Spring River Valley: The Spring Collection (Boxed Set) (10 page)

Evie turned in his arms and kissed him. “I agree. I guess that doesn’t make me a very good reporter.” She sighed as though something was bothering her.

Tanner turned her around and studied her face. “Does it bother you that you didn’t break the story?”

“No! Not at all. It bothers me that it doesn’t bother me. This is my career. I’m supposed to want to sell papers. All I’ve ever wanted to do was write front-page news, but not this kind of stuff.
Not rumors. I want to write about facts, and the facts in this case don’t seem to be as interesting as the stuff people are making up.”

Tanner kissed her forehead. “You’ll get your chance at the front page. I know you will one day.”

She nodded, but didn’t seem convinced by his faith in her. He wrapped his arms around her again and drew her gently toward the bedroom. “How about we work up an appetite?”

She turned in his arms, feigning indignation. “Oh, just like a man—every conversation
ends up being about sex?”

“Why do you think I’m so popular with the karate ladies?”

She growled. “I think now’s the time for me to teach you some karate, mister.”

He smirked and tugged her toward the bedroom. “I’ve been waiting all day for you to pin me…let’s go.”

He broke away from her, and she chased him into the bedroom where she proceeded to teach him some moves that he had no desire to defend himself against.

Evie woke to the aroma of fresh coffee. She stretched and focused her gaze on Tanner’s bedside clock. How wicked was she to have spent the night in her boyfriend’s bed in the middle of the week, when she had to be at work in two hours?

Boyfriend. The word log
-jammed the flow of her sleepy, satisfied thoughts. Is that what he was? They hadn’t even been on a single proper date so far, yet they’d spent two nights making love. This wasn’t the way a relationship was supposed to go—catapulting right to the level of intimacy that had her carrying a toothbrush in her purse and planning an early morning stop off at her own apartment to change clothes for work.

She sat up slowly, letting the warm blankets fall around her waist and brush
ed strands of her hair back with her fingers. Was this who she was? In the space of a week she’d shifted her focus from the career she’d been struggling to build for years to a relationship that was so new she didn’t even know his middle name.

More than once she’d considered that she should be terrified of what was happening, and each time she’d put those thoughts aside in order to enjoy the moment. Maybe that was the key to
finding the happiness that had eluded her for so long in the romance department. Maybe it was time to sit back and just let things happen.

With a secretive grin, she slithered out of bed and retrieved some of her clothes, just enough to make herself presentable in order to wander through the living room, tempted by the scent of the coffee.

Through the crack as she opened the bedroom door she saw Tanner sitting at the tiny dinette, his back to her. A steaming mug sat by his right hand and a bakery box rested in the middle of the table. So he’d been out already this morning to find them breakfast. She decided this weekend she’d take him food shopping and help him stock his kitchen so they could spend more nights like last night, curled on the couch, watching old movies, feeding each other, and laughing, talking, kissing. The truth of it was, she’d never need to go out again. If these two and a half rooms became her whole world, she’d be happy as long as Tanner was here with her.

Like a cat, she stalked past the couch, prepared to whisper something sinful in his ear and snatch away the newspaper that was spread out in front of him. When her fingertips made contact with his shoulders though, she froze. Through the material of his white
T-shirt, the granite stiffness of his muscles halted her advance.

He neither moved nor spoke when she touched him, and slowly she lowered her hands. “Tanner? What’s wrong?”

He didn’t look at her or say a word. He merely folded the paper back to the front page and moved it over so she could read the headline.

Woman in suicide pact with Diele begged EMTs to save him before near fatal blast.

By Evie Prentice.

Evie grabbed the paper in trembling hands. Tanner turned to her, his eyes cold. “You got up in the middle of the night again. I’m assuming that’s when you called in your story.”

“No! That’s not true, I…” She scanned the damning words beneath her very first front-page headline. The story she’d thought she’d sent to the trash bin must have gone to Janet’s in-box by mistake. “I wrote this yesterday afternoon, but I never—”

He waved off her shaky reply. “Everything you told me yesterday about not wanting to write rumors and innuendo, that was all just a big lie—and not only that, you made it very clear you got the information from me. ‘Sources at the scene
’…I was at the scene. Do you know what my commander is going to think, after Quinn and I assured him we wouldn’t speak to anyone but the police about what happened?”

“I’m…sorry. I didn’t—”

“Don’t bother denying anything.”

A hot ball of pain formed in the middle of Evie’s chest. She’d slept in Tanner’s arms for two nights
, and now he wouldn’t even allow her to explain herself. Of course, what could she really say? The evidence against her was there in black and white just as she’d written it, underneath the byline she’d coveted since the day she’d started working at the
Herald
.

She bowed her head, furious with
herself for being so careless, so caught up in thoughts of making love to him that she’d accidentally submitted a story that belonged in the trash. “I made a mistake. I never meant to submit it. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? That’s all?”

“No. I’m also sorry that you can’t believe I had nothing to do with this.”

“I’d have to be pretty naïve
to think you didn’t do this deliberately.” A muscle in his jaw twitched, and his eyes blazed. “I guess I was naïve all around to believe you had all that integrity. Was that really why you stayed with me at the hospital? So you could scoop Chad and finally get your big break?”

A deep chill settled in Evie’s chest.
“Would you believe me if I said no?”

He shook his head.

She backed out of the kitchen nook. “All right. Then I’ll be out of here in five minutes.”

He only nodded
, then turned back to the table, hands on his hips. He didn’t sit, didn’t move again, and he was still in that position when she emerged from the bedroom, her clothes on but in uncomfortable disarray, her purse and shoes clutched in her hand.

She didn’t say
good-bye, just let herself out of his apartment, each breath she drew into her aching lungs teasing at the tears that threatened to spill. She’d wanted to ask him how he could possibly think she was the kind of person who would betray his trust, but she realized he didn’t know her well enough to trust that she wouldn’t do this. And she didn’t know him well enough to trust that he could ever be convinced of the truth.

* * * *

Hours later Gary folded the morning edition of the paper neatly and placed it in the center of his desk. Tanner and Quinn sat before him, silent and expectant. Neither had said a word while their commander absorbed the exposé in the paper.

“This is my fault,” Tanner said, his voice tight.
“The only person I told about what happened at the fire was Evie while we were at the hospital. I never thought she was there just to get a story.”

Quinn looked over at Tanner.
“You really believe she was just playing you?”

“Come on, Quinn.
It’s pretty obvious.” Tanner broke eye contact with his partner and stared at the folded newspaper. “We’ve dealt with reporters before. I should have known not to trust one of them.” The confession burned. He’d been such a fool to believe a girl who had to be coaxed to even go out with him would suddenly fall head over heels in love with him. Clearly she’d seen the opportunity to learn more about the senator’s story the moment she came upon Tanner in the ER waiting room. The betrayal made his stomach churn, but what hurt worse was that he’d wanted to believe her this morning. She’d crept out of his bedroom, sweet and sultry, wearing nothing but her sexy little panties and her half-buttoned blouse. He’d been watching her in the reflection in the toaster, but even then his heart was already broken by the words he’d read.

Why had he gone out for pastries and picked up a newspaper on the way back? The thought of surprising her in bed with a creamy Danish and steaming coffee had sent him on his early morning errand. He’d even fantasized about convincing her to take the day off and spend it with him until his evening shift began. He’d planned to take her to the park, to the movies—anywhere she wanted to go, including right back to his bed. How had he lost his
hard-won ability to read people the moment he met this girl? She’d managed to cloud his common sense and strip him of all reason. Why couldn’t he have seen she was using him to further her career, and the house fire had been the perfect opportunity for her to get what she wanted?

Gary leaned back in his chair, sighing. “Tanner, I’ve known you since you were in high school, and I know you wouldn’t deliberately give out any details to a reporter. The problem is, the gag order wasn’t mine. It came from the
mayor’s office directly to all the department heads. No one who works for the Town should be the source of any rumors about one of our state senators. I don’t know what the consequences will be, but you can bet we’re going to take some heat for this. It looks like we just casually blabbed about everything we’d been asked not to.”

“I’m sorry, Gary. I wasn’t thinking. I should have asked her to wait outside while I talked to the detective.”

“I can’t believe she’d do something like that deliberately,” Quinn said.

“How could you know?” Tanner demanded. “You don’t even know her.”

“You told me she said it was a mistake, that she didn’t mean to submit it. You trusted her, and you’ve always been a good judge of people.”

Tanner studied the floor. “Yeah, well, now you know what an idiot I am.”

“But what if she’s telling the truth?”

“
It doesn’t really matter,” Gary cut in. “I mean, not to us. It’s out there, and it looks bad. The most I can do is say you were misquoted.”

“But I wasn’t.”

“I’ll tell anyone who asks that your ‘no comment’ was misinterpreted.”

“You don’t have to protect me, Gary.”

“Sure I do. That’s my job. Look, let’s see where the chips fall. The whole thing is a mess, and the way I see it, the two of you are the ones least involved.”

“We could demand the paper print a retraction,” Quinn offered, his shoulders slumping.

“Even if they agreed, which they won’t,” Gary replied, “that’s just closing the barn door after the horses have all run away. Look, the best we can do right now, is go about our jobs and see what happens. I’ll let you know what I hear, and if
anyone
—anyone at all wants to talk to either one of you about the fire, you call me first.”

Tanner and Quinn nodded, both rising to leave Gary’s office. “I’m driving Quinn home, then I’ll be back for my shift,” Tanner said.

Gary shook his head. “I wouldn’t normally say this, but why don’t you take the night off? You look like hell, and you’ve been pulling too many doubles. Stanton has most of their crew back, and they’ve offered to lend us a couple of guys as payback for the weekend.”

“I don’t need time off. I’m fine.”

“I don’t think you are, and last time I checked, I’m in charge around here, so go home, get some more sleep, figure out what you’re going to do about this reporter, and come back tomorrow when your head is on straight.”

Tanner eyed his commander. “What do you mean, what I’m going to do about Evie?”

“Do you trust her or not?”

“Trusting her was the biggest mistake I ever made,” Tanner said. He turned on his heel and stalked out of the office. It was a mistake he never planned to repeat.

Evie sat in the break room at the paper, nursing a cold cup of coffee and a bulldozer of a headache. She’d been at the office for an hour and hadn’t yet been able to bring herself to go to her desk.

“Here you are,” Bailey chirped, smiling broadly as she swept into the room. “You know Janet’s looking all over for you.”

“Don’t tell her you found me. In fact, if you see her, tell I went home.”

Bailey abandoned the coffee machine and crossed to where Evie sat. “What’s wrong? You should be in the bull pen basking in her praise right now. Even Chad is saying how impressed he is with your headliner.”

Evie glared. She’d imagined so many times how it would feel to scoop Chad. She never pictured the victory leaving such a sour taste in her mouth. “It’s garbage. Or it should have been. I wrote that article based on one comment Tanner made, that was off the record. I never meant to submit it.”

Bailey gaped. “Wow.” She pulled out a chair, preparing to sit across from Evie, but before she could take a seat, Janet whisked into the room.

“There she is! My new star reporter. I…who died? The two of you look like you’re at the Easter Bunny’s funeral.”

Bailey’s gaze bounced from Evie to Janet. “I…umm…I think I’m coming down with a cold. I’m going to go…get some chicken soup.”

“It’s okay, Bailey,” Evie said, waving her off. “I’ll see you later. I need to talk to Janet.”

With an uncertain nod, Bailey hurried out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

Janet took the seat Bailey had been about to use. “Don’t tell me Drummond’s lawyer called you. Listen, hon, don’t worry about legalese. They might threaten to
sue, but the paper is prepared for crap like that. Your story is protected by—”

“I can’t do this anymore,” Evie cut in. “I’ve never felt so low in my life.”

Janet had the nerve to look utterly confused. “Can’t do what?”

“I don’t think I’m meant to be a headline journalist.”

“Are you serious?” Janet laughed. “You realize today’s edition sold out of every newsstand in town? Your phone is ringing like mad.”

“I quit.”

“What? You can’t quit. Oh, wait, one front-page headline and you’re jumping ship? Did the
Times
call you?”