Beauty and the Brit (17 page)

“Rio, no, you don’t have to—” David began.

“I could use a job, you know that.”

“Are you serious about this, dear?” Claudia asked. “Do you have any experience?”

“Eight years at three different restaurants in Minneapolis. I’m not a chef, but I’ve worked on a couple of grill lines. I’ve waitressed, and I’ve handled the till.”

“Goodness me, we have an expert right under our noses.”

“Now hang on a sec, Claudia.” David stared at Rio, and she braced for a fight. But, though she expected condescension, she saw only concern. “It’s not my place to tell you what to do—”

“That’s right.”

“But I don’t want you to do this because you have some daft idea you need to pay to stay at my place.”

“That’s part of it,” she admitted. “But I have other reasons for needing to work. Besides, you just heard her say how they need an extra pair of hands right now. There’s one catch.” She turned to Claudia.

“Yes?”

“I honestly don’t know how long I’ll be here. And you probably want to know exactly what happened back in Minneapolis. If I’m not the best choice for this. I’d understand.”

“Sweetheart, if you could give us a week, just so we could get through next weekend’s library fund-raiser and interview someone who wants a more permanent position, we’d be grateful. Could you come back tomorrow and we’ll talk about details?”

“I . . .” She hesitated. “I think so. I’ll need to impose on someone to help me get my car. It’s in Minneapolis.”

“We’ll help you,” Jill said.

“You didn’t want to go into the cities,” David countered.

“I do now.” With a firm look she stopped any further protest and nodded at Claudia. “What time would you like me here?”

“Mid-morning between the breakfast and lunch rushes? I’ll talk to Effie, too, and let her know. You can meet Karla and Gladdie, as well.”

“All right. I’ll be here.”

“And just like that, Heaven has answered our prayer.” Claudia patted her on the shoulder. “For that, drinks are on the house.” She chuckled. “I’ve always wanted to say that. Too bad we aren’t talking whiskey.”

Chapter Twelve

A
FTER LUNCH, FOR
which David and Chase split the bill, Rio’s confidence flagged when she realized she had to face Chief Hewett and find out how to get her car back. David insisted on taking her, and he sent Bonnie back to the stable with Jill, who had to first drop Chase at his clinic. Rio’s head spun at all the finagling. She was used to making a decision and carrying it out. By herself. Depending on other people, and watching them have to change their plans because of her, made her feel like she’d lost all control.

All the more reason to suck it up and talk to Hewett, even though the man probably wouldn’t walk across the street to greet her unless she was in some kind of trouble.

The Kennison Falls Police Department was far from ostentatious. A small, brick-front building housed a sixties-era lobby with two brown Naugahyde benches and a handful of uncomfortable-looking chairs. At a chest-high counter with a small array of monitoring devices behind her, sat a woman of about forty with a broad, cheerful face and curly black hair.

“Hey, Faith.” David greeted her. “Anything big going on today?”

“Somebody egged Miller’s barn last night. Two kids lit a handful of Black Cats in the Dumpster behind the grocery store. And Lillian kicked Ezra out again.”

David snorted. “Happens about once a month,” he explained. “Ezra is eighty-six and likes his boilermakers and
Playboy
magazines. Lillian is eighty and can handle the alcohol, but not when that brown-wrapped magazine is delivered. She sends him to the Motel 6 ten miles away and tells him to stay out.”

“That’s the police blotter? For real?”

Rio honestly couldn’t believe this was the sort of thing there was to discuss at a police station. At the precinct nearest her in Minneapolis, it would have been racially motivated graffiti, .38-caliber bullets, and a pimp selling a girl.

David touched her arm, his face full of empathy. She wondered what her face was saying and worked to make it blank even while she reveled in the warmth of his touch. She liked that his fingers imparted safety but not possession. When he dropped his hand, the spot felt empty. She cleared her throat.

“I’m here to see the chief.”

“I’m not surprised.” Chief Hewett appeared from around a corner with familiar toughness in his face but sans his bulky utility belt. “I heard you’ve already been over to the State Park office and talked to the ranger.”

“And you’d already beaten us there,” David replied. “But we’re here about an entirely different matter.”

“Oh?”

“I’ve decided I need my car after all,” Rio said. “I’m willing to pick it up, so I need to know what I have to do to get it today.”

“Must it be today?”

She eyed him suspiciously. “I need to use it tomorrow morning.”

“Fine. I’ll have it to you by 9:00 a.m.”

“You?” She was flabbergasted. “You’ll get my car? Why?”

“Because you made a good point, I don’t want you leading Hector Black here, accidentally or otherwise. I have someone who’ll drop the car off in Faribault fifteen miles north of town in the middle of the night, and someone else who’ll bring it here.”

More convoluted scheming.

“I would never purposely lead him back here.”

“No. But If Hector Black or your brother is trying to find you through the car, maybe the police can lure one of them out. If not, the car’s yours and we all stay a little safer.”

“Keep the riffraff out, right?” Rio asked a little more sarcastically than she should have.

“Exactly.” Tanner Hewett was a handsome man beneath his wall of anger. She wondered what had made him so unpleasant. “But there’s also your safety. There’s never been a murder in Kennison Falls, so the records say. I don’t plan to have you be the first.”

A statistic? That was all he cared about?

“Fine.” She picked a small sticky notepad off Faith’s desk. After scribbling quickly, she peeled off the top paper and thrust it at the chief. “This is my cell phone number. I’d like to know the minute you have the car.”

“I can do that for you.”

The man was an enigma. Half antagonist, half seemingly willing helper.

“Thank you. What will I owe you?”

“We’ll work that out when I’ve got the car.”

The idea of paying out close to two hundred dollars still stung, but with the hope of money coming in, the prospect wasn’t as terrifying.

“I appreciate your help, Chief Hewett.”

“I want this situation resolved, too, Miss Montoya. The sooner I don’t have to worry about gangs from Minneapolis finding out about our little town, the happier I’ll be. I’m hoping this will speed up the process of getting you home.”

Her jaw worked soundlessly. Of all the arrogance . . . Just about the time she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

David touched her again, this time on the shoulder. She lifted her eyes to his and found an angry light she’d never seen in them before. He leaned close to her ear, and breath tickled the soft skin of her lobe. “Ignore his tone. Like you did last night. It’ll be okay.”

Shivers flooded her system. He pulled away, leaving the comforting scent of his aftershave.

“That would be good for all of us, Chief,” she managed to say without rancor.

David smiled, coolly. “Thank you from me, as well,” he said. “And you and I will be in touch on our other issues.”

“Yes, we will.” The chill hadn’t left Hewett’s eyes either.

“I think you’ll find our group is more than willing to find some legal way to compromise. We love that space, so we’ll all work it out.”

“I’ll look forward to the interactions.”

Once outside again, Rio let out a huge breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Wow.”

“He’s quite a fellow, our new chief.”

“Quite a fellow? He’s an arrogant asshat.”

He snorted. “Usually arrogance comes about because of some insecurity.”

“Are you always so understanding? You compromise on everything, even that little spot you all want to keep using. Why back down?”

“Because he’s right. We were breaking the law. We just always had permission before. If he’s not going to give his, then we run the risk of losing it completely if we counter him.”

She made a rude snort.

“You feel the same way,” he continued. “I know you do. I saw it last night. You didn’t antagonize him when you could have. You knew it would do you no good.”

He was right. Still, his reasonable tone rankled. “You can read my mind, can you?”

“You’re pretty open and honest, love. It’s an attractive quality. Something I could use a little more of.”

“You? If you’ve ever told a lie in your life, I’ll clean ten stalls tomorrow morning.”

“I’ll tell Andy to come in later.”

He chuckled and put his arm around her shoulders to guide her away from the station door. “You’re a breath of fresh air around here, you know. Come on, I’ve got horses to ride, and you’ve got one more afternoon of vacation if you’re hell-bent on taking a job.”

“You don’t really think I’m crazy?”

“I do. But I also understand.”

“Do you?”

“I’m beginning to. You’ll be more stressed if I make you relax.”

Yeah, she thought. He’d hit that nail on its head.

F
RED WOKE
D
AVID
from a deep sleep with frantic, watchdog barking that only meant one thing—there were people around. But at 5:45 a.m.? He crawled from bed and cracked his blinds to see a pair of headlights swing past the house and shine toward the barn. Frowning, he grabbed a pair of jeans from the floor next to his bed. Rummaging in the gray, predawn dimness through a basket of unfolded laundry, he found a T-shirt, and as he yanked it over his head, the blinds lit up again from the outside. A second glance revealed a second car.

“Bloody hell,” he mumbled.

It didn’t occur to him what might be going on until he was in the foyer slipping a pair of running shoes over his bare feet.

“David?”

He glanced back up the stairs. A disheveled Rio eyed him uncertainly. “Is it possible this is my car?”

“I’m about to go find out. You should stay here in case it’s someone you don’t care to meet.”

She rubbed her eyes and yawned absently. “I’m pretty sure if Hector or Paul had found us, they wouldn’t drive up in two cars with their lights blazing.”

Good point. He stared, entranced by the vulnerability sleepiness gave her, and dry-mouthed at the careless sexiness she clearly didn’t know she exuded. A worn pair of cotton sleep pants covered in hearts hung low on her hips. A minty-green, spaghetti-strap, knit shirt thing clung to her torso and left her soft breasts outlined by the dim light. She pulled on a lightweight hoodie as she came down the rest of the stairs, a pair of flip-flop sandals slapping softly against her soles.

“All right,” he said. “Let’s go see what’s going on.”

He held the door and she ducked under his arm. Soft strands of her burnished hair flopped in messy disarray across the top of her head. He desperately wanted to smooth it. He refrained.

Over the roof of the state-of-the-art arena, the one to which he’d let his father add every bell and whistle, streaks of purple and gold heralded the sunrise. Two car doors slammed. Rio pointed.

“That’s my car.”

Two shadows moved toward them, and David couldn’t miss the tall, solid physique of Dewey Mitchell, who ran the local gas and service station. It made perfect sense to have Dewey involved, David thought. He imagined there wasn’t much trouble Dewey couldn’t get himself out of.

“Sorry to wake you.” Dewey’s laconic voice cut through the morning air. “We were hoping to leave the car and go so it would be here when you got up.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” David replied.

“It was cool. We were kind of part of a sting.” A younger man trailed Dewey, one David recognized as Gladdie Hanson’s grandson Joey, who’d been working at the garage all summer.

“A sting?” Rio asked, her voice no longer sleep-soaked.

“Rio, meet Dewey Mitchell. Dewey, this is Rio Montoya, the owner of the Taurus.”

“Nice to meet you.” Dewey’s big grip engulfed Rio’s pale hand, but she shook firmly. “This is Joey Hanson. Got him to come along and be my getaway driver. I’m sorry to say, the fellow the police are looking for never showed up.”

“Showed up where?”

“The way I understand it, the Minneapolis police had a plainclothes officer take your car from the impound lot around one this morning and drive it to Rosemount, ’bout twenty miles from here. They left it sit there about four hours, and then Joey and I went to pick it up. Guess they watched it pretty closely, thinking somebody would try to find it to find you?”

“That’s crazy!” Rio looked from Dewey to David.

“I admit I laughed when Chief Hewett first asked me to help with this,” Dewey said. “It seemed like maybe he’d been watching too much
Law & Order
.”

“No lie,” Rio agreed.

“But turns out it was really the Minneapolis police thought this up. They want this guy, too. Guess he’s been moving around outside his normal area, held up two convenience stores, and disappeared again. All Hewett had to do was find a person to bring the car back.”

“I’m sorry you had to get involved.” A tinge of the Rio-hardness David was coming to recognize rising behind the words. “I don’t mean for other people to be a part of this.”

“It was cool,” Joey said. “Really.”

“Well, you got the car,” David said. “Thank you.”

“Yes. Thank you.” Rio’s voice thinned.

She stepped away and took a walk around her car, stopping on the far side to squat and disappear from view.

“She’s awfully young to be in such a fix.” Dewey looked to David.

“She’s older and tougher than she looks,” he said. “Impressive girl, actually. Her brother is friends with the bloke wanted for arson. Personally, I’d like to know why a two-bit thug is so interested in her. It doesn’t make sense. But this is a start to solving the puzzle, I guess.”

“I’m glad we could help.” Dewey stuck his hand out. “We don’t need anything else.”