LITMIR.BIZ

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aren’t you, son?”

      Before Lacie could stop him, Colt nodded and took off his Stetson.

      “We won’t be too long, Louanna,” Lacie hurriedly mumbled. Grabbing Colt by the elbow, she dragged him down the hall, turning on lights as she went.

      “You need me to notify the sheriff?” Louanna called after them.

      “No need to wake anyone. But thanks. This is not a big deal.”

      Once inside the break room with the door firmly shut behind them, Lacie took a deep breath and tilted her head toward the small table and chairs. “Sit down. Want coffee?”

      “Nope.” Colt propped his hat on the back of a chair and tucked his tall lean frame into another one. “You always offer coffee to suspects?”

      “You are not a suspect.” She poured herself a mug and sat across the plastic tabletop from him. “Well, on second thought, you do need to explain yourself. What were you doing hanging around outside the sheriff’s offices in the middle of the night?”

      Under the harsh break room fluorescents, Colt’s features were razor-edged, more adult than the teenager she remembered. But his stormy blue eyes were still as clear and intense as when she’d left town. He studied her with a piercing gaze. It made her squirm, wondering what he was thinking.

      Straightening her shoulders to give herself a lift, she tried to regain control. But soon she found herself thinking that the creases at the edges of his eyes and the darker stubble on his jaw made him much more interesting and appealing than he’d been as a kid.

      Stop, she cautioned herself. She needed to stop noticing now.

      He didn’t answer her directly, but linked his fingers together on the tabletop, stared down at them and asked his own questions without looking up. “How long have you been back in town, Lace? And what made you become a deputy?”

      “You’re answering a question with more questions. That doesn’t bode well for this conversation.”

      “Is that what we’re having? You sure this is a conversation and not an interrogation?”

      Sighing, she rolled her eyes and prayed for patience. “All right. Fine. We’ll get reacquainted first.”

      After gulping down a slug of hot coffee to give herself a jolt of backbone, she gave in and answered his questions. “I’ve been back in Chance for about six months. And being a deputy is something I’ve wanted for a long time. I spent a couple of years as a rookie on the force in Harris County and then came here when the sheriff advertised for help.”

      “Houston. You came back to this half-baked town from the big city? Why?”

      She held her tongue and stared at him. Oh, how she would love to tell him everything. To go back to being close, the way they used to be. But though he’d once taught her the meaning of justice, she hadn’t told him everything then, and she wasn’t about to spill her heart to him now. Not when she didn’t even know who he was anymore.

      “I finally realized I liked living here,” she answered truthfully. “I spent most of my childhood in this town and missed it.”

      “Seriously? You like Chance, Texas? Why?”

      The complete truth was that she’d missed him. She’d been more than a little disappointed after arriving in Chance to find out he’d been gone from town almost as long as she had.

      “It’s a nice place,” she finally answered. “Small enough that everybody knows everybody else. Puts me at ease. The town is laid-back and friendly.” Well, almost everyone was friendly, with the one big exception of her boss and stepfather. But she didn’t want to talk about him right now.

      “You can have the whole damned place,” Colt said with a shake of his head. “I’ve always hated it here. I can talk on the phone and over the internet to my brothers anytime from anywhere. I never would’ve come back to this dump if it weren’t for my current condition.”

      Without being completely aware of what she was doing, Lacie reached out and gently touched his folded hands. “Tell me what happened. How were you injured?”

      * * *

      Well, hell. Why not tell her? It wasn’t as if it was any big secret. Besides, Colt figured he wouldn’t get her talking if he didn’t also open up.

      He needed her help. Without it, he would never get the information he needed. That had become abundantly clear when he couldn’t access the locked file drawers earlier. But he was worried about her shift in loyalties. When they’d been kids, she couldn’t stand the man that was her stepfather. She’d never talked much about him, but the hatred always seemed clear in her voice.

      Colt hadn’t been prepared to see her again and everything about her shocked him. He also hadn’t been ready for the sizzle he’d been experiencing in her touch.

      Carefully, he eased his hands back and let his gaze drift from her eyes to the base of her neck and the pulse beating overtime there. Before he could wonder why she seemed so out of breath, his glance slid down to her heaving chest and he got caught by the sight of her full rounded breasts. A shot of pure lust rode through him, leaving him breathless, too.

      Tearing his eyes away, he opened his mouth and blurted the first thing that came out. “I screwed up. I’d spent months gathering evidence to present to a grand jury in order to indict a federal prosecutor. And instead of nailing down the bastard with the last bit of evidence needed, I ended up blowing the whole sting and getting myself shot up but good in the process.”

      “What happened?”

      Releasing a breath he hadn’t thought he’d been holding, he said, “Do you remember that our family lost a baby sister? That she was kidnapped as a four-year-old by our crazy, drug-addicted aunt?”

      “Yes, of course. We talked about it back when...we knew each other. The FBI found your aunt dead of an overdose, as I remember. What does that have to do with...?”

      He held up a palm and went on. “Well, my brothers and I will never give up looking for our sister. The trouble started when I thought I spotted a woman who looked just like Cami might’ve looked today.”

      The rest was an embarrassing thing to have to admit, but he hoped it would give Lacie reason to trust him enough to open up. “I let my attention lapse for just long enough to get me shot in the back. And to ruin the whole frigging sting we’d set up. Worse yet, my loss of focus led to the death of another federal agent that I’d talked into helping with the sting.”

      “Oh.” Her eyes drifted down to her coffee mug. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

      “Me, too. It’s been six months and I’m still working the physical-therapy exercises, trying to beat the doctors’ predictions and bring my body back to full strength.” But his guilt might never be conquered.

      “Are you staying with one of your brothers?”

      He was glad for the change in the conversation; her sympathetic expression suddenly gave him hope. He caught the first real hint that he was talking to the same girl he used to know—just all grown up.

      “No. I’m living alone in my mother’s old office trailer on the Bar-C. Remember?”

      She nodded and her eyes went all gooey, lost in a shared memory of their last kisses. But he still couldn’t accept that the same girl he’d been infatuated with was now working for the same man she’d hated only ten years ago.

      This beating around the bush, being careful of every word he said until he felt completely sure of her loyalties, was not his style. “Why are you working for your stepfather?” His usual style tended to be blunter.

      Her eyes widened and she scooted her chair back. “You still haven’t told me why you were sneaking around the sheriff’s offices late at night.”

      Mexican standoff. Neither of them was willing

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