Chapter 10
After a brief debate, Wyatt and Evie decided to keep Tate and Baker in the outpost. They built up a fire in the hearth and gave the men a couple of blankets and some bottled water while they debated what to do next.
It would be so nice to leave them here to rot but that wasn’t practical and most likely the FBI would frown upon it too.
Not to mention the mess it would leave for the Greenbriar’s to clean up.
The snowmobile from the mining museum had a radio, but it was broken.
“You’ll need to go back to town,” he said. “You can lead Sheriff Russell in to pick us all up.”
“Not without you,” she argued.
He almost smiled, she was so predictably stubborn.
“No one but the FBI knows I’m not part of Cordell’s crew and there’s no way to know if they’ve revealed themselves to the sheriff.
” Her brow furrowed, but he knew he was getting through.
“They all think I’m a kidnapper. It will be faster all around if you go alone. ”
She stalked past him and into the outpost. He followed, laughing to himself when he caught her checking their restraints. “You shouldn’t be alone with them,” she said once she was back outside.
“Have a little faith,” he said.
She pressed her lips together, clearly holding something back. He didn’t know she was capable of that. Climbing into the seat, she gave him a tight smile. “Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”
She drove off before he could kiss her and he stood there, listening to the whine of the engine long after she was out of sight.
He didn’t go back inside, too afraid of haranguing or hurting Cordell.
The man had nearly killed Evie more than once.
He needed the reward money and to get that, he needed to do this the right way.
Waiting with his own thoughts wasn’t any easier than dealing with Cordell and Baker would have been.
As the adrenaline drained away, he couldn’t stop thinking about all of the ways he’d gone wrong with Evie.
He’d been a kid, sure. Scared of his mother’s addiction dragging him down and Evie too, by association. He’d had to get out.
That was what he wanted to talk about. He wanted to look into her beautiful gray eyes and watch her accept his promise that he’d never walk away again.
Returning to Deadwood for the FBI, for his future, had been a choice that he’d instinctively known would give him that opportunity.
He finally felt man enough to come back into Evie’s orbit.
Although he would have been happier if she’d never been caught up in Cordell’s mess, he wouldn’t have survived this half as well without her.
She was it for him. Somehow he had to find a way to win her back.
Her trust, her love, her kisses. Every ounce of the chemistry he remembered was still there between them.
He saw it simmering between her flashes of familiar temper and even more tempting tenderness.
No one in his life had ever demonstrated such caring and tough love for him in as Evie.
At last the sounds of rescue approached in the form of snowmobiles gliding over the snow-blanketed terrain.
It shouldn’t have surprised him that Evie led the way.
She parked at the far side of the building and sat there, watching the proceedings as the sheriff and Agent Pickering marched Cordell and Baker out.
“Good enough?” he asked Agent Pickering.
“Did you talk to them?”
He shook his head. “Didn’t trust myself,” he replied. “Is it okay if I ride back with Evelyn?”
Pickering arched an eyebrow and gave him a subtle nod. “As long as you’re right behind us. We need full statements, the sooner the better.”
He bounded through the snow toward Evie. “You and me.”
“That works.” She smiled, scooting back to let him drive the snowmobile.
“Did you turn over the diamonds?” he asked before he started the machine.
“Yes.” She rolled her eyes. “Everyone acts like I saved a kid.” She pulled her scarf up to cover her nose and mouth.
Another chance to kiss her gone. He needed to stop missing those. “The Mae West Solitaire isn’t that big,” he joked.
“Right?”
“You’re the new hometown hero,” he said.
She shrugged. “We’ll see,” she said from behind her scarf. “I think it’s too soon for a changing of the guard.”
The comment left him wondering what she’d told the sheriff and others before they came back out. Her arms came around his waist and he relished the feel of her pressed up against him.
They needed to talk. It was past time he laid all his cards on the table and let her make an informed decision.
When they reached the casino, the last to join the authorities gathered in the staging area, he quickly realized she hadn’t been exaggerating about the general sense of celebration and gratitude.
They were surrounded by pleased officials.
Everyone from the FBI to the casino security staff were eager to greet them and praise them for bringing in Cordell and Baker.
Now that the FBI had clarified his role in the robbery a weight lifted from his shoulders. He walked with his head high as he and Evie were ushered inside and through back hallways to the rooms set up for the teams investigating the security guard’s death and the diamond heist.
Although it was standard procedure, he nearly argued when they were separated to give their statements. He wanted to assure her he wasn’t going to disappear again. When they were finally done with the obligations, he sought out Evie for a quick word.
“Your dad was probably worried sick. Have you talked with him? Is someone taking you home?”
“We did talk,” she said with a tired smile.
“Relief is an understatement. He says the driveway is blocked by a ten-foot snowdrift. I’ll stay here.
The casino is so delighted to have the diamonds back they’re comping me a room.
” She leaned close so no one else could hear.
“A suite, if you can believe it, with all the benefits they save for the whales.”
“Nice. Enjoy it.” He knew the casino would give her a cash reward as well, but it wasn’t his place to tell her. Instead, he indulged in a brief fantasy of having Evie all to himself in that suite, with no cares or crises.
“You could join me.”
He tipped his head toward the FBI agents looming behind him. “I’m not done yet, but I’ll be in touch soon.” And when he did see her again, he’d tell her everything. Ask for everything. His heart stuttered, a combination of anxiety and eagerness.
“Soon,” she echoed. Her gaze turned cool and shrewd as if she could see straight through his skin to his rowdy pulse. “Wyatt Jameson, if you leave again without saying goodbye I will hunt you down and make you regret it.”
He believed her. “It’s not like that,” he said. “I just have to take care of a couple of details. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Promise?”
Damn. After everything past and present, she still trusted he would keep his word. That slayed him. “Evie.” He caught her up into a hug, startling them both with how tightly he clung. “I promise,” he whispered into her hair.
There was no leaving without saying goodbye now. Where that should’ve left him uptight and irritable, he found a softness in the promise made. Hell, she didn’t know it yet, but there was no leaving. Not as long as Evie remained in Deadwood.
He had a second chance to restore their friendship, a golden opportunity to ask her to build a life with him. He wouldn’t screw it up.
Apparently saving the Mae West Solitaire warranted a hero’s reward.
The casino promised Evie a cash reward equal to a percentage of the diamond’s value.
It was more than enough to bail out her business and set them up for the future, assuming she stayed in Deadwood.
The casino also treated her to one of their most luxurious suites, providing everything she could imagine to not only thaw out, but to pamper herself as she recovered from the ordeal.
She spent a brief eternity indulging in the steam shower.
When she finally turned off the taps and toweled off, she smoothed a silky citrus-scented lotion all over her weary skin.
The fragrance gave her mind and heart a bright boost as she wrapped herself in the soft hotel robe.
Someone had delivered a bag of brand new clothes, including shirts and a jacket with the Silver Aces logo.
The spa services menu was also prominently displayed, along with a handwritten note from Jack encouraging her to take full advantage of every option.
A carafe of hot chocolate had been set out on the table along with two ceramic mugs and platters of sweet and savory treats from the kitchen.
Everything looked and smelled so good, so revitalizing, that she felt almost like a princess in a fairy tale.
She hoped Wyatt would enjoy the same indulgent treatment once the FBI was done with him.
Agent Pickering had taken her statement quickly and sent her up here to recover before meeting with Wyatt.
It was only logical, considering his undercover role with Tate’s crew, but she felt sorry for him anyway.
Curling up into a cozy chair with a mug of hot chocolate and half of an oversized peanut butter cookie, she turned on the television.
It seemed up here in the hotel, unlike the casino floor, reality was all-too-accessible.
Every station was nattering on about the recovered diamonds, the weather system moving out at last, and the capture of Cordell and his crew.
She didn’t feel like a hero. There was no cause to feel like a victim, since her old—and once again current—best friend had been the one to take her hostage.
She didn’t even feel much like a dedicated employee to use the term the reporters preferred.
No, she felt like a woman who wanted to sit down with the men in her life and figure out how to move forward.
Hopefully together. At the very least with a comfortable understanding.