Chapter 11 #2
Meeting her gaze, he delved deeply into the warmth he found there and wondered just how smart inviting her had been. But splitting up was not a viable option. If Shadow came after Maren again and he wasn’t there to help…if something happened to her, he would never forgive himself.
* * *
Several hours later, they returned to the hotel so they could freshen up and change clothes before heading to the birthday party.
Maren nervously put on a summer dress that she had impulsively packed when she’d left her town house.
She brushed her hair, allowing the long honey-colored waves to glide down her back.
She applied lip gloss and felt ridiculous for the effort.
This wasn’t a date. Even though they were headed to Colt’s family event, they were colleagues sticking together for safety reasons. Nothing more.
Waiting to hear back from Vinnie Homer about her sister had Maren on edge. She’d checked in with the US Marshals to no avail. No contact had been made yet.
She lifted up a quick prayer that the hand towel Haven had found would yield some useful results, but those would take time.
But she did call Eva to ask about Colt’s phone being tracked.
Eva had confirmed a spam call to his phone had planted malware that had allowed someone to track him, but she was having trouble finding the source.
Also, the burner phone they’d confiscated off the assailant at the river hadn’t yielded anything useful.
The calls in and out were to more burner phones, all of which were currently turned off.
But Eva had a special program to alert her if any were turned back on and promised to give Maren a call if it happened.
Without any leads to go on, though, or any idea where either of the young women were, Maren and the task force had no choice but to continue their search for another clue.
They’d canvassed the area around the motel in Barren Valley, then headed back to Colorado Springs to connect with the last place Opal had worked, but the fast-food joint hadn’t proved fruitful.
By late afternoon, Maren’s fatigue had her head pounding and her heart aching.
Going to Colt’s family event was a welcome distraction, even if she was nervous about attending.
Having tucked some essentials in her backpack in case they were called to a case, she slung the bag over her shoulder and led Haven into the hallway to wait for Colt.
When he stepped out of his hotel room, her heart skipped a beat.
He’d changed into khaki shorts, casual tennis shoes and a button-up blue shirt with fish all over it.
A price tag hung from the sleeve opening.
“Are you planning to return the shirt?” Suppressing a smile, she pointed to the tag.
He grinned. “Oops. I’ll have to cut it off when we get to my parents’.”
“I might have something that will work.” She dug through the backpack pockets and produced nail clippers. “These will do.” She snipped the plastic thread securing the tag to the shirt.
“I guess we’re going incognito?” she asked as her gaze landed on Rusk, who no longer had his DEA vest on. It was stored in the SUV.
“If you’d prefer for Haven to wear hers, that’s fine.”
“I’m sure she’d be okay without it,” Maren told him. “It makes her hot.” She quickly took off Haven’s police vest and stuffed it into the backpack.
Once they were in the SUV and rolling along, Maren couldn’t stop fidgeting.
Colt reached across the seat to briefly touch her knee. “Hey, it’ll be okay. No need to be nervous.”
Easy for him to say. Though she didn’t mind crowds or being part of a group of law enforcement, she wasn’t used to big family gatherings. Even as a kid, it had always just been her parents and sister, with her uncle occasionally joining them for holidays.
On the way, they stopped at a store and bought two age-appropriate board games, one for each twin, and put the games into sparkly birthday gift bags with pink tissue paper. Colt bought two different cards and signed his name. He stuck one into each bag without putting which girl it was for.
“They’ll share the games,” he assured Maren. When she arched an eyebrow at him, he asked, “Is that a mistake?”
“No, actually, it’s very thoughtful of you.
” And very sweet. Unexpected from such a no-nonsense, tough officer of the law.
“When Opal and I were kids, we’d get one gift to share because my parents didn’t want us fighting over them.
But it only made receiving gifts sort of a letdown.
Opal and I would take turns opening the one gift each year. It wasn’t enjoyable.”
“You deserve to be showered with gifts,” he said, then looked startled as if he hadn’t meant to say what he had out loud. “I mean, you and Opal should have been given lots of gifts. Every kid deserves to have presents on their birthday.”
“Nice recovery,” she teased, enjoying the way his cheeks above his beard pinkened.
And she couldn’t deny she found the sentiment of his words rather nice.
Not that he meant anything more than what he’d added about children deserving gifts.
He’d just had a slip of the tongue. He couldn’t have meant he wanted to give her gifts.
That would be…thrilling. Exciting and sweet. And way out of bounds.
She needed to stay focused on what was important. Opal. Mia. Taking down Shadow. Finding Dr. Derek Rolls and ending the illegal baby smuggling ring.
She carried the presents to the SUV and hoped attending this party was the right thing to do, because she couldn’t shake the gnawing worry camping out in her gut.
The Dawson clan lived on the outskirts of town on a sprawling ranch.
A large, two-story main house built of stained natural wood with dormer windows and a peaked roof sat center stage at the end of a long driveway.
Various types of trees provided shade for the house and a corral.
Fenced pastureland with grazing horses stretched far and was dotted with several outbuildings.
Surprise arced through Maren. “Did you grow up here?”
“I did. You like?”
“Yes. It’s beautiful.” She stared at him. “Are you a cowboy?”
“Reformed.”
His grin did funny things to her insides. She laughed to cover his effect on her. “Is there such a thing?”
“According to my father, yes.” Colt slowed the vehicle and eased it to a halt next to several large trucks and SUVs of various sizes. “He’d prefer I wore my rodeo buckle and cowboy hat all the time. But I’d stand out. I’d rather blend in.”
“Wait. Aren’t rodeo buckles trophies? Meaning you’ve won a rodeo?” She knew nothing about the cowboy way or rodeos.
“I’ve had my share of good rides,” he said with a shrug.
She liked his humility. “Doing what?”
“Riding broncs both saddle and bareback,” he said. “Did I forget to mention that my family raises and trains rodeo bucking horses?”
Another laugh escaped her. “Yes, you did forget to mention that.” Fascinated, she viewed him in a whole new light.
There were more facets to this man than she’d originally thought. And with each revelation of character, she was finding herself drawn more and more to him. Anticipation of learning additional tidbits about him had her actually excited for the evening as he helped her from the vehicle.
Instead of going through the front door as she expected, he led her around to the enormous back patio, which was filled with balloons in every shade of pink she could imagine.
Children of all ages ran around the expansive lawn, taking turns chasing each other.
A large, inflatable bounce house was off to the side.
And a bubble machine sent translucent circles into the air.
Sitting at tables on the patio were at least two dozen adults. Maren’s steps faltered. This wasn’t just family, these were friends. Friends of the Dawsons and their children. Talk about being thrown into the deep end.
A squeal of delight went up as a woman in her mid-sixties came out of the house through the open French doors.
She was beautiful with light auburn hair streaked with gray and cut at her chin.
She had the same green eyes as her son. She wore wide-legged linen pants in a soft green, with a flowing, flowered top. “Colt, you made it.”
“Hey, Mom.” Colt hugged her.
Maren ached in a strange way to see the bond between Colt and his mother.
He released his mother, who immediately bent to lavish some love on Rusk. The dog’s tail swished side to side.
“Mom, this is Officer Maren Anderson, and her K-9, Haven,” Colt said. His mother straightened with a smile. “Maren, this is my mother, Dottie Dawson.”
“Hello, Mrs. Dawson,” Maren said.
“Hello, dear. Please, call me Dottie. We’re so glad you could join us.” She eyed Haven. “How old is Haven?”
“She’s three,” Maren glanced at her K-9, who sat staring at all the children running around.
“May I?” Dottie asked.
Maren nodded.
Dottie put out her hand for Haven to sniff before running her hand over Haven’s sleek coat. “So soft.” She met Maren’s gaze. “Make yourself at home, dear. I need to check on my pies.” Dottie strode away and disappeared back into the house.
Several people approached, hugging Colt and giving her a once-over.
Snagging his arm, a woman who looked like a younger version of Colt with long copper hair smiled. She had on a Broncos football T-shirt and shorts. She wasn’t as tall as her brother but close. “Who’s your friend?”
The way she emphasized the word friend made Maren blush. The implication was that she and Colt were something other than platonic. They all thought he’d brought a date. What was she going to do? How should she handle this?
She had no idea.
If only she and Colt had met at another time, under different circumstances, who knew what might have developed between them.