Evidence of Trust (15 page)

Hmm
. He skimmed the sheets in front of him again. Casey’s schedule had checked out not only with the timeline for this last kill, but the previous two as well. As much as he’d made an issue of not discounting anyone, after their conversation last night, he truly believed he could trust the guy and no longer considered him a suspect.

A brief knock at his open door made his heart skip a beat until he jerked his head up to see Randy Gifford standing there holding a steaming cup in each hand.

“Benson just made a fresh pot of coffee, you want some?”

“Sure, thanks.”

Get a grip.
He scrubbed his hands over his face, then took the cup Randy handed across the desk. “What are you doing here?” Gifford had been off the past week for a family graduation in the southern part of the state. He wasn’t due in until the Monday morning shift.

“Checking the schedule for the week.” The ranger’s gaze took in the mess of files crisscrossing the flat surface, then nodded toward Joel’s laptop. One of the pictures from yesterday morning was open on the screen. “What’s that?”

He spun the computer, then sat back in his chair to take a sip of coffee. “New kill up near Storm Pass. Not much to help out though. A mountain lion had been feeding on it for a couple days by the time we discovered it. Never found the spot where the shot was taken.”

Randy scrolled through the pictures, his keen gaze taking in details. He shot Joel a quick glance. “We?”

“Brittany Lucas from Highlands Sunset Ranch. You know her?”

“Yeah, I know Britt.”

Randy frowned as he took a seat, but Joel wasn’t sure if it was because of the picture on the computer, or the woman.

“What were you two doing up there?” he asked.

“Scouting their overnight trail before the season starts.”

“I’m surprised Ryan doesn’t shut them down.”

Joel sat forward and set his cup to the side so he could start sorting out the mess he’d made during the morning hours. “I thought the same thing at first, but now, it might be good to keep the area active. It might keep this guy on his toes.”

“Their rides are all pre-scheduled,” Randy pointed out. “A simple call and he’d know if the coast was clear.”

“True. But I was considering asking Casey Fuller to do some extra scouting during the week. What’s your take on him?”

“I’ve known Casey since high school. He’s a good guy. Honest as they come. It’s a good idea putting him on the trail.”

Joel nodded as he piled his files together. “Good. Because I want to catch this bastard.”

“Anything else new since I left?”

“No. It feels like I’ve been over these files a hundred times.” Joel picked up a photo of one of the first animals he’d found and stared at it, willing a clue to reveal itself. “He’s going to slip up though. Sooner or later, they always do.”

“That’s what they say.” Randy’s large hand rubbed the whiskers on his jaw. “So…you mind me asking what’s going on with you and Britt?”

The question caught him off guard. Along with the answer.
Yes
. He minded, because he didn’t have a clue himself.

He kept his attention on the files in front of him. “What makes you think anything’s going on?”

Randy laughed and sat forward, eyebrows raised. “Besides the fact you didn’t just deny it, more than a few people saw you two at the Watering Hole last weekend. Now you’re camping together?”

He braced his forearms on the desk and met the other man’s gaze. “Something came up on Mitch Levin’s background check and Mark Jennings needed someone to ride with her. Anything else is our business, not yours.”

Speculation remained in Randy’s eyes, and something more he couldn’t quite put his finger on as the ranger got to his feet.

“Britt and I are good friends. She avoids relationships out here because she’s not sticking around, and neither are you. Casual sex isn’t her thing, so whatever’s going on, don’t hurt her.”

He stared at the empty doorway after Randy’s parting warning. Brittany Lucas seemed to be friends with everyone and involved with no one. Is that why she’d wanted to be friends with him?

Definitely the smarter idea, so why didn’t he like it one bit?

By the time he left the station for his temporary apartment later that evening, his only answer to that question was that he was an idiot.

He detoured on his way home to stop at the Watering Hole for dinner. The bar was obviously a favorite among the locals, because he not only recognized Gifford’s truck, but Fuller’s as well. His pulse picked up speed at the possibility that Brittany could be inside.

Yep. Idiot.

Refusing to look for her vehicle, he forced himself to reach for the door. No more than he stepped inside the dim entrance, one of the wranglers from Highlands Ranch almost bumped into him. His murmured, “Excuse me,” was met with a scowl before the guy shoved outside.

Joel turned to watch him go, searching his memory for a name.
Kelly Stevens
. Worked at a neighboring ranch last summer. Nothing else on his background check stood out.

The door closed, so he turned back toward the bar, then lost a step as laughter erupted from a table to his left. Though her back was to him where she sat at a table with her friends, he easily recognized those long, blond curls.

Casey lifted a hand in greeting, causing most of the table to turn and look his way, including Randy, and Brittany.

Her gaze met his for a moment, then bounced away as she spun back around. Randy leaned in and said something to her, causing those curls to sway as she shook her head. When he glimpsed the smile she flashed at the ranger, his annoyance at having wasted an entire day waiting on her surged forward. He switched direction and headed their way.

Casey’s gaze clearly met hers across the table, then lifted back to Joel. She stiffened in her chair as he stopped directly behind her.

“Hey, man, what happened to you last night?”

“I had to get going. Didn’t Brittany tell you?” He shifted to the side of her chair so he could at least see her profile.

“Britt didn’t—”

“I went home,” she stated. She twisted in her seat and hooked an arm on the back of her chair to glare up at Joel. “You knew I wasn’t planning to go over to the bar, so you should’ve relayed your own message.”

Was she upset about last night’s kiss? Hm, he hadn’t considered that. “I figured once I left, your reason for not going would be gone as well.”

Rising color in her face said he’d hit the bulls-eye, but she was quick to deny it in front of her friends. “I had decided not to go because I was tired.”

He braced one hand on the back of her chair and leaned closer. She inched back, eyes wide on his, but all he did was reach to grab a French fry off her plate and straighten again. Aware of everyone listening to their exchange, especially Randy, he asked, “So you weren’t avoiding me? Last night, or today at the ranger station?”

“I didn’t go to the station today.”

“Exactly.” He popped the fry in his mouth.

“What possible reason would I have to avoid you?”

While he chewed and swallowed, her flashing eyes dared him to say exactly what he was thinking. He considered giving everyone a demonstration instead. His gaze dropped to her mouth and his suddenly erratic pulse changed the response on the tip of his tongue as he met her eyes once more. “You tell me.”

“There isn’t one,” she insisted. Then she indicated an open chair on the other side of the table between Casey and some preppy looking guy he’d never seen before. “In fact, why don’t you join us now? Have a beer. Order some of your
own
food.”

Casey nodded with a grin. “Definitely. Come on, have a seat.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” He reached back, grabbed a chair behind him, and plunked it down between Brittany and the cute brunette on his left. “Excuse me, do you mind sliding over just a bit?”

She gave him a polite smile, shot a glance at Brittany, then scooted over.

“Thanks. I’m Joel Morgan, by the way.”

“Gina Allen.” She accepted his quick handshake.

He flagged the passing waitress, ordered a beer and a burger, then relaxed back in his chair while letting his knee brush against Brittany’s beneath the table. She shifted just enough to break contact. He caught her glance from the corner of his eye, allowed a small, triumphant smile, then felt her leg bump against his again, and stay.

She’d risen to the challenge. In the next moment, her body heat transferred through the material of both their jeans and memories of warm, soft curves pressed tight against his chest began to mess with his head.

Shoulda thought that move through better
.

Casey provided a distraction by introducing his wife, Jayne, and Gina’s boyfriend, Jackson. Joel murmured a thanks to the waitress when she brought his beer, and took note of the guy’s brief smile that morphed back into a bored expression as he lifted his wine glass for a drink. He was pretty sure the sweater was cashmere, and the glass looked as out of place in the relaxed country bar as the guy did.

Brittany, on the other hand, fit in perfectly in her snug V-neck black sweater, jeans, wide brown belt and scuffed brown cowboy boots. All around girl-next-door appeal with a heady dose of sexiness in the emerald pendant resting just above the tease of cleavage revealed by her top.

He and Randy exchanged greetings, then Casey drew the ranger into a conversation that turned him away from Britt. Joel sipped his beer, tilted his head toward her, and pitched his voice low. “You didn’t come by for your card.”

She’d just taken a bite of a ranch-dipped chicken strip and wiped her mouth while she finished chewing. “Busy day.”

“On a Sunday?”

“Yes, on a Sunday.”

He reached for another of her fries and she slapped his hand. But not before he secured one. As he ate it with a grin, she turned her head to glare at him. Even when annoyed, her eyes were prettier than the emerald she wore.

“I waited for you.”

She blinked and looked back at her food. Her leg moved again, and he immediately missed her heat. After taking a drink from her water glass, she set it back down. “All day?”

“Pretty much.”

“Good.”

The waitress arrived with his burger and fries. Joel sat forward to reach for the ketchup, unsure how to respond to Brittany’s one word statement.
Good
. What did that mean? And why the hell had he even told her he’d waited in the first place? He certainly didn’t want her thinking that kiss last night had meant anything to him.

She doesn’t do casual sex.
That’s all he could offer.

Now what?

Jayne drew her attention with a question, so he concentrated on his plate and listened to the conversations around him. Halfway through the burger, he turned back to Gina. “Do you work at Highlands, too?”

“I used to.”

“As a wrangler?” She didn’t strike him as the type to work with horses, with her manicured nails and light complexion that clearly didn’t see much sun.

She confirmed his suspicions with a laugh. “God no. I worked in the Sports Center for four summers. I stocked towels, rented equipment, took guests on sunset van tours into the park, that kind of stuff. After college, I opened my own interior design business here in Estes.”

“How’s that going?”

“It’s starting to pick up.” A tentative smile curved her lips. “Need any decorating work done?”

He shook his head at the hopeful look in her unusual violet-tinged eyes and gave her an apologetic smile. “The apartment supplied by the park is already furnished, and I’m not going to be here long enough to really care what it looks like anyway.”

Chapter 18

Britt heard Joel’s words and forced herself not to react as she finished her food and tossed her napkin in the wax paper lined basket. It was a good reminder—him not sticking around—because everything about the man had been wreaking havoc with her senses since the moment he walked into the bar. He wore black again, and it reminded her how powerful and dangerous he could appear. A picture of him by her tent with his gun flashed in her mind.

A force to be reckoned with.

The dark clothing also completely enhanced his good looks to the point it should be a crime. With his dark eyebrows and those thick lashes, she had to fight to keep from staring too long into those gorgeous, gold-flecked eyes. Every so often, she’d catch a hint of his aftershave, or cologne. The musky, woodsy scent was subtle, yet extremely effective in torturing the butterflies in her stomach. Made it so very tempting to lean closer.

Definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Kissing the man had been such a bad idea, and the anger had come later, while she was lying in bed, dealing with the aftermath of a lingering desire that refused to let her sleep.

His actions were so contrary she didn’t know what to think anymore. He kissed her, left her without so much as a goodnight, then accused her of avoiding him and admitted he’d waited for her at the ranger station.

What the hell did he expect from her?