* * *
The next morning, Demi didn’t speak to Lucas, despite his trying. She couldn’t believe she felt inferior to the women Lucas dated. As she lay awake the previous night, she’d realized her lack of trust in him was to blame. He would never love her if he had his way, but he had to feel the sexual energy between them. Sexual energy didn’t mean they’d fall in love, but there was more to the energy than just sex. That was the part she doubted. She felt there was more, but did Lucas?
He sat at the dining room table with the phone and dialed a number on speaker. He had said he was going to call Layla today. Why, she didn’t know. What could Layla do to save the K-9 center? She wasn’t going to marry Hamlin and she was in love with Hunter Black. At least Hunter wasn’t a Gage. Marrying him wouldn’t alienate her father.
Layla answered and Lucas introduced himself. They exchanged some small talk and then Lucas asked if there was anything any of the K-9 unit could do to help.
“Unless you can raise millions by the end of December, no.”
“I could ask my father.”
Edson Gage was wealthy but would he donate money to a Colton?
“I already did,” Layla surprised Demi by saying. Meeting Lucas’s eyes, she saw his surprise, as well.
“He said if my father sold him some land of his choosing, then he would. He saw it as a way of settling the old debt, the property lost in a gambling bet. I couldn’t agree, of course. If my father knew I even went to Edson with such a request, he would be absolutely livid.”
“I’ll speak with my father,” Lucas said.
“You would do that?”
“I would do anything to save the K-9 center.”
“My father needs help with Colton Energy. At first I thought my father mishandled funds and I was furious. But it turns out that wasn’t the case. I don’t understand how the company fell into such financial disarray. It was so strong before all the chaos broke out in this town. It’s as though there’s been some kind of accounting error.”
“Maybe there was,” Lucas said.
Layla fell silent for a moment. “I’ve looked over the books many times and didn’t see anything amiss, but maybe I missed something.”
“It’s worth another look.”
“Thank you.” She sounded sincere. “And thank you for calling. I appreciate that. More Gages and Coltons should talk.”
“Enough of them are planning to marry. I can’t imagine it will be long before we’re all having family events together.”
Layla laughed. “From the looks of things, I have to say you’re right.” Lucas looked over at Demi and she had a terrible feeling he thought—or feared—she’d be part of that—with him.
He wasn’t falling for her, was he? Demi entertained the possibility. What if she let down her guard and tested this out? What if she gave them a chance as a couple?
And risk ending up with another man like Bo? Risk ending up the way her other serious relationships had ended?
After Bo, she’d promised herself she would be sure the next time she fell in love. Unlike Lucas, she hadn’t turned her back on love. She just needed to be certain it would last. According to Lucas’s mantra, love never lasted. She sure hoped he wasn’t right.
* * *
Edson Gage lived a comfortable life on the money he’d inherited from his parents. He invested in select ventures, most of which had something to do with development. Lucas wasn’t close with his father, but growing up there had been happy times.
After driving up the stately lane that led to the house, Lucas stopped on the wide driveway and got out. He walked to the front door and entered without knocking. His father lived alone except for a cook and a housekeeper. A fortysomething German woman with a stack of towels in her arms greeted him.
“Your father’s in the library, Lucas.”
He thanked her and headed through the large, old-style, dark interior to the living room where the far wall of windows had double doors leading to a stone patio. His father had a putting green set up in the back, although it was now covered in snow. The upper level was open with a soaring ceiling above where he stood. The wide stairway led up from between the living room and kitchen, a portion of the hall open. The library overlooked the living room from a Juliette balcony. There wasn’t enough room for seating on the balcony, just a view.
Lucas headed up the elegant staircase, passing the open railing and reaching the double doors leading to the library. He spotted his father standing with an open book in his hand, reading by windows that had a view of his fifty-acre property. The mountains weren’t visible today; gray clouds had set in for another storm.
Tall, with always shrewd and unfeeling icy-blue eyes, Edson Gage exuded an aura of power without trying. Lucas respected him for that. He’d had his world torn apart more than once and still he persevered. Fenwick Colton was on the brink of destruction, but destruction had never touched Edson, at least, not financially, not detrimentally so. Destruction had only come to his heart. He still had a head full of dark hair and the silver-rimmed glasses gave him a dash of sophistication to go along with his dominating presence.
“Lucas. I wasn’t expecting you so soon.”
“I’m early.”
“I haven’t heard from or seen you in a while. What have you been doing?”
“Looking for Demi Colton.”
“Ah, that murderous vixen. And have you been successful?”
“She’s innocent.” Lucas hadn’t had a chance to talk to his father about that and wasn’t sure if his brothers or sisters had. “Detectives have uncovered Devlin Harrington’s obsession with Hayley Patton, which gives Devlin a motive to have murdered her fiancé—Bo. And the witnesses who’ve claimed to see Demi at the crime scenes were paid to do so by Devlin.”
“I won’t get into the details with you, Lucas. I’m a man who requires evidence. If you believe she’s innocent, I trust your judgment so long as you can produce evidence.”
His father could have been a judge. “I’ll get the evidence.”
“What brings you by?”
“I want to talk to you about the K-9 center. It’s in trouble.”
“Fenwick can’t come up with the funds required. I’ve heard.”
“Layla told me she came to see you.”
“Layla Colton.” His father smirked. “She actually thought I would bail Fenwick out.”
“She said you wouldn’t do it unless you got something in return.”
“That’s correct. The land taken from our ancestors. That’s all. But Fenwick will never agree.”
“What if he does?”
Edson’s smile had little to do with warmth. “He will not, Lucas. I admire your gumption, but Fenwick is not amenable to friendly relations with we Gages.”
“I don’t see how he can keep up those old hostilities, given that so many Gages are going to marry Coltons.”
“He doesn’t care about any Colton from Rusty’s loins.”
Lucas walked farther into the library, dwarfed by floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and not liking the mahogany desk and ornate chairs and rugs. The only thing missing was dust floating in the light.
“If you could make peace among the families, would you?”
His father closed the book and walked to the shelf, returning it to an empty space. Then he faced his son. “I don’t care about making peace.”
His father didn’t care about much since he’d lost his last wife.
“Is that because you still have something against the Coltons?”
“I’ve always thought the Gages should have gotten back their land, but it’s a fight that is so old that it hardly matters anymore. That said, if I had a chance to get back what was lost, I would. One for the family.”
Hence his offer to Layla.
“Layla can never ask Fenwick to do that.”
&nbs
p; “She can. The question is whether Fenwick will see reason.”
“A lot of people will be out of jobs without the K-9 center.”
“I’ve considered that. You’d keep your dog and you go independent after they close the center.”
“I don’t want to be an independent bounty hunter.”
His father contemplated him a moment and walked over to him, stopping with a sigh. “I’ll let Fenwick state his own terms. If they aren’t a slap in my face, I’ll give it serious thought. And so you don’t think I’m not thinking about my kids, I believe this deal will be one example of how we can unite the families. Fenwick has to put his ego aside and want the same. He has to want the families to get along, to let the century-old feud die with the ancestors who created it. “What happened when Layla came to see you?”
“I gave her my terms and she said her father would be livid if he found out she came here.”
“She came to your house?”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
“She left in a huff. Frankly, I don’t know what else she expected. Did she really think I’d donate the money and not get anything in return?”
“Fenwick’s first wife was instrumental in starting the K-9 center and keeping it going. When the money ran out, he funded it in her memory.”
“I have no sentimental weakness for the K-9 center, Lucas. As I’ve said, I require something in return and I believe if Fenwick agrees to a deal, it will work to end a foolish feud.”
Lucas could not argue that. “Layla will want the center to stay connected to her father, since he wants to keep honoring his first wife’s wishes.”
“I would be agreeable to funding the center for a specified period of time and turn it back over to Fenwick. He has to make me an offer.”
That might be enough to keep the center running in the short term, but Lucas wanted more than short term. He also respected his father’s strategy.
“How do you know there will be Colton-Gage weddings?” his dad asked.
“Things I’ve heard.”
“Who?”
“You must know about Anders Colton and Elle.”
“She hasn’t talked about marrying him.”
“Of course not. The Groom Killer is still free.”
His father nodded and seemed to think that over. “Any progress?”
“I’m looking for evidence to prove she’s innocent.”
“She isn’t your bounty. Why are you helping her?”
Not able to predict his father’s thoughts, he said, “Like I said, she’s innocent.”
“Have you been in contact with her? You used to be sweet on her in high school.”
How had his father noticed that? And why had he never said anything? And moreover, had Lucas been that transparent? As a young man, probably.
Edson grinned. “Another Colton–Gage union in the making?” he asked in a nonconfrontational tone.
“No.” Lucas smiled back and shook his head.
He wouldn’t allow any rogue cop to arrest her. Finn, the police chief and Demi’s cousin, didn’t believe she was guilty. He would support that...wouldn’t he? Maybe he’d keep her behind bars until the missing gun was found.
As far as his father’s insight went, Lucas and Demi seemed headed for the bedroom whether their minds agreed or not.
“Catching the real Groom Killer will bring the Coltons and the Gages closer,” his father said. “Colton–Gage weddings will, too. A deal with the Coltons to right past wrongs will cement it.”
“I don’t see how you can say that. The property was lost in a poker game.”
“A game that we’ve all been told by our ancestors the Coltons cheated to win.”
“And they maintain they didn’t.”
“That doesn’t matter anymore, Lucas.”
It did if Fenwick viewed Edson’s offer to bail him out as blackmail. He’d lean more toward Colton–Gage weddings bringing them all together. Red Ridge would be filled with the sound of church bells as soon as Devlin was captured.
Lucas didn’t argue with his father. Maybe he’d get lucky and be right. He stayed a little longer, making small talk about other things, and then left.
Outside he saw a car with a driver across the street. Devlin following him again? One of these times he wouldn’t get away. As though aware of this, the driver pulled out into the street when he saw Lucas pass his own car and head his way.
Chapter 10
Demi had all the receipts they’d found in the shoebox in Devlin’s condo strewn over the living room floor. They’d already gone through them and hadn’t found anything of significance other than a few receipts for flowers Devlin had purchased—for Hayley? Maybe he’d imagined giving them to her. Lucas had saved all the photos on a USB device and they’d gone through those, as well. They’d found nothing different from what had already been analyzed by the police.
A chilly draft passed through the room with the shift of wind outside. A fast-moving storm spit down snow and cold. Lucas had lit the gas fireplace. Wolf was snug and warm in his crib and Queenie lay curled beside Lucas on the couch. Demi watched him a moment, his focus intent on the computer screen. The quiet, aside from an occasional gust and the flames in the fireplace, gave her a sense of hominess she hadn’t experienced before. She’d had fleeting feelings like that with Wolf, but she’d still felt alone, or at the very least, that something important was missing. Reflecting back now, she had often wondered what would have happened had Bo not turned out to be someone she didn’t know and they’d actually worked out. They would have been a family.
She also wondered if the reason she’d given him that ultimatum—to either change or it was over—was because she feared a future with him, that she didn’t trust him. Maybe Lucas was right. She didn’t trust anyone.
“Come look at this.”
Demi abandoned what had become a futile search for anything new that detectives might have missed. Glad he hadn’t noticed her drift off into deep thought, she got up and went to the sofa, where he sat with his laptop. She took a seat next to him, leaning in to see the screen and finding her shoulder pressing against his side. She flinched with the zap of awareness and moved back.
“Careful, I bite.” He grinned.
He did not bite. As soon as she thought that, she smiled and hoped he couldn’t see her delight. He was a nice man, much nicer than her original impression. Before his arrival at her cabin, she would never have had a thought like that. When she realized how much she warmed with that knowledge, and what it might open up for them, she stopped smiling.
He didn’t bite? Her sentimental thoughts earlier must have made her vulnerable.
He pointed to the screen. “It says here that a witness saw Devlin walking on the sidewalk in front of a gas station a day before one of the murders.”
She read that part of the report. “That doesn’t seem significant.”
“There’s a pawnshop next to that gas station.”
She turned to look at him. Pawnshops sometimes sold guns, although the legitimate shops didn’t sell stolen guns and didn’t accept guns from minors or anyone who lived outside of their state.
“Might lead to something.” How clever of him to have thought of that. “What’s it called?”
“Nigel’s.”
Nigel’s. “There’s a receipt from that store.” She went to the receipts and shuffled through them until she found the one. Then she held it up to Lucas, looking at the date. “He went there a few days before the missing gun was used to kill.”
“We’ll check that out first, and then I want to get inside Devlin’s place of employment.”
“How are we going to do that?”
“I brought home some janitor uniforms.”
She took in his pleased look and the sparkling dark eyes that melted her. “You’re
getting good at this.”
Another gust pattered snow against the windows.
“For a fast-moving storm it sure isn’t in any hurry to pass,” Demi said, still vulnerable and needing the distraction.
“Yes. But we’re warm, safe and dry in here.”
Like a family.
He stretched his arm over the back of the sofa and continued to look at her with that sparkle. She eased against him more and turned to watch the fire.
“So this is what living like a family feels like,” he said.
Whoa. Her defenses shot up. Why had he said that? Surely he didn’t mean it. He had to be teasing her again.
“How does that make you feel?” she asked as casually as she could.
He took several seconds before he said, “Nice.”
She looked at him, her face near his. “Really?”
“Yeah.” He grinned. “But I’m sure I’ll come to my senses in the morning—after the storm passes and there isn’t a fire burning.”
Oh, there was a fire burning. Just not the kind he meant.
* * *
Demi entered the pawnshop with Lucas and Queenie the next afternoon. She’d opted for her favorite pair of skinny jeans that had beads on the back pockets. She wore that with a gray sweater that flared at the waist and high-heeled boots. The sexy girlfriend again. Lucas wore black jeans with a white button-up and tactical boots. He looked good in anything. She’d sneaked peeks at his rear a few times, as well as his profile, square jaw, sloping nose and that thick, reddish-brown hair and those dark eyes that sometimes smoldered when he looked at her.
A run-down brick one-story in an area near Rusty’s bar, Nigel’s would have been an ideal place for Devlin to buy guns. If they could trace where he purchased them, maybe they could follow his steps and gather more evidence against him.
The pawnshop had posters and paraphernalia hanging on the walls. Glass display cases lined the sides and back, and a row of shelving ran down the center. The dirty light-tan linoleum floor had to be about thirty years old. Queenie looked up at Lucas, who gave her a hand signal. The dog went right to work. Before coming here, he had presented Queenie with an article of clothing from Devlin’s condo to let her know that scent was the one he wanted her to search for.
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