Just Pretending

by Myrna Mackenzie

  “Partners?” she whispered, her consternation evident.

  David wanted to smile at the break in her voice, but he restrained himself. This lady didn’t want him around at all, and he’d already won the battle. No point in aggravating the good detective.

  “Get to know me, Neal, before you decide I’m the enemy. I’m interested in the truth,” he said quietly. “And I intend to follow this through to the end no matter what that truth may turn out to be.”

  He also intended to discover another truth if he could, David thought as he bid her good-day. What was it about Gretchen Neal’s soft green eyes that made him want to step in close and risk her bite? Just once before this case was closed, he hoped he’d get the chance to find out.

  She’d argued too hard, Gretchen thought when David Hannon walked away, and she knew the reason. It wasn’t because of his personal connection to the case, although she’d been right to question it and Rafe had been right to set her straight. It wasn’t even because of the implication that she could use help from an outside agency, although her pride made her like to think that she could close this case alone. It did have something to do with the fact that this man was clearly going to be difficult to work with. He was going to want to lead. She could tell that already. Even more than that, though, her resistance was because of her reaction the first moment she’d turned and seen David Hannon. There was something about that dark sweep of hair, those intense emerald eyes, that made a person feel as if he knew what sensual dreams flitted through her thoughts when she lay sleeping and open and vulnerable. He had a strong jaw and a mouth that was a slash of sinful temptation. He looked like a man who drank a lot of champagne out of a lot of women’s slippers—and liked it.

  Her breath had caught in her throat in a completely unprofessional way. It wasn’t that she was unused to men giving her those speculative looks. She spent a lot of time with men. Most of her time, in fact, and she liked men. She liked dating, but she kept work and play very separate. She never got involved with other law enforcement officers. She never got involved with anyone too deeply and what’s more, she didn’t like feeling and doing things that just weren’t smart. Having a physical reaction to David Hannon was plain stupid and unacceptable. Especially if she was going to work with him in close quarters.

  And she was, it seemed, because when she arrived at the station the next morning David was there before her. When she walked up to her desk and found him lounging in her chair, studying a file, his tall, dark good looks hit her like an express train at full throttle. The man was smooth, James Bond smooth, with that wicked half smile and those deep knowing eyes that had, no doubt, convinced a good number of women that virginity was a very bad thing to hang on to. She’d just bet he knew how to use that face, that body and that convincing, seductive way of talking to get whatever he wanted, just as he had yesterday. Good thing she was a pro, Gretchen thought. She’d gotten past the wallop her first glance of David Hannon had given her and now she was back in charge. Of herself and this case. And she would remain that way.

  “Ready to take me on?” he asked sweetly.

  She smiled back at him just as sweetly. “I’m always ready and able to handle anything.”

  He raised one brow and grinned knowingly. Gretchen felt her heart trip over a speed bump too quickly, but she ignored the feeling.

  “Let’s get started, Mr. Hannon.”

  “David.”

  “David,” she reluctantly agreed.

  He waited, a patient smile on his lips.

  “All right, okay, yes, I’m Gretchen,” she finally said, reaching for the folder. “Shall we go…David?”

  “Thought you’d never ask.” He stood, looking down at her, and for one swift second she wished he were a little less tall, a little less broad-shouldered and polished. Maybe then she could think of him as just another cop of sorts. Must be the way he wore those sports jackets so elegantly or the fact that his white shirt looked good against his tanned skin.

  “I’ll fill you in as we drive,” she managed to say, leading him out the door of the station to her plain white unmarked car. For one second, he headed for the driver’s side, then paused, a sheepish smile on his face as she stopped dead in her tracks. “Sorry, Gretchen.”

  “You’re used to being in charge.” Her words were resigned.

  He shrugged, an admission of the truth. “I’m sure I’ll get used to being second in command in time.”

  The last thing David Hannon was, was anyone’s assistant. He was a man who knew how to lead and who liked to lead, and he was being gracious now by not pointing that out.

  Gretchen sighed. “We’ll both get used to it, David. Orders are orders.”

  As they cruised down the short streets of White-horn and out into the rolling, rugged country beyond, David studied Gretchen’s profile. She was soft, fresh, a green-eyed beauty clad in another pristine pantsuit of stark navy. The dark suit and white blouse offset the golden glow of her hair, which feathered over her collar. Gretchen Neal might be a hard-edged detective, but she was packaged in the softness of a very womanly body. A delicious contrast.

  She intrigued, and he was used to women intriguing. He’d grown up in White horn, surrounded by his father and a number of females. His aunt, his mother, his sister and all those female cousins. Asthma had made him sickly, a victim of his condition, as a boy, and he’d grown used to a life surrounded by attentive, caring women. A life without close friends his age, it was true. He hadn’t been able to do most of the things other kids had done. Still, he’d learned a lot about women in those years and he’d learned still more as he’d grown up and grown healthy. Women fascinated him and he’d enjoyed sampling more than his share. Gretchen was different, though. He could see that right from the start. Her shell was hard, as it had to be, but the core of her…well, that part of her fascinated him immensely. He very definitely wondered what exactly lay under that keep-your-distance armor of hers.

  “You grew up in Miami?” he asked, his voice low and coaxing.

  Her hands tightened on the wheel. “I grew up everywhere for a while. An army brat, but yes, we landed in Miami when I was ten.”

  “How’d you end up here?”

  She turned for just a second to look at him and she shrugged, a small smile on her face.

  “Trying to soften me up, David?”

  He smiled as she turned back to the road. “Maybe. Mostly I’m just interested in knowing who you are. It’s important for partners to know something of each other, don’t you think? I’m responsible for your life from here on out. You’re responsible for mine.”

  She glanced his way again, a dawning respect in the look she gave him. “You’re right. It’s very important to know whose hands you’re placing your life in. I know I came on a bit strong yesterday, but I felt it was necessary, David.”

  “I never doubted your methods, your motives or your abilities, lady,” he said seriously, truthfully. “Rafe chose you.”

  “And you. I’m sure you are good at what you do.”

  He tilted his head at her somewhat hesitant compliment. “How’d you end up in White horn, Gretchen? This is a long way from the mean streets of Miami.”

  She smiled broadly for the first time, tilting her head up with pleasure, her smile sliding into her eyes to light them up like pale green flames, and David felt a zip of heated sensation shoot straight through his body. “My grand mother lived in Elk Springs. I used to come visit her, and it was an instant love affair between Montana and me. I moved to Elk Springs for a while four years ago, but White horn was a natural when Dakota Winston retired from the force. I love the size of the town, the location, the people, the mountain scenery surrounded by ranches… It’s home for me now, the best I’ve ever known.”

  “No family here?”

  Her low laugh filled the vehicle, an entrancing sound. David figured the lady might con a few criminals into surrendering just by seducing them with that laugh. “I have family everywhere,” she confid
ed. “Three brothers and four sisters. I don’t remember a time in my life until now when I actually had a room to myself. Right now they’re all scattered, but we keep in touch. We’re as close as a phone or a modem or an airport can make us.”

  He eased back more fully into his seat, relaxing as he stretched his long legs out, pleased that she’d let down her barriers just for a moment.

  “So now you know me,” she said.

  He had a feeling she’d just shown him the sheerest part of her surface, and that she didn’t intend to show him much more. Gretchen Neal was cautious.

  “And what about you?” she asked. “You’re one of the Kincaids. Your family runs the Big Sky Bed & Breakfast. Your father is an architect. Your sister is a banker. One cousin runs a day care center. Your entire family is practically royalty in this town.”

  “We’re just people, Gretchen.”

  The lady actually rolled her eyes. “You believe that, don’t you?”

  “It’s true.”

  “David, after you left the station yesterday, every woman in the place was looking in the mirror, trying to see if she’d looked her best when you were there. This is not normal behavior around the station, in case you didn’t know that. You’re— Well, I’m sure you know what you look like and when you add that to the allure of being a Kincaid, that makes you a temptation to most of the women around here. Especially to those looking for husbands.”

  She sounded and looked somewhat flustered. David raised one brow. “Just most of the women? Gretchen, you wound me. Deeply.”

  Her chuckle tempted him to lean closer. “Sorry, I’m just…immune. Some of us are wedded and bedded to our jobs. Marriage isn’t an option for me.”

  That got his attention. “So you’re dead set against marriage. Interesting. Is it because of your job?”

  She took one hand from the wheel and held it out, palm up. “Not really. And don’t get me wrong. I like men just fine and I’m not anti-marriage. It’s a perfect choice for some people, but it’s not for me. I’ve already had my family, and while I adore every member of the Neal clan and I’d go out on the skinniest limb for any one of my brothers or sisters, I’m just not prepared to go that route again. I raised babies when I was still very young, I changed diapers, took temperatures, dried eyes and monitored curfew to help my mother out. Now I’m done with that. I like living alone and being free to make my own choices. And I intend to go on doing just that. I’m a lifer now, a loner. So don’t get panicky, Hannon. The women in the station may bat their eyes at you and run to get you coffee if you purr at them, but you’re safe from me.”

  He chuckled. “You may find this hard to believe, but in spite of being a Kincaid, I don’t expect anyone, under any circumstances, to fetch coffee for me. And as for being safe from you, well…” He held out both hands. “Somehow I just wasn’t all that worried that you were going to crawl across the gearshift and onto my lap.”

  David was surprised and entranced by the slight blush on her cheeks. She was tough, but not that tough. She didn’t want to get married, and it sounded as if she had good reasons. He had some good reasons of his own, the chief one being that he’d been a loner way too much of his life to be real good at maintaining a relationship for very long, not to mention all the bad relationships he’d watched his friends get embroiled in. But marriage, a wife, kids, had a certain dream like fantasy appeal to him. He wished he had the ability to make a go of it. Unfortunately, he didn’t. Besides, right now, there were more important things to consider.

  “You think we’ve dropped enough barriers to enable you to trust me with a few of the details of the case now?” he asked.

  Gretchen felt the low hum of David’s voice go through her like a touch that could seduce every secret out of her. But of course, they were working together on this case. It was time to give her assistant some assistance.

  “You know that a resort casino is in the plans, and that part of it is going to be built on Kincaid land?”

  He nodded. “The land belongs to distant relatives. It’s destined to be inherited by Gabriel Reilly Baxter, Garrett Kincaid’s youngest grandson.”

  “Yes, the Kincaid portion, about fifteen acres, will house a hotel and spa, and the other half of the development being built on thirty acres of the Laughing Horse Reservation will consist of the casino as well as some honeymoon cottages up in the mountains. It’s a joint venture, one that makes sense, I suppose. The Cheyenne provide land that can be used for a casino and the private investors chip in the funding. Lyle Brooks has rounded up some silent investors to finance the project, and Lyle’s in charge of much of the operation. You’re friends with him?”

  David frowned. “Why do you say that?”

  She shook her head, strands of her hair catching on her lips. She carelessly freed it and gave him a look. “Lyle’s another distant relative, isn’t he? Another Kincaid, a grandson of Garrett Kincaid’s, and a member of the country club set I’m sure you belong to.” She wanted to apologize for what had to sound like an accusation, but she had to place all her cards on the table.

  “You could have mentioned those things to Rafe yesterday.”

  “Rafe knows what I know. It’s obviously not a problem for him.”

  “And for you?”

  She studied him, a small frown between her eyes. “It’s just something that needed mentioning.”

  “No need to apologize,” he said, even though she hadn’t done that. “You’re right. It needed mentioning. I suppose that’s why Rafe put you in charge. You don’t avoid the tough questions even though it would be easier to do so.”

  “No, I don’t, but I do try to be fair.” It was the best she could do. He needed to know that she would still be cautious, but that she would trust him as far as she could, given the circumstances.

  “I’m beginning to see that, and I agree that you need to know more of my background. The fact is that Lyle and I don’t share martinis at the country club. We come from two different sides of the family and until very recently, long after I moved away, Lyle’s side lived completely in western Montana. I don’t really know the man.”

  Gretchen gave him a nod. He supposed that meant that she trusted him a little bit anyway. Or maybe it merely meant that she didn’t see any point in arguing about what she couldn’t change.

  He stared at her, trying to decipher that almost unreadable expression she worked so hard at maintaining.

  “All right,” he said. “So Lyle is heavily involved in the resort/casino deal and then a skeleton shows up when they begin to dig the hotel site. I’ve heard that much and also that there was a bullet lodged in the rib bone. The bones belong to Raven Hunter, a Native American who went missing from the reservation thirty years ago.”

  “A man who had made Jeremiah Kincaid angry by falling in love with Jeremiah’s sister, Blanche,” she added.

  “You didn’t add the obvious—that Blanche was my aunt and she died in child birth. The baby she gave birth to is my cousin, Summer. It’s an old story, one the Kincaids don’t talk about too much. And now there’s a body and an old murder to solve. Anything I should know that wasn’t in the file?” David asked.

  She shook her head. “We’ve already inter viewed those people in the area who might have had a link to Raven in any way. Old friends, your mother, your aunt, people on the rez who came in contact with him. It’s all there in black and white, what little there is. Right now the case is more or less on hold while we wait for Jackson Hawk, the tribal attorney, to locate Storm Hunter, Raven’s brother. We need to find out if Storm knows any more than we do about what happened all those years ago. But Storm’s been gone from the area almost as long as Raven has.”

  David blew out a deep breath. “With the passage of time and the two principals both deceased, this case will be a challenge. And Peter Cook?”

  “A construction worker,” she explained. “It appears that he slipped and fell into the hole he’d dug. Until we know more, excavation has ceased completely.”<
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  “Any new leads coming in?”

  She had to smile at that one. “Every day. Ghosts. Aliens. People who claim they were out walking their dog in the middle of nowhere and they heard a rustle in the bushes.”

  His smile indicated a knowledge of what she was talking about. He’d been doing this for a long time, too. “Any likely leads, I guess I should have said.”

  “Not yet.”

  But at that moment, the radio crackled and the dispatcher came on. An armed robbery in progress. Just outside of town on a road they’d passed minutes ago.

  Gretchen spun the car around and headed for the scene.

  A hundred yards from their destination, she slowed and David got out of the car. As she came around the side, he pinioned her with a look. “I’ll go in through the back door,” he said, his voice barely stirring the air. “Stay outside the front in case someone tries to make a run out that door.” He moved silently back into the trees and toward the house.

  Gretchen blinked. Obviously there was a problem here with chain of command. But David was already moving and she would not risk his life by stopping to stamp her foot and assert her authority.

  At least not this moment.

  She pulled out her weapon and approached the house.

  Chapter Two

  It was broad daylight but the shades on the little cottage had been pulled, blocking out most of the sunshine. David slid up to the kitchen window and peered in, but the curtains covering the windows were too thick to see inside.

  “Don’t touch those. Go away from here. Leave me and my things alone,” he heard an elderly woman plead.

  The sound of shoes shuffling on a bare floor drifted out, followed by a loud cracking sound and a grunt.

  The woman squealed and David shoved against the thin wood of the door, which fell open beneath his weight. His gun was drawn as he bulleted through the entrance. He hoped that Gretchen was armed and ready as he got his first glimpse of the big, beefy man whirling toward the front door where she would be waiting.