Be Mine(22)

Good to know.

Nate laughed at himself as she turned away, already moving toward the bar to get their pitcher. But while he was still shaking his head at his own foolishness, Jenny jerked to a stop, frozen midstep.

Luis was leaning toward him, but Nate held up a hand and kept his eyes on Jenny as she slowly pivoted.

She frowned and cocked her head. Her eyes narrowed at him. And then her face broke into a grin wider than any she’d ever given to him.

“Deputy Hendricks?” she asked.

He tried not to feel thrilled. “Yes, ma’am.”

She laughed, her blond hair swinging as her chin tipped up. “Oh, my God! I didn’t recognize you without the shades!”

“Yeah, I noticed,” he said dryly.

“It’s not my fault! You look totally different. Not nearly so scary.”

“Still a little scary, though, I gather?”

Instead of answering, she just stood there looking at him for a few long seconds. “My God,” she finally said. “Look at you. You’re a real person.”

“That’s just a rumor.”

“Okay,” she said, still smiling. Then she shook her head. “Okay. Well, the beer’s on the house, Deputy.”

“It’s Nate,” he responded.

Her eyebrows rose. “I like that.”

She liked that. Thank God she finally turned away, because Nate knew he looked far too pleased with her opinion of his name.

“Hey,” his cousin said, the worry in his voice making it clear he’d already dismissed any idea of the cute server. “What the hell am I going to do, man?”

Nate kept his eye on Jenny Stone’s swinging hips until she was swallowed by the crowd at the bar before he gave up the vigil and met Luis’s eyes. “No kidding around, are you asking me as a cousin or a cop?”

“Hell, I don’t know. Both?”

“We’ve got two options, but whichever way we do this, I don’t want James around. If you want me to handle this as your cousin, I’ll do that. We send James away to keep him out of the fight, we tear down the greenhouse, burn the plants and put the fear of God in Victor. But that means he’s got to go. You have to be sure Teresa understands that. I can do this on the quiet, but he has to leave.”

“Okay. Yeah. We could do that.”

“But,” Nate added, letting the word hang there.

Luis gave him a weary look. “But what?”

“Are you sure he’s working alone? If he doesn’t have a truck, how did he get all this set up in the first place? And where did he get the money? The plants, the heaters, the lamps. Do you really think he built that greenhouse and started clearing that land on his own?”

Luis had gone pale. “If James...but he doesn’t have any money, and he’s only missed one day of school!”

“I don’t mean James. But that’s the other reason I want him gone. I want to watch the place. See who’s coming and going. And I don’t want to see James. If Victor isn’t the only one involved, if he’s not the money and the brains, I’m going to have to handle this as a cop, and I can’t have any reason to mention James in the reports.”

Luis looked grimmer than ever.

“How do you want to handle it, Luis?”

“Christ. Victor isn’t a great guy, but he’s not a criminal mastermind, either. He’s working for someone. Some guy who uses kids to do the dirty work, I’m sure. Will you check it out for me?”

“Yeah. You’ll send James away?”

“He’s going to be out of school for a day or two next week for Presidents’ Day, anyway. I’ll tell Teresa that John Lopez needs help with calving over in Casper. She’s always liked that guy and she keeps complaining that James needs to learn how to work harder.”

“Has calving started yet?”

“Hell if I know.”

Jenny arrived with the pitcher, and she paused as if she’d say something, but someone called her name from another table and she flitted away with an apologetic smile.

Nate poured two beers and slid one toward his cousin. “Teresa’s going to find out about all this, you know. You can’t hide it for long.”

“I know.” Luis closed his eyes for moment. “But I don’t want to tell her until I know the extent of it. Otherwise she’ll convince herself it’s nothing and we should sweep it under the rug.”

“It’s big money these days, cousin. People get shot over it. Remember that. You could’ve been killed just going out to the cabin if the wrong person was waiting. There was that case up in Gallatin Forest last year. A hiker ran across a crop in a federal forest and someone shot him to keep him from talking. Luckily, the shooter had bad aim.”

Luis nodded. “Yeah. I know. Damn it. That little shit Victor has put my family and my livelihood in danger. And if he’s involved James...” He took a deep breath. “I can’t just let it go. I’ll call you when James is on his way, all right?”

“Perfect.”

Luis only drank half his beer before he blew out a deep breath and stood. “I’ve got to get going.”

Nate stood and gave him a tight hug.

“Thank you, man. I don’t know what I would’ve done about this if you weren’t around.”

“Does that mean you’ll stop calling me The Fuzz behind my back?”

Luis slapped his shoulder and stepped away. “Hell, Nate. You know that was because of that mustache you tried to grow to be more like me in high school. I figured you became a cop just to try to live down the nickname.”

“If you want my help, you’ll keep that quiet.”

“Got it.” Luis’s smile faded. “I’ll call you.”

Nate sank back into his seat and topped off his beer. He wasn’t going to take any unofficial law enforcement action, but he could poke around the cabin a little without stepping too far outside the rules. There might be some personal danger, but Nate was willing to risk a lot for the sake of Luis and his family. Luis was more like a brother than a cousin. Nate had a sister, but she was a few years older and had always been more of a second mother than a playmate. But Luis...if he needed help, Nate would step up any day.

“Hey!” Jenny suddenly appeared, her head tilted toward the front door of the saloon. “I hope your friend’s coming back. I can’t let you drive if you drink that whole pitcher on your own. I’m sure you understand. The cops around here are real uptight.”

Nate raised one eyebrow and refused to meet her smile.

“Right. Ha! So, anyway...” she drawled.

“Luis isn’t coming back, but I promise not to finish the pitcher by myself.”

“Are you waiting for someone?”

“No. I’m on my own.”

“I could...” Her eyes slid to the chair Luis had vacated, but then she just flashed a wide smile. “I’ll check back on you later.”

Nate looked from the chair to her. “I wanted to talk to you, actually. Care for a drink?”

“Yes! I was just about to take my break. I’ll be right back.”

He watched her ponytail bounce as she hurried toward the bar. If someone had asked him an hour before, and if he’d allowed himself to be completely honest, he would’ve said that sitting down for a drink with Jenny Stone was the goal of the evening. But at this point, he had no idea if he should be satisfied or just embarrassed that he was so damn easy for her.





CHAPTER TWO



“I’M TAKING MY BREAK,” Jenny said to Benton, trying to hide the fact that she was slightly out of breath as she reached past him to grab a clean glass. “Can you survive without me for ten minutes?”

“No problem,” he said, his eye on the pitchers he was filling.

Thank God. Deputy Hendricks was... Wow. He was...making her blush from across the room.

She cleared her throat and glanced at Benton, hoping he couldn’t see her embarrassment. Because Nate Hendricks was so damn hot he made her thighs clench a little.

She’d spent so much time worried that he was hiding close-set bug eyes under his glasses that she hadn’t braced herself against the opposite possibility: that one glance from those icy gray eyes and she’d melt into a pile of awkward mush. She’d almost invited herself to have a drink with him. She kind of had.

Jenny took a deep breath. It didn’t matter. He’d come here to see her. Or maybe not. Maybe he’d come to interrogate her. Or tell her he’d changed his mind and she needed to come down to the station with him.

Oh, Jesus, what if she was about to get arrested?

“No,” she said to herself as she untied her serving apron and laid it on the counter. “Now you’re just being weird.”

“What’s wrong?” Benton called. “You being weird again?”