against her head. “Oh, my mom gave me a whole spice rack last time I was home. I think she was trying to give me a hint. You know, get some spice in your life and find someone and get married and make babies.”
“All that from a couple of shakes into the pot?”
“All that and more,” she replied, before taking a sip of her hot chocolate. “She also gave me this cocoa mix.”
He toasted her with his own. “I think mixing up the recipe in a Mason jar is sweet. It’s a mama thing.”
Remembering he’d never had that, she nodded. “I have a good family so I shouldn’t complain.”
Misreading her statement for pity, he put down the mug with a motif of a laughing reindeer centered on it. “Hey, don’t apologize or downplay that on my account. I’m okay. I have a good job and I get to travel the whole country having fun.”
“Fun? You call some of the things we deal with fun?”
“No. I said I was having fun, not that it is fun.”
“Oh, so that makes a big difference.”
“I love my job,” he admitted with a sheepish shrug. “If I can’t have a big family, I can help someone else get home to theirs.”
“I guess that’s a good way to look at it,” she replied, turning serious while her heart did that strange little beat again. “Except those two dead girls never had that chance.”
“We’ll find him,” Thomas said. “I have a steadfast rule. I always get the bad guy.”
“I try to enforce that same rule,” she said. “But I’m still new to the team. I’ve been here almost a year now and things are getting better, but I never wanted to up my status by stumbling into something this twisted and strange.”
“You were the first officer on the scene. Your SAC is wise to stand back and let you do your job.”
“Maybe,” she said. And then she asked Thomas something she’d been wondering. “But is he doing that because of my abilities or because you just happened along to help out?”
Surprise filled Thomas’s eyes. “Does it matter? We’re in it together now.”
She stood and took their empty mugs to the sink. “But would I be carrying the same clout if you weren’t here?”
Irritation shadowed his expression. “Are we seriously having this conversation? Am I a threat to you, Nina?”
“No. But am I an equal to you?”
“You’re way above my pay scale, even if you earn less than me,” he said, gathering his coat. “I came here for one reason—to bring a killer back to Texas. I can’t change the circumstances that brought us together, but I intend to do my job. But you seem to have a one track mind on getting bad guys, so that makes you more valuable than me right now.”
In spite of you, she figured he wanted to say. He intended to do his job in spite of her.
Wishing she’d kept her mouth shut, Nina pushed at her hair and then tugged at her sweater. “I’m sorry. I want to do my job, too.”
“Then cut that kind of talk,” he said, jamming his meaty arms into his coat. “It’s been a long day. I think I’ll head back to the inn. I would offer to check the place, but I don’t want to offend your stubborn need to measure up.”
She deserved that, Nina decided. Why had she even let him see her insecurities? That only made her look weak and helpless.
“Thanks, Thomas,” she said in a low voice. “For helping with the tree and...for cooking.”
“You can enjoy the leftovers tomorrow night,” he retorted.
Alone.
The silence shouted that one word between them.
He turned for the door, Nina close behind.
And then the whole house went black.
* * *
Sam growled quietly. Nina didn’t move, but she crouched low next to her partner. Listening, she heard a noise out in the carport attached to the house. It sounded as if someone had stumbled into the empty trash can. Then she heard the groan of something heavy being shoved aside.
The rottweiler woofed. “Sam, quiet,” she ordered. “Stay.”
She could hear Thomas by the door. “Nina, stay down.”
“I am down,” she whispered. “But I don’t have my weapon and I never reset the alarm after we came in tonight.”
“I’ve got my weapon,” he said. “And he’d have probably disengaged the alarm, anyway.”
He came near and grasped her by the arm. “It could be the storm. Where’s your circuit breaker?”
“The kitchen, by the door to the carport. But I heard something—”
“I did, too.”
“Let’s check.”
He didn’t argue. Together, they stayed down and worked their way to the kitchen. Nina sat and scooted toward the corner where the circuit box was located. “I’ll need some light,” she whispered.
Thomas followed her and pulled out his phone and handed it to her. Using the faint moonlight creeping through the shuttered blinds, she found the flashlight app and slowly worked her way up the wall.
But before she could check the circuit breaker, the door right beside her jiggled and a shot rang out, splintering the wood and sending fragments flying as Thomas threw her to the floor.
“He’s bold,” the marshal said, sitting up with his weapon drawn.
“Shoot,” she suggested, wishing she had her own gun.
Thomas got in front of Nina on one knee and shot back, adding more bullet holes to the shattered wood.
“I guess if he’s dead, we’ll have to explain,” she whispered. “But I would technically be protecting my castle.”
“I’ll go and find him,” Thomas suggested instead. “If I didn’t get him already.”
Nina thought about what she’d have done if Thomas hadn’t been here. She would have grabbed her weapon and taken control. “Or I could open the door and let Sam do his job.”
“Good idea. But both those strategies are risky.”
“We need to call for backup.”
“The best plan. And if they don’t make it in time, I’m shooting to kill.”
That’s what she would have done. Weapon, backup, shoot to defend and protect.
She made the call with his phone, giving her name, rank and location.
