Most Eligible Spy (7 page)

Shortly after midnight, she woke to the dogs barking outside.

Probably a coyote, she thought, fuzzy-brained. She turned onto her other side and tried to go back to sleep, but the dogs wouldn’t give up. Then she came awake enough to remember the shed and all her recent problems with people prowling her property. Her heart rate picked up as she slipped from the bed.

She left the lights off so she could look outside and not be seen. Plenty of moonlight filtered into the room to make sure that she wouldn’t trip on anything, so she shuffled to the nearest window.

The door on one of the outbuildings hung open. Had she forgotten to close the latch? No, she couldn’t have. She’d been paying extra attention to make sure everything was closed up tight.

She tried to see the dogs but couldn’t. One of them cried out, the long whine cutting through the night. She hurried downstairs and jumped into her boots. Then she stopped in her tracks when she thought about Mo’s revelation that the knife used to slash her tires had also been used in a murder.

The dog whined again. She wasn’t going to hide in here while one of her animals suffered, dammit. Who knew if Mo was even telling the truth? Could be he was just trying to scare her into spilling her brother’s supposed secrets. She grabbed one of Dylan’s rifles to be on the safe side and reached for the door, but then froze in her tracks as she put her hand on the doorknob.

She could see through the glass as a shadow, a human shadow, slipped from the outbuilding and ran around it, the dogs in close pursuit.

She opened the door and whistled for the dogs.

She had to whistle repeatedly before they came at last. She ordered them inside then locked the door and the doggie door. Then she went around to make sure all the other doors and windows were locked tight, too. And then she dialed Kenny. Shane and the Hullett police couldn’t care less about her.

The phone rang and rang, but Kenny didn’t pick up.

Her gaze fell on the card Mo left on her fridge. Okay, so it was possible he’d been right. Maybe someone
was
out there trying to do her harm.

Mo refused to believe that Dylan was innocent, but at least he cared about her and her son’s safety. She dialed his number.

He picked up on the first ring. “Are you okay?” he asked before she could even say her name.

She had to raise her voice to be heard over the barking dogs that were jumping on the door, wanting to be let out. “There’s someone outside.”

“Go upstairs.” His voice snapped tight. “Barricade yourself in one of the bedrooms with Logan and the dogs. I’ll be right there. You have a gun with you?”

“Yes.”

“If you need to use it, use it,” he said before he hung up.

She had to practically drag the dogs upstairs with her. They wanted to go back outside, barking their heads off.

Waking up Logan, too.

“What happened, Mom?” he asked, sleepy-eyed, as she dragged the dogs into his room and locked the door behind them.

“Probably an armadillo.”

His eyes closed. Then opened again. “Can I have pancakes for breakfast?”

“Sure. But it’s not morning yet. You go back to sleep.”

He drifted off again as the dogs jumped onto the bed and settled down around him in a protective circle.

An eternity passed before she heard a car pulling up her driveway. Which set the dogs barking again. She was pretty sure it was Mo, but since she couldn’t see the front from Logan’s room, she stayed put, hanging on to the gun.

Whoever it was didn’t try to come into the house. But soon she did see Mo going around back, walking from outbuilding to outbuilding, checking everything. For the first time, she found his bulk and the determined way he moved reassuring. And she relaxed. Which was so stupid. She shouldn’t relax around Mo. His presence shouldn’t make her feel safe.

He wanted to pin multiple murders on her brother. He was scarcely her friend. And yet, she did feel better for having him here.

He spent half an hour doing a thorough job of checking every building before he came to the back door and knocked. “It’s me.”

“Coming.” She padded downstairs to let him in. The dogs saw their chance and rushed out as soon as the door opened, this time ignoring her calls to get back inside.

He pretty much filled the doorway as he stood on the threshold, looking her over. “Are you and Logan okay?”

And there came that sense of safety again. As if everything was fine now just because he was here. She wanted to throw herself into his arms in relief. Which was an impulse beyond crazy, and very distracting.

He had to repeat his question before it finally reached her brain and she nodded.

“Did you see who it was?”

“Just a shadow.”

“One person or more?”

“I only saw one.” She reached for the kitchen light.

He put his large hand over hers. “In case somebody is out there still, let’s not give them a target.”

“You looked.”

“Around the buildings. You can pick someone off with a good rifle from a fair distance.”

Her stomach tightened at the thought. “Why would anyone want to hurt me?”

He seemed distracted. Kind of staring at her. And as she looked down, she realized she was standing in a shaft of moonlight, wearing nothing but her skimpy summer nightgown.

“Molly.” His voice was low and thick.

Her gaze flew up and met his, and she found his eyes filled with hunger.

Tension ratcheted up and up between them. And then heat. All the heat that she’d been missing with Kenny.

Chapter Four

He’d been doing
commando work long enough to have a sixth sense for knowing when trouble was coming.

Molly Rogers was trouble.

And the need that pulsed through his body as he took in her curves in the lavender silk gown was the least of it.

She stepped around him to the peg board by the back door, grabbed a summer cardigan and wrapped it around herself. He only registered disappointment where he should have felt relief. He didn’t need the distraction.

He liked too many things about her. Her loyalty to her brother. Her devotion to her son. That she dealt with whatever came her way, worked the ranch, took care of everything with dignity and without complaint.

He’d asked around town about her. Found the town gossip at the diner. Mrs. Martin had called Molly “loose,” not the kind of woman a decent man would get tangled with. But when Mo went after specifics...

“So she’s in town and in and out of bars every night?” he’d asked.

“Well, no. She doesn’t really do bars,” the woman admitted with some reluctance.

“With a different man, then, every week, flaunting her boyfriends around town?”

“Not like that.”

“Men go visit her at the ranch?”

“Probably. Just like her mother. It’s in the blood. Women like her draw men to sin.”

Okay, that he could picture. She certainly inspired sinful thoughts in him.

“You know any of the men?”

“She was here with a
sheriff
the other day. And I’m sure there are many others.” Then came a meaningful look. “She never told anyone who her son’s father is, you know. There has to be a reason for
that
.”

At the end, he found out nothing new about Molly, but had felt dirtier for the gossip.

He had no trouble talking to her in the interrogation room, but he had no idea what to tell her now, in the middle of the night in her dark kitchen, with her standing there semi-naked. He wasn’t exactly a ladies’ man like some of the guys on his team.

He wanted her. He couldn’t tell her that. For one, he had no business wanting her. He was here on an op, an op that was tied to her brother, even if she
was
innocent like he was believing more and more with every passing day.

“I hope Logan didn’t get scared,” he said. There, her son should be a safe subject.

She looked toward the stairs. “Barely woke up. Went right back to sleep.” She turned from him and walked to the fridge. “I’m sorry for bothering you in the middle of the night. Thank you for coming out. Would you like a cold drink?”

“No bother. And a drink would be great.”

She poured him sweet tea. “Sun-made.” She filled a glass for herself then sat at the kitchen table by the window and looked out.

He followed her gaze to keep his eyes from sliding to her bare legs. On second thought... He sat across the table from her. Better have something tangible between them.

Moonlight bathed the outbuildings in a silver glow, the stars bright in the sky. With very little pollution out here in the country, every star in the whole universe seemed visible from where they were sitting.

He liked sitting with her in the night, drinking her sweet tea and looking at the stars. He liked it too much. Being with her somehow made him feel as if he’d been lonely all his life, until now. Which was ridiculous. With back-to-back ops, he’d never had time to be lonely.

He shifted in his seat and tried to focus on things he should be focusing on. “Anything you can tell me about your brother will only help.”

She drew back, her face hardening in a split second. A different kind of tension filled the air. “Who would it help? Not him. He’s dead. Killed by one of the men you work with.”

“If we had some answers, it would help you and Logan. Too many things are going on at the ranch. All the smuggling we discovered so far is not a good thing. And it might be just the tip of the iceberg.” That was as much as he could tell her.

“Dylan was not a smuggler.”

“You’re not going to be able to move on until you face the truth. And you’re not going to be safe until we figure out who his partners were and what exactly they were doing with him. They clearly want something from you. Your best chance at staying safe is if you help me take these men out of circulation.”

Her lips flattened. “The truth is, my brother was framed. And the ranch is perfectly safe. The man...was probably just some drifter. It happens.”

He looked at her for a long time. “You’re a smart woman. You’ve faced hardship before, but you made it work. You’re raising your son just fine. You’re handling the ranch...”

She cut him off. “I’m not in denial, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“Dylan—”

“Dylan can’t be the bad guy.” She shook her head stubbornly. “You don’t understand. Dylan was always the perfect child in the family, the small-town football hero, then the successful businessman. I am the family goof-up.”

She had plenty of conviction in her voice to tell him she fully believed that. Apparently, she saw herself in a completely different light than he saw her.

“I get it. Your brother was a very important part of your life. When people who are supposed to care about us do bad things, it’s not an easy thing to face.”

She shot to her feet, her hand grasping the back of her chair. “What would you know about that? I’m sure you grew up in a perfect family. I’m sure your father never drank, your mother never ran off with a stranger, you never had to—” She bit her lower lip.

A long moment of silence stretched between them.

“You think I have the perfect life?” He laughed out loud at that.

But she wouldn’t give up. “You’re strong. Whatever happens, you can defend yourself. You have all kinds of power, working for whoever you’re working for. You’re not at the mercy of anyone or anything. You have everything together.”

He watched her. “And you?”

She let go of her chair and wrapped her arms around herself. “I have nothing together. I just lost my brother. People think he was a criminal. My son is getting into fights defending him. I can barely pay my bills. And strangers are coming to the ranch in the middle of the night for God knows what reason.”

She sank back into her seat. “I’m a single mother. Half the time, I’m petrified of doing something wrong, not being able to protect my son, people being mean to him because of my mistakes.” She shook her head. “I have nothing together. I’m just pretending that I do for Logan’s sake.”

They sat in the quiet of the night for a while after the confession ended, her gaze on the table. She was probably embarrassed that she’d told him all that.

He wished he knew what to say.

In combat, he was a well-trained fighting machine and pretty damned effective. With women, he was a bumbling idiot through and through. But she was in distress, and he hated the thought of that, wanted to say something to make it better if he could. He went with the stark truth, something he rarely, if ever, shared.

He stretched his legs out in front of him. “When I was born, my parents put me into a gym bag and dropped me into the Mississippi River from a bridge.”

Her head snapped up. She stared at him. “I’m so sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about. A Good Samaritan saw and fished me out. I went to foster care. Eventually ended up with the best family anyone could have wished for. Marine sergeant father, four older brothers, a mom who was kind and loving. They made me what I am today.”

She sat silently for a long time. “What happened to your birth parents? It’s just... It’s unimaginable.”

“It’s unimaginable to you because you’re a good mother. They were never identified.”

“Are you still close to your foster family?”

“My mother and my father are gone. I keep in touch with my brothers.” He didn’t like the pity that sat on her face. “You might know one of them, actually. He’s Calvin in ‘Calvin Cat Counting.’”

“What?” Her eyes went wide. “Logan plays that game. Your brother is Calvin Mann? The guy who built an empire in educational software?”

“It’s not that big of a deal. It’s just a company.”

Her eyes went wide. “Oh, my God. You’re Mo.”

He grinned. “I hope so. Otherwise, I’ll have to have all new business cards printed.”

“I mean, you’re Mo the teddy bear, Calvin’s best friend in the game.”

He shook his head. “He did that without consulting me.”

“Wait till Logan finds out.” She laughed.

He couldn’t help staring. She was pretty even under the worst circumstances, but when she laughed, she was dazzling. She should always be like that, happy and carefree.

But even as he thought that, she grew serious again. “Your name, Moses. Is it because...”

“Because I was pulled from water. The social worker who named me was a churchgoing woman.” He finished his drink.

Molly watched him quietly, folding her hands together on the table in front of her. She opened her mouth, then closed it again. Then she finally said, “I want to tell you something, but I don’t want you to make a big deal out of it.”

His instincts prickled. She had his full attention. “Okay.”

“Dylan took out a mortgage on the ranch,” she said after a long minute. Then quickly added, “It doesn’t mean he’s a criminal. He could have needed the money for one of his businesses.”

He chewed on the new piece of information for a few seconds. “Were you aware that he was having financial difficulties?”

She shook her head. “Maybe he wanted to expand the dealership.”

“But he didn’t say anything to you about it?”

“He had so many things going on. He was always running around. Sometimes he didn’t even have time to stop in for dinner.” She watched him. “Is there anything I could say to convince you that he was a good man?”

Moonlight glinted off her soft hair, for once loose and not up in a ponytail, the silky strands spilling over her shoulders. The silver light accentuated the wistful expression on her face. Every cell in his body responded to her. He didn’t want to hurt her, but as far as her brother went...

“I believe he was good to you and Logan.” He wanted to go around the table and pull her into his arms, offer her comfort he had no right offering. He pushed to his feet. “You get some sleep. I’m going back outside to check around again, walk in a wider circle.”

She stiffened as she glanced to the window. “You think that man is still here?”

“It never hurts to be cautious. When the sun comes up, I’ll find his tracks and take some tire molds. Maybe we can identify his vehicle.”

She walked him to the door.

He stepped outside into the night. “Lock it behind me.”

She looked worried. The urge to touch her, to smooth the furrows from her forehead, came on pretty strong. He wished he were more comfortable with women, more of a charmer, someone who could make a woman like her look differently at him.

But he wasn’t. And she was dating the Pebble Creek sheriff.

So he walked away.

* * *

A
FTER
M
OLLY
PUT
L
OGAN
on the school bus Monday morning, she paid her bills online, then looked Moses Mann up on Google while she had her second cup of coffee. Max and Cocoa were somewhere outside. Only Skipper lazed around in the kitchen, lying on the doormat by the back door. The old gal probably tuckered herself out running around outside half the night.

Molly scrolled down the list of hits, a very short list. The few things she found, articles in various newspapers, were mostly about Mo’s brother Calvin Mann. Mo only got a sentence or two, about his role in his brother’s business. He was a silent partner, according to one report.

Apparently, he’d been on active duty with the military when Calvin had started the software company in the family basement. Mo had fronted the money for the entire operation from his combat pay.

The “Calvin Cat Counting” game was a huge hit among elementary-school-age children, one of the top-rated educational games in the country. And they followed up with dozens of others from K–12 education to SAT-and college-prep software. Which meant both Mo and his brother had to be multimillionaires.

So why wasn’t he sitting on some tropical island, sipping margaritas?

Even as the question popped into her head, it made her smile. She couldn’t really imagine Mo as a surfer dude. Granted, he could be laid-back, but...there was also an intensity inside him, a drive. For a moment she couldn’t pin it down, and then she did: he had a soldier’s heart.

He would spend all day in over hundred-degree heat patrolling the border. He would rush to her house in the middle of the night when she was in trouble.

He would make a fierce enemy—she wasn’t going to forget that interrogation anytime soon. But she had a feeling he also made the most loyal friend.

What kind of lover would he make?

She squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t believe she’d just thought that.

To distract herself, she went back to her computer search. He had no Twitter or Facebook accounts, no social-media presence of any kind.

Maybe because he worked for the government. He was a consultant on border protection. Did that require some kind of security clearance and secrecy? She had no idea about these things.

Skipper gave a pitiful moan.

“Tired?” She offered some sympathy as she shut down the laptop. “Me, too. Maybe we’ll get a little more sleep tonight. Want to go for a walk? I need to check on the garden.”

As she walked to the door, Skipper struggled to her feet, and once she stood, she swayed.

“What is it, girl? Is your back hurting again?”

The dog gave another pitiful whine and threw up all over the doormat.

She rushed to her, grabbing a roll of paper towels in the process. “What did you eat out there last night?”

Skipper was notorious for eating anything she came across. She’d once eaten half of a two-by-four in the garage before Molly had noticed. And a cell phone. Several shoes. A dead mouse from the mousetrap in the barn. With the trap. Food that was left out... Forget it. Although she did do her level best to keep anything remotely tempting out of the dog’s way.