Книга - Scene of the Crime: Widow Creek

Scene of the Crime: Widow Creek
Carla Cassidy


Lexie Forbes had come to Kansas looking for answers, but all she uncovered was a killer on her trail. Still, the FBI agent wasn't about to give up on her desperate search for the truth behind the suspicious death that sent her reeling…even if no one in the small, eerie town was talking. No one except sexy rancher Nick Walker.Nick had experienced his own share of tragedy and all he wanted was to be left alone. But refusing the gorgeous and persistent Lexie was tougher than roping cattle–especially once he realized they shared a very dangerous connection. Before long, Nick went from trying his best to ignore the sizzling tension between them to doing whatever he could to ensure Lexie didn't become the town's latest victim.









“Thank you for not leaving me alone.”


He reached across the table and his big hand engulfed hers, warming some of the cold spots she’d had inside. “There’s no way I’d leave you alone, Lexie. I know what it’s like to be alone with grief and I don’t want that for you.”

As she looked into his soft gray eyes, she wanted him. She wanted the warmth of his body wrapped around hers. She needed him to keep the horror at bay.

“Come to bed with me, Nick. Come to bed and make love to me.”

His eyes flared wide at her words. “Lexie, that’s probably not a good idea tonight. You’re grieving and you aren’t thinking straight and the last thing I’d want to do is take advantage of you.”

“You wouldn’t be. I know you’ve already had your Cupid arrow, Nick. This isn’t about love, it’s about need.” She got up from the table. “I need to be held. I need to feel alive. I need you, Nick.”




Scene of the Crime: Widow Creek

Carla Cassidy







www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)


To Valerie Francis

For Sundays and girl talk and all your support! For laughter and jewelry and a little touch of sanity in my life. All I can say is thanks!




ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Carla Cassidy is an award-winning author who has written more than fifty novels for Harlequin Books. In 1995, she won Best Silhouette Romance from RT Book Reviews for Anything for Danny. In 1998, she also won a Career Achievement Award for Best Innovative Series from RT Book Reviews.

Carla believes the only thing better than curling up with a good book to read is sitting down at the computer with a good story to write. She’s looking forward to writing many more books and bringing hours of pleasure to readers.




CAST OF CHARACTERS


Lexie Forbes —She’d come to Widow Creek seeking her missing twin sister but instead had found danger…and more.

Nick Walker —Was he friend or foe to Lexie?

Lana Forbes —Lexie’s missing twin. Had she walked away from her life or stumbled onto something malevolent in the small town?

Gary Wendell —Was the chief of police a good guy or somebody who would do anything to protect the secrets of his town?

Bo Richards —A handsome rancher who dated Lana. Was he the last person to see her alive? And was he responsible for her death?

Clay Cole —A tough guy with an attitude. What did he know, if anything, about what had happened to Lana?




Contents


Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen




Chapter One


Lexie Forbes rarely left her job at the Kansas City FBI field office early, but on this Friday afternoon she knocked off work at three and headed toward her car in the parking lot. There was nothing pressing on her desk, just the usual cons and perverts for her to chase down. But she’d awakened that morning with a vague sense of anxiety that she hadn’t quite been able to shake off.

She knew the source of the anxiety—her twin sister, Lauren. They were extremely close and spoke on the phone to each other at least once or twice a day, but for the past two days Lexie had been unable to get hold of her sister.

As she walked through the parking lot, the first fallen autumn leaves swirled around her feet and a cool breeze danced unexpected goose bumps along her arms.

She reached her car, unlocked it and then slid in behind the wheel. She’d just put the key in and started the engine when it struck, an excruciating pain that slammed into the back of her head with such force it momentarily stole her breath away.

It was there only a moment and then gone, leaving her gasping for air and holding on to the steering wheel with clenched fingers.

“Whoa,” she finally breathed. What was that all about? It had felt like a bomb had detonated in the base of her brain. With a shaky hand she reached up and adjusted the rearview mirror so she could look at her reflection.

She wasn’t sure what she expected to see, but the woman who stared back at her looked the same as always. Short, light brown, spiked hair with a vivid pink streak, black-rimmed glasses nearly hiding green eyes and no blood or missing skull from that sharp pain.

Adjusting the mirror back where it belonged, her thoughts once again shot to her sister and the anxiety swelled bigger and tighter in her chest. There had been a time several years ago when Lexie had suffered from inexplicable arm pain for a couple of hours. Later she’d discovered that Lauren had broken her arm. It had been one of those crazy twin things that nobody understood and that only happened occasionally.

Had Lauren hit her head? Had Lexie just experienced her twin’s pain? She dismissed the idea. Each and every pain Lexie suffered wasn’t tied to her twin sister.

As she pulled out of the parking lot she decided that if she didn’t get hold of Lauren when she got to her apartment, then a road trip was definitely in order.

Four months ago Lauren had realized her dream and bought six acres of land in a small town about an hour and a half from the Kansas City area. Over the last couple of years she’d become an established dog breeder and trainer and had wanted enough property to expand her business.

Lexie had helped her move but hadn’t been back to visit since that time. It was definitely past time for a trip to see her sister. She had the weekend open and this was a perfect opportunity for a surprise visit.

Once Lexie got home to her small apartment she tried her sister again, both on her landline and on her cell phone. When she still didn’t get an answer she packed a bag, locked the apartment door and headed toward the small Kansas town of Widow Creek.

It was a pleasant drive. Traffic was light, and once she left the city she enjoyed the country scenery. Her favorite oldies played on the radio and she sang along until she reached the city limits of the small town.

It was just after five when she pulled up in front of her sister’s place. The ranch-style farmhouse looked warm and inviting with pots of colorful flowers and a wicker rocking chair on the porch.

She got out of the car and gazed around. She’d forgotten that the place was a bit isolated, with only one other house visible in the distance. Aware of the sound of barking dogs, she walked to the side of the house where a large fenced area contained four young German shepherds.

They all raced to the fence with youthful pup eagerness, stepping on each other in an effort to get closer to her. She might have laughed at their antics if she didn’t see that their food and water bowls were empty.

Lauren would never allow any of her dogs to go without food and water. The disquiet that had simmered inside her for the past two days now roared into full-bloom alarm.

She left the dog pen and hurried to the front door where she knocked. “Lauren? Lauren, are you in there? It’s me.” She waited only a moment and when no answer came she pulled out her keys and used the one that Lauren had given her on moving day.

Visions of her sister filled her head. Maybe she’d slipped in the shower and hurt herself to the point she couldn’t get to a phone. Or maybe she was in bed, deathly ill, and couldn’t rouse herself enough to make a call for help.

She unlocked the door and then pulled her gun and held it steady in her hand as she shoved the door open with her foot. Even though Lexie’s job with the FBI consisted of her sitting in a small cubicle in front of a computer, she’d been trained to be proficient with her weapon.

As she entered the small foyer the first thing she noticed was that the house smelled slightly musty, as if it had been closed up for too long.

There was a low woof and Zeus greeted her. The old German shepherd ran to her like she was his new best friend. He sat on the floor at her feet and released a low, mournful whine.

Lexie dropped her gun back into her purse. There was no way anybody threatening could be in the house without Zeus letting her know.

“Hey, boy.” She crouched down and scrubbed the dog behind his ears. “Hey, buddy, where’s your mama?”

Zeus closed his eyes and released what sounded like a contented sigh as she continued to scratch behind his ears. She finally stood up and walked into the kitchen, then worried all over again when she saw that Zeus’s food and water bowls were also empty.

She checked the rest of the house and confirmed that nobody was home, then returned to the kitchen and got food and water for Zeus. He attacked the food as if he were starving.

As Lexie watched him eat, her heart beat a rhythm of dread. What was going on here? Where was Lauren? Her dogs were her family and there was no way she’d leave them like this.

When she’d walked through the house she’d seen nothing amiss, no sign of trouble. The rooms were all neat and tidy, just the way Lauren always kept them.

The last time she’d talked to her sister had been Tuesday evening and Lauren hadn’t mentioned going anywhere. Lauren almost never traveled because she didn’t like leaving the care of the dogs to anyone else.

As Zeus finished his meal, Lexie stared out the back window where there were several outbuildings and beyond them an expanse of thick woods.

Was Lauren out there somewhere? Had she taken a walk, somehow fallen and hurt herself and been unable to summon help? She grabbed the leash that hung on a hook by the back door and then called to Zeus.

If Lauren was out there somewhere surely Zeus would find her. Lauren had gotten the dog when he was eight weeks old and he was now nine. No matter how many other dogs passed through Lauren’s life, she and Zeus had always had a special bond.

Moments later, with Zeus on the leash, Lexie stepped out the back door and headed toward the outbuildings. Zeus bounded ahead on the length of leash she gave him as she tried to tamp down the overwhelming sense of dread that grew stronger with each minute that passed.

Her dread increased as she opened the door of the detached garage and found Lauren’s truck inside. Where could she be without her vehicle?

Next she checked the first large shed, which held a variety of items Lauren used for her various training sessions. There were poles and jumps, risers and items used for agility training. Unfortunately, there was no Lauren.

She moved to the second, smaller shed and discovered it held only gardening tools. She told herself not to jump to any conclusions, but it was hard not to with the knot of fear that pressed tight in her chest.

The woods. It was the only place she had left to check. She looked at her watch. Almost six. She’d maybe get two good hours in before darkness began to fall and made a search impossible.

She took off with Zeus in tow and within minutes was surrounded by tall trees and thick brush. “Lauren!” she called every few steps and then stopped and listened for any kind of answering reply. But there was nothing except the sound of Zeus crunching leaves beneath his big paws.

“Zeus, find your mommy,” she commanded the dog.

He barked and danced in place, as if unsure what she wanted from him. They walked for what seemed like an eternity until she finally reached a rocky creek bed with just a trickle of water running in it. She sank down on the edge, Zeus at her side and looked around with a sense of failure as she rested.

Darkness was slamming down with a swiftness that was disheartening. She’d done a cursory check of all the property and Zeus had never given an indication that his master might be near.

“Where are you, Lauren?” She had a bad feeling. None of this was right and she couldn’t imagine any scenario that would allow any of this to make sense.

Lauren was definitely not the type to just take off somewhere with no thought to her dogs, no thought for Lexie. Something was terribly wrong.

She pulled herself up from the creek bank and headed back to the house. Maybe by now Lauren had returned. Or perhaps a friend had picked her up for shopping or dinner out and they hadn’t returned yet. Of course that wouldn’t explain why she hadn’t answered Lexie’s phone calls since Tuesday night.

The shadows of night had begun to cling to the house as Lexie reentered through the back door. For the first time in her life she hated to see nightfall. She removed Zeus from the leash and then went into Lauren’s bedroom and stood staring at the neatly made bed.

The room breathed the essence of Lauren. It was infused with warmth from the peach and navy ruffled bedspread to the photo of the two sisters hugging on the nightstand. A faint scent of the orange blossom lotion that Lauren loved lingered in the air, intensifying Lexie’s overwhelming sense of confusion and worry.

She thought back to the last phone conversation she’d had with her sister but couldn’t think of anything Lauren had said that might explain her absence here. Lauren had talked about the dogs, about how excited she was about the growth of her business, but she hadn’t mentioned going anywhere for any extended period of time.

There was absolutely no reason to believe that she’d been missing since that phone conversation, Lexie told herself. She might have left the house that morning for some sort of day trip and hadn’t realized the dogs were out of water.

The fact that the house smelled like it had been closed up for a couple of days didn’t mean anything either. Maybe she was only thinking bad thoughts because of her job. As an FBI agent she was trained to look at the worst-case scenario.

An unmistakable sound came from behind her—the slide and click of a bullet being chambered in a shotgun. She froze as her heart nearly stopped beating.

“Who the hell are you and what are you doing in Lauren’s bedroom?” The deep male voice was calm but held a steely edge.

She raised her hands above her head and slowly turned. He stood in the threshold of the bedroom. With his dark hair and gunmetal gray eyes, he was a hot hunk in a pair of tight jeans and a navy pullover. And he had the business end of a shotgun pointed directly at her heart.



NICK WALKER SLOWLY LOWERED the shotgun as he recognized the woman standing before him as the same one in the picture with Lauren on the nightstand.

“You’re Lexie,” he said as some of the tension ebbed from him.

Even though she and Lauren were identical twins it was obvious Lexie had gone to some extremes to find her own identity. Lauren wore contacts while the woman standing before him wore oversized black-rimmed glasses that almost hid the beauty of her bright green eyes. Lauren’s hair was shoulder-length and Lexie’s was short and spiked and sporting an unexpected pink streak.

Nick was surprised to feel a small kick of attraction in the pit of his stomach, something he’d never felt for his friend and neighbor, Lauren.

“The real question is who in the hell are you and what are you doing in Lauren’s bedroom?” she asked, her chin lifted and eyes narrowed.

“I’m Nick Walker and I live next door. Why don’t we both get out of Lauren’s bedroom and go into the kitchen where we can talk.”

He didn’t wait for her response but rather turned and left the bedroom. During the past four months he and Lauren had become good friends and in that time she’d spoken often of her twin sister.

He knew that Lexie worked for the cybercrime unit with the FBI in Kansas City, that Lauren worried that Lexie had a better relationship with her computer than with any real people and that the twins had been raised by their father who had passed away five years ago.

He leaned his shotgun against the kitchen wall and then sat at the round oak table. She came into the kitchen holding a handgun and wearing a scowl.

“Now you can answer some more of my questions,” she said as she eased down into the chair opposite him.

“There’s no need for your gun,” he replied easily. “I’m on your side.”

“I don’t know that yet,” she countered. “What are you doing here and how did you get inside?”

“Lauren and I exchanged keys to our homes about a month after she moved in here. Since neither of us have family here, we thought it would be a good idea in case of emergency. I let myself in when I saw the unfamiliar car out front and I knew that Lauren wasn’t home.”

Lexie stared at him unblinking. Under normal circumstances the length of time of the eye contact would have bordered on inappropriate, but he told himself these weren’t normal circumstances. “Where is she?” There was a faint whisper of fear in her voice.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her since Tuesday. She’s been working with my dog and I came here late afternoon on Wednesday for my usual session and she wasn’t here.”

He tried not to notice the scent of her, a clean fresh smell coupled with a hint of sweet, blooming flowers. God, he didn’t remember the last time he’d noticed the scent of a woman.

He consciously focused back on the issue at hand. “I realized that it didn’t look like the dogs in the yard had been fed and watered, so I took care of them and then left. Same thing happened yesterday. I was worried that maybe she was sick, so I used my key to come inside. I fed and watered Zeus and the dogs outside and then went back home.”

He frowned thoughtfully. “I haven’t known your sister for very long, but this felt out of character for her. I was worried, and then tonight when I realized somebody was in the house, I decided to come in and investigate.”

He didn’t feel it was necessary to tell her that when he’d seen that pink streak in her hair before she’d completely turned around to face him, he’d thought she was one of the teenagers of the town taking advantage of Lauren’s absence for an opportunity for a little party or a bit of theft.

“This is definitely out of character for Lauren,” she said and finally laid her gun down on the table next to her. “What’s your relationship with her? Romantic?”

“Not at all,” he replied. “Over the last couple of months Lauren and I have become good friends, but nothing more than that.”

“Her truck is in the garage.”

It took him a second to adjust to the leap in topic and her words sent a vague sense of uneasiness through him. “I didn’t know that.”

She nodded. “I checked out the property. Zeus and I walked it looking for her, but needless to say we didn’t find her.” She stood abruptly. “Thank you for looking out for things here.”

It was an obvious dismissal and Nick stood and grabbed his shotgun as she started out of the kitchen. He followed just behind her and tried not to notice the cute shape of her butt in her tight jeans.

What was wrong with him? He was far too conscious of Lexie Forbes’s attractiveness and it made him more than a little bit uncomfortable.

Maybe part of the problem was even though he knew Lauren and Lexie were identical twins, the woman in front of him seemed more vibrant and much prettier than her sister.

“So, what’s your next move?” he asked as they reached the front door.

She frowned. “First thing in the morning if she doesn’t come home or I don’t hear from her, I’ll head into town and file a missing persons report at the police station.”

“Don’t expect much from the local authorities,” he replied, remembering a time when he’d filed his own missing person’s report and nothing had been done until it was too late.

She looked at him sharply. “Why? Is there a problem?”

“I went to high school with Gary Wendall, the chief of police. He tends toward big talk and little action.” Nick’s stomach knotted at thoughts of Wendall, who had been damned little help when Nick had needed him most.

“I’ll file the report and then I’m going to ask questions and see if I can find out who might have last seen Lauren and when. I spoke to her Tuesday night so I know she was here and fine then.”

She looked up at him and in the depths of her pretty green eyes he saw fear. “She’s all I have. I have to find her,” she said, her voice husky with emotion.

He had a crazy sudden impulse to pull her into his arms, to assure her that everything was going to be just fine. Instead he opened up the door, flipped on the outside porch light and then stepped out.

She followed him, her gaze automatically scanning the area as if hoping her sister would suddenly appear in the illuminated spill of the high-powered beam of light.

“I’d like it if you’d keep me informed,” he said and then frowned. “I should have given you my cell phone number.”

“Give it to me now,” she replied.

“You don’t have any place to write it down,” he protested.

“I’ll remember it.”

Although dubious, he rattled off the number. When he was finished she nodded. “I’ll let you know if I find out anything or if she turns up here.”

“I’d appreciate it. I guess I’ll talk to you soon.” He stepped off the porch, and as she murmured a goodbye he headed for his pickup in the driveway.

When he got into the truck, he gazed at her once again. Lexie Forbes affected him like no other woman had in a very long time.

Despite the circumstances of their meeting he was surprised to realize what he’d felt for her was a momentary flare of desire.

He shook his head and started his truck, focusing his thoughts back on the missing Lauren. There was no question that mutual loneliness had forged their friendship over the last couple of months. She’d been new in town, hadn’t known anyone, and he’d been mired in grief for so long he’d become isolated from everyone else.

Lauren had been easy to talk to, pleasant to be around, but he’d told Lexie the truth when he’d said there had been nothing romantic between them.

There would never be romance in Nick’s life again. He’d had his one great love with tragic results. His heart would forever remain unavailable to any other woman on the face of the earth.

He headed down the road to the farmhouse that no longer felt like home, but was rather just a place to sleep and eat, a place to exist.

That’s all he’d been doing for a long time—existing and marking time. Lauren had definitely helped pass the time, especially the evening hours after dinner and before bedtime.

Still, as he thought of Lauren he was filled with a sense of dread, that somehow history was repeating itself. He couldn’t stop thinking that the last time a woman had disappeared for a couple of days she’d wound up dead in a motel room.




Chapter Two


The night had been endless.

Before going to bed Lexie had found a local phone book and called the hospital and the clinics in the area, but none of them would admit to having Lauren as a patient. Surely if she was in the hospital somebody would have called Lexie by now. Lexie was listed as Lauren’s emergency contact.

The only thing that made Lexie feel a little bit better was that she couldn’t find Lauren’s purse or her cell phone in the house. She could only assume Lauren had those items with her wherever she was.

Still, by the time morning had come Lexie’s eyes felt gritty from lack of sleep. She had tried to rest in the guest room, but had finally ended up on the sofa with Zeus on the floor next to her.

Every sound the house had made through the night, every creak and whisper shot her up with the hope that it might be Lauren returning home. At 5:00 a.m. she finally gave up any pretense of sleep and went into the spare bedroom that Lauren used as an office.

She powered up the computer on the desk. Knowing that Lauren used Zeus20 as a password, she checked the email to see if there was anything that might explain her sister’s absence.

Most of the correspondence was business related, emails from potential customers asking about her dogs and her training. Others were from past customers catching Lauren up on news of some of the dogs she’d trained.

She also checked the history to see where Lauren might have gone on the internet, but found nothing that might yield a clue as to what had happened to her.

She drained her coffee cup and then began a search of the desk. A stack of file folders in a plastic holder drew her attention and she pulled them out to see what they contained.

They were contracts signed by the people whose dogs Lauren was training. There was one signed by Nick, who had been bringing his dog for obedience training.

Her head filled with a vision of the man she’d met the night before. Hot body, sensual lips and a hint of compassion in his bedroom eyes—the man could definitely be an unwanted distraction if she allowed it.

She focused back on the folders, surprised to discover that one of them contained a contract for Lauren to provide the Topeka Police Department with two drug-sniffing dogs.

She leaned back in the desk chair as a surge of pride mingled with surprise. She’d known that Lauren had wanted to get into the training of working dogs, especially for law enforcement and handicapped people. From the signed contract, Lexie assumed that Lauren was truly on the way to making a name for herself, on her way to achieving her dreams.

It was almost seven when she finished in Lauren’s office and took a quick shower. She dressed in a pair of jeans and a neon pink blouse decorated with an abundance of sequins and then returned to the kitchen to pour herself another cup of coffee.

As soon as it was late enough she was heading into town. Her first stop was going to be the police station to file a missing persons report, and then she planned on talking to everyone and anyone to pin down the last time her sister had been seen.

The fear that had been inside her hadn’t dissipated, but rather thrummed like a sick energy inside her chest. Throughout the long night she’d tried calling Lauren’s cell phone over and over again but it had always gone directly to voice mail. Finally by that morning she’d gotten the message that Lauren’s voice mail was full.

Zeus walked over to her and laid his big head on her knee, gazing up at her as if asking her why his mommy wasn’t there. “I know, baby. I miss her, too.”

Zeus barked and raced away from her as a knock fell on the door. Lexie jumped out of her chair and grabbed her gun from her purse. She knew she was probably overreacting, but she had no idea what to expect, was definitely out of her comfort zone.

When she got to the front door she saw Nick standing on the porch. “What are you doing here?” she asked without preamble as she opened the screen door.

“I thought you could use a friendly face when you go into town this morning.” He stepped past her and into the foyer, then turned back to look at her expectantly.

She wouldn’t have thought it possible but the man was better looking in the light of day than he’d been the night before. Once again he wore a pair of jeans that looked custom-made for his long legs and narrow hips. His gray long-sleeved pullover clung to his broad shoulders and perfectly matched the hue of his eyes.

“That’s not necessary,” she said and tried to ignore the ridiculous flutter that went off in the pit of her stomach. This man and her reaction to him were the last things she needed right now. All she wanted, all she needed, was her sister.

“I know Sheriff Wendall. It would probably work to your benefit if I’m with you. And, if you want to ask questions of the people in Widow Creek you’ll find that they don’t take kindly to strangers.”

“Why is that?”

He looked at her in surprise. “I don’t know. I guess because we’re a small town and we’ve always looked after our own. Lexie, I was born and raised here—people know me. They trust me and that means they’ll talk to me. You’re a big-city woman with…uh…” His voice trailed off.

“A pink streak in my hair,” she jumped in to finish his sentence. “And it was purple before that.” She raised her chin as if to challenge him to say anything derogatory.

“And I’m sure it looked as charming as the pink,” he replied.

She eyed him dubiously. What was his story? Why the offer to help her? Was he just a nice guy or had his relationship with Lauren been something deeper than a friendship? She wasn’t sure she trusted him, but what he’d said about getting answers made sense. People would probably talk to him much quicker than they would to her.

“Don’t you have a wife or somebody at home who might not want you wasting your time with me?” she asked.

“No wife, no girlfriend, just livestock,” he replied. “And a little miniature schnauzer puppy who is probably chewing on my best pair of boots as we speak.” He smiled then and the warmth and attractiveness of it fired a crazy flame deep inside Lexie.

She ignored it. Any woman would have to be dead not to find Nick Walker extremely hot, but Lexie had learned about hot men and cold hearts the hard way. And, besides, she had a sister to find.

“If you want to tag along, then I’d appreciate your help,” she finally agreed. “Just let me get my purse and I’ll be ready to go.”

She went back into the guest room where she’d left her things and grabbed her purse. Before leaving the room she checked to make sure her gun was inside. Right now she believed Nick was probably okay, but in her line of work she didn’t take anything for granted. She’d travel with her gun in her purse while she was here in Widow Creek.

Minutes later they were in her car and heading into the heart of the small town. The first thing Lexie noticed when they reached Main Street was that Widow Creek was a town obviously dying a slow death.

Half of the storefronts along the two-block main drag were boarded up. The ones that were still opened looked worn and faded, as if it was nothing more than sheer hope keeping them alive.

A half a dozen cars were parked in front of the Cowboy Corral, either attesting to good food or the fact that there was no place else to go to eat and spend a little time among friends.

“The police station is up ahead,” Nick said, breaking the silence that had filled the car on the drive from Lauren’s place. Lexie wasn’t good at small talk and Nick seemed at ease with the quiet. “It’s that two-story brick building,” he said, pointing to it.

Lexie pulled into a parking spot in front of the station, cut her engine and then turned to look at the man in the passenger seat. “Before we go in there, are you sure you don’t want to tell me anything else about your relationship with Lauren?”

His dark eyebrows rose in surprise. “I already told you about my relationship with her. We had become good friends.”

“And nothing more?”

“Nothing more,” he said firmly.

“Then why are you helping me?”

“I don’t know what kind of world you live in with your FBI work, Lexie, but in my world when a friend goes missing you do whatever you can to help find her.” He opened the car door and got out.

Lexie hurriedly followed and before they got to the door she grabbed him by the arm. “I think it would be best if we don’t mention what I do for a living,” she said. It had been her experience that people didn’t talk freely to an FBI agent, that they would be more likely to talk to a worried sister. Small-town law enforcement was known to be rather hostile to FBI agents. The last thing she wanted was to upset the police chief when she needed his help. “If anybody asks, I do web design for a living.”

He nodded. “Okay, but you know it’s possible Lauren mentioned to others here in town what you do for a living. I knew.”

She considered what he said. “Then we’ll just play it by ear, but I don’t intend to volunteer any information about myself unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

As they walked through the door of the police station Lexie’s fear for her sister spiked nearly out of control. What could have happened to her? Where could she be?

Filing an official missing persons report suddenly made Lauren’s disappearance more real, far more frightening. For the first time since they’d left the house Lexie was grateful that Nick was beside her. Even though she didn’t know him well, his presence made her feel not quite so all alone.

“Hey, Carol,” he greeted the woman behind the receptionist desk.

“Nick!” The pretty blonde looked up from her computer and offered him an inviting smile that definitely spoke of feminine interest. Her gaze slid over Lexie, the calculating look of a woman checking out her competition. She obviously wasn’t concerned by what she saw. She dismissed Lexie with a flick of her false lashes.

Nick returned the smile and gestured toward the closed office door behind her desk. “Is Gary in?”

“Should be on his second donut by now,” she replied wryly. “You can go on in.”

Lexie followed behind Nick as he approached the closed office door and knocked. A deep voice indicated they could come in.

Chief of Police Gary Wendall sat at the desk, but rose as they entered. He looked to be in his early thirties, with blond military-short hair and a fit physique. “Nick, it’s been a while,” he said, and in his words Lexie thought she heard a touch of tension. The two men shook hands and then Wendall looked at Lexie.

“Chief Wendall, I’m Lexie Forbes. I’m here about my sister, Lauren Forbes.”

“Ah, our very own dog whisperer,” Wendall said with a nod. “What about her?”

“She’s missing.” Sudden emotion filled Lexie’s chest and she had to swallow hard against it.

Wendall motioned them into the chairs in front of his desk and then sat down. “What do you mean she’s missing?”

“I spoke to her Tuesday night on the phone, but I couldn’t get hold of her Wednesday or Thursday,” Lexie explained. “Finally yesterday evening I decided to drive out to her place. She’s not there and I don’t think she’s been there since Tuesday. Her dogs were left unattended and that’s not like her. Something has happened. Something is terribly wrong.”

“Whoa, let’s not jump to conclusions,” Wendall exclaimed, lines cutting into his tanned forehead. “She’s a grown woman. There’s no law that says she can’t take off for a couple of days without checking in with anyone.”

Lexie shook her head. “She wouldn’t do that, and even if she did she’d answer my phone calls. We talk to each other every day. This is unusual for her…for us. I want to file a missing persons report. She’s been missing more than forty-eight hours. I need you to investigate her disappearance.”

Wendall’s gaze flickered from Lexie to Nick. “What’s your role in all this?”

“I’m Lauren’s friend and I’m concerned, and I’m here to support Lexie,” Nick replied. His voice held a coolness that definitely chilled the air in the room.

“You aren’t stirring things up because of your own history?” Wendall asked with a lift of one of his blond eyebrows.

Lexie looked at Nick and saw the tightening of his jaw as his eyes went flat. “One thing has nothing to do with the other,” he replied tersely.

There was obviously some personal history between the two men, but Lexie didn’t care about that right now. All she cared about was finding her sister.

“Will you look into this?” she asked Wendall. “Start an official investigation?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Wendall replied. “Are you staying out at Lauren’s place?”

Lexie nodded. “I’ll be there until she’s found.” She gave him her cell phone number and then walked toward the door. There was nothing more to be done here. She wanted to get outside and walk the streets, talk to the people in town and see if anyone had seen or spoken to Lauren since Tuesday.

“I’ll keep in touch,” Chief Wendall said as she and Nick reached the door. “You know your sister always had a bunch of men hanging around her place. Maybe she took off with one of them and didn’t want you knowing about her personal affairs,” Wendall said.

Lexie stiffened and stared at him. At that moment she decided she didn’t like him very much. He made it sound like Lauren was some kind of a whore. “I’m sure you’re going to question whatever men were hanging out there to see what they know about my sister’s disappearance,” she replied.

She was surprised when Nick firmly took hold of her elbow, as if to offer support, as they left the office. What equally surprised her was how she responded to his touch—viscerally, like a not-completely-unpleasant punch in the stomach.

As they left the building he dropped his hand to his side and she drew a breath of relief. She didn’t want some crazy attraction to Nick complicating things. The last thing she wanted in her life was a man. She just wanted to find her sister alive and well, and then get back to her so-called life in Kansas City.

“I never saw a bunch of men hanging out at Lauren’s,” Nick said when they were back in her car. “And I drove by her place at least once a day going to and from town. But she mentioned to me that she was kind of seeing Bo Richards.”

“Bo Richards?” Lexie turned in her seat to look at Nick. “Who is he?”

“He’s a local rancher, a nice guy. He spends a lot of time in the mornings at the café. Maybe we can talk to him there,” Nick replied.

“And Lauren was seeing him romantically?” Lexie frowned. Her sister hadn’t mentioned anything to her about a romance in her life and they’d always talked about everything, including their love lives.

“They had just started dating. From what Lauren told me it wasn’t real serious yet. I think they’d met for lunch or dinner a couple of times.”

Lexie checked her watch and then looked down the street at the café. It was still early. Hopefully they’d find him there. “Then I want to talk to him.” She started the car, but before backing out she turned to look at Nick once again. “There’s some history between you and Wendall?”

Darkness filled his eyes and his jaw tightened once again. “Yeah, old history.”

“Want to tell me about it?” she asked.

“No.” The single word snapped out of him with a finality that brooked no further questions and made Lexie wonder what kind of secrets Nick Walker had in his life.



IN THE SHORT DISTANCE between the police station and the Cowboy Corral, painful memories cascaded through Nick’s head. His chest tightened with thoughts of the three days that he’d been unable to get in contact with Danielle. His body remembered intimately the alarm it had felt when he’d realized nobody had seen her during that time and the horror of ultimately finding her dead in that motel room.

His stomach clenched and a slight nausea rose up in him as the memories continued to play in his head. He’d known something was wrong—that something was terribly wrong.

It had taken him months to finally accept that she’d committed suicide, but before coming to that acceptance he’d gone around and around with Wendall.

The chief of police had dismissed Nick’s concerns and refused to begin any kind of investigation into Danielle’s disappearance despite Nick pressing for one. There was part of Nick that had never quite forgiven Gary Wendall for that.

He consciously shoved the memories aside as Lexie parked in front of the café. There was absolutely no reason to believe Lauren’s disappearance was in any way connected to Danielle’s tragic death, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that Lexie was destined for the same kind of heartbreak he’d suffered.

Still suffered.

He willed away all thoughts of Danielle as they got out of the car. Lexie appeared small and achingly vulnerable as she hesitated outside the door to wait for him to catch up with her.

A surge of unexpected protectiveness filled Nick’s chest. It was crazy, he scarcely knew Lexie except for what Lauren had told him about her. There was no reason for him to be emotionally vested in the drama going on in her life, and yet for some reason he was definitely involved.

He told himself it had nothing to do with the beauty of her long-lashed green eyes behind those ridiculously large glasses, nothing to do with the fact that she intrigued him more than a little bit. Rather he tried to convince himself his interest in all this had everything to do with finding a woman who had become a good friend.

The minute they stepped into the café, every head in the place turned to look at them. “I guess pink streaks in a person’s hair isn’t that common here,” Lexie muttered beneath her breath as she sidled closer to him.

“Don’t worry, the only ones who bite have no teeth,” he replied.

She looked up at him and smiled. It was the first real smile he’d seen from her and it nearly stole his breath away. Bright and beautiful, it transformed her features into something more than pretty, something warm and inviting.

“Come on, I’m hankering for some of Mabel’s fried potatoes and eggs.” He took her beneath her elbow and led her to a booth, surprised to realize she was shaking slightly.

Lauren had told him that her sister didn’t do well in crowds. He knew the effort she was putting forth was because of her love and concern for her sister. It only made him more determined to support her through whatever happened next.

She paused before sitting down and looked around at the other diners. “I thought we’d just ask some questions. I didn’t plan on actually having a meal.”

“Did you eat breakfast this morning?” he asked.

“I never eat breakfast,” she replied.

“And you’ve never had a missing sister before,” he said and pointed to the booth. “Besides, you’ll get more answers to questions if we finesse them out of people.”

She frowned as if she had no idea what he was talking about, but slid into the booth and picked up the menu. She stared at it only a minute and then tossed it aside. “I feel like I’m wasting time here. Breakfast isn’t important. Finding Lauren is all that matters.” Her voice held a wealth of frustration and impatience.

“You have to eat,” he replied, understanding the urgency that was racing through her. “And you have to trust me.” He looked up as the waitress appeared at their table. “Hey, Marge, how’s it going?” he asked the older woman who had been waitressing at the café since he’d been a little boy.

“Like it’s always gone. My feet hurt, my back is killing me and nobody tips worth a damn in this place.” She flashed him a grin that set the deep wrinkles in her face dancing.

“Has Bo been in today?” he asked.

“Bo? No, in fact, I haven’t seen him for a couple of days.” Her gaze slid to Lexie. “Why? Is there a problem?”

“No, no problem,” he replied hurriedly. “Marge, this is Lauren Forbes’s sister, Lexie.”

Marge nodded. “I can see the resemblance.”

“When was the last time you saw Lauren?” Lexie asked.

Marge looked back at Nick, her eyes narrowed. “What’s going on, Nick?”

Nick could feel Lexie’s frustration growing by the second, but he ignored her. “Lexie’s in town to visit her sister, but Lauren seems to have gone missing and we’re trying to hunt her down. Has she been in lately?”

Marge frowned. “I think she was in Monday for lunch, but I haven’t seen her since then. Now, what can I get for the two of you?”

They ordered and once Marge left the table Lexie released a deep sigh. “That was no help. We need to question everyone in here, see who saw Lauren when.”

“Just sit tight. Trust me when I tell you before we finish our breakfast you’ll have spoken to everyone in this place.” He could tell that she didn’t believe him but she settled back in the booth, took her glasses off and rubbed at her eyes. “Not much sleep last night?” he asked sympathetically.

Her eyes were the most amazing shade of green with just enough shadow in them to be slightly mysterious. “I don’t think I slept much more than an hour through the whole night.” She slid the glasses back on. “I just can’t wrap my head around this.” Her gaze held a hint of vulnerability as she looked at him. “I’m scared.”

He could tell what the confession cost her by the way her gaze skittered away from his and from the telltale pulse of a delicate vein in her neck. Before he could respond Jim Caskie ambled by the table to say hello to Nick.

It was just as he’d suspected—as they ate their breakfast almost everyone who was dining in the café found a reason to stop by and say hello. Lexie merely picked at her eggs and nibbled on toast, more interested in what people had to say than in the meal in front of her.

Nick knew the people of Widow Creek were leery of strangers, but he also knew they were a curious bunch. And Lexie, with the pink streak in her hair and her pink sequined blouse definitely sparked plenty of curiosity.

The one thing that didn’t happen was answers. Nobody had seen Lauren since Monday, at least nobody who would admit to it. And nobody had seen Bo for the past couple of days. This information eased some of Nick’s concern.

Even the most levelheaded women occasionally went crazy over a man. It was possible the two had gone off together for a romantic tryst and Lauren had just forgotten to make arrangements for her dogs or had wound up being gone longer than she’d initially planned.

“Do you know where Bo lives?” Lexie asked the minute they were back in her car.

“Yeah, you want to go by there?” He wasn’t surprised when she nodded her head.

After giving her directions, he tried to think of something, anything, he could tell her that might ease some of the tension that rode her slender shoulders and darkened her eyes.

“So, Lauren told me you’re something of a computer geek,” he finally said, wanting to connect with her on a more personal level. “What exactly is it that you do?”

“I work for the cybercrime unit for the FBI. Mostly I hunt down cybercriminals, those who are invading home computers to steal identities, and I try to find the source behind thousands of scams that people receive via email.”

“Sounds fascinating.”

She flashed him a quick glance. “Most people would find it pretty boring, but I like it. I’m comfortable working with a computer. It’s predictable. I type in code and I know what’s going to happen.”

“Unlike people, who can be unpredictable,” he observed.

“Exactly.” She chewed her bottom lip and for just a minute he wondered what it would be like to taste her mouth with his. The thought flashed in his head with a shock. He had no business even thinking such thoughts. What was wrong with him? He hadn’t entertained such a thought about a woman in years.

She was here to find her sister and nothing more. In any case, he was mentally and emotionally unavailable to any woman when it came to his heart.

Still, he grudgingly admitted that perhaps his momentary fantasy about the taste of her mouth meant that he wasn’t quite as dead as he’d believed himself to be.

They pulled up in front of Bo’s place and she cut the engine as she stared at the neat two-story house before them. The front door was closed and there were no vehicles around. “Looks like nobody is home,” he said.

“You can wait here. I’ll go find out.” She got out of the car and walked toward the front door.

Nick remained in the car, his gaze following the slight sway of her hips. Okay, he could admit to himself that he was sexually attracted to her. There was no real explanation for the immediate physical chemistry he felt toward her.

Of course, it had been almost two years since he’d been with a woman. Maybe this was just his body’s way of reminding him that he was a healthy thirty-three-year-old man who had been alone for too long. In any case, it wasn’t something he intended to act upon, just a curious surprise that reminded him that he was very much alive.

He watched as Lexie knocked on the front door several times, then moved to peek through the living room windows and finally returned to the car.

“He’s not here. Maybe she did go off with him for a couple of days,” she said.

“Women have been known to momentarily lose their minds for love,” he replied.

“Not me,” she replied darkly. “Not ever.”

She started the car and pulled out of the driveway. “I’m going back into town to ask more questions, but I’ll be glad to drop you off at your place. I’m sure you have better things to do than spend the day with me.”

“Actually, I don’t.” There was nothing for him at home except the endless silence and loneliness that had gnawed at his heart for the past year. “If two of us are asking questions then we can get it done in half the time.”

She eyed him for a long moment and then shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

The remainder of the ride back into town was silent. Nick couldn’t begin to guess what she was thinking. He didn’t know her well enough, but he was surprised to realize that he wished he did.

They stayed in town throughout the afternoon, drifting into stores, stopping people on the streets and asking about Lauren. By five o’clock it was clear that Lauren hadn’t been seen by anyone since Tuesday.

Nick still held out hope that she and Bo had taken off on some sort of romantic connection, but he could see with each minute that passed that Lexie was growing more distraught.

She nibbled on her lower lip and looked tense enough to shatter if anyone would reach out and touch her. He finally called a halt. “It’s time to go home, Lexie,” he said. “You’ve done all you can do for today and you’re only getting the same answers over and over again.”

For a moment he thought she was going to protest, but then her shoulders fell and she nodded wearily. “You’re right. It’s been a long day and we aren’t getting anywhere.”

Once again she was quiet on the ride back to Lauren’s and Nick wished he had some encouraging words to give her. But there was no question that Lauren’s disappearance was troubling. As the day had worn on his hope that she’d gone off with Bo had faded. If that was the case, then why hadn’t she returned Lexie’s phone calls? Why didn’t she answer her cell phone? Surely she’d know that Lexie would be worried sick.

They had gotten one piece of information from one of Bo’s neighbors who told them that Bo had mentioned visiting some family in Tulsa, Oklahoma. If Bo was with family in Oklahoma, then where was Lauren? The whole thing was growing more and more troubling with each minute that passed.

“Thanks for your help today,” Lexie said as she pulled up next to his truck in Lauren’s driveway. She stared at the house as if dreading going inside.

“Look, we haven’t eaten since breakfast. Why don’t I take you out to dinner?”

She turned to look at him. “Why would you want to do that?”

He shrugged. “Because I need to eat. You need to eat and we might as well eat together. Why don’t I pick you up in an hour?”

She turned and looked at the house again, a frown pulling together her delicately arched eyebrows. “I have a bad feeling about this, Nick. I don’t think she’s ever coming home.”

He reached across the seat and took her hand in his. “You can’t lose hope already,” he said softly. “Maybe she took off with Bo and her cell phone went dead. That would explain her not answering your calls.” Her hand felt small in his grasp.

She stared at him as if desperate to believe his words. “Maybe you’re right,” she finally conceded. She pulled her hand from his. “I guess I’ll see you in an hour.”

They both got out of her car and Nick stood by his truck and watched her walk to the house. There was no question that something about Lexie touched him in a place where nobody had touched him in a very long time.

There was an awkwardness about her that he found oddly charming. The pink streak in her hair spoke of a woman seeking attention and yet he’d never seen a woman who appeared more uncomfortable with any attention she garnered.

As he got into his truck he wondered what in the hell he was doing. He’d spent the day with her and now had invited her to dinner, as if he couldn’t get enough of her company.

And yet he knew nothing could come of his attraction to her. She’d given him no indication that she felt the same kind of attraction to him that he did for her, and even if she did he wouldn’t follow through on it.

He’d had the one great love of his life and he’d blown it and the consequences had been devastating. He was responsible for his wife’s suicide, and he’d never allow himself to get close to a woman again.




Chapter Three


She shouldn’t have agreed to dinner, Lexie thought as she entered the house. She shouldn’t have agreed to dinner with him. Nick Walker definitely made her slightly nervous, although she’d been grateful for his presence during the long day.

Still, she should have thanked him for his time and let it go at that. She didn’t need the distraction of spending time with a man who made her just a little bit breathless when he gazed at her, a man who made her feel a strange mix of both anxiety and anticipation.

And yet she didn’t consider calling him to tell him to forget dinner. She had to eat and she’d rather do it someplace else, anyplace else instead of in the horrible quiet of Lauren’s kitchen.

Before she did anything else she checked the answering machine in Lauren’s office to see if any calls had come in throughout the day. There was only one from somebody who had apparently stopped by for their appointment with Lauren while Lexie and Nick had been out. The woman, who said her name was Anna, only said that Precious had missed seeing Lauren and asked that Lauren call to reschedule the training session.

Lexie vaguely remembered that when she’d looked through the folder of contracts there had been one signed by an Anna. She made a mental note to contact the woman the next day and let her know that, at least at the moment, Lauren wasn’t available for taking appointments.

Zeus followed Lexie to the bathroom where she quickly took off her clothes and stepped into the shower. As she stood beneath the warm spray, her thoughts whirled over what they’d learned that day, which had been darned little.

She still hoped they would discover that Lauren had gone off someplace with Bo Richards and that she’d return home any minute, feeling guilty and sheepish at causing so much unwarranted worry. Maybe she’d made arrangements for somebody to take care of the dogs in her absence and whomever she’d hired had just blown off the job.

She got out of the shower and changed into a clean pair of jeans and a Kelly-green lightweight sweater. Zeus sat at her feet and watched as she applied a light coating of both mascara and lipstick. As she finished with her hair and turned away from the mirror he whined, as if protesting the fact that she was leaving him again.

She checked her watch and realized she had another twenty minutes before Nick would be back to get her. “Come on, baby, let’s see if I can find you a treat,” she said to the big dog, who followed close at her heels as she went into the kitchen.

She rummaged in the cabinets until she found a bag of pepperoni dog treats. Zeus woofed his approval and she tossed it to him, laughing as he caught it midair.

He ate it and then headed for the doggy door cut into the kitchen wall that led to the fenced in backyard. She moved to the window and watched as the dog romped around in the grass next to the other fenced area and then lifted his leg against a bush.

As much as she wanted to believe that her sister had taken off someplace, it just didn’t feel right. Zeus was her baby and Lexie couldn’t imagine Lauren just taking off for days and leaving him behind. She would have at least made arrangements for him to be fed and watered by somebody she trusted to do the job.

The ring of the doorbell pulled her from her thoughts. Nervous energy danced in her stomach as she hurried out of the kitchen to the front door.

Nick had showered and changed as well. He wore jeans and a long-sleeved gray dress shirt and, as if his physical attractiveness wasn’t enough, he smelled like clean, crisp cologne mixed with the faint residual scent of shaving cream.

“Ready?” he asked.

She nodded. “Just let me grab my purse.”

Her heart hammered with inexplicable quickness as she got her purse from the kitchen counter and then rejoined him at the front door. “Ready,” she said, knowing that Zeus would return to the house through the doggy door.

The evening was cool as they walked to his car. A slight breeze stirred the autumn leaves on the trees, forcing some of them to drift down to the ground.

Although in her heart for some reason she trusted Nick, in her head she wasn’t sure who she could trust. She was comforted by the fact that her purse held her gun and she wouldn’t be afraid to use it if things somehow went bad.

“There aren’t many eating choices in Widow Creek so I thought we’d drive the twenty minutes to Casey’s Corner. It’s a slightly bigger town and has a great Italian place,” he said as they pulled out of the driveway.

“Sounds fine,” she agreed. She wasn’t really hungry, hadn’t had an appetite since she’d discovered that Lauren was missing, but she knew she had to eat to keep up her strength.

For a few minutes they rode in silence. Lexie stared out the window at the encroaching evening shadows and anxiety pressed tight against her chest. She couldn’t believe another night was about to fall without her knowing if Lauren was okay.

“I just can’t imagine what’s happened to her,” she said as much to herself as to him. “I keep thinking maybe she’s been hit over the head and is lying someplace needing me to find her.”

He gave her a curious glance. “Why would you think that?”

She hesitated, knowing he would probably think she was crazy for what she was about to say. “Friday, when I got into my car after work to go home, I was struck with a blinding head pain.” She raised a hand to the back of her head, remembering that violent, momentary slice of pain. “It was there only a moment and then gone and I immediately wondered if maybe Lauren had gotten hurt.”

She dropped her hand back to her lap as a laugh of embarrassment escaped her. “It’s kind of a twin thing. One time Lauren broke her arm and I knew it before she told me because I felt her pain in my arm. Another time I broke my little toe and she called me to see what I’d done because her foot hurt.” She laughed again without any real humor. “I know it sounds crazy.”

“Not really, I saw a documentary one night about twins and the special bond they share. Must have been interesting growing up. Did you two pretend to be each other? Try to fool people?”

Lexie cast her gaze back out the window, her thoughts taking her backward in time. “No, never. From the very beginning, even though we were identical twins, we had completely different personalities. Lauren is an extrovert and I’ve always been painfully shy. I could have never made anyone believe that I was her.”

She turned to look at him, trying not to notice how handsome he looked with the last gasp of the sun lighting his features. “When we started high school there was Lauren and then there was the other twin. Nobody could remember my name, nobody really knew who I was. That’s when I decided to go Goth.”

He gave her an amused smile. “So you dressed in black, wore heavy makeup and spouted tragic poetry.”

She returned his smile. “Something like that.”

“And did that help the other kids get to know you better?”

“Not really. I went from being the ‘other’ twin to being the weird twin.” It all seemed so silly now, but at the time high school had been the most painful experience Lexie thought she’d ever live through. “It wasn’t until I was in college that I realized it was okay to embrace my quirkiness, to be a little different than everyone else.”

“We’re all quirky in one way or another. Some of us just show it more than others.”

“You don’t look quirky to me,” she observed.

He grinned. “Ah, but looks can be deceiving. I sleep in my socks.”

“That’s not quirky, that’s nerdy,” she replied and then gasped at her own words.

He laughed. “That’s what I like about you, Lexie. I have a feeling you always speak what’s on your mind. And you’re right, it is nerdy, but I always have nice warm feet.”

She averted her gaze back out the window and tried to cast out the vision of her in his bed, his warm feet against hers, slowly warming her body from her toes upward.

By that time they had reached the town of Casey’s Corner. It appeared to be a big sister of Widow Creek. The business area stretched over three short blocks and there were only a couple of empty storefronts.

He pulled up in front of Mama’s Italian Garden and as he parked she realized that the conversation they’d shared on the drive had momentarily taken her mind off Lauren. She suspected that’s what he’d intended and a warm gratefulness swelled in her chest.

It took only minutes for them to be seated at a table for two in the restaurant. It was a typical Italian setting, with red-and-white checkered tablecloths, a little candle flickering in the center of the table and a very limited wine list displayed between the salt and pepper shakers.

As Lexie picked up a menu her stomach rumbled with sudden hunger. Maybe it was the aroma of rich tomato sauce and fresh herbs that wafted in the air, or perhaps it was the conversation they’d shared that had relaxed her a bit on the drive to the restaurant.

“I eat here fairly often and can tell you that pretty much anything on the menu is good,” Nick said.

She was acutely conscious of his nearness at the small, intimate table. His eyes glowed almost silver in the candlelight and she found herself wondering what his lips might taste like.

She snapped her focus down to the menu, wondering if the stress of everything was making her lose her mind. She’d given up on men almost six months ago when she’d discovered that the man she’d believed was “the one” turned out to be “the rat.”

Michael Andrews had been a smooth-talking, hot-looking guy who had swept Lexie off her feet and away from her computer. They’d met through a mutual friend and they’d dated for six months. Lexie had thought they were moving toward an engagement, but instead she’d found out that Michael had a woman on the side, a cute, bubbly blonde who was all the things that Lexie wasn’t, that Lexie would never be.

“Face it, Lexie,” he had said. “You’re a little bit weird. It was fun for a while but I wouldn’t want a steady diet of it.”

She’d mentally dug a hole and buried her hopes for happily-ever-after in it and had returned to a social life that involved cyberfriends who didn’t have the capacity to hurt her.

Nick reminded her just a little bit of Michael. Maybe because he was good-looking and seemed to know exactly what she wanted to hear when she wanted to hear it.

The waitress appeared at their table and Nick ordered lasagna while Lexie opted for the manicotti. “Lauren told me the two of you were raised by your father,” he said once the waitress had departed.

She nodded. “Our mom died in a car accident when we were four. Dad was devastated, but he rose to the challenge of raising us.” A pang of grief touched her heart as she thought of her dad. He’d been her rock and she missed him desperately.

“He didn’t remarry?” Nick asked.

“No.” She picked up her water glass and took a drink, then continued, “He told us that mom was his one great love and he had no desire to be with anyone else.”

“Ah, the one arrow theory.”

She looked at him curiously. “One arrow theory?”

“Some people believe that Cupid has one true arrow for everyone. If you’re lucky when that arrow hits you, you’re with your soul mate and you’re together and happy for the rest of your life.”

“That’s a nice theory, but it doesn’t account for Cupid’s misfires,” she said dryly.

His eyes sparkled with a light that threatened to draw her into their depths. “But if you believe in the one arrow theory, Cupid doesn’t misfire, and people often misinterpret and think it’s a real arrow that has struck their heart. I assume from your comment that you haven’t been struck by Cupid’s magic arrow yet.”

Lexie thought about her relationship with Michael. Had she truly been in love with him? She’d certainly thought so at the time, but since their parting of ways, she had become equally certain that Michael hadn’t been her soul mate. In the very depths of her heart, she wasn’t sure there was a soul mate for her on the face of the earth.

“No,” she finally replied. “I don’t think Cupid’s arrow has connected with me.”

The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the waitress with their orders. The food looked delicious and tasted just as good. “So, you said you grew up in Widow Creek. Have you always ranched?” she asked after enjoying several bites.

“Always,” he replied. “The house where I live was my parents’. They decided to enjoy early retirement in Florida and so I bought the place from them. I thought it would be nice for my kids to be raised in the same house where I’d had such happiness.”

“But you don’t have a wife so I’m assuming there are no children yet.”

His eyes darkened, the twinkling silver lights in the center dousing like candle flames that had been blown out. “I had a wife and almost had a child but then everything exploded apart.”

Lexie stared at him as grief stole over his handsome features. She set down her fork, the food in front of her temporarily forgotten. “What happened?”

For a moment he stared down at his plate as if lost in thought, and when he looked up at her again some of the grief had passed and weariness lined his face. “I was twenty-five when I married my high school sweetheart and we moved to my parents’ ranch to start our lives together. Danielle and I were a perfect couple. I worked the ranch and she worked in the mayor’s office and things were terrific. After a couple of years of marriage we decided it was time to start a family. It took almost three years for Danielle to get pregnant. We were so excited when it finally happened.”

He paused and took a sip of his water. Lexie felt a tightness in her chest. She knew something bad was coming and even though she’d only known him for a day her heart already ached for him.

As he placed his glass back on the table she noticed his fingers trembled slightly. “When Danielle was eight months pregnant she went in for her usual checkup and the doctor couldn’t hear the baby’s heartbeat. The doctor decided she needed to deliver immediately so Danielle was hospitalized and labor was induced. Ten hours later she delivered a beautiful stillborn baby girl.”

Lexie released a small gasp. “I’m so sorry.” She fought the impulse to reach across the table and take his hand in hers. “Did they know what caused it?”

He shook his head. “One of those tragic medical mysteries.” He straightened his shoulders. “Anyway, I took Danielle and we went home to get on with our lives.” He eyed Lexie intently, beseechingly. “She was so depressed, and I tried to do everything in my power to be supportive, but it seemed like no matter what I did or said it was wrong. After six months she told me she needed some space and she moved into an apartment in town.”

“So, you not only lost your child, but your wife as well,” Lexie said, working to speak around the lump in her throat.

He leaned back in the chair and released a deep sigh. “Actually, four months after the separation we began to see each other again.”

For a moment his features lifted and a small smile curved his lips. “It was just like old times and we started talking about a reconciliation. She seemed to have moved past her grief and was ready to start living again.” The smile dropped from his lips. “And then she disappeared.”

“Disappeared?” Lexie’s heart slammed into her ribs. Was he implying that there was some sort of connection between his ex-wife and her sister?

“She was gone for three days and during that time I went to Gary Wendall to file a missing persons report.” His eyes darkened with a steely light. “And he basically told me the same thing he told you, that it wasn’t a crime for a grown woman to take off. He also told me that everyone knew Danielle and I had a troubled history and she’d left me and maybe she just didn’t want to be found by me. But I knew something was terribly wrong. Three days later her body was found in a motel room.”

Once again a small gasp escaped Lexie, but before she could say anything he continued. “She had a fatal gunshot wound to her head and it was officially ruled a suicide.”

Lexie searched his face. “But you didn’t believe the official ruling.”





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