The Cold Case Detectives series continues with a sizzling attraction between a fiercely independent deputy and the security expert who loves her

To solve a forty-year-old murder in her remote mountain town, sheriff’s deputy Reese Harlow needs advice from the best. That means finally meeting her biological father, the founder of Dark Alley Investigations. But after one passionate night with her dad’s sexy head of security, Reese finds that her heart is at risk...

Jamie Knox has never met a woman quite like Reese. Determined to open her eyes to just how good they’d be together, he volunteers to help her crack this cold case. He can almost sense the wedding bells in the distance, but someone is dead set on stopping them from solving the murder...or getting anywhere near the altar!

He moved his hand up her arm, tickling her skin along the way.

At her shoulder, he curled his fingers and brushed them along her jawline. “Why don’t you stop being a detective for tonight?”

The beginning of resistance faded with the fresh wave of desire he initiated. Jamie ran his thumb over her lower lip. The passion felt different than their first night. Less impulsive. In fact, he didn’t seem to act on any impulse now. And since she hadn’t anticipated him touching her this way, neither did she. No, this felt deliberate. Like a thought-out choice.

While part of Reese warned her choice should be to stop, the more sensual one wasn’t listening.

He slid his hand behind her head and coaxed her forward. As she leaned toward him, he stood and closed the distance. Maybe it was the long day. Maybe it was the explosion. She might be overtired and susceptible. But she wanted this. Him.

* * *

Be sure to check out the other books in this series.

Cold Case Detectives:

Powerful investigations, unexpected passion...

Dear Reader,

I tried something a little different with this one. I’ve put a fiercely independent woman with a man who’s ready to settle down. Jamie is at a point in his life when the demands of his job don’t interfere with his dreams of a personal life. He’s looking for a woman to marry and start a family with. Trouble is, Reese is almost phobic over giving up her independence. Their conflict enriches them and their growth, and hopefully the journey you, as the reader, share with them.

Writing Jamie’s and Reese’s characters gave me great satisfaction. I’ve grown as a writer through them. It is refreshing to have a hero who isn’t afraid of rejection. I invite you to sit back and join Jamie and Reese as they fight danger at unpredictable turns. And there’s a little surprise at the end, a teaser for the next book in the Cold Case Detectives series.

Happy reading!

Jennie

Taming Deputy Harlow

Jennifer Morey

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Two-time RITA® Award nominee and Golden Quill Award winner JENNIFER MOREY writes single-title contemporary romance and page-turning romantic suspense. She has a geology degree and has managed export programs in compliance with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) for the aerospace industry. She lives at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Denver, Colorado, and loves to hear from readers through her website, jenniferamorey.com, or Facebook.

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For Mom, who claimed her independence.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Extract

Copyright

Chapter 1

“How did you find me?” Jamie Knox asked the big man wearing the cowboy hat. He took great care to not be easy to find. The fact that this man did spoke to the depth of his resources.

Kadin Tandy walked across Jamie’s New York City studio apartment. “One of my detectives tracked you down. He said you were instrumental in closing a case he worked in Alaska.” He inspected the big-screen TV in the corner and then the queen-size bed in an alcove off the living room. “Something about creating a distraction with a helicopter and helping to save his client from the killer?”

“Brycen Cage and Drury Decoteau?” Jamie wasn’t fooled that this man didn’t know exactly what had happened that day. He sipped from his bottle of water as he sat on the sofa.

“They’d be the ones.” Kadin strolled back toward him and stopped beside the kitchen island, the only table Jamie had.

Jamie stretched his arm out along the back of the sofa. “You came here to discuss my involvement in their case?”

“No. I’m here to offer you redemption.”

That got his attention. “How do you know I need redemption?”

Kadin made a show of looking around Jamie’s studio apartment. “What made you decide to live here?”

“It’s close to Central Park, public transportation, and places to shop and eat. But the boutique elevator really hooked me.”

“Deep-city living appeals to you?” Kadin didn’t find his humor amusing, apparently.

“It’s noisy and overpopulated.” He was beginning to regret letting the man in. He’d let homeless people in before, so maybe that meant he’d let anyone in. The homeless people he fed. This man... What did he need? Something significant if he went to such lengths to arrange this meeting.

“Does that fill the void of rescuing people from insurgents in Third World countries?”

“You’ve done your homework.” Jamie put the bottle of water on the coffee table.

“I always do when I want to recruit someone.”

As Jamie leaned back, he tried not to show his surprise. He’d expected something significant, but not this. “Been doing that a lot lately?”

“I’m a start-up and I happen to be expanding to the international market.”

“International?”

“My company is growing. I need someone to develop a security program. Risk management and mitigation. That type of thing.”

Risk management and mitigation? Buzzwords that meant something different to this man and to his business. Jamie knew all about Kaden’s past, how he’d come to be the man standing in his living room. He also knew what kind of security program he needed. One that mitigated with weapons and countermeasures. Maybe a little corporate security sprinkled in.

“I’m not a homicide detective.”

“No, but you have a security background. Not all of my investigators are trained like you. Some are a bit on the vigilante side, but most have cop backgrounds that may not equip them against criminals like the one you worked for. It’s not just about physical security in foreign countries. I also need my people secured in my building.”

Jamie took a moment before he asked, “Why me?” That was the question he really needed answered.

Kadin smiled; not an all-out smile, more like an I’m-glad-you-asked smile. “You weren’t the only good person who was snared by Dexter Watts and his boss. They all had a highly respectful opinion of you.”

Admitting he was good at protecting or rescuing people from dangerous places and situations wouldn’t be conceited. He was good because he had experience. But he still didn’t understand why a man like this would single him out. So he’d helped one of Dark Alley’s detectives. He hadn’t done it for anyone but himself. To free himself from the clutches of two very bad men.

“Are you interested?” Kadin asked.

“You chose me because I came highly recommended?” He needed more of an explanation.

“I’m getting more and more requests to look into international cases. So far I’ve personally taken them.” Kadin bobbed his head from side to side in a contemplative way. “Mostly for an excuse to take my family on vacation. The victims always come first, of course, but some of the places are paradise. My wife wouldn’t stand for it if I didn’t take her and my son along. But the workload is getting to be too much, and there have been some instances when the danger gets too risky with my family in tow. I’m putting more detectives in the field. Their lives are my top priority. I need someone I can trust to ensure their safety. Part of my decision was based on recommendation, but most of it was based on your history in security services. You’ve worked both sides. Military and private military. When the private side didn’t work so well you made the right choice by stomping Watts out of your life. Nothing got in your way of doing that, either, and you did it alone. That’s proof to me you’re not only capable, you’re someone I can trust.”

He’d qualified by demonstrating his expertise and moral compass. That, Jamie believed. “All right. Then how will I redeem myself if I agree to work for you?”

“You’ll be working on the right side of the law. My law. Your law. And, when it suits the case, whatever law applies to the country you or my detectives are in.”

The man knew what the importance of being on the right side meant to Jamie. Jamie wouldn’t have done what he’d done in Alaska otherwise. “I thought I was on the right side when I joined Aesir International.”

“Catchy name. Ice-ear. Multiple gods. Race of gods. Too bad Loki ran it.”

“Still runs it from what I hear.” Jamie stood from the sofa and faced Kadin. Something made him seriously consider his offer, but the risk of impulsiveness kept him cautious.

Kadin brushed the lapels of his jacket aside and rested his hands on his hips, exposing his pistols. “What kept you with Valdemar Stankovich for so long? There has to be a reason. What did he have to hang over your head? A man who agrees to work for the likes of Dexter Watts and then helps take him down isn’t a thug who does as told.”

Jamie’s respect for the man increased with his recognition that Stankovich had leverage to force him to work for Watts.

“I refused to do what he wanted and told him I was quitting,” Jamie answered honestly. “Let’s just say he didn’t respond well to that and came up with a witness and evidence that had me doing something incriminating. I went to work for Aesir thinking I’d have the opportunity to fight terrorism. Make a difference. I couldn’t allow him to destroy my reputation. So I waited for the right opportunity. I couldn’t make my move until I had every shred of false evidence he created against me. That all came to a head with Watts. Stankovich has nothing on me now.”

“What about the witness? Isn’t he still a threat?”

“I took care of him. He can’t talk anymore.” He watched Kadin for any kind of reaction and saw only understanding and a growing kinship. Here stood a man who knew what it took to take justice in his own hands—against seemingly insurmountable odds.

“Maybe you’ve already had your redemption,” Kadin finally said, dropping his hands.

“In some ways, I have.” Demons still haunted him, though. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to exorcize them. “Redemption for me would be living an honorable life, getting married, having children. Feeling normal.”

Kadin glanced around the apartment again and looked through the window. A siren could be heard on the street below.

“This is normal? You’d raise kids here?”

Jamie had to agree the studio apartment and cramped city living wasn’t part of the fantasy. After Aesir, he wasn’t quite ready for suburbia. Or was he?

“Come work for me,” Kadin said. “I need someone like you on my team. I can’t promise you normal, but I can promise you an office and as much or as little travel as you want.”

Professionally, Jamie didn’t know what he’d do with his future now that he had Stankovich off his back. His immediate need drew him back to his roots, close to his mother in New Hampshire, and deep-city living, as Kadin had put it. He planned to take some time off, find a woman and settle down. Other than that, he had a clean slate.

Would joining an elite team such as Dark Alley Investigations give him the kind of life he needed?

“Think it over,” Kadin said.

When Jamie nodded once, he headed for the door.

There, Kadin opened the door and stopped with his hand on the doorknob. “Consider moving to Wyoming, would you? This city-living thing is just a Band-Aid. The boutique elevator gave that away.”

As the door shut, Jamie let out a breath of a laugh. Although highly intelligent and perceptive, Kadin acted as though Jamie had already accepted the job. Maybe he had. And without realizing it, he had moved to the city to still feel the connection to danger. Busy streets. Sirens. Gunshots. The noise gave him a sense of familiarity. But he was ready to settle down. He wanted that. Needed that. Craved it. Kadin’s visit only sealed that desire tighter. Kadin had one thing right. No more transition time. No more living in constant danger. Stankovich was part of the past now. Jamie had to make a move for the future.

* * *

Sitting at her kitchen table, Reese Harlow picked up the internet news article with trembling fingers. Hammers pounded and demolition work vibrated around her as she stared at the photo of a powerful man wearing a cowboy hat. He leaned on the back of a pickup truck parked at the head of an alley, shoulder harness exposed, two guns, one on each side. Steely gray eyes met the camera. Without even meeting him, she sensed an extraordinary man looking back at her from the photo.

Her biological mother had emailed her the link to the article titled Cold Case Hero Expands Business. She’d searched herself and found this photo attached with other articles as though it had become a marketing piece. Former New York homicide detective, founder of Dark Alley Investigations. Father. Husband. She ran her finger over the man’s name printed beneath the photograph.

Kadin Tandy. Her father.

And he didn’t know about her...

She had known since she was a young girl that she was adopted. She had good parents who loved her in their own way and were town fixtures, but as she grew older, she couldn’t stop wondering about the identity of her biological parents, as though their identity meant something to her own. Last week, she’d met her biological mother for the first time. While that had been strange and awkward and fascinating, and had consumed her thoughts all week, her mother hadn’t been able to tell her much about her father. She’d lost touch with the teenage boy who’d fathered the child she’d been forced to give up at the age of sixteen. Today she’d sent Reese the link to this article.

If she went to meet Kadin, how would she approach him? She’d read he’d lost his young daughter—to murder, of all things. Reese couldn’t imagine enduring such profound tragedy. Blurting out she was his daughter might come as a bit of a shock. She should tell him, though. She had to tell him. Someone should have told him long ago. How could she do that in a tactful way? She didn’t think there would ever be any good time or any easy way. Maybe she’d get to know him first.

But did she really want that? She’d accomplished what she’d set out to and found her biological parents. She had their names and where they lived. That didn’t mean she had to have them in her life from this day forward. Did it? Maybe she wasn’t quite finished with her exploration.

Exhausted from her lengthy pondering, she bent her head to look down at the article again, not really seeing it as her long blond hair fell forward in its confined ponytail. She had contemplated cutting it into a shorter style, but liked letting it down every once in a while. She retained her feminine side while satisfying a more aggressive one that way. Her best friend in school had called her Cinderella, with her brandy-colored eyes, thick wavy hair, tiny waist and shapely breasts. She had fond memories of her friend’s well-meant teasing. And her friend hadn’t exactly been frumpy. More men went after her than Reese. Probably because Reese had always been more interested in school and her career than boys or men.

The noise stopped and the sound of excited male voices pulled her attention back to the renovation. All the carpenters were in what would soon be her finished bedroom. What were they all in a fuss over?

Reese stood and went down the freshly drywalled hallway. Stopping at her bedroom door, she saw three carpenters hunched over pried-up old floorboards. She moved closer until she saw a faded 1970s tin Star Wars lunchbox that had been removed from beneath the flooring. When the carpenter opened the metal latch to reveal stacks of hundred-dollar bills inside, Reese drew in a startled breath.

A buried treasure? In her house? Nothing this exciting ever happened to her. She was just a small-town girl who’d gone to college and came back to get a job at the sheriff’s office.

“Jeffrey Neville lived here before you,” one of the carpenters said.

She’d discovered that when she’d bought the house. Jeffrey had died and had no family. The home had been escheated to the state and finally sold. He was the last of his line. Thinking about all the losing lottery tickets she’d bought, never in a million lightning strikes guessing she’d stumble upon someone’s primitive retirement fund, she took the lunchbox from the one who’d dug it up.

“How did it get here?” she asked aloud, not expecting any of them to know. Life had certainly stirred up some surprises lately.

“Maybe somebody used the house to deposit their savings,” another one of the carpenters said.

“Jeffrey must not have known about this,” she said.

He lived in this house for more than forty years. Why would he not have used the money for something if he’d known about it? He had no family to pass it on to. He had lived modestly up until the day he died. The way the money had been hidden suggested it hadn’t been meant to be found, and then something had happened to the person who’d put it here. Had it been stolen or otherwise obtained in some other nefarious fashion? Had Jeffrey known the person? A wife, perhaps? Strange, after living in this town her whole life, she didn’t really know much about one of its residents. She’d never thought to ask, either.

“What are you going to do with it?” one of the carpenters asked.

She looked down at the man who’d discovered it, realizing that they were hoping she’d be generous.

“I don’t know, but a small thank-you for finding it is in order.” She tipped the carpenters handsomely and received a thank-you from each. She’d like to find out where the money came from, but first she’d put it somewhere safe.

She looked at each of the carpenters’ excited faces. Nothing productive would get done after this today.

“Why don’t you all take the rest of the day off?” In a couple of hours, it would be five, anyway. And she needed to be alone.

They thanked her again and began to gather their tools.

Reese returned to the kitchen, putting the tin lunchbox on the table, her gaze landing on the news article. Even finding the money didn’t overshadow the significance of what she contemplated regarding Kadin. Maybe his fame intrigued her. Maybe his love of law did more, lending a kind of a connection to him. Even though she’d never met him and he’d never seen her or known of her existence, she’d gone into the same type of work. How amazing was that? She’d like to know more about her biological father.

How would he react to learning he had a daughter?

* * *

The next morning, bags packed and in the car, Reese stopped at the bank on her way to the Durango airport a county over. She’d fly to Rock Springs, Wyoming, later today. She’d made reservations after the carpenters had gone and she’d thought for a while about the consequences of her making contact with Kadin Tandy. Good and bad. First and foremost, he deserved to know he had a living daughter. Even though she was incredibly nervous and had serious reservations about how it would change her life, she felt morally obligated to tell him. She’d deal with the fallout as it hit her.

“Hello, Candace.” Reese put the lunchbox down on the counter in front of the redheaded teller. “I’d like to open a safe-deposit box.”

“Reese. Congratulations on your windfall!” Candace’s green eyes danced with enthusiasm. Not much over five feet tall, her elbows rested easily on the counter.

Reese laughed a little. “Thanks. I won’t even ask how you found out.”

“The whole town is talking about it.” The teller gave her a form to fill out and then eyed the tin lunchbox as though it was a relic. “One of your carpenters told me. He made a deposit of his own yesterday. That was awfully nice of you to give them money.”

“It’s what I would have wanted.” Reese handed the form to Candace. “And I’ll never get used to the rapid lines of communications in this town.”

“That tin is pretty old. Too interesting not to talk, I suppose.” Candace handed her a key to a safe-deposit box and tucked some of her bobbed red hair behind her feather-jeweled ear. “You found it hidden in the floor?”

Reese took the key. “Yes. Quite the mystery, huh?”

“I’d say. Did Jeffrey’s wife hide it?”

Reese went still. “His wife?” Why did she think his wife could have hidden money? And where was she now?

“She was murdered some forty years ago. That would explain why Jeffrey never knew about the money. I wonder why she hid it? Everyone is wondering that in town. We haven’t had this much excitement in years.” She laughed lightly.

Murdered...

Reese was still trying to catch up to the significance of that as Candace rambled on.

“Been so long, not many remember her. She was strangled to death and dumped on the side of Highway 149 on the way to Durango.”

Reese reeled with the revelation. Then she looked down at the tin lunchbox. This money could mean more than a forgotten fund. Reese lifted the lunchbox from the counter and lowered it to her side.

“Not even Sheriff Robison told me.” She supposed he hadn’t thought to, and she had no reason to dig through old evidence.

Candace leaned over the counter on her elbows. “Crime was never solved. I forgot all about it till you bought that old Neville place and my dad mentioned it the other day.”

“Why isn’t anyone still trying to solve the case?” Reese asked.

“Almost every sheriff in office has tried. A few deputies, too,” Candace said.

“Well, maybe it’s time for someone new to try.” So much time had gone by since the woman’s death that everyone had stopped talking about it and that led to no one caring enough anymore. Well, Reese bet if the woman could talk, she’d still care.

“What happened?” she asked. “How was she murdered? She was strangled, but what was she doing the last anyone knew?”

“Ella worked at the library,” Candace said. “Just moved here the year before. Met Jeffrey and six months later they got married. She worked the night she was killed. The last person to leave the library was the last to see her alive. She was questioned and cleared. Ella closed the library and vanished. No one saw anything. Someone must have pushed her body out of a vehicle because it fell down a steep slope. To this day, no one knows what happened to her or why she was killed. The sheriff at the time questioned Jeffrey, but he had an alibi. He had a company dinner that night. His wife was supposed to meet him there but she never showed up.”

Candace sure knew a lot about the case. Everyone in town likely did. “Where was her car found?”

“She walked to work every day.” Candace took lipstick out of her purse and put on a fresh coat.

Ella had been taken somewhere between the time she locked the library and home. “That’s terrible.”

“Yeah. Wish her killer would be caught, even if it has been so long.”

Reese wanted to be the one to grant that wish. “Thanks, Candace.” She went to the safe-deposit boxes and found hers, Ella Neville’s murder heavy on her mind.

Wish her killer would be caught, even if it has been so long...

Kadin Tandy solved cold cases. What if she went to him with Ella’s case? She didn’t have to tell him he had another daughter. Not right away. She could get to know him first. Somehow that made her impending trip easier to bear. Call it procrastination. Call it breaking the news gently. She just felt better with that approach.

Locking the tin in the safe-deposit box, she left the bank with a livelier spring in her step than when she’d entered. She’d stop at the sheriff’s office and pick up the Neville case file. She would also ask Margaret, their office manager, to send Ella’s clothes in for more modern testing. Then she’d head for the airport.

* * *

Kadin had moved his office to a bigger building. Jamie read about his first office, an unassuming downtown building with barely one office and a place to hold meetings—he and his wife had lived on the floor above. The new building was a restored mercantile building, the old sandstone exterior walls covered with white glazed brick. Three rows of six casement windows ran the length of the front. He could see a chandelier hanging in the middle of the upper two rows, revealing the open architecture of what must be a nice home with lots of light. A stone railing on each upper corner indicated the location of rooftop balconies. The building sat on high ground, with open space in the back.

The covered front walk on the first level shaded tinted windows and a double-door entrance with an inconspicuous and prettily written Dark Alley Investigations on the right door. Jamie stepped inside, ready for his first day of work.

An artsy lobby housed a young and beautiful, dark-haired woman behind a white marble-topped counter that matched the floor. A few plants warmed up a seating area and several paintings hung on high walls.

“Jamie Knox,” he said to the woman.

She smiled, baring a mouth of pearly white teeth. “Go on back, Mr. Knox. Mr. Tandy is waiting for you. He’s in the far right corner office.”

The inner door buzzed, unlocking for him. He stepped from the lobby into the office-lined interior. Four conference rooms took up both sides of the front. A square area in the middle was filled with cubicles. People walked the halls and stood at printers or worked away at their desks.

Jamie went down the middle aisle, the smell of new carpet and leather accompanying him on the way. Everyone dressed business-casual, some of the men in ties with no jackets.

The far wall had a row of windows like the front, and as he turned to the right, he enjoyed a view of White Mountain and Pilot Butte. Before moving here he’d read that wild horses still ran in those hills. Nothing he’d see in a city, and the notion intrigued him.

Kadin emerged from his spacious office and greeted him. “Let me show you to your office.”

Jamie followed him to the opposite side of the building and into the opposite corner office with the same view as the boss. He went to the window. “This gives me an adequate idea of your expectations.”

Kadin smiled wryly. “You’re taking on an important role in this organization. The safety and protection of my detectives and the victims’ families are of utmost importance. The more notoriety I get, the more of a threat we are, and the more high risk the case, the more danger we attract.”

“Risk is my résumé.” This new role would present plenty of challenges, but Jamie would thrive. This was exactly what he was looking for—a way to get his life back on track, for the good.

“Mr. Tandy.”

Jamie turned with Kadin to see the beautiful receptionist at the door.

“Sorry to interrupt. There’s a Ms. Reese Harlow here to see you. She says she’s a sheriff’s deputy from Ute County, Colorado, and she’s got a forty-year-old cold case she’d like to discuss with you.”

“Put Roesch on it. I can’t seem to give that guy enough work.”

Kadin had a lot of top-notch detectives working for him, Jamie thought, but the one named Roesch must be one of the best if he completed his cases so fast the work didn’t keep up.

“She insisted on speaking only to you, sir.”

Many must request him personally, but he couldn’t possibly solve every case that came to DAI.

“She said it was personal.”

Speaking to Kadin or the forty-year-old case? Her insistence on speaking only to Kadin must be the personal part. But why?

Kadin stared at the receptionist for a moment. “Bring her back.”

Evidently he wondered the same.

Chapter 2

Holding the Neville case file binder, Reese followed the receptionist through the cubicles to an office on the far side. At the door, the slender woman let her pass. She caught the name sign and grew confused until she spotted two men standing in the middle of a seating area, waiting for her. She hadn’t expected two detectives. Both big men, the one with sexy blue eyes and short black hair captured her attention first.

What was Captain America with dark hair doing in Rock Springs, Wyoming? He stood with his hands at his sides, tall and unflinching, rippling muscles beneath a tight Henley shirt tucked into black jeans. This must be his office. Apparently he ignored company dress code. He seemed out of place in such elegant surroundings. Something more rugged would suit him better, like a battleship or a city riot. She gobbled up the sight of him, so hardened and forbiddingly handsome.

Why did he magnetize her so completely? He wasn’t even wearing a cowboy hat. She’d have thought a man more country than him would be the one to catch her eye as undeniably as this man had.

The receptionist closed the door, jolting Reese out of her sudden affliction of man hunger. She looked to the man next to him and recognized him instantly. Kadin. Her father.

Her heart beat so heavily a lump formed in her throat.

You’re here to explain the case...

She cleared her throat and swallowed. “Um, hello.” She stepped forward, tripped on her shoe heel and had to take a few extra quick steps to catch her balance, nearly dropping the binder. She’d worn her only suit jacket and skirt today, gray with a white blouse underneath.

The man beside Kadin reached out for her at the same time he moved toward her. But she caught her balance before he touched her.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

His deep, raspy voice transfixed her. She melted into his blue eyes. “Y-yes.” Feeling as though her breathy, stuttering answer revealed too much, Reese fought a flush and turned to Kadin with an outstretched hand. “I’m Reese Harlow.”

“The deputy sheriff from...?” Kadin shook her hand.

She found herself transfixed again, this time for different reasons. Now she studied her biological father. The hugeness of the secret she carried pushed her awkwardness away. She looked for similarities. He must be where she got her five-nine height from. Other than that, she didn’t see much resemblance.

“Never Summer, Colorado, which is in Ute County,” she finally said, trying to gather the rest of her wits.

Kadin smiled politely. “I’ve never heard of it.”

“Not many have. It’s a small mountain town in southwestern Colorado.”

“Ah. I have detectives from that area.” He turned to the other man. “This is Jamie Knox, my new security officer. Today is his first day on board.”

Reese reluctantly moved her gaze to him. Immediate smoldering attraction swept over her. “Mr. Knox.” She sounded all breathy again.

His mouth rose with a hint of licentiousness and his incredibly blue eyes reacted in kind. “Please—Jamie. What brings you to DAI? You said it was something personal?”

She’d said that to get Kadin’s attention. She hadn’t lied. She had a whopper of a personal reason for being here. “A murder. Isn’t that what brings everyone here?” She laughed at her attempt to be funny, wondering if she sounded as nervous as she thought.

While Kadin eyed her with some suspicion, Jamie’s smile expanded ever so slightly. “Why don’t we have a seat?”

Having to pass him to sit down, she fed on the sight of his muscled chest and felt tingly as she sat on the sofa.

Eyeing Jamie, Kadin sat on a chair across from her. Jamie boldly lowered his big, sexy body next to her, eyes still glinting.

“What about this murder that brought you all the way here, Ms. Harlow?” Kadin asked.

“You can call me Reese,” she said. “I learned of your agency and, given the length of time that’s passed in my case, I thought you’d be able to help me more than anyone else.” She placed the binder containing copies of everything on the Neville case on the coffee table. “That’s why I’ve taken a personal interest.”

Kadin slid the binder toward him and began flipping through pages.

She didn’t have to read along with him. She knew what it said. The coroner’s report stated the inspector arrived at the scene and noted the time. The weather was indicated as sixty-one degrees, along with the humidity and position, location and condition of the body. Lifeless. Female in her twenties. Injuries on the body indicated the victim had died prior to her tumble down the embankment. Fully clothed in a big-collared, long-sleeved, sapphire-blue, knee-length shirtwaist dress with big white buttons up the front. Dirt collected from the fibers had come from the slope. Ligature marks on the neck indicated strangulation as the cause of death. Rigor mortis had been established throughout the body. Estimated time of death was twelve to fourteen hours prior to the coroner’s examination.

Notes on the crime scene indicated tire tracks on the side of the road—both from a driver with a flat tire and another vehicle. The tires may have been from a 1973 Volkswagen Passat. Photos were taken of the body and the surrounding area, including the slope up to the road.

The first sheriff’s follow-up report said he hadn’t done any extra testing on the evidence. The second sheriff in office looked into the case and questioned more residents, particularly hotel and motel staff. One witness had reported seeing a blue Passat but couldn’t identify the driver, including whether it was a man or woman. The second sheriff had looked into the case again in the early 1990s and that had been the last time anyone had paid any attention to Ella Neville’s murder.

While Kadin read, she stole a look at Jamie, catching his eyes doing a roam up her legs and slowly lifting to her chest and then finally her face. He grinned ever so slightly and made her feel a fresh burst of delighted tingles.

When she turned back to Kadin, she saw he’d finished and now observed them.

She cleared her throat. “As I’m sure you’ve ascertained from the report, no one knows what became of Ella after she closed the library. She never showed up to her husband’s work-related dinner party. Less than twenty-four hours later, a man with a flat tire saw her body and called the police. The evidence is limited. There were tire tracks and not much else. Lots of pictures. Her clothes and shoes were bagged correctly, each labeled Dress, Underwear, Pantyhose and Bra.”

“How were they rebagged?” Kadin asked.

Relieved that he’d dismissed her and Jamie’s steamy moment, she said, “Not taken out of their original packaging, just sealed better from what I can tell. I sent the clothes to a lab.”

“Good thinking. Can you stop them from going to your lab?” Kadin asked.

Taken aback, she recalled her conversation with Margaret. “I think so, our office manager said she’d take them Monday when she runs her other errands.”

“Send them to me. I have a lab that will do the best job. If there’s trace evidence, they’ll find it, and if anything has been contaminated, they’ll know how to handle it.”

“All right.” But Reese felt suddenly cornered. This could be the beginning of a connection and she wasn’t sure she was ready for that. Plus, he had a take-charge attitude. Would giving him her evidence be wise? Yes, for the case, but maybe not so much for her.

“This case is very cold,” Kadin said, probably picking up on her hesitation. “You need all the expert help you can get if you want to solve it.”

She did want to solve it. How badly began to take over. If she had to have an extended relationship with Kadin to do that, she would. But why did he offer to help? Was it passion for what he did—avenge victims of heinous crimes? Or did he sense something in her? Her personal reason for coming...?

He looked over more of the pages, coming to the pictures and taking special time to go through those. In the lapse in talk, she slid a glance toward Jamie and caught him checking her out again, sending more delicious tingles fluttering through her. He looked younger than Kadin but not by much. Kadin had to be well into his forties. She’d put Jamie at around thirty-one. Of all the things she imagined would happen while she was here, meeting a hunk wasn’t one of them.

“Have you talked with any neighbors or family and friends—if any are still alive?”

Reese turned back to Kadin. “There is no family.” Jeffrey had no living relatives and the report said Ella had no family, either. That had come from talking to neighbors and friends, who’d claimed Ella had told them she had none.

“Pay particular attention to the husband. Nine times out of ten, they’re the killer.”

“Not Jeffrey.” She couldn’t even picture him holding a rope around someone’s neck. “He was the most harmless man I’ve ever met.”

“The most demented ones usually seem that way,” Jamie said. “They’re good at blending into society, even to the point of being likable. Take human traffickers for example. They lure innocent foreigners to the US with the promise of honest work and force them into slave labor, or worse.”

He seemed to have firsthand experience with that kind of person. “But...what if he’s as innocent as he seems?”

“You said his wife was supposed to meet him at a dinner party,” Kadin said.

“Yes.”

“Sounds like a perfect alibi to me.”

Too perfect. What he implied hit her. No one had considered Jeffrey had gone to the dinner party on purpose, knowing his wife would close the library alone, knowing she’d never show up for dinner.

“Forget what a quiet, nice man Jeffrey appeared to be and look into any motive he may have had to kill her.”

Reese thought of the hidden money. “My God.”

“Already know of something?”

“The carpenters doing the renovations on my house found some money hidden under the floorboards of my bedroom. That’s how I learned of the murder. Jeffrey and Ella lived there. Jeffrey lived there until he died two years ago. If he killed his wife over the money, why hide it?”

“Maybe he didn’t know where it was.”

“Obviously, he didn’t. So, why kill her before knowing?”

“You must be a good deputy,” Kadin said. “Those are all the questions I’d ask. The key is asking them all, no matter how unlikely the motive seems. Even if he knew of the money, that could be enough motive. He may not have found it, that’s all. People have killed for less.”

She glowed and felt strange for doing so, because the way he instructed her felt like father-daughter advice. He shared from his vast experience. That she appreciated, but seeing him as a father figure gave her a panicky feeling. She did not want to be close with her biological father, did she? How drastically would that change her life? Her plans?

She had parents. Biological parents she didn’t even know couldn’t take their place. And she had plans of her own for her future. She was just curious. That’s all. Besides, her life had no room for obligatory relationships.

She uncrossed her legs and switched to her left one on top, a movement Jamie caught with manly appreciation, much more pleasant than her uncertainty over Kadin and what he represented.

“Let me have some more time with these documents,” Kadin said. “How long are you in town?”

“Just for the night. I have a flight late tomorrow afternoon.”

“Good. Let’s meet in the morning. Do you have a car?”

“I took a cab.”

“I’ll have one of my drivers take you to wherever you need to go, and to the airport tomorrow.”

“Thank you.” She felt special. He had drivers and cars. This operation was much more sophisticated than she thought. She glanced at Jamie, and he was the new security officer. A truly capable-looking man, if one judged by form. Few, if any, could likely overpower him. If the intelligence in his eyes was any indication, few, if any, would outsmart him, either.

Turning back to Kadin, she saw him take note of their exchange again and grew flustered.

“I should get going.” She stood.

Jamie stood right after her, and his looming body, even against her height, stimulated her pheromones.

“I’ll leave you two to...whatever it is you’re doing.” Kadin eyed them, teasing, as he stood.

She faced him, smoothing her shirt even though it needed no smoothing. “What time tomorrow?”

“Whenever you get here. I’ll clear my schedule. It’s not every day I get a forty-year-old murder case.”

She smiled back, feeling his passion for solving cases, especially those that didn’t haunt him. He’d offered to help for that reason, and that reason alone. He hadn’t picked up on any father-daughter vibes.

“Good to meet you, Reese.”

She shook his hand. “You, too.” She watched him leave and then the energy in the office changed. She was alone with this hot, sexy man. His presence engulfed her senses. If she touched him he’d burn her.

Where had this instant attraction come from? Was it the slope of his nose, the line of his jaw? His tall, muscular build? Or was it what she’d seen in his eyes? He was intelligent, yes, but he also exuded uncrushable confidence. Most likely what aroused her was the entire package. He physically stimulated and mentally intrigued her.

“Will you join me for dinner tonight?” he asked.

What an irresistible invitation. His lightness in flirting with her contrasted sharply with darkness lurking somewhere behind his magnetizing eyes. His mystery drew her as much as his physical perfection. How could she refuse? She wouldn’t. Dinner with him excited her.

“I’ll meet you in the Butte Hotel lobby at six. There’s a restaurant there,” she said.

“There’s also a restaurant across the street. I’ll meet you in the lobby and then we can walk there together.”

She’d seen that restaurant, the nicest one in Rock Springs. And something about him made her feel free to say, “Looking forward to it.”

A man like him wouldn’t fence her in. She had no desire for commitment at this point in her life. Their geographical distance assured her he’d be a pleasant encounter and nothing more.

* * *

Jamie wasn’t prepared for Reese in a dress. She emerged from the elevator with a jacket draped over her arm, blond hair up in a stylish bun and a light application of makeup accentuating her golden-brown eyes. She’d had her hair in a ponytail earlier. The black sleeveless jersey dress flared from the waist down and swayed as she walked toward him in spiky ankle boots. The modest bodice covered her chest to the rounded neckline. A simple silver cuff bracelet and silver hoop earrings finished the outfit. But he didn’t pay much heed to that. He’d like to get her hair down and see her only in those boots. He might let her wear the bracelet.

She stopped before him with a coquettish look.

“You look beautiful.” He had to say it. She did. And he was glad he’d worn a suit and tie.

Her luscious mouth curved in a smile. “I went shopping. I didn’t pack for a date.”

He offered his elbow, unable to stop looking at her.

She slipped into her jacket and then slid her hand under his elbow and onto his forearm.

Jamie’s blood heated as he walked with her across the street to the steak house. He couldn’t tell if his eagerness to start fresh with a normal life overshadowed his attraction to her. The first encounter with her had sizzled with chemistry. She’d felt it, too. He had seen it in her eyes. But he’d be making a mistake if he grabbed the first beautiful woman to step into his life if it turned out later she wasn’t The One.

With Dexter Watts dead, Jamie had no further obligation to Stankovich—the terms of his service were complete. Valdemar may not see it the same way, but Jamie had done all he’d asked, and Jamie had ensured his nemesis had nothing more to hold over him. That part of his life was over. He looked forward to the next part, the best part, but he intended to get it right this time.

His days of pushing the envelope and working for the wrong people were over. He’d take his life back working for Kadin, a good man with an honorable cause. He could still travel and see the world the way he loved, but he’d have his integrity intact. And a family with the right woman.

He didn’t know if Reese would be part of that journey. It sure felt promising, though.

“How does a town get the name Never Summer?” he asked as he opened the door for her.

“It’s surrounded by fourteen-thousand-foot mountains.” She stopped inside the restaurant lobby. “And ten thousand feet above sea level doesn’t allow for a lot of warming.”

“Why would anyone want to live in a freezer like that?” he asked while they waited for the hostess to greet them.

“The beauty. The silence.” She sounded matter-of-fact. But then she softened as she thought further. “The smell of snow falling through a forest of coniferous trees, the wildflowers in summer and that first dampening of mountain soil.” Her eyes raised heavenward as she drifted, inhaling as though smelling the mountain air right now. “The air is so cool and crisp and fresh after a big snow.” She breathed in again, eyes closed.

He couldn’t stop an erotic image of her.

At last, she lowered her gaze to look at him. “Cities are stressful.”

He grunted because he had the exact opposite feeling toward cities. Cities comforted him the way her chilly, remote mountain hideaway did her. “I still don’t see the reason for the name Never Summer.”

“We have a summer but it never really gets hot. Mid-July to maybe early September are the warmest.”

That sounded more stressful to him than cities.

“Right this way,” the hostess said.

At their table, Jamie pulled out the chair for Reese, unable to recall the last time he’d done this for a woman. Long before the military. The girl after high school. He’d broken up with her to join the Army.

She smiled up at him, seeming to enjoy this as much as he was. The first date. The excitement of meeting someone who hit the mark. Or maybe he misread her. She did live in Colorado and his office was here in Wyoming. If she was all he felt she could be, then she was worth risking a long-distance affair for a while. He’d worry about logistics later.

He sat across from her. They spent the first few minutes in small talk, reading the menu, giving the waiter their order. The wine came and they sipped.

The air between them hummed electrically whenever their eyes met, as they connected on a subliminal level. He almost couldn’t bare the intense physical attraction and suspected she struggled with the same affliction. While he knew what he’d do with that magic, he didn’t think she’d be ready this fast. Besides, creating his new life would take time. He wouldn’t rush into it like he did his job with Aesir.

“So...deputy sheriff, huh?” he asked, breaking the silence. Just how serious was she about devoting a lifetime to Never Summer?

She rubbed her hand up her arm, forearms resting on the table, a slow, comforting caress that made him wish he could rub it himself. “There’s not much crime in Never Summer. Nothing compared to what your company sees.” Except the Neville cold case. That definitely compared.

“How did you get into law enforcement?”

She looked away in consideration. Had no one ever asked her that before?

Finally she met his eyes again. “I’ve always had an interest in law enforcement. As a kid I loved cop cars and uniforms and watched shows about good guys catching the bad guys. Now I have a degree in criminal justice and passed the police academy at the top of my class.” She smiled genuinely. “I love it. I can’t tell you why. I’ve served as deputy in Ute County for four years now.”

“You plan on staying there?” he asked.

“Why would I leave? My family is there.” She sipped her wine.

He didn’t like how certain she sounded, but her commitment to family counted as a plus. “Would you move somewhere else if an opportunity arose?”

“I’ve never considered that, other than leaving to go to college. Never Summer is a close-knit community.” She paused in thought. “There’s really nowhere else I belong. Besides, ‘Sheriff Harlow’ kind of has a nice ring to it.”

She had aspirations of becoming sheriff. He liked ambitious women.

“Sheriff Knox does, too.” He didn’t stop himself in time. “Sorry. That just came out.” He didn’t mean he’d propose marriage, only tested out the sound in anticipation of being married—someday.

Would she be ready to settle down? She looked young. Twenty-five or twenty-six. He kept that question to himself. Don’t move too fast.

He’d met women like her before, career-driven, tenacious, independent. They didn’t pick controlling men. He wasn’t looking for a woman to control. He was looking for a woman who meshed with him, a friend and a lover, someone who’d spend the rest of her life with him.

He must have looked at her in an intense way, as the passion he felt for his goal came out strong and freely. She fell into a long gaze with him, as they had several times now.

Then she seemed to jar herself back to the date, sitting straighter and putting her hands on the table. “Tell me your story. How’d you end up working for Kadin?”

“After the military, I went to work for a private company, but that ended up not being good for me.”

“Who did you work for? Why did it turn out not good?”

“I don’t want to talk about that now. The important thing is, now I work for Kadin.”

“All right.” She smiled.

Instead of pushing her away, his preference of remaining a mystery appealed to her. He found that a little suspicious. Did she like to avoid serious subjects? Would she not share her story to keep things casual? Her beauty and lively energy made him discard the flash of warning that this woman may not be in line with his vision of a future.

* * *

Except for Jamie’s slip when he’d said, “Sheriff Knox,” Reese liked how he kept serious talk at bay. He didn’t talk about his past, what had led him to Kadin. It was too personal. While the reason he didn’t might be something she should know, she didn’t have to find out tonight.

She felt safe with him, safe to explore the desire this man—this stranger—stirred. He seemed so dangerous, and yet he treated her so romantically. All through dinner they’d talked about likes and dislikes. Movies. Food. Politics. He liked action, meat and potatoes, and laws that helped the little people and kept greedy corporate leaders honest and fair. She liked the occasional chick flick but she also liked action. Meat and potatoes were okay but she preferred seafood. The two complemented each other in an inexplicable way.

With dinner finished, she didn’t want the night to end just yet. He presented her with temptation but...should she dare?

“There’s something I’d like to show you. Are you up for a drive?”

Drive? Alone with him? “Where?”

“I’d like to keep that a surprise. Something incredible, something a small-town girl like you would love to see.”

She wasn’t sure she should go anywhere with a man she’d only just met. But the fact that he worked for a man with Kadin’s reputation and she could defend herself as a trained cop, she agreed.

Now he pulled to a stop on a dirt road where it crested an incline. Moonlight gleamed over a grassy field atop the flat surface of the butte she’d seen from his office window.

“What’s here?” She saw nothing.

“Just wait. It’s usually around this time they show up—if they show up. They don’t always.”

She could see his enthusiasm for whatever would appear and it struck a chord in her. She met few people who had this kind of zest for life, more than aspirations to succeed, but for simpler things.

“There.” He pointed.

She looked but saw nothing. “Do you come here every night?”

“I have been. It’s curing me of city life.”

“You prefer big cities?”

“I thought I did, before Kadin offered me a job.”

She saw something deeper in that response and would have asked, but suspected it related to the serious topic he’d rather avoid.

“Come on. I’ll keep you warm.” He got out of the truck and came around to her side. Her boots were spiky and might sink into the soil. She put her hands on his shoulders as he helped her down from the truck. Exciting prickles of pleasure ran a current from everywhere she felt him. Chest. Hips. Thighs.

She stared up at him, seeing the dark swirl of passion come over him, too.

He lowered his head and then his eyes caught sight of something. “There.”

She turned and he stood behind her, his arms going around her, heating her body to the point where she almost didn’t see the herd of wild horses. They made their way up the hill to the top of the butte, some grazing, some looking majestically off into the horizon as though enjoying the moonlit view. She picked out the lead stallion. He walked with his head high and ears perked, sensing their presence before the rest of the herd.

Rearing up, pawing the air, the horse whinnied loud and stomped and clawed the ground with one hoof. The herd scattered a bit, but calmed when they saw no danger, resuming their moonlight leisure.

Nothing like this existed in Never Summer. The sight stole her breath and her heart.

The stallion ran the flank of his herd, getting them to move farther down the mountain, and soon they were out of sight.

Wordless, filled with awe, she turned to Jamie. “That was incredible.”

“Yeah.” He faced her. “Almost as incredible as you.”

He slid his arm around her, drawing her to him. “Tell me you feel this, too.”

Still breathless from the inspiring sight of the wild horses, she said, “Yes.” He didn’t have to explain he meant the passion that had begun the moment they saw each other.

The suddenness of this nudged a feeble warning just before he touched his lips to her. Soft and patient, he kissed her with warm reverence. Any hesitation fled as desire flared into roaring flames.

Chapter 3

Reese floated in an infatuated current all the way back to her hotel. Jamie’s big form sitting across the truck from her engulfed her senses. His strong thighs parted, his muscular arm extended as he gripped the steering wheel, his shadowy profile masculine and sexy. His blue eyes turned to her, zapping her with that electric attraction. Her whole body throbbed with desire. She tightened her hand on the door handle.

What about him so allured her? Was it his distance from her—his address, so far from hers? She had to admit, she felt safe opening up to him, especially sexually. He presented no danger of trapping her into commitment. After college, she’d promised herself the freedom to explore her life goals, without anyone—any man—holding her back.

He stopped the truck.

Not wanting the night to end, she didn’t move.

Killing the engine, he got out of the truck and walked around the front. Even the way he moved turned her on, with that long stride, unhurried and sure. Opening the door, he held out his hand.

“You didn’t strike me as the old-fashioned type,” he said.

She put her hand in his. “I’m not. I just don’t know what to do with how hot you make me.”

Taken aback at first, he stepped back as she got out.

“Come again?”

“Again and again.” She smiled along with her teasing. What more of an invitation did he need? She felt bold, maybe too bold, but she also knew if she didn’t act now, this night would be gone forever.

“Not old-fashioned at all.”

“Not easily drawn into bed with a man, either,” she said. “But you...” She let her gaze roam down his broad chest, at eye level.

He shut the door behind her, a definitive thud. Decision final. She heard the fob beep, indicating he’d locked the truck. All the while, he held her eyes in a long, heated look.

“Let’s see where this leads us,” he said in a deep voice that revealed his interest.

She walked beside him up to the double front doors of the three-story Victorian hotel, white brick with recently painted black shutters. Soft lighting added to this real-life fantasy. Her intense attraction to this man only added to the excitement that stole her caution. Something about him made her feel safe to be impulsive.

Inside, the sole clerk turned to greet them as they passed to the antique elevator. The smell of old wood and sound of cables protesting joined the fiery chemistry electrifying the air. Jamie put his hand on her lower back, further inflaming her. She looked up and back. He looked down, and as the elevator stopped, he lowered his face to kiss her.

She turned and slid her hands up his deliciously hard chest and pressed herself to him. With a gruff sound, he kissed her deeper as the elevator door shut. She didn’t care how long they stood there. Arrows of pleasure pierced her from her core outward. She’d experienced nothing else like it. Ever.

When the elevator began to move again, Jamie lifted his head and she laughed along with his chuckle.

“Oops,” she said.

And then all traces of smiles vanished as passion took over again.

He held her head and kissed her again. She thought she’d go out of her mind with ecstasy right then. But the elevator stopped and the doors began to slide open.

Jamie stepped back from her and she quickly moved to stand beside him. Back on the main level, a man and woman in their fifties looked from Jamie to her before entering. Reese tried to conceal her breathlessness. Jamie didn’t appear affected. He concealed the mad desire they ignited for each other rather easily. She fleetingly wondered where that ability came from before the older woman glanced over at them and distracted her.

The elevator rose to the third floor and stopped. She waited for the older couple to get out first. They went one way down the hall and Reese walked with Jamie in the opposite direction.

At her room, she unlocked the door and then pushed it open. Jamie held the door while she entered and followed her inside. Now that they were alone in her hotel room, the energy became much more personal and significant. What was she doing? The last time she had sex was in college, so maybe she could blame the long drought for this impulsiveness. That and the deep ache she had for Jamie.

She removed her jacket and draped it over one of two chairs on each side of a table in front of the window. The drapes were still open and during the day she had a view of the street. He walked toward her, passing the dark mahogany cabinet with a television on top.

Removing his suit jacket, he put it on top of hers and then turned to face her, his incredibly blue eyes communicating intent that hadn’t dimmed since the elevator. He lifted his hand and cupped her face. Just that touch alone stoked the fire to a hot burn. She closed her eyes, in a state of awe and wonder that he could do that to her.

It’s the fantasy.

Feeling his warm lips cover hers, she lost all thought of questioning whether she wanted this. She did. Oh, how she did.

Pressing against him as she had in the elevator, she sought more of him. He held her tighter and gave her what she asked and more. Time slipped away as she savored the contact and caresses of his mouth and tongue.

Jamie tugged at the pins holding up her hair. They fell and she shook her hair to release the rest. He sank his fingers into the strands and kissed her.

She pulled his shirt free of his pants and he loosened his tie. Pulling the tie over his head, he watched her begin to unbutton his shirt, letting her push it off his shoulders. Shrugging out of the shirt while she ran her hands over his smooth, hard chest, he unzipped the back of her jersey dress. The dress sagged off her shoulders and dropped to her feet. She stepped out of the pooled material as he stared at her breasts and underwear.

“Something else you bought today?”

“Yes.” Even before he’d dropped her off at the hotel, she’s secretly prepared for this. At the time she hadn’t really thought anything would happen, but imagining it had sure been a delight. The lacy black panties and matching bra proved to be worth it.

He removed his shoes and unfastened his pants. Down to his underwear, she admired the protrusion before he moved forward, guiding her to the bed.

“My boots.”

“Leave them on.”

She scooted back on the bed as he crawled over her.

“All I want you in are those and that bracelet,” he said.

She opened her legs as he lay on top of her, his erection pressing against the lacy underwear.

A fire so potent that she stopped breathing for a second scorched her. She arched as he took her breast into his hand and ran his thumb over the hard nipple through the material. Reese pushed down the hem of his underwear, getting impatient for what she’d longed for ever since he’d kissed her that first time.

He unclasped her bra and the contraption sprang open, releasing her breasts from the frilly binding. Instead of removing his underwear, as she’d hoped for, he put his mouth on her breast, licking and then sucking with sensual care.

Reese tipped back her head and moved her hips to grind against him. He loved her other breast, making her wait longer. When he finished tasting his fill, he ran his tongue down the center of her torso to the top of her underwear. She was going to erupt if he didn’t hurry.

Taking her panties in his fingers, he pulled them off, removing them all the way over her boots and dropping them to the floor. She lifted her knees, digging the spiky heels of her ankle boots into the mattress, and put her hands over her head.

Jamie made a gruff sound as he saw her pose and then quickly removed his underwear. Not too large and definitely not too small, he made her thirst for him more. Now.

As breathless as her, he slid his hands up her legs as he positioned himself between them. Then he guided himself to her opening.

“Yes,” she rasped.

He filled her and drew back before pushing in again. Everything fell away except him, his ruggedly handsome face, passion-filled eyes, his breathing, and the ripple of arm and chest muscles as he moved back and forth. Wild sensation took her mind away with unbearable pleasure.

She cried out as she reached her peak almost instantaneously. He may have been surprised, but she didn’t notice in the grip of such an intense explosion.

As he continued to thrust back and forth, another wave of pleasure began to build. Gradually he increased his tempo and she could tell he was close. So was she. She ground herself against each penetration and as he reached his limit, she cried out again, writhing with him.

Several tumultuous seconds later, he rolled off her and they both lay on their backs awhile, catching their breath. Then he turned his head and opened his arm for her. Uncertain over what she felt about this, she curled to his side. He said nothing and she said nothing. If he felt anything like her, no words could adequately explain what had just occurred.

When she’d invited him into her hotel room, she thought she’d be safe getting a little reckless. Now she wasn’t so sure. Upon reflection, maybe she should have paid attention to the strength of her attraction to this man. Now she felt strongly that she’d like to see him again. She’d learned the hard way that that didn’t work so well for her. She had plans, short-term plans for her life that she would not, and could not, alter. She had to stay true to herself. She couldn’t allow her feelings to sway her. She wanted to be sheriff someday.

What feelings were these, anyway? She’d just had fantastic sex with a drop-dead gorgeous man. What woman wouldn’t love a night like this?

Tomorrow she’d be gone. This would fade into a pleasant memory. Maybe when she achieved the sheriff position she’d be ready for something serious. Even that amendment churned inside with dread. The thought of sharing a checking account frightened her, and not just the financial part. She didn’t think she’d be able to relinquish control, to have someone else managing that for her—or with her.

Stay focused on telling Kadin your news.

That should be plenty to keep her mind occupied and off how much Jamie made her feel. But it paled in comparison.

* * *

Jamie woke with a smile lighting his heart. He couldn’t have dreamed a woman would feel better than Reese. This fit exactly what he envisioned for his new life. Rising up onto his elbows, he didn’t care about his sappy grin as Reese stepped out of the bathroom. Expecting her to still be naked, he was surprised to see her fully dressed.

“You should have waited,” he said. “I’d have taken a shower with you.”

She eyed him warily. “I...didn’t want to wake you.”

His smile dropped away. Something was off about her. He threw off the covers and stood, still naked. She averted her gaze as he approached. “If you’re uncomfortable about last night, don’t be.” He slid his hand to the back of her neck and kissed her chastely.

She moved away and then stepped back from him.

A sense of warning doused what remained of his elation and prospects of a great future with her. “Is something the matter?”

“I need to go talk to Kadin.”

That wouldn’t take long and they’d already gone over most of the case yesterday. He supposed she might be anxious to solve her four-decade-old murder case.

“All right. I’ll get ready and take you there.”

“I think it would be best if you went home to get ready. I’ll drop in your office before I leave this afternoon.”

She seemed eager to get rid of him. How could she so easily push him away? This was not what he expected at all, not after the magic they’d generated together. He wrestled his disappointment under control.

Maybe the intensity scared her. And they had only just met yesterday. He shouldn’t rush her. He may be ready to take that plunge, but maybe she wasn’t.

“All right.”

“Good.” A flicker of a smile curved up her mouth, but seemed rather forced. “I’ll see you there, then.”

With that, she left him standing nude in the bedroom, unmade bed to his left and the smell of her shower wafting from the bathroom.

She might be running scared, but he wasn’t about to let go so soon. One night wasn’t nearly enough.

* * *

Sitting in the bright lobby at DAI, Reese stared out the front window. Last night tracked through her head, from the treat of seeing the wild horses to the moment she fell into contented sleep, wrapped in Jamie’s strong arms. Any more of that and she’d be lost. She’d belong to a man who’d sweep her away from everything she’d worked so hard to achieve. He didn’t realize it, but getting messed up with her would only lead to a broken heart. She’d be doing him a favor by leaving as casually as possible.

If only her knotting stomach would agree.

The front door clicked open and the sight of Jamie in tan pants and a dress shirt with a tie and a leather jacket came with a familiar electric zap. She could see his glowing blue eyes from all the way across the lobby. She began to get hot just watching him stride toward her. Even her subtle rejection this morning hadn’t dimmed his inexhaustible supply of confidence. She might have gotten herself into a fine mess with this one.

He stopped in front of her.

The receptionist had gone in the back office and hadn’t returned. They were alone.

“I can see now we should have had a much more in-depth conversation about our expectations,” he said.

“It’s too soon to talk expectations,” she replied.

“I was in the military before I joined a private military company. I didn’t have time for serious relationships. I had a couple, but they didn’t last and didn’t come near what we had last night.”

“Jamie...” She stood.

“What about you? You’re pretty young, so I’m guessing you haven’t had many, if any, serious relationships.”

Why was he going into this now? He seemed to have a habit of getting right to his point. He knew precisely what he was after, and right now that was her. Maybe he was operating on unfamiliar ground. He’d never gone after a woman this seriously before.

She decided his tactic was wise. Just come out and lay it out for him right now. “I’ve dated and been with two men fairly long-term. They lasted a year and two years. I’m not looking for anything serious right now. You said it—I’m young. I’m not ready for that yet.”

In his silence, she couldn’t tell if that crushed his hopes or not.

“Of course,” he finally said. “We only just met yesterday. It’s far too early to be talking serious relationship.”

Did they have an understanding? Why did she get the feeling he’d strategically set his course in action?

“Ms. Harlow?”

Grateful for the interruption, Reese said to Jamie, “I’ll stop by your office on my way out.”

“Mr. Tandy will see you now.”

Reese stepped around Jamie and followed the receptionist through the back offices. The receptionist let her pass at Kadin’s door.

Her heart thumped harder and faster. How would Kadin take the news she was about to drop?

He approached the door and, seeing Jamie walk toward the opposite office, called after him, “Jamie. You might as well join us.”

Reese smothered a gasp. “No, it’s all right. You and I can just talk.”

“Don’t be silly. Jamie was here yesterday. He might as well listen in now. I don’t have much anyway, not more than we already discussed.” He turned and walked back into his office. “How was your evening together?”

So, that’s why he invited Jamie. He didn’t know how tortured she would be with him near her, much less given what she was about to tell him.

Jamie grinned as he passed her, winking in a way that warmed her to the point of awkwardness. She couldn’t resist him. Her body wanted to smile and so it did.

Reluctantly, she went to the seating area, where Kadin waited.

Jamie sat next to her on the sofa and she wished she had taken the chair adjacent to Kadin. His mere presence, with his big body and fresh scent, sent a pleasurable shiver through her.

“Your cold case is quite interesting,” Kadin began. “The notes are all very small-town, but the sheriff did a thorough job collecting evidence.”

“Small-town?” Should she be insulted?

A flash of a smile lifted his lips. “It was like reading a mystery. I could follow his thoughts like the character in a book. He made comments about the people of Never Summer that made it rather entertaining.”

When she’d read it she hadn’t picked up on that. But then, she lived there.

He stood and went to the whiteboard on the wall beside the seating area. “Even though it seems there wasn’t much to collect, I’m confident we’ll find some trace evidence.” He picked up a marker and wrote Ella, Tourism and Highway 149 in a row and spaced apart. “There are a few areas I’m not sure were examined close enough.” He turned to look at them, marker in hand. “Ella is from California. No one checked there for family because she told everyone she had no family.” He drew a line from the word Ella and wrote Family? “That includes checking out Jeffrey’s alibi. Also, why did Ella move to Never Summer? When did she move there? These are all questions that were never asked at the time of her murder.” He drew a line from the word Tourism. “Never Summer survives on its tourism industry. Since no one in town was a suspect, it seems likely a stranger passed through and may have committed the crime. I found nothing in the report to suggest any tourists were questioned.” He wrote Locate and Question Tourists. “And the highway. Why dump the victim’s body on that road? Sure, it’s remote, but it’s also close to Never Summer and no attempt was made to hide or conceal the body...” He wrote, Why this highway in this direction?

Reese sat transfixed and in awe. He’d just laid out the course of her investigation for her. She could learn a lot from this man...her father.

“I can help more if you’d like.”

The offer chased her awe away. If he helped with the investigation, she’d have to see more of him. He didn’t even know she was his daughter. That had to be addressed first. She had to tell him before any of this went any further.

“Yes, well...” She cleared her throat and adjusted her position on the sofa, clasping her hands on her lap. This was harder than she thought. Not only for her, but for what it would mean to him.

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

Kadin’s brow rose a fraction and Jamie looked sharply at her.

“I...I didn’t come here to talk about the case. I...I mean I did, but...but there’s another reason.”

Kadin looked from Jamie to her, clearly perplexed.

“Maybe you should sit down for this.” Oh, God, she was nervous. Did she really want to do this? What choice did she have? He deserved to know. He had a right to know.

She licked her lips and looked down at her clasped hands, which were turning white in her tight grip.

“Whoa.” Kadin put the marker down on the metal shelf below the whiteboard. “This is serious, then.” He faced her but didn’t move to sit.

She looked at Jamie. He really shouldn’t be here for this.

“What is it?” Kadin asked. “Just tell us.”

Lifting her head, she looked up at Kadin. “It’s personal.”

“Personal.”

“Yes. Between you and me.”

“Me and you.”

“Yes.”

“I would have remembered an affair and I never sleep with women as young as you.”

“No.” She shook her head, lowering it again and then catching a glimpse of Jamie’s rapt expression. “It’s not that.”

The quiet hummed. She heard Jamie’s exhale. Kadin just waited.

At last she looked up at Kadin and said, “I’m your daughter.”

Jamie choked on what must have been a midswallow with her shocking announcement.

Kadin’s face remained impassive. Wearing no cowboy hat, nothing shaded his bright gray eyes or hid thick black hair, trimmed but unruly. She’d gotten her blond hair and brown eyes from her mother.

“I read all about you,” she said. “You had another daughter you lost to a terrible tragedy. I didn’t come here to be what she must have been to you. I want that said up front.”

Still, Kadin only stared at her.

“I was adopted by my parents, Mya and Nelson Harlow, in New York when I was an infant. My mother was too young, just sixteen, when she had me. She never told you she was pregnant or that she gave the baby up for adoption.”

“That’s impossible,” Kadin finally said. Then he jabbed his thumb at the whiteboard. “Is that case real or did you use it as a ruse to get in here?”

“No. It’s real. Yes, I did use it, but...I...I didn’t know how to tell you. I only thought you deserved to know.”

“Why are you really here?” Kadin now demanded.

Reese sat back, not expecting this kind of reaction. But then she realized he would be shocked at first, and then skeptical.

“Giselle Yates,” she said. “I’m not sure if Yates was her last name when you knew her. She moved from Massachusetts before she gave birth. She didn’t tell you because her parents forced her to give up the child—me. I only just met her. Giselle. My biological mother. She told me what happened and about you. I didn’t know you were my father until she came to see me.”

Kaden just stared at her again.

“I decided to meet you because I think you have a right to know,” she repeated. “M-maybe I was mistaken.”

She started to stand.

“No.” Kadin put up his hand and then ran his fingers through his hair. Then with a curse, he walked away from the seating area and leaned over his desk.

“I know this must be difficult for you.” Reese stood.

“I’ll leave the two of you.” Jamie stood and went to the door, closing it softly behind him.

After watching him go, Reese went to the desk. “With your daughter’s murder... I’m so sorry.”

“She never told me,” he said, still bent over the desk. “After all these years. She never told me.”

“She was afraid you’d talk her out of giving up the baby and at the time it was more important for her to repair her relationship with her parents. What they thought of her took priority. And then time passed and she decided it was too late.”

“Too late?” He straightened, anger storming his eyes. “She should have told me.”

Reese nodded. “I agree. That’s why I came here. You needed to be told, and now I have.”

“How long have you known?” he asked.

“I’ve known I was adopted since I was a young girl. I was raised in a good home. We lived in New York for a while and then my dad wanted to go back to his hometown, Never Summer. We’ve lived there ever since. My mother couldn’t have children so they adopted me. It wasn’t until I was in college that I began to get curious about who my biological parents were. I started to search for them...for you. I found my mother first. She traveled to Never Summer to meet me last month. She told me your name and didn’t know what had become of you. Then just a few days ago she sent me a link to an article about your agency. That’s when I learned about you.”

She watched him take in her facial features while haunting memories must have been swirling inside his brilliant mind. Did he wonder if his murdered daughter would look like her had she lived? That twisted her heartstrings.

“I’m going to need some time to absorb all of this.”

“Of course.”

“Please don’t take offense. This is quite a shock for me.”

It must be, especially after losing his second daughter to murder. “No, I completely understand. I didn’t come here to force a father-daughter relationship. You don’t have to worry about me injecting myself into your life. You can keep in touch if you like, but no pressure from me.”

He didn’t seem to register what she said. Giving him the space she could see he needed, she turned to go, quietly closing the door behind her.

She almost forgot to stop by Jamie’s office. In the hall, she spotted him getting up from behind his desk. He stopped just inside the doorway.

She walked to him. After she entered, he closed the door.

“You sure can deliver a bomb.” He whistled. “Kadin Tandy’s daughter, huh?” His words were light but his tone was leading. “That’s incredible. The media is going to go berserk. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“The media doesn’t have to know.” They had an intimate dinner that had led to sleeping together. She could have easily told him over dinner, but the magnitude of meeting her real father had kept her from saying anything. It was still too personal.

He waited a few seconds as though expecting her to explain. When she didn’t, he didn’t seem put off, which touched her deep down.

“They won’t hear it from me,” he said. “But eventually, word is going to get out.”

“Thanks for the warning.” She did not look forward to that. “And your discretion.”

He nodded and moved a step closer.

This would be goodbye now. She didn’t evade him when he put his hand on her lower back, fingers caressing her rear before gliding up to pull her to him. He made her hot for him just like that. Breathless yet again, she ran her hands up his chest as he lowered his head and kissed her. He moved his mouth with hers, gently, reverently at first, but the hot desire they had for each other couldn’t be quenched with just that. In an instant, she opened to him and he to her. The kiss grew fevered and out of control.

“It wasn’t a dream.” Jamie pressed her to the door and kissed her again.

Unable to stop herself, Reese reached for the clasp of his pants. He kissed her ravenously and then withdrew, taking her hand in his to stop her from continuing.

“Not like this,” he said.

Both of them breathing heavily, Reese tipped her head back.

“It has to mean more,” he added.

She feared he’d deliberately left off the rest of his thought—to you. This had to mean more to her.

She pressed with her hands on his chest until he moved back a step. “I should get going. I’m going to miss my flight.”

“You’ll have plenty of time.” He released her hand and stepped back some more.

She turned and started to open the door.

“You know what this means, don’t you?”

She looked back over her shoulder.

“I’m going to be seeing a lot of you.”

A flash of apprehension shot through her. “You’re in Wyoming and I’m in Colorado.”

“That isn’t going to stop me. Besides, a man like Kadin Tandy won’t allow you to walk out of his life. His daughter.”

She stared at him as the implications became clear. She wouldn’t be able to avoid running in to him. While her pheromones cheered, her mind had other plans.

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