Colton's Lethal Reunion (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

But was he really hoping to launch himself back into her private world? To at least gain her trust back again?

Because if that was it, he had to stop.

He had no more to offer her sitting at that table than he’d had twenty-three years before. Time had passed, but his choices would be the same.

And this was why he didn’t do relationships. There were no definitive rights and wrongs. Things were too complicated in an unsolvable way.

“The only Gelman I’ve been able to find in census records from forty years ago lived in Mountain Valley.” Kerry finally spoke up.

Rafe did a double take. Was she seriously talking about the case?

She was looking at her computer screen. “That Gelman was male, listed as head of household with a wife, but no name listed for her. They had no children. He was single when he died. There was no next of kin. There’s no Gelman, Nan or otherwise, coming up anywhere else, on any databases. And none listed in hospital employment records.”

Not good news. And not what he wanted to talk about at the moment, either.

“So I’m thinking...either Noelle remembered her name incorrectly...or the crabby nurse could be the person we’re looking for. A woman who’s capable of stealing a baby could probably have found a way to lie about her credentials, too. Maybe she got the job at the hospital, specifically in the maternity ward, because she planned to steal a baby all along. Could be it was part of a racket. Maybe they were trafficking them. Selling them to couples who couldn’t have kids. It wasn’t like records were computerized back then.”

He listened. Agreed that her theory had merit.

“Kerry...”

“Yeah?” Her gaze was still on the screen in front of her.

“We need to talk.”

That got him a glance. “We are talking.”

“About what I just told you.”

“No, we don’t.”

In all the different ways he’d figured this scenario could play out, and he’d imagined many of them over the years, her reaction wasn’t even coming close. To any of them. The really good ones. Or the really bad.

“I loved you,” he told her, just to make that point very clear.

She glanced up again. Nodded. “I loved you, too.”

“I would never have abandoned you if Payne hadn’t given me no choice. How could I love you and then get your father fired and make you lose the only home you’d ever known? You and Tyler could have ended up in foster care. They might have split you up. And your dad...he’d have drunk himself to death without the two of you. Without his work.”

“He kind of did drink himself to death,” she said. She was looking him right in the eye. There was no storm in her gaze, no struggle. He didn’t get it.

“I did the right thing.”

“I agree.”

He frowned. “Then...”

“Then let’s get to work,” she said. “The past is past. You laid the last piece of it to rest, and I’m grateful for that. But right now we’ve got work to do. Two different cases to solve. Or, at least, I do. You’re free to go anytime you like.”

So she no longer cared if he went out and got himself killed that night?

“After tomorrow morning, of course,” she said. “I’d appreciate if you’d stay put tonight. I’d have to get the chief out of bed if you left, and he’d have to find someone to protect you until morning...”

This was asinine. They go from at least caring about one another to... Strangers? Because he’d protected her family all those years ago?

She was watching him. And he saw it the second it happened, the break in her control. Saw a flash of something in her eyes before she turned her attention back to her computer screen.

“Kerry,” he said, before she could slide away from him again. “Don’t go cold on me. Please.”