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“I’m fine.” He tugged at the neck of his polo shirt. “I’m just hot.”
“It’s cold in here,” she began.
“You’re always cold,” he shot back. He turned away. He stopped and looked back at her. “You still going around with J.C.?”
“Sort of,” she said, surprised. “We went over to the casino at Lander last week.”
He laughed hollowly. “I’ll bet Daddy loved that.”
“He doesn’t interfere.”
His eyes narrowed. “J.C. won’t settle down, you know.”
“I know that, Rod.” She studied him. “You and J.C. were close before you got out of the service. You don’t spend much time with him now.”
“We have different interests, that’s all.” His face hardened. “He’s such a straight arrow,” he muttered. “I guess it’s his background.”
“His background?” she probed, always interested in any tidbit of information about J.C. that she didn’t already know.
“He was a policeman before he went into the armed services,” he said. “Worked in Billings for a couple of years as a beat cop. They said he was hell on wife beaters. Almost put a man in the hospital. The guy had beaten his pregnant wife bloody and threw his toddler down the steps. Killed the little boy. J.C. did a number on him. There weren’t any charges. The guy attacked J.C. the minute he walked in the door with his partner. Bad move. He’s a lot stronger than he looks.”
“I can’t imagine anyone bad enough to hurt a child,” Colie said solemnly.
“The guy used,” he said. “Idiot. You never take more than you need for a buzz. That’s just stupid.”
He was using terms she’d heard at work when her bosses dictated letters about drug cases they were defending.
“I don’t know anything about drugs,” she commented.
“Just as well,” he told her. “What’s for supper?” he added, changing the subject.
“Meat loaf and mashed potatoes. And I made a cherry pie.”
He managed a smile. “Sounds good.”
“I’ll get busy.”
He watched her walk away. He was uneasy. He didn’t dare let anything slip that she might pick up on. If she found out what he was doing and told J.C., his friend would go to the authorities in a heartbeat, despite their years of friendship. J.C. had serious prejudices about people who used drugs. He was even worse about dealers.
* * *
COLIE WISHED SHE’D thought to give J.C. her cell phone number, or that she’d asked for his. She could have sent him text messages.
Then she caught herself. He didn’t seem the type of person who did a lot of chatting. She’d had only one phone conversation with him, if you could call it that. He’d called that time when he was invited to dinner, that first time that he’d asked her out. He’d said he was going to be a few minutes late. He’d said barely two words to her and hung up. That was the extent of their phone conversations.
She wished he’d called her, though. She’d have loved to hear the sound of his voice, even if it was only two or three words’ worth. But he didn’t call. And his two or three days turned into a week.
She knew he was still in Denver because her friend Lucy had a cousin who worked in retail, and he was also attending the gadget convention. He mentioned to Lucy that J.C. was chatting up a gorgeous platinum blonde and said maybe that was the reason he hadn’t come home sooner.
Lucy told Colie when she persisted, but she hated doing it. Colie’s face fell. It was what she’d expected to happen. She wasn’t pretty or sophisticated. J.C. had even mentioned that the girl he fell in love with was like a supermodel in looks.
She was so depressed. She’d had all sorts of stupid dreams, about being with J.C. for the rest of her life, of changing his mind about having a home of his own and a family. Now those dreams were being changed into nightmares with platinum blonde hair.
* * *
IF SHE COULD have seen J.C., the depression would have lifted. As most gossip was, the bit about him and the blonde was blown all out of proportion. He’d been overseas with another man who trained local law enforcement in the Middle East during his vacations, an Apache man named Phillip Hunter who worked private security in Houston. Hunter’s wife, Jennifer, was a geologist. She was so beautiful, even in her thirties and with two children, that she turned heads everywhere. It was Jennifer that J.C. had been talking to while Hunter went to talk to one of the vendors about an updated closed circuit camera system for Ritter Oil Corporation, where Hunter was head of security.
Jennifer was as conservative as her husband, and it would never have occurred to her to cheat on him. She was simply enjoying talking about her work to J.C., who knew something about the mining industry. Geology was an interest of his. When he was very young, his father was always bringing home unusual rocks from work. J.C. hated the memory of his father, but he’d always loved geology.
He missed Colie. He didn’t want to. He knew that he could never give her the things she wanted. It was sad, because she was the kind of woman any man would be proud to call his own. But a family, kids...that wasn’t him. He’d been on his own too long.
Maybe he was overthinking it. He should just take it one day at a time and not take life so seriously.
Phillip Hunter rejoined them, smiling. He was older than Jennifer, probably in his forties by now. He had silver at his temples and threads of silver in his thick, straight jet-black hair. But he was still as fit a man as any J.C. had ever seen. He kept in fighting trim. He and Jennifer had two children, a daughter, Nikki, and a son, Jason. They seemed perfectly happy together, for an old married couple. J.C., who had rarely seen a good marriage, was impressed. His foster parents had been like these two. Their deaths had been worse than a tragedy to him. He was only eleven when he lost them in the fire. That placed him in other foster homes, ones not as nice or welcoming or secure as the one he’d had. He had painful memories of those days, after the fire, memories he’d shared with no one. Not even with Colie.
“Are you going back over month after next?” Phillip asked J.C., meaning Iraq, where they both were involved in training courses. But while J.C. taught police procedure, Phillip taught private security.
“I am,” J.C. replied. “I like the challenge.”
“You like the risk,” Jennifer chided, glancing at her husband with a grin. “Like someone else I know.”
Phillip pulled her against him and kissed her hair. “I can’t live without a little risk. You knew that when you married me, cover girl,” he teased.
She pressed close with a sigh and closed her eyes. “Yes, I did. Warts and all, I can’t imagine any other way of life. It’s been wonderful.”
“It has,” her taciturn husband replied gently. The look they shared made J.C. uncomfortable. It spoke of a closeness he’d never known.
“I guess you’re going to be a bachelor forever,” Jennifer mused as she studied J.C.’s hard face.
“Looks like it.” He sighed. He smiled. “I’m not domesticated.”
Phillip chuckled. “Let’s get something to eat. All these electronic gadgets remind me of stoves, and stoves remind me of wonderful meals,” he added, winking at Jennifer.
“Lucky you, that I finally learned to boil water!” She laughed.
It was a private joke. She’d always been a great cook.
J.C. was impressed by the way they got along. He’d had lovers; never a woman he could tease or joke with, or just enjoy talking to. Then he thought of Colie, and how easy it was to talk to her. She made him feel warm inside, safe. These were new feelings, for a man who didn’t court domestication.
He put it out of his mind. He didn’t have to worry about Colie right now. And he was confident that she was his, if he wanted her. She wouldn’t be looking at other men, any more than Jennifer Hunter was. If there was one thing he was certain of, it was that Colie belonged to him.
* * *
AT THAT VERY MOMENT, Colie was accepting a date with a visiting accountant who’d come to audit the books at the savings and loan company down the street from the law office where she worked.
His name was Ted Johnson, and he was from New Jersey. He was a pleasant man, just a few years older than Colie, and he’d been around the world. They met at the local hamburger place and struck up a conversation after he’d mistakenly been given part of her order. They laughed about it, sat down together and found a lot in common.
“I don’t know the area very well,” Ted told her, “but they say there’s a fairly good theater here. Want to take in a movie with me? I’m only here for a couple of days, so I won’t be proposing marriage tonight or anything,” he joked. “Besides that, I’m doing my best to coax a woman at my office to go out with me. So this would be just friends.”
“I have my own coaxing challenge, with a man who doesn’t want to be domesticated.” She sighed.
“Life is hard,” he said. He grinned. “So we take in a movie and drown our sorrows in sodas and popcorn.”
“Suits me!”
* * *
IT WAS A fun date. No pressure, no physical attraction, just two people having a good time together. When they got back home, Ted went inside with her and challenged her father to a game of chess, having seen the chessboard on the side table.
Her father was delighted to see Colie out with an acceptable, conventional man. Who knew where it might lead, he thought privately.
Ted trounced him. It only took a smattering of moves to checkmate the reverend.
“Sorry about that,” Ted chuckled. “But I was chess champion of my fraternity in college. Probably should have mentioned that earlier,” he added with a grin.
“Probably should have, young man,” Reverend Thompson agreed with a smile. “You’re very good. I enjoyed the challenge.”
“If I’m ever back this way, I’ll give you a rematch. I really enjoyed it, Colie,” he added as he started for the door. “If I wasn’t committed, I’d come back and go the whole deal—roses and chocolates and serenading.”
“Thanks for the thought,” she said, laughing.
He shrugged. “I’m disgustingly conventional.”
“Convention is what keeps the world turning,” Colie’s father said quietly. “Fads and fancies don’t last.”
“True words. Well, see you!”
“See you.” Colie shut the door and turned back to her father, who looked disappointed.
“He’s got a girlfriend?” he asked her.
She nodded. “He’s hoping she’ll notice him. He’s a very nice man.”
“Yes, he is.” He sighed. “Well, I should get back to work on my sermon.”
“I’ll clean up the kitchen and go to bed, I think,” she said. “We’re going to have a busy day tomorrow at work. Clients out the front door.”
“Good for business,” he remarked.
“Yes, very good,” she agreed with a smile. “If they’re busy, I have job security.”
He smiled and went back to his study.
* * *
J.C. SLID HIS bag into his cabin and went up to the main house to tell Ren about the convention.
Merrie, Ren’s wife, was carrying their son around in her arms, crooning to him. She grinned as J.C. walked in.
“Delsey and I made a pound cake. There’s coffee, too, if you want some. I have to go sing Toby to sleep.”
“He’s grown, just since I’ve been away,” J.C. remarked with a quiet smile.
“In no time, he’ll be learning to drive and wrecking my car.” Ren chuckled as he joined them. He kissed his son on the forehead and brushed his mouth over his wife’s cheek.
She wrinkled her nose at him. “I won’t be long.”
Ren settled down at the kitchen table with J.C. Outside, snow was coming down in buckets.
“I’ve got the nighthawks working overtime with this weather,” Ren remarked. “We’re having to truck feed out to the northern pastures.”
“No news there.”
“What did you find that you liked at the gadget show?”
J.C. pulled out some brochures and went over them with his boss.
“I like this new facial recognition software,” J.C. told him, indicating the statistics provided on the brochure. “If ours had been a little more sophisticated, we might have been saved a lot of trouble when that assassin was after Merrie,” he added, alluding to a time when Merrie and her sister had been the targets of a determined contract killer, revenge for a life their criminal father had taken before his death.
“It would have helped. But he disabled some of our communications, as well,” Ren remarked.
“I’ve put in redundant systems since then,” the younger man replied. “It won’t happen again.”
Ren nodded. His black eyes narrowed. “What’s the cost?”
J.C. told him. “It’s expensive, but it can be updated and the vendor guarantees it for ten years.”
“Cost-effective,” Ren agreed. “Okay. Order it.”
“I’ll get right on it.”
“Anything else look good?”
“Lots of stuff, but mostly robotics. I’m not a fan,” he added quietly. “My phone is my best gadget, and I don’t want to replace it.”
“I like mine, too.” Ren stared at his security chief. “What’s this we hear about you and some blonde woman over in Denver?” he asked. “We thought you were going around with Colie.”
J.C.’s eyes widened. “A blonde...? Oh!” He laughed. “I was talking to Phillip Hunter’s wife. He’s head of security for the Ritter Oil Corporation in Houston. She’s a knockout. She has a master’s degree in geology. It’s an interest of mine.”
“I see.”
“Damn,” J.C. muttered. “If the gossip got to you, it probably got to Colie, too,” he added quietly.
“I wouldn’t know about that.” Ren sipped coffee. “But she’s dating an accountant from New Jersey.”
The cup jumped in J.C.’s hand and spilled coffee. He mopped it up with a gruff apology. Clumsiness in that steady hand was a dead giveaway.
Ren, amused, averted his eyes. Apparently J.C. was surprised that his girl would go out with someone else. “I guess she heard about the blonde, then,” Ren said drily.
