Later that evening, when they had at least come close to sating themselves in each other – at least for a short time – they lay in the dark talking, as had become their habit in the short time they had been together, her head on his chest, her leg over his, their fingers laced where his lay next to him.

"Do I have Andie's meddling to thank for your triumphant return?" she asked.

"You do. The woman's a menace, but she's a crack shot – sorry."

"Don't be. She is also a wonderful nursemaid and friend. We have a lot of fun."

Suddenly, he brought his finger to his lips for her to hush. "Did you hear something?"

Jenna sat up in bed, because she most definitely had. Was someone after him? Was one of the Carmolli boys back to even the score? Or one of the men he'd caused to lose their jobs and pension by exposing their corruption?

They both heard it again, a loud rustling just outside the window on her side.

Merck reached out and pulled her over him, whispering urgently, "Stay here. If you need to, hide under the bed."

Yeah, right, like everything she cleaned didn't end up under there. She had to put it somewhere. She just hoped each time she stuffed something under it that the bed didn't start to sway precariously.

But she didn't say that to him as she watched him grab her baseball bat and advance towards the window.

The noises were louder now. Whoever it was, was obviously a rank amateur – she could have done better at being quiet than this guy was doing.

He pressed himself along the same wall as the window, creeping up on whoever it was, slinking down the closer he got.

Then he stopped and stared for a long while, making Jenna more and more nervous about what in the hell was going on.

Finally, he made his way back to her. "Do you have a birdfeeder right outside this window?"

"Yes."

"And is it full?"

"Yeah, I filled it yesterday." Why was he asking her all of these inane questions, anyway? Was someone here to steal her sunflower seeds? They were expensive, yes, but that was ridiculous. "Who's out there? Tell me, already!"

"Smokey the Bear apparently has at least as much of a taste for sunflower seeds as Pooh does honey."

"A bear?" she practically screeched with excitement and began to head towards the window, but found herself unceremoniously hauled back to him. "What? I want to see him!"

"No. I'm going to find something to drive him away, and you're going to stay where you are."

She snorted at that, but since she was already on it, she found herself put over his lap with depressing ease, his hand lying threateningly over her bare bum. "I am not kidding, Jenna. Unless you want to have to stand to eat –"

"All right, all right," she whined. "I get the idea."

He swatted her once, very hard, and then let her up. "You are to stay right here. I have to find something to chase him off."

"Don't you wear a gun, Sheriff?"

He frowned at that. "Too much paperwork to be done if I discharge my weapon."

"I have a gun," she suggested.

He looked at her, surprised, knowing how she felt about having one of them in the house. "You do? When'd you get that?"

"I've always had one."

"You what? Always? Then you lied to me?"

Jenna sighed as she reached under her nightstand and pulled it out, handing it to him.

Even in the darkness, he knew what she had handed him, which was little better than a cap pistol. Chuckling, he said, "This thing is barely a gun. All this little BB gun is going to do is piss the bear off mightily, and I'd be inclined to agree with him." He handed it back to her so she could tuck it back into its hidey-hole. "But you're still going to be punished for lying to me."

"Of course I lied to you at that point – you were holding me hostage!"

"Still. Spanking. Perhaps I'll use the cutting board. As soon as I get rid of the bear."

What he ended up doing was taking her Bluetooth speaker and choosing a death metal song from a playlist on his phone, which he proceeded to play at full volume as he pointed it out the window.

The poor bear didn't know what hit him, roaring his displeasure at the dinner music that he had selected and scampering off into the woods.

"Problem solved," he pronounced, returning the speaker to where it lived, and then coming around to help her up in a most gentlemanly fashion, before tipping her over his lap as he sat down on the edge of the bed. "Now, I believe I said a spanking was in order..."

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The End