Bench Trial in the Backwoods

by Maggie Wells

  “You’re traveling alone.”

  “I often do,” Alicia said. “Again, I’m a grown woman. I can take care of myself. And if anyone tries to mess with me, I have a gun, remember?”

  Harrison reared back. “On you?”

  “In my bag. Would you like to see my concealed carry permit?”

  “No.” He shook his head, then had the good grace to laugh at himself. “I never thought of you carrying a weapon. Every time I’ve seen you, you’ve been more on the command side of things. I thought you were a suit. Like me,” he added with a winsome smile.

  “I am,” she said, amused. “But I’m also armed at all times.”

  He chuckled and shook his head. “I’m not sure if I should be terrified or turned on,” he admitted.

  “I recommend both,” she answered without hesitation.

  TRIAL IN THE BACKWOODS

  Maggie Wells

  By day Maggie Wells is buried in spreadsheets. At night she pens tales of intrigue and people tangling up the sheets. She has a weakness for hot heroes and happy endings. She is the product of a charming rogue and a shameless flirt, and you only have to scratch the surface of this mild-mannered married lady to find a naughty streak a mile wide.

  Books by Maggie Wells

  Harlequin Intrigue

  A Raising the Bar Brief

  An Absence of Motive

  For the Defense

  Trial in the Backwoods

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com.

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Harrison Hayes—The district attorney for Masters County and a soon-to-be father. About to try the biggest case of his career. If he doesn’t get killed first.

  Alicia Simmons—DEA special agent responsible for the sting operation that snagged Samuel Coulter. Determined to keep the DA safe to see her and Harrison’s child born.

  Ben Kinsella—Former DEA agent turned county sheriff.

  Marlee Masters—The town golden girl, who has reinvented herself as the town business mogul.

  Simon Wingate—Scion of Georgia’s political family. Former defense attorney for Samuel Coulter.

  Lourdes (Lori) Cabrera—Masters County sheriff’s deputy whose dogged pursuit of Samuel Coulter led to his arrest.

  Samuel Coulter—The eccentric millionaire and self-proclaimed naturalist about to stand trial on charges of drug and human trafficking.

  For my Super Cool Party People—my life would truly suck without you.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Excerpt from Christmas at Colts Creek by Delores Fossen

  Excerpt from Christmas Data Breach by K.D. Richards

  Chapter One

  The town of Pine Bluff hadn’t changed much in the weeks since Alicia Simmons packed her bag and headed back to Atlanta, but she had. Only a couple of months ago, she’d been riding high on the arrest of one of the most insidious heroin traffickers in the southeastern United States. Heck, one week ago, she was the kind of woman who had a handle on exactly who she was and what she wanted. Sure, the promotion she’d thought was hers went to yet another member of the boys’ club, but she couldn’t honestly say she was shocked. Her path to section chief was littered with the prone bodies of men who thought they were better than she was. Time and again, she proved them wrong.

  But she hadn’t counted on getting pregnant.

  So here she was, back in Pine Bluff, a million butterflies and one tiny embryo swirling in her belly. She hadn’t intended to make the drive south. Now she sat parked at the curb in front of Harrison Hayes’s neat ranch-style house.

  She’d made a somewhat awkward call to her old friend Ben Kinsella to get the address, burbling something about wanting to add Hayes to her Christmas card list. The former DEA agent turned county sheriff threw her for a loop when he complained about how he’d never received a Christmas card from her in all the years they’d been acquainted. The torment had been cut short, though. Ben’s girlfriend, Marlee Masters, had snatched the phone from the nosy sheriff and provided Hayes’s address with a minimum of fuss. Marlee, being the smart woman she was, also rattled off Ben’s, though Alicia was fairly sure the other woman suspected no cards were being mailed.

  Warm air blasted through the vents. December was only a couple of days off and the South Georgia evening had turned cool. Of course, this close to the Florida state line, it rarely ever got truly cold. Or if it did, not for long. Unlike the vicious winters she’d endured growing up in Wisconsin.

  Drawing a bracing breath, she turned off the engine and opened the door. The brisk wind stung her cheeks and made her eyes water. Then again, they’d been watering nonstop since the day she realized she’d missed a period. Not because she was sad or even upset. More, she was surprised. She wasn’t the type to enjoy surprises.

  Pulling her jacket close around her, she circled the hood of the car and stepped onto the brick walkway leading to the small porch. She had a vague recollection of her previous visit. She’d been one too many tequila shooters in to appreciate the softness of the gunmetal-gray shutters against the white brick. What looked to be window boxes affixed to the front of the house held a few scraggly purple-and-yellow pansies. The lawn was mowed and edged. A smattering of crisp fall leaves dotted the expanse of yellowing green. Alicia figured they had to have blown in from a neighbor’s yard, because the tall poplar planted in the center of Hayes’s lawn was mostly bare.

  Harrison Hayes was the orderly type. Not a shock. So was she. Normally. At least she wouldn’t be the only one whose world was about to be shaken like a snow globe.

  Stepping onto the porch, she shoved her hands deep into her pockets, giving herself one last chance to dissect her own motivation in coming here with news like this. She hadn’t gotten pregnant on purpose. And though they both may have been tipsy the night eccentric millionaire Samuel Coulter was formally arraigned on drug-and human-trafficking charges, neither of them was anywhere close to being incapacitated. They’d willingly fallen into bed with each other. They were both aware of the added risk of having unprotected sex.

  After all, they were adults. Responsible adults in positions of authority. More than most, they saw the day-to-day ramifications of bad choices. Why had they thought they were impervious?

  Before she could change her mind, Alicia jerked her right hand out of her pocket and jabbed her index finger at the doorbell. A shiver ran down her spine. Something crackled under her foot. She looked down and spotted a brown mailing envelope left on the welcome mat. She swooped down to pick it up, peeking through the sidelights for any sign of occupancy. There were lights on in the house and a BMW parked in front of the closed garage door, but the presence of the car didn’t necessarily mean he was home. In a town the size of Pine Bluff, residents often walked to their destinations. He could’ve taken a stroll downtown or—

  The door opened and Harrison Hayes appeared, breathless and rumpled, wearing only a faded University of Georgia T-shirt, black gym shorts and an expensive-looking pair of athletic shoes. Alicia took in the sight for a moment. Harrison Hayes all
sweaty and pumped up was something a woman should take time to appreciate.

  “Alicia,” he panted, his eyes widening. “What are you doing here?”

  A valid question. All the way down from Atlanta, she’d debated her approach. One option would be to play it casual. Use the old “Oh, I was in town” line, but she dismissed the idea because neither of them was the type to simply drop by someone’s house.

  On the other end of the spectrum, she could blow in like a woman on a mission. As a special agent for the US Drug Enforcement Agency, storming in was a modus operandi she was far more familiar with, but she wasn’t certain he deserved to have his life raided. Yes, choices were made, but they were made on both sides. She wasn’t about to square off and demand he have answers for questions she hadn’t fully wrapped her head around yet.

  Tucking her chin to her chest, she slumped down into the collar of her coat, then gave her head a bewildered shake. “I, uh—”

  A line formed between his dark brows, but there was no hesitation when he reached for her arms. Grasping her biceps, he pulled her into the house. Heat closed in around her, and for the first time since she’d seen the plus sign appear on the stick, something warm blazed low inside her.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, running his hands up and down her arms like he might ward off any chill she might have caught.

  “I’m fine,” she replied. But it was a lie.

  If she were fine, she wouldn’t be there. If everything were okay, she’d be in Atlanta. If her whole world hadn’t shifted on its axis, she probably never would have seen Harrison Hayes again. But here she was.

  She thrust out the envelope she’d been clutching and pressed it to his chest. “You had a delivery.”

  “Come on inside,” he ordered, gesturing toward the living room beyond the small foyer. He gently removed the envelope from her grasp, then guided her into the room. “I’m sorry it took me a minute to answer. I heard the doorbell but figured it was a warning.”

  “A warning?”

  He gave a mirthless laugh. “Around here, doorbells are more a formality than anything. People ring them, but they usually walk on in. I figured you were Ben or Simon, but when you didn’t come to the back, I thought I’d better check.”

  She let her gaze travel down over his workout attire. “You have a gym in the back?”

  He shrugged. “I have a treadmill and some weights. Not exactly a gym, but it keeps me busy on cold nights.” He pinched the fabric of her jacket between his thumb and forefinger. “Where are my manners? May I take your coat?”

  Her lips quirked up. She forgot he was like this. The courtly Southern gentility must have been drilled into him growing up. And though she never got used to it, Alicia was surprised to discover she actually liked his old-fashioned demeanor. There was no condescension in him. No pretense. He simply wanted to make her more comfortable.

  “Thank you,” she said, slipping the jacket from her shoulders.

  He caught it and held the collar as she extracted her arms. With the jacket draped over his forearm, he gestured for her to have a seat on a sleek low-slung sofa.

  “Can I get you something to drink? Water? A beer? Or maybe you’d like something hot. I have coffee, but I don’t think I have any tea in the house.”

  Her eyebrows rose. “No tea in the house? How will you ever survive?”

  He chuckled. “I have iced tea, but no hot. There’s a gallon of Bubba’s in the refrigerator if you’d like iced tea.”

  The offer made her laugh. Only a true Southerner kept cold tea on hand at all times. Everywhere else in the world, it was a summer drink, but down here it was a way of life. And, according to Marlee Masters, only a single Southern man would buy the stuff they sold in the grocery store by the gallon.

  Alicia desperately wanted a cup of coffee, but she didn’t dare expose her unborn child to her caffeine addiction any more than she already had. “Water would be nice, thank you.”

  “Coming right up.”

  She watched him disappear around a corner to what she assumed was the kitchen. Asking for a drink was a stalling tactic, but she was having a hard time feeling ashamed. Seeing him again had thrown her.

  In her mind, Harrison Hayes was no different from any other lawyer. Another brown-haired man in a nice suit with polished shoes and a briefcase. Line him up with a handful of other upper-middle-class businessmen and he’d blend right in.

  Or so she’d thought.

  She’d forgotten about the flecks of green and gold in his hazel eyes. She’d forgotten the way his square jaw looked covered in a true five-o’clock shadow. He was a clean-shaven man who fought a battle against growth lesser men cultivated and manicured with clippers. He was courtly and gallant, but he was also all man.

  It was no stretch to imagine Hayes tromping off to the woods outfitted in camouflage and carrying a hunting rifle. Most of the men around these parts were avid hunters, inclined to spend their every autumn weekend buried deep in the deer woods or hiding out in a duck blind.

  When he reappeared a moment later, she tried to gather her thoughts, but her runaway mouth betrayed her. “Do you hunt?”

  He drew up short beside her seat, his brow creased into extremely attractive furrows of concentration when he bent forward and offered her a glass of water.

  “Do I hunt?” he repeated.

  Feeling foolish, but unable to abandon the line of questioning she’d begun, she said, “I wondered...” She glanced around the comfortably furnished living area and saw no evidence of trophy animals, but for all she knew, the man might have a rec room decorated with duck paneling and dozens of mounted deer heads. “I mean, it’s hunting season in a lot of places,” she continued. “I was only...asking.”

  The corner of his mouth quirked up, but rather than tease her about the odd inquiry, he simply shook his head. “No. I mean, I have hunted, but it’s not my thing. I prefer fishing.”

  Alicia nodded, digesting this information and filing it away for future use. “I enjoy fishing too,” she blundered on, happily latching on to any excuse not to approach the subject at hand. “Of course, I mainly fly-fish. Though I have also hauled in some crappie and walleye.” He watched her with a bemused expression.

  Hayes took a sip of his own water and smiled. “Then we have something in common. Except for the walleye. Don’t see many of those around these parts.”

  Wetting her lips, she stiffened her spine and marshaled all of the nerve she usually reserved for storming into drug dealers’ lairs. “I came here because I need to tell you something,” she began haltingly.

  Placing her glass on the coffee table, she leaned forward, rubbing her palms together between her knees and searching for the right words. “Hayes, I realize we don’t know each other—”

  She was called up short when he raised his hand and interrupted. “Harrison. Or Harry, if you prefer.” She looked at him blankly, and he gave a wry smile and a shrug. “We may not have spent much time learning everything about one another, but we have seen one another naked. Seems odd not to be on a first-name basis.”

  “Right.” She barked a laugh. “Of course.” Alicia drew to an abrupt stop, her momentum lost. She looked up at him from under her lashes, wondering exactly how she was going to break this kind of news to a man so forthright.

  But then, forthright was the answer. She simply needed to tell him straight-out.

  “Harrison,” she tried, then winced at the formality. “Harry,” she amended, and he smiled encouragingly. “I need to talk to you about something pretty important.”

  “I figured it would take something big to bring you to my doorstep.” He took the seat opposite her, then nodded. “Go on.”

  She looked up and this time met his gaze directly. “I’m pregnant.”

  He froze. She’d seen deer standing in the middle of a busy highway looking completely nonplussed compare
d to the otherworldly stillness of Harrison Hayes. She couldn’t blame him. She didn’t think she moved a muscle for five full minutes after seeing the plus sign show up in the tiny window on the over-the-counter pregnancy test. Then, when she did spring into action, it was to repeat the process with the two other tests she’d bought. Each time, she’d read the results with the same bewilderment currently breaking through his immobility.

  “Excuse me?” he managed to croak.

  “I’m pregnant,” she responded, purposefully keeping her tone even. One of them had to remain calm, and she’d already had hours to freak out. It was Harry’s turn now.

  “But—” He huffed a laugh and scrubbed a hand over his face. “I was going to ask how, but I have a grasp on the mechanics of it.”

  Alicia watched him warily, all the while trying not to think about how unmechanical it had been between them. Explosive. White-hot. Reckless. Hungry. Those words might have fit better. But she was hip to what he was asking. Even in their tequila-fueled throes of passion, they’d paused long enough to have “the talk.” They were adults, after all, not hormonal teenagers.

  They’d left the celebration at Coulter’s former defense attorney Simon Wingate’s house and gone back to the place she’d rented for less than two full weeks. Like this baby’s conception, Samuel Coulter’s arrest and arraignment happened faster than anyone anticipated. Neither had a condom handy, but both swore they were in good health. She’d been diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome in her early twenties and given birth control pills to help regulate her hormones. But even without the pill, her condition carried a high risk of infertility.

  All of this added up in her head to mean she was meant to have this baby. Driving down to Pine Bluff, informing Harrison Hayes of his impending paternity and absolving him of all adjacent responsibility seemed reasonable. Possibly even noble.

  “You’re pregnant,” he stated flatly, breaking into her reverie.

  “Yes.”

  He blinked as if he still couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing. “I assume you’re here to tell me I’m the father?”