“Your uncle was one of a kind.”
“He would say he was just from good Texas stock.”
“Merlee must miss him a lot.”
“I’m sure she does, but she stays upbeat and busy with her gardening and church activities. And traveling with her friend, Josie Watts. I think they’ve cruised every place there’s a tour. This is their second time to Alaska.”
“What do you think she’d say if she knew you were bringing Julie and me here?”
“She’d tell me I’d better not let anything bad happen to either one of you.” Cutter slowed as a large deer stepped into the beam of his headlights. The buck stood motionless, head high, his impressive rack pointing skyward until they were almost upon him. Only then did the magnificent creature turn and run away.
She wondered if the deer sensed danger the way she sensed it now that someone had tried to kill her. No, not someone. Dane. It had to have been him, though she couldn’t imagine how he’d found her so quickly. More disturbing was the fact that he’d opened fire on her with Julie in the car. Now she was expected to just turn the child over to the murderous lunatic.
She checked to see if Julie was still asleep. Satisfied that the toddler was in dreamland, Linney shifted and turned to face Cutter. “Coming here was probably a major mistake.”
“You tell me.”
“I’m serious,” she said, keeping her voice low so as not to wake Julie. “Dane could show up any minute. He must have someone tailing me. How else would he have known I’d be on that road?”
“With this.” Cutter took a black gadget the size of a half dollar from his shirt pocket and tossed it into her lap. “It’s a tracer, the newest model, highly efficient.”
“Where did you find this?”
“Attached beneath the back bumper of your car.”
“Dane must have planted it there right after I made that complaint to the police department,” Linney whispered. “I’ll bet the clerk went straight to him with my suspicions.”
“He probably thinks of Dane as a reliable cop.”
“No wonder no one’s called me back. Dane probably tossed the report.”
“We’re going on a lot of assumptions here. It’s possible the good detective hasn’t seen the report, didn’t plant the tracer and wasn’t tonight’s sniper.”
“Oh, puh-leeze!” She checked again. Julie was still fast asleep. “He’s behind all of it. He’s so arrogant he thinks he can get away with anything. He would have killed me, then stopped and rescued his daughter. End of his problems.”
“Aren’t you forgetting that the day-care center attendant knows Julie left with you today?”
“But they don’t know that I didn’t drive her home.”
Cutter wrapped both hands around the wheel and stretched, grimacing a bit as he rubbed his left thigh. He was probably seriously regretting his offer of help about now. Maybe he figured that six years involved in some of the Middle East’s most dangerous counterterrorism operations was enough heroism for one guy.
She lowered the window a few inches and took a deep breath, letting her lungs fill with the fresh, country air. Smells of pine mixed with wild verbena and the sweet magnolia Merlee had planted along the drive.
Julie stirred in the backseat, and Linney raised the window quickly before the sting of wind had her fully awake. Hopefully the three-year-old would sleep through the night.
“The ranch house is just ahead,” Cutter said. “I’m sure the freezer will be fully loaded but I’m not sure about perishable provisions.”
“We’ll make do until morning,” Linney said, suddenly hit with mind-numbing fatigue. “Then we’ll need milk for Julie. She’ll need clothes, too.”
Cutter rounded the last curve and brought the truck to a jerky stop in the driveway. He yanked the gear into park and turned to face her, his muscles taut and his jaw set at the same unyielding angle as when he’d told her she had to go to the police.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but this is not a permanent arrangement.”
“But—”
“No buts. The minute we hear from Dane, Julie goes home.”
“Fine.” She jumped out of the car before she said something that would really piss Cutter off. She opened the back door to get Julie.
“I’ll carry her inside,” Cutter said, handing Linney his key ring with an oversize bronze key protruding. “You get the door.”
“You’re sure no one’s here?”
“I’m sure Merlee’s in Alaska.”
Cutter unbuckled the seat belt and lifted Julie. She squirmed, raised her head, then let it fall to his broad shoulder. His hand splayed across her back. She looked even more petite in his strong arms, Linney thought. And Cutter looked…
Linney swallowed past a disturbing lump that swelled at the back of her throat. He looked strong and protective. Yet gentle. The image was incredibly seductive and not one she needed to carry into a house where she’d be spending what was left of the night with Cutter.
This was all about getting justice for Amy. Even a hint of the passion that had burned inside her six years ago could screw up her mind and make this even harder than it already was. Far better to just stay aggravated with him.
She opened the door, stepped inside and flicked on the light. The feel of the house wrapped around her like a silken cocoon. It was Merlee to the core. Comfortable. Overflowing with warmth, from the hooked rug to the large overstuffed chairs upholstered in a muted plaid the color of autumn hay.
“We can put Julie in the guest bedroom at the end of the hall,” Cutter said. “There’s only a twin bed, but it’s next to the master suite and it will be easy to hear her if she wakes during the night. The other bedrooms are upstairs.”
“I want her near me.”
“I planned on you taking the master suite.”
“Where will you sleep?”
“I’ll bunk down somewhere if I get tired. But nearby. You’ll be safe, so try and get some sleep. And by the way, there’s no APB out on you. Dane’s working a case, probably the one we heard about on the evening news. So obviously he’s fine that Julie’s with you, at least for tonight.”
“When did you hear all that?”
“I talked to Goose while I was checking out your car. I didn’t mention it then because Julie was awake.”
So that’s why he didn’t believe that it was Dane who’d fired at her. But if not Dane, then who? Someone he’d hired? Or just another dirty cop? Danger might come from a dozen directions, but she wouldn’t back off. Amy deserved justice.
Still, Linney doubted she’d get much sleep tonight.
CUTTER STOOD on the back porch of the house staring into the darkness. No night goggles the way he’d had on nights like this in the Middle East when he’d peered into pockets of danger that lurked behind every tree.
Tonight there was just a Texas moon, its silvery light filtering through the pines and painting shadows that danced in the slight evening breeze. But inside the house where he’d grown up, mere feet away, the woman whose image had haunted him night after night for the last six years was showering and getting ready to spend the night under his roof.
He’d told himself he was over her, that the skyrockets that had lit up his life for those five days and nights of lovemaking had never been as fantastic as they seemed. It