Cowboy Famous: Book 4 (Cowboy Justice Association) (11 page)

Her mouth fell open and she forgot what she was going to say. He’d shocked her completely.

“It’s your own business, and there’s obviously a story there, but I respect your privacy, Jazz.”

“I’ve never met anyone like you.”

More words she couldn’t seem to control. What was it about this man that made her say things better left unsaid?

“I’ve never met anyone like you either.” Now he was smiling and she felt her heart start to pound in response. “How did you get the name Jazz anyway?”

That was a pretty easy question. Comparatively.

“My real name is Janine. But when I went into show business I wanted something different. Something no one else would be named.”

His eyes narrowed and his gaze seemed to look deep inside her. “You wanted to become someone different than Janine.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Yes.” She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She hated discussing anything outside the official bio she used professionally. “I guess so.”

He just nodded and reached back into the box, not probing further. Her breathing went back to normal but her pulse still hammered. She was getting used to it. His proximity seemed to do funky things to her equilibrium.

They reviewed the rest of the contents and it was late in the evening before they were done. Even Barney was yawning and stretching his stiff back and arms. Remembering how Griffin had cornered her about her name in front of the cameras made her want to run and hide. They’d both forgotten they were being taped. She couldn’t let that happen again.

“Shit, I’m beat,” Barney said, grabbing his black leather supply bag and tossing it over his shoulder. “See you in the morning.”

The cameraman practically ran out of the door obviously hoping they wouldn’t find anything else to do. Jazz’s stomach growled loud enough to get Griffin’s attention.

“You need to eat,” he pronounced. “I’m sorry I kept you so late.”

“It’s no big deal.” She slung her purse over her shoulder and started to back towards the door. “I’m probably going to head to the diner.” She sucked in a breath and gathered her courage. She wasn’t ready for the evening to be at an end. “Want to join me?”

She held her breath in hope, butterflies flying merrily in her abdomen and making her a little nauseous. The more time she spent with him, the more time she
wanted
to spend with him. It was a vicious cycle but damned if she wanted to stop.

“I’m too fucking exhausted to eat. I need to get some sleep.” Griffin yawned and she tried to push away the disappointment. “Tomorrow we’ll go talk to Casey’s mother. Have your questions ready.”

Always back to business with him. Well, screw him—she could do that too.

“I will. Thanks.”

She turned and flew out of his office and then out of the station heading straight for the diner. The message was loud and clear from Sheriff Sawyer. He wasn’t interested and that was that.

She needed to concentrate on winning the contest and finding Casey’s killer and not on the sexiest man she could remember seeing in…well, her whole damn life. No sense getting her panties all bunched up about a man that didn’t even see her as a woman.

Focus. She wouldn’t allow herself to be distracted from what was really important. Her career.

Chapter Ten

J
azz sat next to Griffin in the SUV while Barney took up most of the back seat with his camera and sound equipment. They were heading to the edge of town where Margaret Charlock lived in one of those planned housing communities were all the homes looked the same except for a few variations. It was a neighborhood perfect for the bland and colorless woman Griffin had first met nine months ago.

Griffin had finally gotten some quality sack time last night after he’d shut off his mind from thinking about Jazz and Casey and the contest. And Jazz.

Shit, he was in deep with this woman and he barely knew her. At one point last night when she’d shyly asked him if he’d slept he’d wanted to lean down and kiss her full pink lips. Pull her into his arms and see if her curvy body felt just as good against his as it looked. Her expression had been so serious and concerned. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had been truly worried about his well-being. Other than his mother. You’d think after ten kids she’d be immune to a stuffy nose but every time he got a cold she acted like he had one foot in the damn grave.

Keep your mind on business.
Not the glimpse of tanned cleavage just peeking out of her dark red blouse. Or her dainty feet with their shiny cherry red toenails ensconced in a pair of white sandals.

“Are you ready for this?” he asked, more to get his mind out of the gutter than to actually get the answer. He’d already looked over her proposed questions and deleted a few and added his own. If she had been more seasoned or had any law enforcement training whatsoever outside of the last few days, he would have proposed they play good cop/bad cop. But that was out of the question at this point.

Jazz was obviously nervous, plucking at the denim of her jeans and chewing on her lower lip. For someone who acted in front of the camera for a living, she couldn’t act cool about this.

“I think so. I’m worried about doing something wrong,” she admitted, her eyes wide. He felt something lurch in his chest and swung his gaze away from those guileless blue topaz eyes and back to the road.

“You’ll be fine. We’ll do this together. Just remember what we went over. Never lose your cool, and never act like you don’t believe her. Always be her friend. Get her to trust you. That’s when they say things they wouldn’t normally say. If anyone needs to get tough, I’ll do it. Got it?”

“Got it. I–” Jazz started to say something else but Griffin’s swearing interrupted her.

“Shit, what now?” he said to no one in particular, bristling with frustration. It was bad enough being on camera all the damn time, then Dare quitting—now something was wrong with the truck. The check engine light was illuminated and he pulled the vehicle off onto the shoulder. Ignoring the inquiring expressions of both Jazz and Barney, he hopped out and opened the hood. Damn cars these days were all run by computers but it might be something simple.

A quick perusal showed a leak in the evaporative system of the vehicle. A crack in one of the hoses could cause an increase in the pressure in the gas tank. Not good. The thing was this was no crack in an old hose. This was a clean cut as if from a knife.

Someone wanted them to have to pull over. Griffin had a pretty good idea who that was.

He slammed the hood shut and swung back into the driver’s seat, ignoring Jazz’s question about what was wrong. He was too pissed to answer at the moment. Instead he got on the radio and called for a tow truck and eyed the cameraman in the rearview mirror. Finally, he took a deep breath to rein in his anger and turned to the woman beside him.

“Grab your stuff, we’re going to have to walk from here. It’s only a couple of miles.”

Jazz frowned but did as he asked, sliding out of the passenger seat. To Griffin’s amusement, Barney did the same, the heavy leather bag hanging from his shoulder and clearly weighing him down. Not in the best of shape to begin with, there was no way the man would be able to make the two mile hike with all that equipment.

But that wasn’t why he wasn’t going.

“You’re staying with the vehicle, Barney. Someone needs to be here when the tow truck shows up.”

Barney started to protest but Griffin waved away any arguments the man might have had. But he was going to make sure the cameraman knew why he was staying.

“Let’s step over here for a minute and talk.”

Jazz was watching them both with interest but Griffin had to hand it to her—she didn’t ask a lot of questions or try to interfere. She let him pull Barney aside where it would be hard to hear them talk but she could still clearly see them.

“I’m going with you.” Barney’s jaw was set in a stubborn line but Griffin didn’t give a shit. He didn’t like being manipulated. At all.

“The fuck you are,” he said softly, keeping his voice low but with enough depth that Barney would know Griffin was damn serious. “Funny thing about that leak. It looks like a clean cut on the hose. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

The telltale red stained cheeks on the portly cameraman told Griffin everything he needed to know. Barney stammered but couldn’t seem to get any words out.

“I assume this wasn’t your idea,” Griffin grated. “Tony and Gordon?”

The man flushed a deeper crimson and nodded. “They wanted you and Jazz to have to spend time together.”

“Well, that’s exactly what we’re going to do. But you won’t be there. Tough luck.”

“C’mon, sheriff. Cut me a break. Tony’s already crawled up my ass this week. I need this job.”

“Who would you rather have mad at you?” Griffin gave the man his most steely, intimidating stare. The one he’d perfected in the military when he was in the Middle East. “Me or Tony?”

Barney swallowed hard and his red cheeks turned pale. “Tony.”

“I’m glad we’ve come to an understanding. I’ll be having a talk with your boss, don’t worry. I’ll let him know how little I appreciate stunts like this.”

Griffin didn’t waste any more time. Turning away, he motioned for Jazz to follow him and they started trudging on the side of the highway. She didn’t speak for a long time and then finally she stopped and placed her hand on his arm, sending a rush of heat through his body.

He almost cursed out loud at the unwelcome tingling her fingers evoked. She was part of this circus that was fucking with his life and that meant she was trouble. Capital T.

“What happened back there?” she asked, her head tilted to the side in question, her long blonde hair falling over one shoulder. He quelled the urge to reach out and see if the strands were as silky as they looked. “I have a feeling I missed something.”

“I’ll tell you later,” he growled, still pissed off and frustrated at the interlopers who were trying to mess with his life and his town. There wasn’t an amount of money in the world that was worth all this shit as far as he was concerned. “Let’s get a move on. She’s expecting us.”

“You will tell me, Griffin Sawyer,” she vowed, her eyes sparkling with challenge. “Something is definitely going on.”

Something was going on and Griffin was going to nip it in the bud. Now. No one was going to push him together with Jazz just for ratings or money or whatever the fuck their reasoning was. She was off limits.

He was her fucking boss, for Christ’s sake. He didn’t go around dating or fucking his employees.

Well, shit. Now he had an image of them rolling around naked in his giant king sized bed together. He willed his cock to behave behind the button fly of his jeans and concentrated on how the sun was setting in the west. Hell of a way for the day to end.

“I’ll tell you everything, Jazz. Just as soon as we question Margaret Charlock. Deal?”

“Deal,” she echoed. “You’re a very strange man. Do you know that?”

“Hollywood, you don’t know the half of it.”

“And whose fault is that?” Her laughter echoed in the silence. She had a nice laugh. Not too loud and not too soft. Just right, really.

“Mine,” he readily agreed. “Things are complicated, that’s all.”

“You don’t want us here,” she stated succinctly. “I get that.”

“I like you, Jazz. I just don’t like having a camera stuck in my face all the time.”

“Is that why you made Barney stay behind?”

Griffin laughed at the naive question. “Nope. Barney stayed behind for a completely different reason. Now let’s get going.”

They hurried their pace as they walked side by side on the shoulder of the deserted road. Griffin would tell her what was going on later. She’d said Tony was a pretty good guy but Griffin had his doubts. If he was capable of this, what else was he trying to manipulate for his own ends?

Griffin was determined to find out.

*   *   *   *

“I don’t know what we have to talk about,” Margaret Charlock said as they all three sat down in her beige living room. Jazz inwardly shuddered at the impersonal furnishings devoid of any semblance of individuality. There wasn’t even a photo of Casey anywhere that Jazz could see. The room could have belonged to anyone anywhere in the world.