Heroes In Uniform (305 page)

Gary nodded. “Piece of cake. Does the signal need to match this tag's pattern?”

“Nah. Even if the poachers have access to the codes, I doubt they have them memorized.” Cooper looked at Maggie for confirmation. “You think?”

She shook her head. “Nope.”

“Okay, no problem.” Gary took a seat at the dining table and started pulling parts from the cartons and coffee cans that covered its surface. “I should be able to whip this up in no time. You want a receiver, too?”

“Sure. Why not.” Coop spotted an old thirties-style radio among the high tech equipment packed into an old hutch, and monkeyed with its dials.

Gary mused, “So, let me guess. You're going to set this thing out in the forest, hope the poachers mistake it for a bear, and arrest them when they start shooting.”

Coop grinned. “You've been readin' my mail.” He plopped down on a dining room chair.

“Well, it's just simple enough, it should work.” Gary looked up. “Say, you guys want some iced tea? Help yourself in the fridge.”

Maggie laid a hand on Coop's shoulder, smiling at the two of them. “I'll get it. You guys concentrate on that gizmo.”

“Thanks, baby. Kitchen's that way.” Coop watched her walk out of the room, aware of a pleasant twinge in his groin.

Gary glanced over at him. “Old buddy, you're looking like the cat who's eaten an entire cage full of canaries.”

Coop grinned. “That obvious,
eh
?”

“I'd say you've got it pretty bad.” Gary chuckled. “Can't take your eyes off her.”

“Scary feeling. I keep waiting for her to wake up and take off running.”

“She'd be a fool,” Gary said, resuming his work. “Of course, you'd be the bigger fool for letting her.”

“You don't know the half.”

“It's a big, lonely world out there,” Gary said, a trace of sadness coloring his tone. “Looks like you've found company for the trip, you lucky bastard.”

“I hope so,” Coop said. “I really hope so.”

Barely Dangerous: Chapter Ninety

With a smirk, Coop slammed shut the back hatch of his camper as Maggie giggled irrepressibly. “Come here, you wanton.” He pulled her close, unable to decide whether to laugh, or wince in mortification.

They were standing in the parking lot of a large department store in Redding, on their way back from Chico. He’d insisted they stop to buy a futon. He was not spending another night on that torture instrument she called a bed.

“I'm sorry.” She grinned, unrepentant. “That salesman was just too easy to fluster.”

“Did we really have to try out every bed in the place? The poor kid almost died of embarrassment.” He tipped his hat up and kissed her.

“We had to be sure we’re getting the best one.”

“
Uh-huh
.” He backed her up to the camper. “Now, about those ancient Indian sexual rites you were talking about researching...”

She snickered. “Know any?”

He pressed his body into hers. “I wish I did.”

“No?”

“Well...” He watched her tongue peek out and wet her lips. “You talking about Indian, or Indian?” He drew a finger down the front of her T-shirt, pausing on her beaded nipple.

Two old ladies loaded with packages trotted past, clucking their tongues. Maggie clapped a hand over her mouth covering a laugh.

Coop led her around to the passenger side and unlocked the door. “You are so bad.”

Before she slid in, she put her hands on his chest and kissed him. Slowly, her expression turned serious. “Wolf...”

He looked into her eyes and his heart constricted.
Ah, hell. Here it comes
. And things had been going so well. At least, he’d thought so.

He tossed his hat onto the floor of the truck, and stabbed a hand through his hair. “What is it, pup?”

She looked reluctantly up at him. “Wolf, are we getting ourselves in trouble, here?”

He jingled the car keys in his hand. “Trouble?”

He had really hoped her feelings ran as deeply as his did, despite the short time they’d known one another. True, that morning she had skirted the issue of him moving his belongings up to the tower by joking that all he'd need was a toothbrush. And when he had suggested buying the futon on the way back from Gary's, he'd had to talk her into it by saying he needed one for the camper, anyway.

Now, he could tell the boom was about to fall.

Damn
.

He braced himself for the impact, gripping the top of the open cab door, and fixed his eyes on the horizon over the roof. He was calm. He was very, very calm.

And said, “You told me the day we met that trouble was your specialty.”

She slipped her arms around his middle. He kept his where they were. Strands of their hair mingled in the hot Valley breeze as she leaned her cheek against his shoulder.

“That's the whole problem,” she said softly. “I attract trouble. Those poachers are probably still after that battery. Too many people know I reported the bear to keep it a secret. It could be dangerous for you to be with me.”

Seriously? That’s what she was going with?

“If I'm any kind of a man,” he said evenly, “that would be even more reason for me to move in with you.” He looked down, preparing himself for the worst. “Now tell me what's really bothering you.”

Barely Dangerous: Chapter Ninety-One

Maggie's body trembled slightly against Coop's. She sighed against his neck, then looked at him pleadingly. But he wasn't inclined to cut her any slack. He wanted the whole, ugly truth. And he wanted it now, before he got any more emotionally involved than he already was.

It had been a mistake mixing business with pleasure.

A huge mistake.

After a moment's silence, she said, “From the moment I met you, I could think of nothing else but how it would feel to lie in your arms. When I finally did, it was wonderful.” She smiled wistfully. “Better than wonderful. More like incredible.”

Well, that was something, anyway.

He waited for her to continue, knowing this wasn't what she had to say.

“And now, after less than a day, we're buying a bed together and talking about you moving up to the tower.” She pulled back, and perched herself on the edge of the cab bench, gazing up at him. “You're about to solve this case. What happens then?”

He loosened his grip on the door and leaned against the frame, regarding her. It seemed obvious to him that she was just begging for an excuse to back off their growing relationship.

Sorry. He wasn't about to sink himself by opening his mouth and giving her the ammunition she needed.

The silence stretched out.

She cleared her throat. “Okay, I'll tell you what happens. You'll go back to Sacramento and your undercover job, and in a few—” She toed the camper door with her boot. “And soon, I have to go back to L.A.. To...my job and everything. What we're doing here...it scares me. I'm just afraid we're setting ourselves up for disaster. The future— I just wish—” She shook her head, sighing deeply.

What was this about her going back to L.A.? It was only August. The fire season lasted at least another month. Was this about that Dinny character? About his, “See you soon”...?

Coop studied her for a long minute, trying to decide what strategy to take.

He wanted her. He'd fight to keep her.

He'd fight dirty if he had to.

Squatting in front of her, he squelched the urge to crush her in his arms and kiss away her doubts. Physical persuasion would solve nothing. He needed to use cool logic and calm cunning.

“In the Cree hunting dreams I told you about,” he said, “a man asks for a dream to come and tell him what kind of animal he will kill the next day, and where to find it. Maybe what weapon he should use to please the animal. The hunter wants to see into the future before he ventures out.”

She was watching him carefully, the look on her face halfway between hope and misery.

He wanted to tip the scales toward hope. “Think of the dreams that were sent to you, little pup. You found your dreams—they came true.”

He rose to his full height, crossed his arms, and gazed down at her, trying to look every inch the Cree warrior. “The Owner placed you in my arms and said you should give yourself up to me. Would you ignore his command?”

Her mouth fell open, but no words came out.

Pressing home his advantage, he reached down and stroked her cheek. “And what about the Messenger that came to us as we lay together, still joined for the very first time? That was a powerful sign.”

“You're not playing fair,” she protested weakly. “You know I'm just superstitious enough to fall for that stuff.” She straightened her back and took a deep breath. “But we're in California, not the Hudson Bay, and this isn't the Stone Age.”

“Be glad of that, woman,” he said, an edge creeping into his voice. Why was she fighting him, unless she wanted to keep her distance? “In another time and place those things alone would bind you to me for life.”

She scowled. “You mean I'd be your slave?”

“Worse,” he growled, and leaned into the cab, hovering above her, deciding just how far he should push her. “You'd be forced to be my wife.” Scooting her farther into the cab, he dropped on top of her, pinning her onto the bench seat. “There would be no question about whether to move in with you or share a bed.” He let his hands rove over her. “You would do as I say, and I would do as I pleased.”

A glower replaced the shock on her face. “You are a freaking Neanderthal!” She pushed at his chest, struggling to sit up, but he held her firm.

Good
. If he got her angry, raised those ready passions, she'd forget about leaving him. For the moment, anyway. He mocked a deep sigh. “I wish.” His hands sought her breasts under her T-shirt, and he looked at her through heavy-lidded eyes. “But since it's not the Stone Age anymore, I guess the Wolf will have to find other means to keep his mate willingly in his lair.” He fondled her silken breasts and put his mouth over the peak of one, licking and sucking it through the thin cotton of her top.

“Wolf!” she said, breaking down and squirming in what he knew was pleasure. She tried to still his hands. “Those old ladies will have us arrested!”

He blew a stream of air at the wet spot over her nipple and smiled in satisfaction when it tightened to a hard point. Okay, physical persuasion worked, too.

He caught her gaze, serious once more. “I don't know what the future holds any more than you do, pup.” He ran a lazy thumb over her nipple. “All I know is, right now I want to be with you. Do you want to be with me?”

She squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. “Yes.”

“Then let's just take it a day at a time, and see what happens. Okay?”

And he'd use each day to convince her to stay.

“Okay,” she whispered.

He swallowed past the lump of relief lodged in his throat, and kissed her tenderly to seal the agreement.

Barely Dangerous: Chapter Ninety-Two

Maggie leaned back in her chair and watched Wolf move about her kitchen, his movements smooth and certain. He had shed his shirt, and in the early evening heat, his boots and socks, too. Her eyes followed the rippling of the muscles in his arms and shoulders as he spread mayo and mustard on dark bread.

She had risked breaking her own heart by telling him he shouldn't stay with her. But he'd surely finished the job by refusing to speak when she'd asked about their future together.

Obviously, he wasn't planning on their having one.

Let's just take it a day at a time,

Which was...a good thing, right? Considering her own situation. She might not even
have
a future.

And hadn’t she been the one trying to push him away in the first place?

Well, at least she could enjoy him as long as she had him.

“I love watching a man cook,” she murmured.

He hiked an amused eyebrow over his shoulder. “You're an easy woman to please.” He pulled a couple of sweet pickle chips out of a jar.

“Depends on who's doing the pleasing,” she said, caressing him with a look. Maybe if she tried hard enough, she could turn his lust into love, and he'd ask her to come back to Sacramento with him for a while.

After Whitney went to jail.

If Whitney went to jail.

Cooper turned and propped himself against the counter, dropping turkey slices onto the bread. “Keep looking at me like that, and this fancy gourmet meal might just get cold.”

She regarded him, smoldering with a growing hunger. And it wasn't for dinner. “It just so happens, I like cold turkey sandwiches.”

He took a step away from the counter, only to be stopped in his tracks by a piercing buzz from his cell phone on the table.

She jumped. Damn it! How did he have bars up here? She really needed to change cell providers.

He gave her a searching look, and leaned back against the Formica. “That'll be for you.”

She stared at him blankly. “Me? Who would be calling me on your phone?”

“Just a feeling,” he said, then added with a smile, “And mind your manners if it's my mother.”

She snorted. “Your mother. I am sure.” She picked up the phone. “Hello?”

There was a silence on the other end, and she barely resisted blurting out something witty like, “The Wolf's Lair, can I help you?” because it was probably Jack. But Coop's last comment had rattled her just enough to curb her tongue.

“Anyone there?” she ventured.

A soft, feminine voice said, “Yes. Forgive me, I wasn't expecting a woman to answer.”

Visions of long, brunette curls on the other end slithered through Maggie’s mind.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” she said, impaling Cooper with narrowed eyes. “Hang on. I'll put him on.”

“Oh, you didn't disappoint me,” the woman quickly said. “On the contrary, after thirty-one years without a single woman answering the phone, I was beginning to worry.”

Maggie bit back a surprised exclamation, and glanced desperately at Cooper, who just stood there with an enigmatic curve to his lips. “Oh,” she managed, finally.

“I'm Marie-Claire, Coop's mother.”