At the Crossroads (Buckhorn, Montana #3)(49)

“I can’t believe Jerome called the cops on you even as he gave us that smile and offered us coffee and made small talk,” Alexis said. He could hear her getting madder by the moment.

“He got to you, didn’t he?” he asked with a laugh. His own temper had cooled. He’d expected as much from Jerome. Also, not much surprised him anymore since he’d become so cynical.

Like Alexis, he’d gone into law enforcement because he believed in justice, and look how that had turned out. He’d found himself working for a crooked sheriff and a couple of dirty deputies.

“Jerome with his smooth talk had you believing that he’s this caring, loving father figure to those people at the ranch. Maybe he’s for real and was just doing his duty back there. Or maybe he’s a fraud.”

“Do not give me your life-isn’t-fair look,” she snapped. “I’d just like to see more justice meted out on earth, thank you.”

He smiled. “Which is how you ended up in law enforcement.”

“What’s your excuse?” she demanded, but he could see that she was starting to calm down.

“I guess you and I have that in common,” he said and grinned over at her. “Among other things.”

She shook her head at him even as she felt her cheeks heat. The look in his eyes was a tantalizing reminder of his touch on her naked skin. She swallowed and said, “I think we need to establish some ground rules. For the next forty-eight hours, I try to help you clear your name. That’s it.”

“Why forty-eight hours?” he asked, even though he could guess.

“I figure if we get lucky, we have forty-eight hours before some trigger-happy lawman finds us. I plan to take you in before you get us both killed.”

“I’m glad you brought that up,” he said. “How about this? I drop you off in Bozeman. You tell the sheriff I held you at gunpoint and made you leave Buckhorn with me.” He hurried on before she could object. “I promise to turn myself in forty-eight hours from now.”

“Not a chance.”

“Alex—”

“You also don’t get to call me Alex.”

He looked over at her as he pulled back onto the highway and headed toward Bozeman. His grin was all sexy-cowboy Culhane—just like the look in his eyes.

“And you don’t get to look at me like that. This is a business arrangement. Nothing more, since you’re a married man.”

He scoffed at that. “If that’s the way you want it.” He drove for a few moments before he said, “By the way, you’ve been amazing. I’m still surprised we got out of the café alive.”

She didn’t look at him, couldn’t right then. She’d been terrified that Gene was going to kill him. All the hours she’d spent denying her feelings for this cowboy had gone up in a puff of smoke. The thought of him dying...

“You were pretty amazing yourself.” She looked out the side window, knowing that one look at him and she’d be melting into his arms. They weren’t out of the woods. Far from it. Every lawman in the state would be looking for them. Forty-eight hours. She had little hope they could find Jana in that amount of time, but she was willing to risk her life trying.

She was also no fool, she thought as she glanced over at him. He’d try to ditch her the first chance he got. She would have to keep on her toes. But the real danger was letting that grin of his get to her. He knew exactly how to charm her. If she made the mistake of letting him into her bed again...

“We’ve got a tail,” Culhane said and hit the gas.



CHAPTER EIGHTEEN


THE DARK-COLORED SUV had appeared out of nowhere. Now it sped up, just as Culhane had done. He considered leading the SUV into the foothills and trapping the driver in a spot where they could have a conversation but discarded the idea immediately. He couldn’t take the chance that a confrontation could turn violent since he had no idea who was tailing them.

Right now it could be anyone from dirty deputies or Jack’s friends to guards from the ranch or even friends of Jana’s. Everyone was looking for them—just as they were looking for Jana and the truth. Culhane wondered how many were set on keeping them from finding both.

“Hang on.”

He knew this road. Not far down it, the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin Rivers came together to make the mighty Missouri. Dust rose behind them even as clouds gathered on the horizon with the promise of a snowstorm. Winter was coming late this year.

He came around a corner and hit his brakes hard. The pickup fishtailed as he took a narrow dirt road that left the river and climbed up into the foothills. Fifty yards later, he took another one, this one doubling back toward the valley and Bozeman.

A few more back roads and even one section that was more of a trail than a road, and they dropped down through the Horseshoe Hills. Lights winked on across the Gallatin Valley as a cloak of darkness fell around them.

When he looked back again, there was no one following them. Alexis hadn’t said a word the whole time. He glanced over at her now and felt that tug at his heartstrings like he had from the first time he saw her. There was something so calm, so confident, so solid in her.

He figured it was the way she was raised. Her parents had encouraged her to be anything she wanted to be, even though they’d worried about her being a sheriff’s deputy and now a bounty hunter. However, they’d never stood in her way. That’s probably why he’d fallen in love with her parents the first time he’d met them—and was in awe of what a normal family looked like.