The Forbidden Bride

by Debra Cowan

  She had taken the news of their working together better than he had expected. He was still in one piece. Even so, Nate had no illusions that things would get any easier between him and the petite brunette.

  An hour after viewing the fire scene videotape with Collier and Nate, Robin joined Terra Spencer and Meredith Parrish for dinner at her house. Upon arriving, she briefly wished that she could be alone, maybe take her horse out for a long ride. But the second she saw her friends, she was glad they were there.

  She had finally wrapped her head around working with Houston. It had helped that he had treated her and Collier as partners and not as people who had to report to him. Still, that didn’t mean she liked the idea of working with him any better than she had before. He seriously unsettled her. Why had he moved back to Oklahoma anyway?

  After dinner, the three women stayed seated around the light oak dining table. Robin poured herself another glass of merlot, noticing when her friends exchanged a puzzled look.

  “What’s going on?” Terra frowned, sweeping her golden-red hair over one shoulder. “You’re on your second glass of wine.”

  “You’ll never guess who asked for my phone number today.”

  “It can’t be anyone good.” Meredith wore her blonde curls in a chic twist, as she usually did, while seeing patients at Presley Medical Center, where she was a doctor on staff. “You usually don’t drink two glasses of wine in one night.”

  “So, spill.” Terra sipped at her tea.

  Robin knew the other women weren’t having alcohol because they both had to drive home. After another sip of wine, she said, “Nate Houston.”

  Both of her friends started visibly. Some of Terra’s drink sloshed out onto the table and she grabbed a napkin to clean it up. “What!”

  “He’s got some nerve.” Concern shadowed Meredith’s blue eyes. “Why would he ask for your number?”

  Robin laughed. “He didn’t ask because he wanted to. He caught a fire-murder similar to the ones Collier and I are working and today he was assigned to oversee our cases.”

  “That answers my question about whether the bigwigs are aware that they could be dealing with a serial arsonist.” Terra was Presley’s first female fire investigator, and had trained Collier.

  “So, how was it seeing him?” Meredith asked quietly.

  Terra’s green eyes darkened. “Did he act like a jerk?”

  “No.” Robin would’ve liked to say yes, but he had remained completely professional. So far, he hadn’t been the hard-ass she had expected.

  She might be resigned to working with the man; that didn’t mean she was suddenly all soft and gooey about him. “Tomorrow will be the real kickoff for the task force. I’ll start to get a better feel for him then. He wants Collier and me to go to his crime scene, see if we can find something he didn’t.”

  Meredith gave her a thoughtful look. “You could ask to be reassigned.”

  “Wouldn’t he love that?” Robin drawled. “No way. I’m not about to let him think I can’t handle it.”

  “Do you think he feels the same about working with you?”

  Surprised, Robin paused. “I don’t know. I never thought about it. You’d think he might at least feel a little awkward after what he did, but if he does, I can’t tell.”

  Meredith shook her head. “I’ll never understand why he talked Kyle out of the wedding, or even how he did it.”

  Neither would Robin. That September day seemed so long ago, yet every second was excruciatingly clear in her mind.

  She had really believed Kyle Emrick was Mr. Right. They had hit it off from the beginning, when he had transferred from the El Reno Police Department to Presley P.D. After dating a year, they became engaged.

  On a fall day six months later, she had been in the anteroom at the church with her mom, waiting to walk down the aisle with her dad. Memories rushed back—her excitement, the little flutter of nerves.

  Just as she had picked up her bouquet, Kyle walked in saying he needed to talk to her. He couldn’t marry her, he said. Nate Houston had convinced him it was wrong. Disbelieving at first, she had actually laughed and told him to stop joking around. Nate Houston had nothing to say about Kyle marrying her.

  But her fiancé kept insisting that Houston was right; it would be a bad idea for Kyle to marry her. As if Houston were the pope and he had issued some ridiculous decree.

  It wasn’t until Kyle told her to return his wedding band that Robin believed him. She’d been numb and dazed. Lost. By the time her father had explained to the guests that the wedding was off, she was furious. At Kyle. At Nate.

  She had gone in search of Houston, but he had disappeared. No big surprise. He’d done his damage. Why hang around?

  Who the hell did he think he was? Why had her fiancé let himself be swayed by the guy? They were friends, but not brothers. Not even fraternity brothers. Over the next twelve months, Robin had asked Kyle repeatedly to give her his reasons for calling off the wedding, but he wouldn’t. She wanted answers and she had considered asking Nate, but she didn’t trust him to tell her.

  On what would’ve been her and Kyle’s one-year anniversary, she asked for the last time. All he would say was that he still believed it would’ve been wrong for them to marry. A month later, he had transferred to the traffic division and a year after that, Robin had been assigned to homicide.

  In the three years since, she had moved past her hurt, moved past the anger. Evidently, her resentment against Houston was another matter.

  Even if she had dodged a bullet, she wasn’t thanking Nate Houston for it. He’d been witness to—party to—the most humiliating day of her life.

  Meredith frowned. “Nate was the groomsman who was supposed to walk with me. I remember hearing him say his marriage had hit a rocky patch and he was trying to work things out with his wife. Do you know if he did?”

  “Nope.” What kind of woman would marry a man like Nate Houston? A man who went around interfering with things that were none of his business. Life-altering things.

  Robin realized Collier hadn’t asked Nate about a wife any of the times they had all been together today. For some reason, she didn’t think he had a spouse any longer. He just seemed…alone.

  Terra pushed her plate to the side. “Since you never found out from Kyle exactly why he called off the wedding, do you plan to ask Nate what he said to the jerk?”

  Robin snorted. “I’ve lived through that humiliation once, thank you very much. I’m not doing it again. The only things I’m talking to Houston about are murders and fires.”

  Tomorrow she would find out how this alliance would work, what kind of manager and investigator Houston was.

  “I wouldn’t dredge it all back up, either,” Meredith said.

  The doctor had relived her own devastation when she had to accept the news that the ex-fiancé she believed to be dead was very much alive.

  Terra and Robin had both expressed misgivings about Meredith reuniting with her ex, Gage Parrish, but he now seemed like a different person, at least as far as the way he treated Meredith. They had been married fourteen months, and so far, she was number one with him, period.

  It was that way for Terra, too. Her cop husband, Jack Spencer, worshiped the woman.

  Robin was happy for her friends, but she didn’t expect or need to ever find such commitment for herself. It wasn’t only because her friends had found two of the last good men on earth. She wasn’t willing to endure the hell Meredith in particular had gone through to get there.

  “Let’s change the subject.” Robin smiled at the other two women. “Tell me how things are going with y’all.”

  “Oh, I have a new family picture.” Terra went into the living room and snagged her purse from the taupe suede sofa, returning to the kitchen as Meredith gathered up the plates.

  The blonde stacked the dishes on the counter next to the sink. “Gage’s business is really taking off. He hired another investigator last week.”

  Parrish had been
a fire investigator with the Oklahoma City Fire Department before the U.S. Marshals faked his death. The brutally long hours and his own single-minded focus had been what came between him and Meredith before he was put into Witness Security.

  When things had worked out so that he was free to return to his old life, he had opened his own private fire investigation company so he could choose his workload and adjust his hours around Meredith’s hospital schedule. He had kept his promise.

  Terra handed a photograph to Robin. Meredith returned to the table, bending to look at the picture. Terra, Jack and Elise looked insanely happy. Terra’s tall, dark-haired husband held her close with one arm and held their daughter in the other. The toddler was planting a kiss on his cheek.

  Robin smiled. “This goes on the fridge with the others.”

  “Same here.” Meredith put one of the photos on the counter, near her purse, to take home.

  The three of them had been friends since junior high, when Meredith and Robin had moved to Presley. Robin was much closer to them than to her own sister, Wendy. Most of the time she didn’t even know what her hard-partying sister was up to.

  She glanced at Meredith. “Have you and Gage talked about starting a family?”

  “We want to have a year to ourselves first.”

  “That’s a good idea.” Terra slid back into her chair and folded one long leg under her. “It worked out great for Jack and me to have some ‘couple’ time.”

  As Robin caught up with her friends, she found her thoughts wandering to the investigation. To Houston. Something he had said both that morning and that evening niggled at her. Something about the last big case he had closed in Chicago, the one where he might have put away the wrong man. Both times the subject had come up, there had been a flash of raw emotion in his eyes.

  Robin could have sworn it was pain. But why?

  Realizing where her thoughts had gone, she pushed away her questions. Why should she care about anything in Nate Houston’s eyes? All she wanted was to solve these cases. The sooner that happened, the sooner she could get away from him.

  Chapter 3

  Just after eight o’clock the next morning, Nate waited for Robin and Collier at the training center complex located less than a mile from I-35. The three of them had agreed to meet there and ride in one car to Warren. The complex was fairly new and included buildings for administration, classroom space and the drill tower, used for practicing various fire procedures.

  June heat shimmered around him. He leaned against the side of his SUV, one ankle crossed over the other, as he spoke to the secretary at the fire marshal’s office, telling her where he would be today.

  He hadn’t known what to expect out of Daly last night, when they had met at Collier’s office to view the tape from their latest fire scene, but things had gone well. She had kept her distance, and afterwards she probably hadn’t given him a single thought. Too bad he couldn’t say the same. He had thought about her a lot, and not once in the context of the investigation. He didn’t understand it.

  Hell, Nate never even thought about the women he was seeing unless he was with them.

  Since his divorce three years earlier from Stephanie, he was interested in only short-term flings, one or two nights then he moved on. Nate didn’t want a committed relationship. He had failed at that.

  Now for some reason, he couldn’t stop thinking about Robin. Wondering if the petite detective was involved with anyone, if she had been involved at all since breaking up with Kyle. Nate knew three things about her. She liked horses, liked her job and had been engaged before. That was it. And he wanted to know more.

  As if she would ever tell him. Hell, she would probably be offended if he tried to get on friendly terms with her. He bet Robin Daly could squash his curiosity inside of two seconds when she arrived. One look from those cool, disdainful eyes would shift his mind back where it should be.

  A dark blue sedan drove up and Nate concluded his phone call, straightening as Robin parked in the space next to his. If she knew he had been thinking about her, she would probably blow a gasket. The idea made him grin.

  She climbed out of her car, cell phone to her ear. She settled her sunglasses on her head.

  Holding up a finger to show him she would be just a minute, she turned away slightly. She looked cool and professional in a pink sleeveless top and navy slacks, but it was her hair that had him going still inside.

  She wore it down, sliding around her shoulders like a thick curtain of satin. Stunning. It was a deep, rich brown, sable. As glossy as hot silk. He wanted to touch it.

  The way it was pulled up at the sides drew attention to the classic lines of her profile. He didn’t know why the relaxed hairstyle made such a difference. Maybe because it made her appear softer, more touchable. He didn’t need to be thinking about touching her, or anything on her.

  She flipped her cell phone shut and turned, shoulders rigid. “Looks like we’ll have to reschedule.”

  “Did you catch another case?”

  “No, that was McClain. He was just called in to court.”

  Ah, she didn’t want to go alone with Nate. Not his favorite scenario, either. “Will he be on call all day?”

  He already knew the answer. He’d done his share of waiting to be called to the witness stand.

  “Yes. We’ll have to go another day.”

  “He could be there for a week.”

  “I guess so.”

  “We don’t have a week,” Nate said evenly. “Not if we want to catch this torch before he kills someone else.”

  “You said you wanted both me and McClain to look at your crime scene.”

  “That would be my preference.” Believe me, he thought. “But I don’t think we should wait. I want you for more than a fresh pair of eyes. As a cop, you might pick up on something I didn’t.”

  She hesitated, which got to him. “You said you weren’t going to have a problem working with me.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t.”

  “If your not wanting to go to Warren isn’t work-related, it must be personal.” He knew being with him bugged her and that bugged him. He folded his arms. “You afraid to be alone with me, Daly?”

  “Give me a break.” Blue fire sparked in her eyes.

  Was she going to hold that incident against him forever? He’d done her a favor. Kyle was still a cop in the Presley P.D., so Robin had to know about him, had to know just how great a favor Nate had done her.

  “What else am I supposed to think?” he asked. “You’re the cop on this investigation. Want me to request someone else?”

  “Don’t you dare.” Her voice was low, fierce. “This is my case, Houston. I’m working it.”

  “If McClain were here, you wouldn’t have a problem going.”

  “Maybe I just like him better than you.”

  “That’s because you haven’t spent any time with me,” he said with a grin.

  She didn’t smile, just stared, her eyes growing more remote. He was going to have to start over with her, declare another truce. Great. Would it be like this every time he saw her? “It’s an hour drive. Surely you can stand my company that long.”

  “You’re right. Sorry.” She looked at him across the top of her vehicle. “Whose car do you want to take?”

  Nate blinked. What the hell? “Uh, mine. More legroom.”

  “Okay.” She opened the back door of her car and pulled out a lightweight jacket in the same navy as her slacks.

  Draping it over one arm, she dropped her keys into her black shoulder bag as she walked to the passenger side of Nate’s SUV. He noticed her badge and holster clipped on to the waistband of her pants. Today, he carried his gun in a clip-on holster, too.

  Nate slid behind the wheel, his nerves twitching as though he’d had too much caffeine. He had been fine until learning he would be making this trip alone with Robin.

  As he got behind the wheel, her light wildflower scent drifted to him. He noticed her slowly looking him over a
nd adrenaline shot through him like a drug. When she realized he had noticed, her gaze changed to wintry and laser-sharp.

  Ah, there it was. The look of contempt guaranteed to put him in his place. She acted as though he had a contagious disease, It bugged the hell out of him.

  He figured she wouldn’t talk to him unless she absolutely had to. He could live with that.

  As he drove out of the complex, he again felt her watching him.

  “You have a gun.”

  “So do you.”

  “I’m a cop,” she said flatly. “I assume you have a permit to carry.”

  “Yes. All agents at the fire marshal’s office are sworn peace officers.”

  “You can arrest people too?”

  He nodded.

  “Hmm, I didn’t know that.”

  He merged onto I-35, going north. They rode in silence for a few minutes. Stealing a look at her, Nate traced the lush curve of her breasts, slid down the lean thighs beneath the slim navy slacks. He bet she had great legs. He had never seen her in anything besides pants and a wedding dress.

  Small hoops in her ears emphasized dainty lobes and the satiny curve of her neck. Her lightly tanned skin was flawless, fine-grained and petal-smooth. From touching her arm last night, he knew how soft her skin was, knew her lips would be just as soft.

  And then there was her hair. He still wanted to get his hands in it, mess it up.

  She caught him looking at her and arched a brow, frost gathering in her yes.

  He got the message, but he didn’t look away. She had drawn the line and he had no intention of stepping over it. That didn’t mean he couldn’t look if he wanted. And he wanted.

  He accelerated past a van. “The victim, Brad Myers, owned a restaurant. He’s survived by an ex-wife and two kids. And a brother. They didn’t get along very well.”

  “I certainly understand that.” She slipped her sunglasses back on.

  Knowing her sister, Nate got it, too. From the little bit he knew of both of them, two women couldn’t be more different. Robin, smart and steady. Wendy, wild and selfish.