Dangerous Refuge

by Elizabeth Lowell

  He squeezed her fingers gently.

  She realized she was still holding on to his hand. She tried to let go, only to find her fingers tangled with his.

  “I don’t think anyone gets used to death,” he said. Then he thought about what he’d said the first time they met. “Or should.”

  And that was another truth he hadn’t thought about in years.

  She looked at his eyes again and realized they weren’t exactly like Lorne’s. They were both darker and more clear. And they were too old to belong to a man whose hair was black instead of silver.

  Belatedly she realized she was staring.

  And still holding his hand.

  No, he was holding hers. Before she could pull back, he gently let her fingers slide free. It felt like a caress. The dark blue eyes she had first thought of as bleak were anything but. He looked at her mouth like a man with some thorough tasting in mind.

  “Do you have a rude, identical twin?” she asked. Then she heard her own words and blushed. “Sorry, I must have an evil twin, too.”

  He smiled, then laughed. “We’re quite a pair. Or is it a quartet?”

  “Just make sure there are no sharp objects around and we’ll do fine.”

  “Truce?” he asked, taking her hand again.

  “Ah, sure. I guess.” She shook her head. “Ignore my inner teenager. Truce.”

  “Did you know Lorne well?” he asked.

  I shouldn’t have come here tonight, she thought. I’m not ready for this. I’m not ready to look at Lorne’s ghost. A really sexy ghost.

  “Yes. No.” She shook her head again.

  Wrong place, wrong time.

  “Why?” he asked.

  She stared. “Are you a mind reader?”

  His smile was as slow as it was hot. “Only when you think out loud.”

  She felt the flush that spread from her breasts to her cheeks. “Did I? I’m not usually so . . . scattered.”

  “Good thing I’m here.”

  “Why?”

  “Putting pieces together is part of my job description.”

  Even if it’s just matching John Does with a missing persons report.

  But that wasn’t something he wanted to talk about with Shaye Townsend. He wanted to know what she liked, what she hated . . . and just how she wanted to be touched by a lover.

  Too bad she isn’t giving off free-to-a-good-home vibes.

  A round of applause went up. In a flash of red, Kimberli stepped out of the spotlight. Part of Tanner’s mind caught her final words, something about honoring Lorne’s intentions and giving to his dream of preserving small ranchers.

  So much for the eulogy, Tanner thought. Back to business—for the Conservancy and for me.

  “I’ll bet you’re the only real mourner here,” he said. “Lorne wouldn’t have pissed on these people if they were on fire.”

  She turned a laugh into a cough. “Kimberli understands how to turn glitter into money. For the Conservancy, that means galas, which are underwritten by corporate sponsors. All but a handful of the people here tonight paid at least a hundred bucks a head to come.”

  “So the showgirl act in the red dress is shilling for a good cause.”

  “My boss truly enjoys parties.”

  “You don’t?”

  Shaye shrugged, but the shadows under her eyes and the tightness in her mouth said a lot.

  “Well, it’s true, isn’t it?” he pressed, wondering how deep her temper was buried beneath the polite exterior.

  “There’s true and then there’s polite. When I’m in a place like this, I do polite. When I’m on the valley floor, with the livestock and the flies, I do truth.”

  Tanner’s smile was slow and hot. “No wonder you got assigned to my uncle. He didn’t have any use for lies, polite or otherwise. That’s why I’m having a hard time believing he was anybody’s guest of honor.”

  “He was just himself,” she said simply. “He didn’t have a fancy suit and he wouldn’t have rented one for tonight.” She looked pointedly at the dark, almost-tuxedo Tanner was wearing. “Why did you bother?”

  “Maybe I like champagne and short dresses.”

  A smile came and went swiftly from her lips. “I can believe half of that. Is that why you never visited your uncle? No short dresses?”

  “He and my dad had a real fence-lifter of an argument. No dresses involved, short or otherwise. Lorne could be a real bastard, in case you didn’t know it. My family left Refuge. End of argument.”

  “Your dad never made peace?” she asked.

  “You ever try to make peace with Lorne Davis?”

  She rubbed her hands over her arms as though chilled. “No. I didn’t have the chance.”

  It was just the opening Tanner had been waiting for.

  But before he had the chance to ask a question, he felt a hand on his arm. Perfume slid around him like a jungle night, alive with primitive possibilities.

  “Shaye, you simply must introduce me to this handsome stranger,” Kimberli said breathlessly. She looked up at him with wide blue eyes. “I know we haven’t met before, because I’d remember a man like you.”

  Normally Shaye was amused when her boss turned up the heat on a male, but this time it wasn’t funny. Kimberli could ruin everything. Despite the rocky meeting last night, Shaye didn’t think the ranch was lost, but it was far from a done deal. She could tell that Tanner was about as thrilled by Kimberli as Lorne had been.

  Kimberli wouldn’t see that as a problem so much as an opportunity.

  Shaye’s voice was just a bit clipped when she spoke. “Kimberli Stevens, Tanner Davis. Tanner, Kimberli. She’s your hostess.”

  “Davis?” Kimberli asked. “What an odd coincidence.”

  “Lorne was his uncle,” Shaye said quickly.

  Kimberli blinked as though unable to comprehend. “Uncle? You’re his nephew?”

  “Pleased to meet you, Ms. Stevens,” Tanner said, hoping she would vanish as quickly as she had appeared.

  “Well, I certainly wish someone had told me sooner,” Kimberli said breathlessly, pouring wattage into her smile. “We have so very much to talk about and so many people to meet!”

  Kimberli couldn’t be deflected short of a very public battle. Tanner considered just that, then decided he might as well meet the local movers, shakers, and players. Some of them might be helpful when he started asking questions about Lorne.

  For the next half hour Tanner was paraded in front of wealthy businessmen and their trophy wives. The former greeted him like an old friend. The latter sized him up for sex before Kimberli saved him by throwing him to a fresh pack of wolves.

  Through all of it he hung on to Shaye’s hand, ignoring the fact that Kimberli’s brassy hair and cleavage were always in his face.

  Shaye allowed herself to be pulled along, telling herself that the movement of Tanner’s thumb back and forth across her palm wasn’t a caress.

  But it was. And she liked it way too much.

  “There’s the judge who will be overseeing the probate of Lorne’s will,” Kimberli said into Tanner’s ear.

  And she knows this before my lawyer does? Tanner asked silently. Let the good times roll.

  “Judge, I’m so pleased to introduce Tanner Davis, Lorne’s nephew. Isn’t he just the spitting image of Lorne?”

  The judge was a steel-haired, hawkish man who looked like he’d just eaten a serving of frozen nails. He nodded curtly, whether to the introduction or to Tanner’s supposed resemblance to Lorne.

  Tanner nodded. “Judge.”

  Shaye said, “Mrs. Hudson, you look like you’ve been to a spa rather than riding herd on your grandsons while your daughter and son-in-law are celebrating their twentieth anniversary in Hawaii. How do you manage it?”

  As if surprised at being noticed, the white-haired woman standing in the judge’s shadow smiled. “They’re good boys. Lively, but good.”

  The judge rolled his eyes. “Hellions will be lucky not to stand before
my bench in a few years.”

  But he smiled at Shaye.

  “Judge Hudson will be taking care of things, since Lorne died intestate,” Kimberli said.

  Tanner decided the good times were over. Sooner or later, everyone would know. Sooner saved time.

  “My uncle didn’t die intestate,” he said easily. “He left a handwritten document with his lawyer stating that he was severing all connections with the Conservancy. As I’m my uncle’s executor and beneficiary, it looks like we’ll be seeing a lot of each other, Judge.”

  The other man nodded and held out his hand.

  While the two men did the polite, pleased-to-meet-you dance, Kimberli looked like she’d found half of a mouse in her champagne glass.

  “But he said in front of witnesses that he was leaving his land to the Conservancy,” she protested finally, watching Tanner with wide, confused eyes. “You’ll honor that, of course.”

  It wasn’t a question.

  “Lorne’s written and dated instructions specifically and categorically revoke any preceding business with the Conservancy,” Tanner said. “He left the ranch to family. To me. You’ll honor that, of course.”

  “But—I—we—” Kimberli said.

  “A pleasure, Judge, Mrs. Hudson,” Tanner said, nodding to the couple before turning back to Kimberli and sliding another secret caress along Shaye’s palm. “It has been a long, unexpected two days for me and the next few aren’t going to be any easier. You’ll understand if I leave early.”

  “But—but,” Kimberli said, “we need to talk about the ranch.”

  “That’s why Shaye is coming with me. We’re going to discuss Lorne, land, and the Conservancy. I’m sure she’ll present your case well to me.”

  With that, he led Shaye toward the exit.

  She knew she should have at least put up a minor objection, but she was too relieved for the excuse to get out of the party.

  “Call me with progress reports,” Kimberli said.

  “Of course,” Shaye said over her shoulder.

  She wondered which twin she was leaving the party with. If it was the rude one, she’d lose him in the parking lot.

  Seven

  Less than an hour later, Shaye was relaxed with the nice twin that had saved her from the party. “It’s a good thing Kimberli needs to stay on your sunny side.”

  Tanner made a sound that could have been agreement.

  Hard to tell, since he had a mouthful of burger. She took a delightfully sinful french fry from the container she held on her knees and wondered if he had the same fizzy feeling in his blood as she did.

  Maybe it was just escaping from a gala. Maybe it was Tanner, her unlikely knight in rented armor, rescuing her from a dragon in a red dress and making her wonder how it would feel to be thoroughly kissed by a man like him.

  Stupid teenage thoughts. But I can’t stop thinking them.

  Tanner’s eyes reflected the moonlight coming through the windshield.

  She shook her head. “You look like a wolf with a lamb chop. And Kimberli . . .” Shaye’s laughter bubbled up in the darkened car. “Oh, to have a picture of her face when you whisked me out of there. She’s too used to having men hanging on her every word.”

  “More like her cleavage,” he said, licking ketchup off the side of his thumb.

  Shaye tried not to agree, but it was impossible.

  Like being here, now, with Tanner. Impossible.

  Smiling, she savored another fry while he wolfed the rest of his burger and reached for another.

  “Good thing I wasn’t hungry,” she said.

  “I offered to share.” In fact, he’d like to share a lot more than a hamburger with her. She was surprisingly easy company, unafraid of either silence or conversation.

  “When I went to the gala, the last thing I expected was to be eating dinner overlooking Lake Tahoe with the mythical tall, dark stranger sitting next to me,” she said. “Especially since he could have scared off a dragon by looking at it last night.”

  “I said I was sorry,” he answered without complaint. “I’m different, not strange. And this is a greasy take-out snack. But I’ll give you the lake.”

  “Really? I’ve always wanted a place on the water.”

  He smiled and wondered if she’d bolt if he gave her the kiss he’d been thinking about since he first saw her at the party and wished he hadn’t been such an ass the night before. “I can see how you got around Lorne.”

  “I didn’t ‘get around him,’ ” she said instantly.

  “Relax. It was a compliment not a poke. You have an easy way about you, that’s all.”

  She sighed. “Sorry. It’s been a rough few days.”

  “The lawyer told me about the scavengers and Lorne’s body.” Tanner licked up another stray drop of ketchup. “Must have been a shock for you.”

  She just stared at him.

  “Look, when you’re a cop, you get used to poking at the grim and grimy details of life and having it not kill your appetite,” Tanner said. “Or you starve.”

  She opened her mouth, closed it, swallowed, tried again. “That explains the bedside manner. Do you . . . like the work?”

  “It’s complicated. And you swiped my fries.”

  “I was just holding them for you,” she said, chewing one, wide-eyed and innocent.

  “Prove it. Feed some to me.”

  She met his eyes. The dare and the male heat made her feel like she was sixteen again. She picked up a fry and held it in his direction. He took her hand and nipped the greasy bit of potato from her fingers.

  “You left some ketchup on me,” he said in a deep voice.

  For an instant she thought about cleaning his lips with her tongue. Then common sense kicked in. Flirtation was one thing, expected in a social setting. What was in his eyes was another thing entirely.

  Without a word she handed him a napkin and the rest of the fries. He ate some more as if nothing had happened.

  And licked his fingers.

  Is it crazy to find a man’s tongue sexy? she asked herself as she watched him.

  Then she forced herself to look at the moonlight instead of the man.

  Stupid inner teenager. You’ve just gone too long without. And maybe you want some of tall-dark-and-handsome, but are you ready for an old-fashioned fling?

  Why not? God knows marriage didn’t work.

  For a while there was silence broken by munching sounds as Tanner finished off the food. Through half-closed eyes, Shaye watched the night and the black water turning silver in the moonlight. Slowly her pulse went down to normal.

  Finally she let out a silent sigh, feeling herself uncurl in the quiet. For all his hard edges and male hunger, Tanner was an easy man to be with—when he wasn’t biting into her like a burger. He didn’t require constant conversation, admiration, and attention. Like her, he was at home in his own skin. Not smug or arrogant. Just not anxious for approval.

  “Don’t judge the Conservancy by Kimberli’s public persona,” Shaye said finally. “Both of them do good work, necessary work.”

  “So does a cop or a garbage collector.”

  “And nobody dresses up to thank either one of you.”

  He smiled slightly. “I knew there was a reason I became a cop. But you wear that little black dress like it was designed for you. Ditto for the glitter party.”

  “My mother is like Kimberli, only more subtle. Either way, up-front scarlet or modestly pastel, I was raised to make the cocktail and charity circuit.”

  Tanner chewed on that, then shook his head. “You must have driven your mother nuts.”

  “My older sister made up for it. She never met a party or a volunteer committee she couldn’t take by sheer breeding and polite persistence.”

  He noted that there was no resentment in Shaye’s voice, simply acceptance of the reality that she and her sister were different, and her mother and her sister were alike.

  “You take after your father?”

  “Nope. His
mother. She did her own thing before it became the thing everyone had to do. So who do you take after, besides Lorne?”

  Tanner accepted the change of subject, for the moment. Then he would switch it back to Shaye the first moment he could. He should be asking questions, not relaxing or wondering if the rest of her tasted as heady as the smell of her next to him.

  “I’ve got Lorne’s eyes,” Tanner agreed, his voice deep.

  “Noted. And his no-BS manner,” she said, sneaking a fry from his stash. “His height, and a few inches more. More muscles. Same steel core. Stubborn, too, I’d guess. And we’ve established that you have his temper.”

  “Steal any more fries and you’ll find out all over again.”

  She swallowed and licked her fingertips and wished she had the nerve to sample the bit of ketchup on his lower lip. “Terrifying thought.”

  He watched her looking at his mouth.

  She reached for another french fry.

  “You were warned,” he said.

  Slowly he put one big hand around her nape and eased her forward until their lips almost touched. Then he stopped, his muscles tightening against his thoughts.

  “That was a little wishful thinking on my part,” he said finally against her lips.

  She didn’t complete the kiss, but she didn’t pull away, either. She gave him a look that was level, curious, and warm. “Well, let’s say you’re a lot closer to it than when we first met.”

  Tanner breathed out and hoped he didn’t look as disappointed as he was. “Close, but not there?”

  “The thing about twins? There are two of them. Yes and No. My Yes twin can be dumb as a rock.”

  “So No is in charge right now.” Tanner pulled back a bit but didn’t remove his hand from her nape. “Bad luck with Yes?”

  She let herself enjoy the caress of his hand against her neck. “I made a bad choice with a marriage.”

  “Burned, huh?”

  “Yeah. Knowing you have bad taste in men really makes it easy to say no.” She shifted herself against his hand, savoring the masculine texture and heat. “This is the first time I’ve regretted it.” Her breath brushed the back of his hand as she spoke. “But not enough to give in to temptation.”

  “At least I tempt you.”