Or about Bubba’s, for that matter? He hadn’t eaten there since his biological father died.

They stopped at the lay-by where Kerry had seen the car the day before. Climbed back up to where Rafe had run into the thug who’d hurt her. As the chief had said, there was no sign of anyone having been there. And no indications of human life anywhere around the trail Kerry had been on, following the guy. If there was a cave out there, it was either much farther in, a hike that would require supplies and more time than they currently had, or it was so well hidden they were walking right by it.

“Maybe the ranger’s death spooked them,” she said as they turned around. “Could be the guy I followed yesterday was out here on Odin’s orders to move their stash. For all we know it could be safely relocated by now, on foot, after dark. It’s not like there’s a shortage of mountains out here.”

He knew she was frustrated all over again, but he was relieved that they’d made it off the mountain without further trouble. Maybe she’d be done with the whole Odin Rogers thing for a day or two, while Dane continued to investigate Grant Alvin’s murder, going over the autopsy report, doing what cops did during potential murder investigations.

Maybe she’d lie low at least until he heard back from Jason. He’d rather know his adversary before meeting the guy’s goons unexpectedly in the dark. Or up on the mountain.

Kerry had insisted on driving her Jeep because she was the one carrying a badge and gun, and she didn’t say a lot as they headed back through town to the hospital.

He wanted to tell her how much she meant to him. To ask her if they could try to find a way to be together sometimes, not just for sex, just to be—but knew it wouldn’t be enough. Not for either of them. Most particularly her. He’d be positioning her for a life alone with only occasional visits from him to break up the monotony. And he knew that even if she said yes, she’d regret it someday. He’d regret doing it to her.

She parked in the visitor lot and turned off the ignition. He’d changed from work clothes to jeans and hiking boots before leaving his office at Colton Oil just after lunch that day. Would have liked to have changed back before heading to the hospital, but intended to walk in beside her just as he was.

Payne wouldn’t approve. So this would be the day that he woke up.

Pray God, let him wake up.

As much as Rafe sometimes kept himself distant from the older man, he loved Payne. Respected him.

“You’re sure you want to be seen in here with me?” Kerry asked, turning to him in the Jeep, with one foot already out on the blacktop.

In her blue tweed pants, light blue cotton oxford, and cowboy boots, and with that gun hanging from her belt, she was all business. She’d pulled her hair back into a ponytail. He had a sudden vision of that long, straight auburn halo half covering him as she sat on top of him, and shook the vision away.

He was proud of her. Of what she’d made of her life.

“Of course I want to be seen with you,” he told her. If his family saw them together, he only had to say he was making use of police resources working on the case—finding out who switched Ace at birth, and that he was trying to help Kerry find who shot Payne, so that she’d leave Ace alone. And other than the family, he didn’t much care what people saw or thought.

He was the Cinderella boy. The cowboy’s kid who’d been lucky enough to be adopted by the rich and famous Coltons. It didn’t matter what Rafe thought or did, or who he actually might be; no one saw anything but that feel-good story. So he’d quit trying to be anything else or getting to be close friends with anyone in Mustang Valley. At home he was a bit of a loner.

When he traveled on business, he was different. He socialized. Went to the theater. Out to dinner. Lived more of a regular life.

He didn’t bother explaining it all to Kerry.

Chapter 13

“Mr. Colton? The doctor hasn’t been in to see your father yet today, so no news yet...” The brown-eyed blond nurse didn’t even seem to see Kerry when she walked in the door of the hospital next to Rafe. “Will I see you up there?”

The woman then glanced in Kerry’s direction briefly, long enough to take stock of the gun at her hip, and the badge she’d hooked to her belt loop on their way in. Long enough to dismiss her as potential competition for Rafe. She was just the cop on the case.

For a second there she thought about letting the woman know just where and how Rafe Colton had fallen asleep at four o’clock that morning, but she rose above her baser self, and said, “Have you been working here long?” Before Rafe had a chance to answer the woman’s initial question.

“Ten years, why?” the woman asked, friendly enough, but looking back at Rafe as though she’d much rather be speaking with him. So would Kerry. It was the effect Rafe Colton had on women, apparently.

“I’m looking for anyone who might have worked here forty years ago. Or who knows someone who did.”

The woman—Brenda, her name badge said—nodded. “You want someone who was here that day the electrical fire destroyed all the nursery records, the same day Ace Colton was born,” she said. “I heard Mrs. Colton and her daughter talking about it upstairs.”

What she wanted to know was who switched Ace Colton at birth, and to get there she was hoping to find the doctor who’d delivered him, but her purpose was no business of Brenda’s.

“I’d really just like to speak to anyone who might know who was working at the hospital around that time.”

Brenda shook her head. “I really don’t know, but if you ask Terrence, downstairs in janitorial, he’ll have a better idea. I didn’t think of him until I was coming down for my lunch, because he’s not medical personnel, but he’s like a fixture around here. The guy’s like, sixty. From what I hear, this was his first job. He quit school to take it to help his mom and he’s been here ever since...”

The story wasn’t a surprising one. Life in the mountainous desert wasn’t easy. And jobs weren’t plentiful, either, unless you worked a ranch. Some of their residents actually commuted the hour or so back and forth to Tucson every day just to work a decent, well-paying job with benefits.

“Thank you,” she said to the woman, and headed toward the elevator before she could see Rafe smile his goodbye. He pushed the down button before she got there.

Tags: Tara Taylor Quinn Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net