The Mighty Quinns: Cameron. Kate Hoffmann

a kid. At least I think they’re dead.”

      Sofie saw the look that crossed his face, a mix of resignation and pain. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up—”

      “That’s all right,” he said, shrugging. “I don’t mind talking about it.”

      “You said you thought they were dead. Don’t you know for sure?” She sucked in a sharp breath. Though her first instinct was to interrogate, she realized that there was a polite limit to her questions. “Sorry. You don’t have to answer that.”

      “They disappeared while ferrying a yacht across the Pacific. We don’t know if they were lost in a storm and sank or drowned or what happened. One day they were there, and the next day, they’d disappeared. What about your folks? Are they alive?”

      Sofie regretted questioning him in such a businesslike manner, but she wasn’t about to drive out into the desert with a guy she couldn’t trust. “My father is a cop. And my mother is an artist. They live in Albuquerque, where my mother has a gallery.”

      “And how old are you?”

      “I’m asking the questions,” she said.

      “You’re quite good at this,” he said. “You’re making me kind of nervous.”

      “I’ve had training. Do you have a photo ID with you?”

      Cameron pulled out his wallet and handed her his Washington state driver’s license. Sofie groaned inwardly. He even managed to look gorgeous on his license photo. This man was just too good to be true.

      “Anything else you’d like to know?”

      She shook her head. “I guess that will do for now.” She gave him back his license.

      “Good.”

      Sofie pointed to a battered Jeep sitting a short walk down the main street. When they reached it, Cameron tossed his bag in the backseat and hopped it. The Jeep had no doors, so he fastened his seat belt and braced his feet against the floor.

      Sofie slid into the driver’s side and grabbed a pair of sunglasses off the dash. “We’re going to need to get you a proper hat,” she said.

      “Like yours?”

      She grinned, then took her hat off and placed it on his head. “Yeah, just like mine,” she said, turning the key in the ignition. “It’s a good look on you.”

      Sofie made a wide U-turn and headed east out of town. Though her thoughts still strayed into fantasy-land when she looked at the handsome stranger sitting beside her, at least she had a reason to keep him close by. She needed an extra set of eyes and ears to investigate the case she was working on. And with his looks and charm, he’d be the perfect undercover investigator.