sleeping. “Shh. You’ll wake Mom and Dad.”

“I’m okay with that.” Lindsay folded her arms over her chest. “What in the world has gotten into everyone tonight? You disappeared. Travis and Anderson got into it with Skip Webster in the park—”

After what happened with Russ in jail, Lani had forgotten about her brother. “Is he okay?”

“Skip is fine. He has a fat lip, but with that temper of his it’s not the first time.”

“Not Skip! Anderson. And Travis,” she added.

“The boys are fine. Upstairs sleeping it off. Anderson had too much to drink to drive himself back to his place and bunked in his old room for the night. But it’s not like them to drink that much.” Lindsay gave her an accusing look. “I could have used your help. Where were you? Are you okay? And why did the sheriff bring you home?”

“Technically it wasn’t the sheriff,” she said cautiously.

“That’s not the point.” But then she said, “So who was it?”

“Russ Campbell.”

“Who?”

“I’ve told you about him. The detective from Kalispell PD who comes in to the Ace in the Hole.” And acts as if I’m invisible, she thought.

Lindsay looked puzzled for a moment, then the confusion cleared. “Yeah. The really cute cop who doesn’t know you’re alive?”

He does now, Lani thought. After what they did, he would have a hard time ignoring her from now on. But she only said, “That’s the one. He was working a shift for Gage Christensen because of the holiday and wedding reception in the park.”

“Smart,” Lindsay said. “It was crazy out there. I still can’t believe I had the guts to get between our brothers and Skip Webster. It’s weird. And all I had to drink was the punch from the reception.”

“Weird, all right,” Lani agreed.

“And you still haven’t explained where you were tonight.”

“Oh, you know—”

“Not really. And that’s why I’m asking.” Lindsay’s blue eyes narrowed.

Lani wasn’t up for this. “Look, just because you’re in law school and working in Dad’s office this summer doesn’t mean you can cross-examine me.”

“And just because I’m the baby of the family doesn’t mean I’m not entitled to know what’s going on. If you won’t tell me where you were, I’m sure Dad can get it out of you. We both know how good he is.”

Her sister half turned, as if to head upstairs and make good on her threat. “Wait,” Lani said. “Don’t wake him. It’s late.”

“Okay, then, spill.”

She took a deep breath and said, “I was arrested.”

“What?”

“I was dancing in the park fountain. Singing, too. When Russ Campbell tried to pull me out, I pulled him in.” Lani shrugged. “I forced him to take me to jail.”

“Why would you do that?” Lindsay blinked, completely at a loss.

“Seemed like a good way to keep Detective Campbell from arresting Anderson for assault and battery.”

“So you took one for Team Dalton?” The younger sister shook her head. “That fight was no big deal.”

“But Skip Webster was demanding someone be arrested, and Russ seemed more than happy to oblige.”

“But there was no real harm done. Surely Dad would have gotten Anderson out of jail and smoothed it over.”

“I figured it would go easier for me. Being a woman. And being a public nuisance is less serious than punching someone.”

“You do realize,” Lindsay started, “that Dad would say you should have let our intoxicated brothers suffer the consequences of their actions?”

That sounded about right for Ben Dalton, Lani thought. But she couldn’t reveal the real reason it was necessary to keep Anderson’s record spotless. When their brother was ready, he would tell the rest of the family.

“At the time, it seemed like a good idea to keep Russ distracted.”

“Russ? Sounds like you got pretty chummy with him in the clink.” Lindsay stared her down. “You’re not saying anything, and I know that look on your face.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” She knew exactly what her sister meant. They were close enough that the sisters knew if one wasn’t telling the whole truth.

“Then I’ll put a finer point on it.” Lindsay moved closer. “You just said you had to keep Russ distracted. That sounds premeditated to me. And you’re on a first-name basis with him. Just what did you do to keep him distracted?”

Lani felt heat creep up her neck and settle in her cheeks. If only she could have put a bag over her head.

Lindsay’s eyes grew wide even though Lani hadn’t said a word. “You didn’t.”

“Of course I didn’t sleep with him.”

“I didn’t say you slept with him. What makes you think that’s what I meant? Why is that the first thing that popped into your head?”

“Good gravy, Lindsay.” Lani had no doubt her sister would be a very good lawyer someday. “You sound like a prosecutor.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” There was a pleased expression on her pretty face just before her eyes narrowed. “But I’m not stupid, sis. Something happened between you and Russ. You were gone for hours, and I’d like an explanation.”

“It’s not a big deal.” Liar, she thought. She would throw her sister a bone and get her off that line of questioning. “We were in the locked cell together. I managed to take his keys and hide them. And before you start, I didn’t want him to dump me there just so he could go back to the park and arrest Anderson.”

“This just gets better and better.” Lindsay shook her head. “I’m speechless.”

“That’s a first.”

“How did you finally get out?”

“Gage came looking for Russ. He let us out. When Russ wanted to keep me in jail, the sheriff talked him out of it and said there were bigger problems to deal with.”

“That’s true,” her sister said. “But I can’t believe how underhanded you are.”

“You say underhanded, I say resourceful. The good news is that Anderson is in the clear.”

Lindsay met her gaze. “You’re the one I’m worried about. He didn’t get arrested. I hope Russ doesn’t change his mind and press charges.”

Lani hoped so, too.

* * *

When her alarm clock went off at zero-dark-thirty, Lani felt as if she’d just closed her eyes. But the holiday was over and she had to work at the ranch today. The cows and horses still got hungry and needed attention even if their humans got only a couple hours of sleep. As motivational speeches went it wasn’t great, but she didn’t have the energy to kick herself in the ass.

She dragged on jeans, shirt and boots. Pulled her hair into a ponytail, brushed her teeth, washed her face and put on sunscreen. On her way downstairs she smelled coffee, and her attitude perked up a little, no pun intended. No one in this house but her was ever up this early and brewed coffee, so there must be a God.

She walked into the kitchen and saw Anderson grabbing the bottle of Tylenol from the cupboard above the coffeepot. She was happy that he was here and not in a jail cell.

“Can I have a couple of those, too?” she asked.

He held out the bottle. “You look terrible.”

“Thanks. So do you.” Lani shook some of the white caplets into her palm. “I feel as if there are teeny, tiny elves hammering a Sousa march on the inside of my skull.”

“Me, too.” He poured coffee into a mug and held it out. “Can you give me a ride to my truck? It’s at the park.”

“Sure. How did you get home last night?”

“I’m not exactly sure.” He dragged his fingers through his brown hair. “It’s all a blur. And I don’t even know why. I feel hungover, but all I had to drink was that punch at Braden and Jennifer’s wedding reception.”

She blew on her coffee. “So you don’t remember giving Skip Webster a fat lip?”

There was a frown in his blue eyes as he flexed the fingers on his right hand. “Yeah, that would explain the bruised knuckles, but it’s all a blur.”

“Hitting someone isn’t your style at all, Anderson.” She’d always looked up to her brother and knew what a good man he was. He’s the one who told her Jase Harvey was a sweet-talking charmer who would crush her heart then held her while she cried when he turned out to be right. If only she’d listened to him.

“Dad raised us boys to never start a fight. But he always said that if anyone else did, don’t run away from it.” He rubbed a calloused thumb over the thick handle of his mug.

“If it’s any consolation, I saw what happened. Skip swung at Travis when he wasn’t looking, and you stepped in. He hit you first.”

“Okay, then.” He nodded grimly and met her gaze. “If you were a spectator to that, I guess that means you stayed out of trouble.”

“Define trouble.”

Those big-brother blue eyes of his zeroed in on her. “What happened, Lani?”

She figured he had a right to know and was the only person she could tell the whole truth. “Russ Campbell was going to arrest you for assault and battery on Skip Webster, so I created a diversion.”

“What did you do?”

“It was hot.” She had been feeling no fear and wasn’t sure why. And just before the incident she’d thought about someone jumping into the fountain but hadn’t expected that person to be her. “I took a dip in the park fountain, and there might have been some singing and dancing involved.”

His gaze narrowed. “That’s not all, is it?”

Lani figured he had a right to know this, too, and was the only one who would understand why she did it. “I pretty much forced Russ to arrest me to keep him from carting you off to jail.”

“He actually took you in?”

“Yup.”

“Why would you do that? Lani, you should have let him come after me.”

“I couldn’t. Not with the legal challenge you’re facing. If it wasn’t about custody and visitation rights regarding your child, I would have stayed out of it. But you can’t afford any black marks, or even gray ones, on your record.”

His mouth thinned to an angry line. “I’m the one being judged even though Ginnie never saw fit to inform me that I was going to be a father.”

“No one ever said life would be fair.” That was all Lani could think to say. It wasn’t fair that Russ was going to hate her when—if—he figured out she’d taken his keys. And it really wasn’t fair that he’d kissed her and she’d responded and both of them lost control when they were locked up together.

“You okay, Lani?” Anderson gave her a funny look. “All of a sudden you went pale as a ghost.”

“Fine. Part of the hangover that for no apparent reason is shaping up to be epidemic.” She couldn’t think about the what-ifs or if onlys right now. Her brother was going through a crisis. “Surely the court will take everything into consideration. It should matter that your child’s mother didn’t tell you she was pregnant.”

“I was cheated out of that moment, which was bad enough. But she kept this child’s existence from me for ten years.”

Lani couldn’t begin to understand how he felt. But it was the weight of carrying this burden alone that had finally compelled him to confide in her when she caught him at a vulnerable moment. She would help him through it as best she could. Whatever he needed she would do, no questions asked.

“It’s not right, Anderson, what happened to you. But it’s done. All you can do now is fight for your rights. To do that you can’t afford anything but a spotless record.”

“You’ve got a point.” He sighed. “But I hate that you’re in trouble on account of me.”

“Not really. I think I’m in the clear. After Gage let us out of the cell—”

“Us? You weren’t alone?”

“That’s not important.” It was too early and she was too tired to go into it. “Gage pretty much gave me a free pass because he was too busy dealing with other stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Not sure. But I think a lot of people in town are feeling the same mysterious hangover that we are this morning.” She shrugged. “The sheriff just told me to keep my nose clean. I don’t think there will be any charges.”

“If that changes, Dad can probably help.”

“He could help you, too, if you’d let him,” she pointed out.

“I have my reasons.” Anderson shook his head. “I’m just glad you’re in the clear. I don’t want you taking a fall for me.”

“That’s not your call,” she said. “You’d do it for me or anyone else you love. Just like me, you’d protect your family and have their back.”

“You’re right.” His eyes glittered fiercely. “It’s what Daltons do. And that’s why I don’t want anyone else to know about this legal stuff. You can’t say a word to anyone in the family.”

“But, Anderson—”

“No.” He raised his voice then glanced toward the stairs, clearly concerned he’d wake someone. “Child custody cases aren’t Dad’s field of expertise. If Mom found out, she’d get attached to the idea. You know how much she wants more grandkids. And if I lose, not seeing her grandchild would break her heart. I can’t do that to them, Lani, not unless it goes my way and I get visitation rights. You promised not to say anything.”

“And I won’t.” She put her hand on his arm and met his gaze. “No one is going to find out from me.”

“Okay.” He nodded. “I really appreciate this. And I owe you one.”

“I think you’re on the hook for more than one,” she teased. “Going to jail for you should count more than that. I’m thinking you should give me whatever I want for the rest of my life.”

He grinned. “Don’t push your luck, little sister.”

“I’d never dream of it.”

“Seriously, kid, I hope spending the night in the slammer wasn’t too bad.”

“It was really hideous. I don’t care what they say about orange being the new black, it’s just not my color. And don’t even get me started on the food and those mattresses—”

He reached over and yanked her ponytail. “You definitely have a flair for the dramatic. And while it’s very entertaining, we need to get to the ranch.”

“Right.”

Why did she have to go and bring up the mattress where she’d slept with Russ Campbell? Kissing him was a highlight. Being in his arms had a very high degree of awesomeness. She almost wished he would decide to press charges. That would mean he’d have to speak to her again.

The chances were slim to none that he would drop by the Ace in the Hole while she was working, so her best hope of seeing Detective Dreamy again was to break the law.

And she really wanted to see him again...

Chapter Four

September 1

Russ Campbell pulled his truck to a stop in front of the Rust Creek Falls sheriff’s office. It was impossible to step foot in this building without remembering the night he’d held Lani Dalton in his arms. He’d broken so many rules to have her and, God help him, it had been everything he’d dreamed about. Then he’d found out that she’d stolen his keys, deliberately locking them both in.