02 Madoc

Madoc Cutler still couldn’t believe that his little brother, Cade, had actually gotten married. When Cade had called to tell him that he was engaged, Madoc had been surprised by the news, but that had been nothing compared to how stunned he had been when he’d learned that not only was the woman his brother had fallen for in the Witness Security Program, but that he’d known her for all of a whole week before he proposed! What the hell had Cade been thinking? All that stuff Cade had spouted about knowing true love the moment he saw it and not being able to live without Riley just seemed insane to Madoc.

Madoc, being five years older and much wiser than Cade, had tried to talk some sense into his brother, but it had done no good. Cade was completely head over heels for Riley Barnett. Though Madoc could certainly understand being attracted to the beautiful blonde, he couldn’t understand why his brother had felt the need to marry her.

Cade should have just done the smart thing and moved in with her, Madoc thought. That way, he wouldn’t have been tied down. But when Madoc hadn’t been able to dissuade his brother from making one of the biggest mistakes of his life, he had finally agreed to not only attend the wedding, but to also be Cade’s best man.

Of course, it didn’t help that their parents absolutely loved Riley and were completely thrilled that Cade had finally found a nice girl and settled down. Now that he thought about it, Madoc supposed he should be happy Cade had gotten married. At least now his brother would be the one having to listen to their mother and father constantly harp about not having any grandchildren. That was a headache Madoc would happily let his brother put up with.

For his part, Madoc could never see himself having kids. Actually, he couldn’t even see himself getting married.

He just wasn’t the marrying kind. Sure, he liked women - a lot – but every one he’d ever gone out with seemed to want to rein him in. They all thought his job as a U.S. Marshal was a phase that he would get out of, and when it became apparent that he wasn’t planning to leave his job any time soon, his girlfriends usually started throwing around ultimatums. That hadn’t worked out too well for them, though, because he had always chosen the job over them. He probably always would. What woman could produce the same thrill and excitement that he got from being a Marshal?

Madoc reached up with his free hand to rub the back of his neck. Deciding to drive from where he lived in Denver to Seattle for his brother’s wedding had seemed like a good idea at the time, but he was barely halfway through Montana on the return trip and he was already exhausted. Staying up late partying the night before probably hadn’t helped, he supposed, and now, it looked like the weather was turning against him. He frowned as he scanned the sky. It was getting really gray and looked liked it was going to snow at any minute. He had heard on the radio earlier that it was supposed to snow sometime that day, and he hoped it wasn’t heavy. He still had a lot of driving to do before he got home.

He had hoped to make it to Billings before he had to stop for gas again, but glancing down at the gauge, he saw that it was almost on empty. As he took the exit for the next town, Madoc chided himself for not leaving Seattle earlier that morning. He had taken almost a week off already, and there would be a pile of work on his desk when he got back. Plus, his boss would be royally pissed if he called in to ask for more time off because he was stuck in the snow.

As he stood filling his gas tank a few minutes later, Madoc surveyed the small town of Flint Rock. It was one of those towns that had sprung up simply because there needed to be a gas station at that point along the highway.

There were a few fast-food places and a diner, as well as the requisite tourist traps. Other than that, it didn’t have much else to offer.

Thinking that he should probably get something to eat as well, Madoc decided he wasn’t really in the mood for fast food and settled on the diner instead. The place looked like it could have been any of a dozen different chain diners, and probably had been over the years. The building was at least thirty or forty years old, and could use a little fixing up. But he didn’t really care what the place looked like, as long as he could get something good to eat, fast.

Pushing open the door, Madoc scanned the inside of the diner. Other than a handful of people sitting at the counter, the place was empty, he noticed as he made his way to the restroom. When he came back out, he debated for a moment whether to sit at the counter, but then slipped into a booth near the window. That way, he could keep an eye on his truck.

Reaching for the menu resting against the napkin dispenser, he was about to look at it when he caught sight of the pretty, dark-haired waitress behind the counter. Dang, Madoc thought. She definitely stood out in a small town like this. Even wearing glasses and a drab waitress uniform, she was a knockout. Then again, he thought appreciatively as he took in her rounded breasts and slender waist, the uniform did hug her curvy figure quite nicely. And he had to admit that the oval-shaped glasses with their black frames were surprisingly flattering on her. It made her look like some tame librarian-type that had a wildcat inside of her just waiting to get out.

“What can I get for you, sugar?”

Startled, Madoc tore his gaze away from the girl behind the counter to see a short, plump, gray-haired waitress standing beside his table. He had been so distracted by the younger waitress that he hadn’t even realized the woman was there. Or that she had set down a glass of ice water in front of him.

His brow furrowing, Madoc looked down at the menu in his hand and ordered the first thing he saw. “Meatloaf.”

“Do you want fries or mashed potatoes with that?” the woman asked, her pen poised above the order-pad she had in her hand.

Madoc glanced over at the younger waitress behind the counter again to find her studying him with big, brown eyes. Tucking a strand of long hair behind her ear, she gave him an embarrassed smile and looked away.

Realizing that the older woman was waiting for an answer, Madoc forced his attention back to her. What had she asked him? Oh yeah, what he wanted with the meatloaf. “Mashed potatoes will be fine,” he told her.

She scribbled his order on the pad, and then tucked it into her apron before giving him a smile. “Coffee okay?”

He nodded. “Coffee would be great.”

“Coming right up,” the woman said.

As the plump, little woman made her way back to the counter, Madoc found himself secretly hoping that the younger waitress might bring his coffee over, and he was disappointed when the gray-haired woman picked up the coffee pot and started over to his table again. Even so, he couldn’t help but play a little fantasy through his mind involving the younger waitress bringing him coffee. In it, she would lean way over to place the mug on the table, which of course would cause her breasts to strain against the confining buttons of her uniform. And then...

Unfortunately, the older waitress reached his table before Madoc’s fantasy could go any further. He tried hard to concentrate on what the nice, old woman was saying, even letting her know about his job and why he had been out to Seattle, but his gaze kept being drawn to the girl behind the counter again. She was laughing with one of the customers, and the sound was warm and rich as it drifted across the diner and over to where he sat.

Telling himself that it wasn’t polite to stare, Madoc picked up a packet of sugar and emptied it into his coffee, and then turned to look out the window. But the gray sky and the tiny town of Flint Rock wasn’t enough to hold his interest for very long, and every so often, he would let his gaze wander over to the pretty, dark-haired girl behind the counter again.

Madoc was staring at the darkening sky outside, wondering just how much longer the snow would hold off when he heard the sound of a plate being set down on the table. Realizing that his food had arrived, he turned to thank the waitress, and was pleasantly surprised to see the pretty, dark-haired girl standing there. Up close, she was even prettier, he thought, taking in her full lips, pert nose, and light dusting of freckles across her cheeks.

“More coffee?” she asked with a smile.

Her voice was soft and sweet, just like the rest of her, Madoc thought. “Please,” he said.

As she leaned over to pour the coffee, Madoc’s gaze automatically went to her perfectly rounded breasts. His fantasy had been right on; they did strain nicely against the uniform. As he tried hard not to be too obvious about staring at her breasts, he caught sight of the plastic nametag on the front of her uniform, and frowned when he saw that her name was Jane. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with the name, of course. It was just that he had expected the pretty waitress to have a more exotic name.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around before,” she said, giving him another smile.

He tore his gaze away from her perfect breasts. “Just passing through,” he told her.

Madoc thought he detected a hint of disappointment in her dark eyes at his words, but it was gone before he could be sure.

“Where are you headed?” she asked.

“Denver,” he said.

She looked at him in surprise. “Denver?”

His brow furrowed. “Have you ever been there?” he asked curiously.

She reached up with one hand to adjust her glasses in what he was sure was an unconscious gesture. “Me?” she said. “No. I’ve never even been out of Flint Rock.”

Madoc regarded her for a moment. That was difficult to believe. “Really?” he said. “You kind of look familiar. I thought we might have run into each other back there.”

That probably sounded like some sort of pick-up line, and a really lame one at that, Madoc thought, but it was true. Though he hadn’t noticed it when he’d first seen her, the more he looked at the waitress, the more sure he was that he’d seen her somewhere before. Then again, maybe it was just wishful thinking.

She let out a nervous, little laugh as she reached up to fiddle with her glasses again. “I don’t think so,” she told him. “I’m sure I would have remembered if we had.”

He gave her a smile. “You’re probably right,” he agreed.

She returned his smile with one of her own. “Well, have a safe drive to Denver,” she said, picking up the coffee pot from the table. “And be sure to watch out for the snow. I hear that it might be heavy. You wouldn’t want to get snowbound out here in the middle of nowhere.”

“I don’t know,” he said, his grin broadening. “Maybe I would.”

She gave him a sexy smile that immediately made his jeans feel tighter in the crotch, before turning to head back to the counter, an extra little sway in her step.

Damn, Madoc thought as he watched her walk away. Getting trapped in the snow with a woman like her might just be worth the hell he’d catch from his boss for taking more vacation time. Drab it might be, but the curve-hugging waitress uniform she was wearing definitely showed off her assets. He’d always been an ass-man, and the not-so-plain Jane had one hell of a sexy bottom. Not to mention extremely shapely legs, he noticed. Yep, getting snowbound in the middle of nowhere with the cute waitress would be downright fun.

Picking up his fork, Madoc was about to turn his attention to the food he had ordered, but he couldn’t resist glancing over at the counter again. Jane had set down the coffee pot and was talking to the older waitress. From the way the women glanced his way, he had a sneaking suspicion they were talking about him, and he found himself hoping that Jane would come over to talk to him again, but a moment later, she disappeared into the kitchen.

As Madoc ate, the feeling that he’d seen the dark-haired waitress somewhere before came back to him. He was good with faces and usually didn’t forget one, something that served him well in his line of work. But if he had met her, he told himself, surely he would have remembered such an attractive woman. Hell, he probably would have asked her out.

A thought so absurd it was almost laughable popped into his head then, but it gave Madoc pause just the same. It was possible he might have seen her in passing somewhere, but there was also another place he might have seen her. He found it hard to believe, but he did spend a lot of time scanning the faces on the fugitives’ list put out by the U.S. Marshals Service. Actually, he checked on the database almost daily.

Madoc shook his head. There was no way that cute waitress could be wanted in connection with anything more criminal than breaking a few hearts, he told himself. For all he knew, he’d seen her in a magazine somewhere; she was certainly gorgeous enough to be a model.

Putting the ridiculous notion that she was a criminal out of his head, Madoc finished his meal, then paid the check and left the diner. As he did so, he looked back one more time, just to get another look at her, but she hadn’t come out of the kitchen.

Outside, it had begun to snow, hard. He’d better get moving, Madoc thought, or he really would be stuck in this town. He quickened his step, only to halt beside his SUV, his hand on the door handle. What if he were wrong about the girl? What if she really were a fugitive? It wasn’t really that big of a stretch. He was becoming more and more convinced that he had seen her face, and the wanted list was where he spent most of his time looking at people. It could actually be possible she was fugitive. And if she were, then it was his job to bring her in.

Knowing he wouldn’t be able to leave without checking it out, Madoc was about to head down the street to the police station he’d passed on the way to the diner when he spotted the small public library across the street.

Deciding it would be easier to log onto the U.S. Marshals’ fugitive database there instead of explaining his suspicions to the local sheriff, he walked across the street and into the library.

Giving the elderly librarian at the desk a nod, he sat down at one of the computers and connected to the Internet.

With his password, logging onto the Marshals’ fugitive database was simple, and within a few minutes, he was typing the parameters into the search engine. His search came up with almost a hundred female fugitives fitting Jane’s description, and as Madoc scrolled through each one, he found himself praying that the cute waitress wouldn’t be among them.