Tag, You're It! (18 page)

"I'm still recovering," Tag said, but he couldn't help grinning.

She smiled faintly in return, but she obviously had something else on her mind. "I— I've had pretty bad luck with men," she said, and when she lifted her eyes to his the gray was clouded with uncertainty. It was a powerful emotion to see in a woman who was nothing if not confident. "I hope you understand that this…" her eyes cut to the bed and quickly away, "what happened earlier, that was just…"

"Sex?"

"I'd like to think there was some friendship involved."

"There is."

She nodded, easing the bathroom door closed. In a minute Tag heard the blow dryer whine to life.

He laid his head against the back of the chair and called himself every kind of fool there was.

He'd walked into this case thinking it was just busy-work, something to keep him out of trouble while he dealt with losing a partner. All he needed to do, he'd thought, was hang Bennet Harper out to dry for running a con.

And then he'd been dumped out of an airplane on an innocent and unsuspecting woman, who'd saved his life and wormed her way into his affections. There, he'd admitted it. This wasn't a game anymore; it was personal. And he and Alex were in a whole lot of trouble if he didn't start figuring some things out.

Like where did the treasure fit in? In the beginning, Tag had believed the treasure was nothing more than a white elephant, a shill for the investors and a wild goose chase for him. It seemed, however, that Harper actually believed there was a treasure. Why else hire two teams to search for it, and why else shanghai Alex into guiding him? And if Harper believed there was a treasure, and he didn't trust Tag, why was he letting them go after it? Why take the chance he and Alex would find it and double-cross him?

He was pretty sure Harper would have answered some or all of those questions this morning, if Tag had kept his head in the game. All he'd had to do was play along, find out exactly what Harper hoped to gain by bringing Alex into this mess, and deal with it. Instead, he'd let it slip that Alex was more to him than just the pawn Harper intended her to be. As a result, he'd become a pawn himself, and the odds sucked for pawns surviving the chess game.

If Alex found out he was working for Bennet Harper, those odds would drop sharply. It would have been bad enough when she only thought he was lying to her. Now they'd slept together; there weren't any excuses good enough to get him off the hook for taking advantage of her that way. It wouldn't matter that he was an FBI agent, or that he was trying to put Harper in jail. It would matter that he was using her. He wouldn't just lose her trust, she'd hate him.

If he had an ounce of decency he'd yank her out of that bathroom and tell her everything—and she'd run. History told him that much. She'd take off and tell herself she could deal with whatever Harper threw at her. She was a capable woman, but she had no idea what she was up against, and Tag wasn't about to let her out of his sight until he knew she was safe.

She'd find out the truth at some point, but with any luck that wouldn't happen until they were out in the back of beyond, and she didn't have anywhere to run. Of course he'd have to take her gun away from her first. And make sure they were nowhere near Jackass. And tie her up.

He looked over at the bed, hot at the thought of tying her up and completely forgetting about the moment of truth to come. He'd cross that bridge when he got to it. And hope to hell Alex didn't throw him off it. Yeah, the truth could definitely wait.

If that made him a coward, then he was a coward.

And Alex really did have bad luck with men.

TAG AND ALEX HAD LUNCH ON THE ROAD, HALFWAY back to the Bar D. He drove again. Alex stayed on her side of the bench seat, gaze confined to the scenery outside the passenger window. Sleeping with Tag had seemed right at the time; so had telling him about Bennet Harper. Now it was just uncomfortable.

"Wishing you hadn't told me about your ex?" Tag said.

"I'm struggling to come to terms with it, hence the silent contemplation."

"Hence?"

She didn't take the bait. Not that it discouraged Tag.

"So what platitudes are you using?" he wanted to know. "Water under the bridge? What's done is done? One day at a time?"

"Actually, I was going for out of sight, out of mind, but it's kind of hard to forget you when you keep talking."

"That's not a platitude, that's an insult." He grinned over at her. "I'm unforgettable."

He had her there, but she thought it was best to keep that to herself. Tag wouldn't be around any longer than he had to be. That was a reality she had no trouble facing.

At the moment he'd disappeared into his own thoughts, so Alex went back to looking out the window. After the noise and commotion of the city, the endless blue sky and wide-open spaces were soothing. Although the temperature was still crisp in the mornings and evenings, the weather had turned for good. She cracked the window and took a deep breath, the air gliding like silk into her lungs, without the aftertaste of exhaust to catch at the back of her throat.

An eagle was riding the thermals off in the distance. She watched it for a while and felt like she'd been gone a million years instead of two days. She wasn't really free, not yet, but out here, with the mountains around her, she felt like she would be again, soon.

When they pulled into the Bar D ranch yard Alex went directly to the barn to check on Jackass and found Dee in there with him. Dee greeted her with a hug. Jackass greeted her with a long, reproachful look over the top of the stall. After that he turned his head to the wall and refused to acher presence.

"He dogged the mares for a while," Dee said, "then he got bored with that and tried to bash his way out of the corral, so I put him back in here. Now he's just depressed."

"She's only been gone for two days."

Jackass didn't appreciate Tag's observation. Jackass enbeing the center of attention. Alex opened the stall door, prepared to give him what he wanted, but he nearly flattened her in his rush to exit the barn. They followed him out and found him at the corral just outside, Angel standing on the other side of the rail. The two horses nuzzled each other, Jackass not so depressed anymore. In fact, Jackass looked downright happy. For a horse.

"Huh," Dee said. "Will you look at that."

Alex just rolled her eyes and went back inside, returning with Jackass's saddle.

Tag wasn't quite so eager to be on horseback again, but after a long, level stare from Alex he retrieved his own personal torture device.

"Maybe you should spend the night here," Dee said to Alex, "for his sake if nothing else."

"We have to get back to Casteel," Tag and Alex said almost in unison.

Tag dropped the saddle.

Alex jammed her hands on her hips. "I thought you wanted to get out in the field right away."

"Why do you want to go back there?" he demanded at the same time. "Because the sheriff of Mayberry asked you to?" She'd called him from the room before they left Denver. The side of the conversation Tag could hear had consisted of one-word responses. At least one of them had been "yes."

"If you mean Matt, then you're right," Alex said, "and don't change the subject. Why do you want to go back?"

"Does it really matter? Your mind is made up and you won't back off until you get your way."

"And you're the soul of compromise?"

"What the hell are you arguing about when you bom want to do the same thing?" Dee put in, then held up her hands when both Tag and Alex turned on her. "Fine, you two hash this out." And she walked away. Not out of earshot, though; that wouldn't have been any fun at all.

"There's nothing to hash out. Alex has a date." Tag hefted Angel's saddle and headed for the corral.

Let Alex think he was pissed off because she was running back to Matt at a moment's notice. He didn't want to add another lie to the list he was already going to have to explain, and he couldn't tell her the truth. They had to go back to Casteel because the only way to figure this thing out was to play Bennet Harper's game. That would be kind of hard to do if the rest of the players didn't know where they were, and the rest of the players were in Casteel.

And he wasn't jealous.

"Knowing Matt, he has a good reason to drag you back there," Dee said when she came over to help him saddle Angel.

"I don't like it," Tag said, even though it worked in his favor. Maybe Matt just wanted to see her because he was infatuated. Maybe Harper had bought him off—that might be a stretch, but from this point on Tag was putting everyone under a microscope. Starting with Matt Harrison.

Several hours later he wasn't as sanguine about the decision. The insides of his legs, from the knees up, felt like raw meat, and he'd begun to look forward to the times they got off and walked to give the horses a rest. His back hurt, his feet hurt, his head hurt, and the weather had warmed up enough for the bugs to start hatching. Yeah, the scenery was spectacular, but he was really beginning to hate springtime in the mountains.

It was nightfall—dinnertime for the mosquitoes—by the time Casteel appeared in the next valley. Tag was actually glad to see the place, even though he could already tell it was worse than it had been when they'd left. Campers were parked everywhere, tents were pitched on front lawns, and people were getting themselves arrested just so they'd have a place to sleep for the night.

"Prices are ten times what they were when you left town," Matt told them when they got to his office. "George down at the diner tried to charge me twenty-five dollars for breakfast the other day. I had to threaten to arrest him before he'd be reasonable."

"Sounds like an abuse of authority to me," Tag observed.

"Just ignore him," Alex suggested, which was enough to make a lapdog like Matt Harrison toe the line.

"It's a damn gold rush around here," he said. "National news crews were here yester—"

There was a clatter at the front door. They all looked around and saw a face peering in at them through the little window.

"It's her," the face said, the words muffled by the closed door but still depressingly clear. "She's back in town."

Matt got up and checked out the situation.

Alex joined him. "You've got to be kidding," she said, adding for Tag's benefit, "there's already a crowd gathering."

Matt stated the obvious. 'They're convinced you know where the Lost Spaniard is."

"Well, they're wrong. We narrowed it down, but we still can't pinpoint the treasure."

"So you changed your mind?" Matt wanted to know. "You're going out there to look for it?"

"Yeah." Alex sent Tag a warning look—as if he'd had any intention of launching into a spontaneous rundown of her reasons for going treasure hunting.

They were already dealing with Frick and Frack, Pierre's handful of wannabe thugs, and a knife-wielder who might not be a member of either group. The last thing Tag needed was Barney Fife bumbling around in his business.

Matt poured two cups of coffee and handed one to Alex, offering the other to Tag.

He shook his head and stayed put, leaning against the wall where he could see out the front windows and still keep track of the conversation.

"I've been to your cabin," Matt said to Alex, settling behind his desk again while she took the chair in front of it.

Alex went still, but Tag knew her well enough to see the anger iced beneath the calm. "Is it a total loss?" she asked.

"Only two walls burned, but the roof caved in and the animals got to what wasn't destroyed in the fire. I managed to dig out your steel fire safe, which was halfway through the floor."

"I thought there was dirt under the floor."

Matt shrugged. "Dirt's had a century to settle. I brought the safe back. There wasn't anything else worth saving, but I figured the important stuff would be in the safe anyway."

"Like the deed to five useless acres of woods." Alex took a long sip of the bitter coffee, looked up at Matt's face, and smiled faintly. "I'm sorry, Matt. The rest of my research was in the safe, too. Thanks for going out there, especially with everything going on around here."

"I deputized Tom Mackey," Matt said, but a pleased flush was creeping up from underneath his collar.

"That's why you dragged us back here?" Tag said. "So you could be the big, strong sheriff who rescued her paperwork?"

Matt jumped to his feet, but Alex was faster, putting herself between them, a hand planted on each chest.

"I don't want Alex out there wandering around with all the crazies," Matt said. His tone included Tag in that category. He held Tag's gaze for another fun-filled moment, then looked down at Alex. "I thought if you saw firsthand what's going on around here… I mean, it would be great if you found the treasure—"

"So you could rebuild your cabin and stay," Tag muttered.

Alex glared at him, jerked her head toward the door, and watched long enough to make sure he went before she turned back to Matt. 'Thank you," she said, "for everything. I don't know what I would have done without you. You're like the big brother I never had—well, not at first, of course, but you've been the best friend…" Across the room she saw Tag's shoulders hunch and realized it was about the worst thing she could have said to Matt. But she was so hopeless with her feelings. "You know what I mean, Matt."

"Yeah." He gave her hands a squeeze. "If I don't think of you as a sister, you won't mind."

She laughed softly. "That's the most flattering thing any man has ever said to me. If I had half a brain," or heart, "well, anyway, thanks for everything."

She didn't get a whole lot of time to feel bad. The minute she and Tag opened the door there was a mad rush from the crowd outside.

Matt came to stand behind Alex, looking over her shoulder at the eager faces, and the curious faces, and the calculating faces. And the ones who looked like they were contemplating violence. "You sure you don't want to stay here?"

"No way am I sleeping in a jail cell."

"At least you'd be safe."

"With this crowd following me around, what could happen?" She'd be safer than she'd been since Tag Donovan had landed in her life. What she wouldn't be able to do was look for the Lost Spaniard and get rid of the threat once and for all. "I'm not leaving Jackass alone to get sabotaged again," she said.

Alex gave Matt a peck on the cheek that Tag chose not to notice—easy since she was leaving with him. "Any idea how we can get out of town without an entourage?" Tag asked.

Alex slid him a sidelong look. "Why are you asking me?"

"These are your people."

"My people are uptight, East Coast, tea-drinking snobs." She glanced over her shoulder. "These people are one step away from a circus sideshow."

"The bearded lady isn't usually armed to the teeth," he pointed out. "I'd rather they didn't follow me around until their patience wears out."

"That's it."

"What's it?"

"If we don't want them to follow us, maybe we should give them a head start." Alex stopped, scowling at the front rank of the crowd, pressing close to hear what they were saying. They took a collective step back. "I think you should let it slip that we're leaving tonight," she continued, setting off again and keeping her voice down. "In the opposite direction we're actually going."

"Why me? Why don't you let it slip?"

"Because these are my people. They won't believe it if it comes from me."

Tag gave it some thought, seeing the possibilities. "Okay,

Charlie McCarthy, how do you suggest I let the cat out of the bag?"

"Charlie McCarthy was the dummy," Alex said.

Tag grinned. "I know. C'mon, genius, put some words into my mouth."

"I've only known you for four days, but I haven't noticed you having a particular problem coming up with words. Sometimes they even sound believable." Alex patted his arm. "This should be one of those times."

"Ouch," Tag said, but he was smiling.

"It might help to pretend you're drunk. And you should probably tell a woman."

"A woman?"

"That way you can romance her," Alex said, "make it seem like secrets just pour out of you because she's so beautiful. You know, con her."

"I should probably be insulted, but I'm feeling like I have to prove I can rise to the challenge," Tag said.

"And I feel like I should apologize to the female population of Casteel."

"Now that's insulting."

Alex rolled her eyes. "Pick the right woman, get her to believe she knows where we're going, and it'll be around town inside of an hour. A bunch of these people will try to get a head start."