Love Inspired Suspense July 2015 #1 (30 page)

Ridiculously.

EIGHT

S
tepping out of her favorite boutique, Sherri slung her shopping bag over her good shoulder and gave her new cousin-in-law a sideways hug. “I needed this. Thanks for dragging me out.” Being cooped up in her apartment for the past week had been pure torture.

Well, except for the morning jogs with Cole.

Kara returned her hug. “Anytime. Besides—” Kara's voice dropped conspiratorially “—you weren't the only one who needed new clothes.”

Sherri laughed. “But your reason is so much better!” Kara had confided that she and Jake were expecting. Buying new clothes to accommodate an expanding waistline beat opting for loose-fitting blouses over tank tops to hide an ugly dog bite any day.

Kara frowned. “Does the wound still hurt?”

“No.” She quickly dropped her hand, realizing she'd self-consciously palmed her shoulder. “I'm back to work tomorrow.” Thank goodness. She missed the distraction of work. Her nightmares had taken on a whole new level of horror, with savage dogs and drug-house booby traps added to her desperate efforts to save Luke.

Her heart stuttered. Yes, she wanted to be working, but what if the attacks started again?

Cole hadn't found anything that linked their suspect dispatcher to any of her disgruntled patients or to Joe. And Joe's employer wouldn't share Joe's schedule, so Cole hadn't been able to compare it to the times of the various incidents. She hoped Joe's boss could be trusted to keep the request confidential.

Gulping, she glanced over her shoulder and then scanned the cars parked along the curb and the shoppers strolling the street.

“Don't push yourself too hard, Sherri. You don't have to prove yourself to anyone.”

Maybe not. But none of the guys wanted her back at work. And what little satisfaction she'd gotten from refusing to bend to their pressure tactics had withered with Cole's doubts that they were behind the incidents.

Kara stopped in front of the bakery window and inhaled. “The baby thinks it's time to eat.”

Sherri burst into a much-needed giggle. “Oh, you're going to love using that excuse on Jake, aren't you?” She peered in at the tempting treats and noticed a reflection of someone watching her. She whirled around.

The man slipped into the hardware store across the street.

“What's wrong?” Kara tracked the direction of her gaze and Sherri suddenly felt foolish.

“Uh, nothing. I just thought I saw someone I knew.” Except it wasn't Cole. The build had been too slight. “Let's go in and treat ourselves to a doughnut.”

“Yes, my treat.”

As Kara labored over her choice of flavors, Sherri edged to the front window and scanned the other side of the street again. When she'd told Cole about her Main Street shopping trip with Kara, he'd said he'd make extra patrols in the area. He'd sounded so concerned. Maybe he'd sent out an undercover guy. After all, any guy who'd change his morning routine and meet her at the river trailhead at seven sharp every morning to ensure she didn't jog alone wasn't likely to rest easy over her going shopping. Only, no one seemed to be paying particular attention to the bakery shop. She peered up and down the street. Maybe all this talk about the attacks just had her spooked.

“What kind do you want?” Kara called over to her.

“Apple fritter.”

“You always get that. You should try something new.”

Sherri shook her head and accepted the fritter from the clerk. “I like to stick to what I know.” An image of Cole inexplicably flashed through her mind. Hiding a secret smile, she sank her teeth into the confectionery. Yeah, she knew Cole. It may have taken him seven years to get his feet squarely underneath him, but he'd grown into a caring, protective man. The kind of man who could sweep her off her feet if she wasn't careful.

Except when she saw how deliriously happy Kara looked with her hand straying to her scarcely bulging tummy every few minutes, Sherri didn't want to be careful. She wanted to let herself fall in love. Get married. Have a family.

Kara nudged her arm. “You know, with all this time you've had off, we should have gone on a double date. Maybe with that deputy whose been joining you on your morning jogs?” Her voice rose suggestively.

Sherri rolled her eyes. “He's investigating my case, not dating me.” Cole had kept his professional distance since comforting her in the cemetery, but from the softness in his gaze when he looked at her, she liked to think his caution had more to do with not wanting to get kicked off the case. And that she hadn't exactly invited any more hugs.

Kara laughed. “But you wish he would.” She drew out the last word in a lyrical tease.

Sherri's face heated. Was she that easy to read? She'd had a crush on Cole forever and the man version was a hundred times more attractive, from his chiseled good looks to his strong arms to his fierce protectiveness.

She turned to the door. She'd been operating on the premise that if she hid her emotions, no one could use them against her. Except Cole hadn't used her breakdown at the cemetery against her. Maybe she could open up a little more. What was the worst that could happen?

The fritter turned to dust in her mouth. He'd find out she was an emotional wreck
.
And get her kicked out of her job and then leave her again.

Sherri yanked open the bakery door, feeling suddenly claustrophobic. Except would he leave again?

The man who had held her in the cemetery and asked about Luke, hadn't seemed like the kind of man who'd walk away. A chill shivered down her spine and she instinctively backed up, bumping Kara's arm.

Kara fumbled her doughnut, nearly losing it. “What's wrong?”

“Uh—” Sherri scanned the street and shop windows she couldn't see through. “Nothing. It was nothing.”

Cole cruised slowly past in his patrol car and waved.

Smiling giddily, she waved back, taking more pleasure than she should in her apparent sixth sense of his nearness.

“Hey!” A man called from across the street. It was the guy who'd tried to save her from the dog. He dodged traffic to get to her. “How's the shoulder?”

“Better. Thanks to you.” She turned to Kara. “This is the guy I was telling you about, who pulled the rodeo-clown routine on that dog.”

He extended his hand to Kara. “Hi, the name's Ted.” His warm gaze returned to Sherri as he released Kara's hand and touched Sherri's arm. “I'm just glad I was there. When are you back to work?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Well, you take care.” He dipped his chin to Kara. “Nice meeting you.”

“Wow, he seems nice.” Kara waggled her eyebrows. “If I wasn't already married to the best guy in town, I wouldn't mind being rescued by a guy like him.”

Sherri scratched at her scar. “Trust me. It's not worth it.”

Kara shrugged, a twinkle in her eye. “You're forgetting that I married the man who rescued me.” She led the way down the street and motioned to the fire station. “Mind if we stop in and say hi to Jake?”

“No problem. You go ahead. I wouldn't mind dropping by the ambulance base.” Sherri skirted the fire station and headed for the ambulance bays in the lot behind.

“Hey,” Dan said as she stuck her head into the lounge. He slanted a guilty glance at Joe, and then headed her off, steering her back into the hall. “I thought you weren't due back until tomorrow.”

“I'm not.” She held up her bag, wondering if Cole knew Joe was here again. “I was out shopping and thought I'd say hi.”

“I guess you heard that they confirmed the bogus 9-1-1 call came from that cell phone Cole found?”

“No, I didn't hear anything about a phone.” Her hopes rose. “Do they know who it belongs to?”

Dan snickered. “Yeah, I should've figured he wouldn't tell you. The guy shouldn't be on the case. He's been grilling the rest of us as if
we'd
pull these stunts. Or Luke's father. Can you believe the nerve?”

Her pulse quickened. If not for Cole's tenacity, there wouldn't be a case. “Who made the call?”

Compassion filled Dan's eyes, quickly replaced by irritation as he raked his hand over his whiskers, looking like he didn't want to be the one to tell her. “That punk brother of his.”

“What?” The image flashed through her mind of Eddie hunched outside the ambulance after he caught sight of her wound.
Looking guilty?

Dan squeezed her arm. “I'm sorry. I know you didn't want it to be him.”

She sloughed off his touch. “Excuse me. I have to go.” She stormed out the door and veered across the parking lot toward the sheriff's office. No wonder their leads had dried up. Even Cole's supposed suspicions of Joe. He'd just been pretending to investigate. Probably just pretending to care about her, too, to dupe her into trusting him.

“Hey, wait up.” Kara hurried out the side door of the fire station.

Sherri pressed her shopping bag into Kara's hand. “Take this and go visit longer with Jake. I need to talk to Cole. Alone.”

Kara took the bag, looking worried. “Want to talk about it first?”

“No. This is between me and Cole.”

He was stepping out of a cruiser when she stalked up to the station. He took one glance at her and said to his partner, “Go on in. I'll catch up with you in a minute.”

She closed the distance between them in three long strides and didn't bother waiting until Zeke was out of earshot before she drilled a finger into Cole's chest. “What are you playing at, Cole Andrew Donovan?” Thinking, for the first time in her life, that his initials suited him all too well. He was a cad, with a capital
C
.

The light blinked out of his eyes. “You heard about the cell phone.” He sounded disappointed or maybe resigned.

“Yes, and I'm wondering why I didn't hear about it from you.” She poked his chest. “Did you think I wouldn't find out?” Thank goodness she hadn't actually started opening up to him. Clearly she couldn't be open and honest with a man hiding facts from her.

He enclosed her hand in his and drew closer. “I was going to tell you.”

She wavered, foolishly wanting to believe him. No, she'd already made that mistake. She snapped her hand from his grasp. “Sure you were. Right after you helped your brother skip town. Or clouded the case with so many suspects he'd never be convicted.” And to think she'd helped by dreaming up other potential suspects for him to harass.

And that he'd blatantly carried on the ruse by insisting on joining her on her jogs every morning. Keeping her running scared when all he had to do was watch his brother.

“My brother didn't make the call. Yes, it was his phone. But he had lost it over a week before. I swear to you he was with me when that call came through. He didn't make it.”

She shook her head, her gaze fixed on his moving lips, but scarcely registering his words. Not that it mattered. She couldn't trust what came out of his mouth. “Why did you take this case?” She hated how her voice cracked.

“Because it kills me to see someone trying to hurt you. Sherri, I promise you, I—”

She sliced her hand through the air. “Stop! I don't want to hear your promises.” She yanked her shirt collar sideways to expose her shoulder. “Did you get a good look at what that dog did to me? What kind of sick loyalty lets—?”

She stopped as his face turned pasty, his gaze fixed on the jagged scar, his throat convulsing as if he might throw up. Yeah, nice to know that was the kind of reaction she could look forward to from here on out if she ever decided to flash her shoulder at a guy.

“I'd never hurt you,” he whispered, his gaze lifting to meet hers. “You've got to know that.”

“Right, because your leaving seven years ago never hurt. Never mind that you never called. Never wrote.” She clamped her mouth shut. He'd never given her any reason to think he would, not really, unless you counted his innocent kiss or the way he'd hugged her afterward or the gift he'd given her when he left.

Pain shadowed his eyes. Eyes she'd once believed she'd never tire of gazing into, of tracing the dark blue and white rays that burst from his huge pupils like rays of sunshine. “Please, you've got to trust me.”

She broke the hypnotic grip of his gaze and turned on her heel. “No, I don't.”

* * *

Cole braced for round two as Sherri whirled straight into her firefighter cousin's chest.

“Whoa, you okay?” Jake caught her by the elbows and searched her face.

She blinked rapidly and let out a lousy impersonation of a laugh. “Of course, why wouldn't I be? Excuse me.” She strode across the street toward the woman Cole had seen her shopping with earlier, who'd apparently also been watching the spectacle.

Cole cringed to see that the woman hadn't been the only one. A couple of paramedics outside the ambulance bay were gawking, and Zeke had parked himself on a bench outside the sheriff's office.

Cole returned his attention to Jake, who'd leaned back against Cole's truck and perched his elbows on the hood, stretching his long legs in front of him as if he were there to shoot the breeze, not read him the riot act.

Yeah, fat chance. Cole remembered Sherri telling him once that she'd never been lonely having no brothers and sisters, because she had so many cousins. And Jake was clearly playing the big-brother role today.

“What did you say to her?”

“Not enough.” Not that pointing out he'd thrown his brother under the bus by turning in that phone would've made any difference.

Jake chuckled. “Oh, I don't know.”

“Pardon me?” Cole squinted at him. What kind of big-brother cousin was he?

“I saw the blowup from across the street.”

Him and everyone else.
“Don't worry, I have no intention of—”

“Whoa, stop right there. I didn't come over here to tell you to stay away from her.” He slanted a glance her way. “Just the opposite.” His palm circled over his clenched fist. “She'd pummel me if she knew I was asking. But I was hoping you could help her.”