CHAPTER ONE

 

Two years later, the month of June

Riverton, Wyoming

 

At the tail end of a twelve hour shift he wasn’t even supposed to be working, the last call before he went home was an unwelcome delay between him and his mattress. All he wanted to do was go home and sleep. Hell, this wasn’t even his city but he was on a mutual aid call. Exhaustion fed his irritation as he pulled the sheriff’s unit up in front of a row of restored brick buildings that had been built back at the turn of the nineteenth century.

He grunted as he wearily climbed out of the car, securing his baton. Then he pulled out his hat, a regulation uniform cowboy hat that was expensive and pristine, and put it on his dark head. Bright blue eyes glanced up at the sky as the morning deepened, noting it was going to be another hot and dry day. They saw a lot of those this far north in Wyoming, the curse of the high plains summer that could leave them hot and dusty one day, wet and muggy the next.

As he closed the car door, muffling the chatter on the radio, he made his way onto the curb. The call had been from the trendiest restaurant in town, or so his dad had told him, and he took a moment to inspect the exterior. The Coffee Cakery it said. His mom and dad apparently loved the place, but this was the first time he’d come here. He was only back in Riverton because his dad had assigned him to the substation in Lander. As Sheriff of Fremont County, his dad had the right to assign his deputies anywhere they were needed.

 So he was back in the town he’d grown up in, a place he didn’t particularly like hanging out in. But he knew the town like the back of his hand, which made him particularly effective when it came to law enforcement and public safety. With thoughts of hurrying through this call, he made his way inside the crowded, fragrant restaurant.

A pretty, young hostess tried to kick people off of the counter for him until he insisted he wasn’t there to eat but to work. The girl with the big, fake, pink nails and nose piercing had no idea what he was talking about, calling over one of the waiters, who went in search of the manager. The manager seemed to know what the call was about and gestured for him to follow. He ended up following the man all the way into the back of the restaurant as the manager called in to the open office in the back.

“Kinley,” he said in a heavy Mexican accent. “The deputy is here.”

The manager excused himself as a figure emerged from the open office. The deputy found himself gazing into green eyes with a thick fringe of lashes. He felt an odd sensation as he gazed into them, like an electrical current, and he soon realized that he recognized the face belonging to the eyes. Long ago, on a winter’s day, those eyes had saved his life. He was so startled that his mouth actually popped open.

“It… it’s you!” he hissed.

Kinley Connors-Berrington recognized the deputy, too. The granite-square jaw and bright blue eyes were an instant giveaway, stirring memories long buried. She stumbled back, her mouth open and her eyes wide.

“Oh… oh, God,” she gasped, grabbing at the doorframe. “It’s… you from the….”

The deputy took a step towards her, hardly realizing that he was moving. He was in a complete state of astonishment, shocked to the bone to see someone he never honesty thought he’d see again. In his excitement, he came on like a bull in a china shop. With his size and booming voice, he could be intimidating and forceful whether or not he wanted to be.

“Do you remember me?” he asked, eagerly. “Jesus Ch… this is amazing. Do you work here?”

Kinley was still holding on to the door frame, looking at him with big eyes. But those eyes quickly filled with tears and the joy and surprise on the deputy’s face disappeared when he saw how upset she was. He realized that he must have come across much stronger than he had intended, but his surprise had been great. It still was. He held up his hands in a soothing gesture.

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly, quietly. “I didn’t mean to upset you. But, seriously… I’ve been looking for you for two years and….”

Kinley turned away from him, swiftly, retreating into the office and trying to shut the door. “Please… please just go away,” she said tightly. “Please go.”

The deputy wedged himself in the doorway so she couldn’t close the door but stopped short of entering. He could see how shook up she was and, if he thought hard about it, he knew why. She had fled the crime scene those years ago in a panic and they’d been unable to find her. She probably thought she was in some kind of trouble and that he was here to deliver the bad news. He hastened to reassure her.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, more gently. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m just surprised to see you, that’s all. I’ve been looking for you for two years and here you were all the time.”

By this time, Kinley was behind her desk, using it as a barrier between them. She looked as if she were about to jump out of the window.

“Would you please go?” she whispered nervously.

He sighed heavily, realizing she wasn’t going to be an easy sell. She was defensive and frightened, and he felt badly.

“Look,” he said, lowering his voice. “You don’t have to be frightened. You’re not in any trouble or anything. I’ve been looking for you because I wanted to thank you.”

Kinley was still stiff with apprehension, with disbelief. She wiped at her brimming eyes. “I… I don’t know what you mean.”

He held up a finger, begging silently for her patience, as he retrieved his wallet and began rifling through it. Then he pulled out what looked like a business card and set it carefully on her desk, facing her. Then he stepped back to a safe distance as she peered cautiously at the piece of paper. When she realized what it was, her face went slack with surprise; it was the driver’s license she had left behind two years ago when she had fled the Hi-Way Café. Now, astonishment joined the other emotions on her face as she looked up at him. The deputy smiled timidly.

“It says your name is Clover Fields,” he said quietly. “We searched high and low for you but never came close to finding you. It was as if you had disappeared into thin air. I get that Clover isn’t your real name and, frankly, I really don’t care. I just wanted to thank the woman that saved my life and nothing more. Now that I’ve found you, I’m just very happy and relieved that I finally get to thank you face to face. That’s all there is to it.”

Kinley stared down at the falsified driver’s license with her picture on it. She just stared at it, silently, as the deputy lingered by the door. For the longest time, she just looked at the identification and he just stood there, not moving a muscle. Then, she reached down and picked the license up, looking at it at close range.

“You’ve been driving around with this in your wallet all this time?” she asked hoarsely.

He nodded firmly. “I have,” he said. “It reminds me daily of how lucky I was when my guardian angel intervened.”

Kinley looked up at him, sharply. There wasn’t any emotion in his face other than warmth. The bright blue eyes were glittering at her and she could feel that odd magnetic pull between them, the same pull she had felt two years ago when they had first met. Her gaze lingered on him a moment.

“I don’t even know your name,” she finally said.

“Reed,” he said without hesitation. “Reed Dewolfe McCoy.”

Kinley’s gaze lingered on him a moment longer before sitting slowly in her chair. She finally put the license down. “Wow,” she murmured. “I… I don’t even know what to say right now.”

He took a step or two into the office. “Well,” he said thoughtfully, “you can tell me why you called the sheriff’s department.”

She looked up at him, confused. “Come again?”

He grinned. “You called the cops, lady,” he said. “I’m the responding officer. How can I help you today?”

She looked at him, realizing he wasn’t there to bust her, or yell at her, or anything else. She’d completely forgotten the fact that she’d called the sheriff’s department until he reminded her. The shock of seeing him had wiped that little detail from her mind. But now, realizing that there was no reason for her to be nervous or upset around him, she forced herself to calm. It was a struggle. She set the driver’s license back on the desk.

“Right,” she said, giving him a weak smile as she shifted her focus. Why had she called the sheriff’s department? Oh, yes…. “Well, it seems that my employees are getting parking tickets on their cars when they park in the back of the restaurant and are there for over six hours. I told your desk officer that when I called but he said I needed to come in to the station. I told him that I needed someone to come out and see what I’m talking about so we can come to a resolution. I can’t have my employees getting parking tickets in our own lot.”

His gaze lingered on her. “You own this place?”

“I lease the building and opened the restaurant nineteen months ago.”

He nodded, silently pulling out his pad of paper from his back pocket. Producing a pen, he jotted down a few notes.

“Your name?” he asked.

Kinley hesitated, waiting for him to say something about her real name and not the fake moniker of Clover Fields. That was all he knew her as. But he was focused on his pad of paper, pen poised, waiting for her to speak.

“Kinley Connors-Berrington,” she finally said. “Connors with two ‘n’s. It’s hyphenated with the Berrington.”

“Address?”

“Can I just use the restaurant address?”

“If you want to.”

“605 East Main Street.”

“Phone number?”

“307-202-1559.”

After he finished writing down the information, he turned on his heel and headed out of her office and to the back door of the restaurant. Kinley followed him out into the parking lot, standing quietly as he wrote down the municipal codes on the parking signs in the lot. She was more at ease with his presence now as he shifted into professional mode, giving her a chance to calm down after their shocking introduction.

In fact, she found herself watching him closely, remembering the size of the man and his muscular build, and thinking that he had gotten more handsome over the past couple of years. He had the squarest jaw she’d ever seen, like the ones drawn in comic books for super hero characters. She watched him as he walked around the lot, looking at the cars, the parking situation, and jotted down a few notes. Still writing, he made his way back over to her.

“How many employees do you have?” he asked.

“Anywhere from eight to fourteen depending on the day and the shift,” she replied.

He finished writing and looked at her. “You’re going to have to get parking permits for your employees for anything over four hours,” he told her. “The municipal code doesn’t allow for anything over that.”

She looked at the big, metal black and white sign behind her. “They just put these signs up a little while ago,” she said, returning her focus to him. “I guess there has been a lot of traffic since I opened.”

He looked around at the adjacent businesses. “My guess is that someone called the department to complain,” he said. “Your business is successful and you’ve got a lot of people parking all over the place. That tends to piss the lesser-busy businesses off.”

She made a face. “Business-envy is a terrible thing.”

He grinned, showing off his big, white teeth and perfect smile. “I have news for you, Ms. Berrington,” he said. “Anyone and everyone are going to be envious of you, so you’d better get used to it.”

She smiled reluctantly. “I’ve been very lucky,” she replied humbly. “The cakery has taken off and I feel very fortunate.”

He nodded, glancing back at the rear of the restaurant. “My parents love it. They come here all of the time.”

Kinley cocked her head curiously. “Your parents live around here?”

He nodded. “I grew up here. My parents still live in the house I grew up in.”

Her smile turned genuine. “You didn’t go far, did you?”

He was enjoying the fact that she was finally relaxing around him, enough to the point where the conversation was turning casual. He was thrilled.

“Actually, I was in Washington D.C. for quite a while,” he told her. “I only returned about three years ago.”

“What did you do in D.C.?”

“Naval Investigative Services.”

Her eyebrows rose. “You were in the Navy?”

“The Marines, actually.”

Her gaze was warm on him. “Then being a small town deputy is a piece of cake.”

He chuckled. “Sometimes,” he agreed. “But sometimes it’s worse. Lots of land out here. Lots of things can happen. I think I’ve been in more dicey situations here than I ever was back in D.C.”

Like robbery in a small diner. Kinley’s smile faded as her thoughts came around again to the first time they met. It was hard not to think about it. Meanwhile, Reed put his pad and pen away, and they began to walk back towards the restaurant’s back door. He couldn’t help but notice she’d fallen silent. His gaze moved over the exposed brick façade of the rear of the business.

“When I was a kid, a lot of these buildings were derelict,” he said, making conversation because of the swift downturn in the mood. “The bums lived around here. Now, it’s the fashionable part of town. I still find that weird sometimes.”

Kinley forced a smile as they entered the back door into the fragrant confines of the restaurant. “I’ll bet,” she said. “Have you had breakfast? Do you want to take something with you to go?”

He looked at her, seeing an opportunity in her softly uttered words. He was attracted to her the moment he met her; that much was clear to him. In just those few short words after their introduction, in those few brief seconds, he had felt a pull towards her as he’d never felt towards anyone. Sure, she’d run off after the shooting, but he had attributed that to panic until he’d come across her driver’s license and had discovered it to be false.

After that, he’d entertained all sorts of wild ideas. A fugitive, a criminal, a spy…all kinds of things had entered his head. She’d used that rifle with a hell of a lot of skill and an ice-cold demeanor, which was an acquired talent. But the fact remained that none of those thoughts could dampen the attraction he felt towards her. There was a spark there just dying to be kindled. The woman was running from something. He wanted to know what it was and he wanted to know her on a personal level. He couldn’t explain it more than that.

“My parents say you have fantastic Bananas Foster French toast,” he said. “Maybe I should judge for myself.”

Kinley’s smile turned real. “To eat here or to go?”

His blue-eyed gaze lingered on her; he was supposed to be off watch and his mattress was calling to him. But that didn’t seem to matter at the moment.

“Here,” he replied. “But I have a favor to ask.”

“What’s that?”

“Can I have my good luck charm back? I left it on your desk.”

His French toast order came with a side of an envelope containing the driver’s license with a pirate’s beard, Hitler mustache, and eye-patch colored over the picture in heavy black ink so anyone looking at it couldn’t make out who the person really was. But in his eyes, it still couldn’t detract from the unearthly beauty beneath.

He just sat there and grinned.