Melody's Six

“Exactly.” Mel took a chance and rolled to her side. Dean was a sexy shadow in profile. Following his preference, he’d taken the side of the bed closest to the door. One more example of his protective streak. They’d bickered about it on their first same-room assignment and since then she accepted it as something he needed to do. She allowed it for the sake of a happy partnership. One of those lose the battle win the war kind of things.

“I’ve decided I don’t care how he got here or who helped him,” Mel declared. “We can’t undo it.”

Dean sighed. “You don’t believe he’s changed.”

“Not at all.” Mel flopped to her back again. “We have to figure out what the dude ranch is covering.”

“Money laundering is at the top of my list,” Dean suggested.

“That’s a no-brainer,” she agreed. “But that isn’t something we’ll be able to unravel with a week on the ground while we’re keeping Spalding and the others safe.”

“And if we don’t find anything? Do we just forget about everything he did over there to our own people? To you?”

There was something comforting in Dean’s fury. It was the gritty ache in his voice that she didn’t dare examine too closely. Not after that kiss.

“Atwell is not innocent. It’s beyond him. We’ll find something.” On a big yawn, she snuggled deeper into the covers. “Get some sleep.”

“And then what?” Dean’s irritable grumble rasped across her senses.

She pressed her lips together. “I don’t know. I guess the ranch goes up for sale and someone honest can take over.”

The mattress dipped as he moved closer. “Mel Boyd, are you telling me you want to own a dude ranch?”

She snorted, then buried her face in her pillow to smother her laughter. Leave it to Dean to bring the humor when she was on the verge of hunting an enemy one more time.