a sight for sore eyes. You’re all grown-up.” They’d been nine when he’d left.
A few regulars at the bar were craning their necks to see what was going on.
“Are you back?” Darby asked.
Tucker nodded. “Sorry it took me so long. I’ll tell you all about it, but I can’t right now. I have a date.”
“A date?” Lillie demanded, finally finding her voice as she pulled back to look at him. “A date your first night home?”
“You sound like Flint.”
“He knows you’re back?”
Tucker laughed, hearing the jealousy in her voice. “I’m staying at the ranch and I haven’t seen Hawk and Cyrus yet, but I had to stop by and see the two of you. We’ll all get together soon and catch up, I promise.”
Lillie wiped her eyes, her hand going to her stomach again. “You haven’t even met my husband, Trask, or Darby’s wife, Mariah, yet. Or Billie Dee.”
“Billie Dee?”
“The best cook in Montana, probably the whole US,” Lillie said adamantly.
He laughed. “I will meet them all. I’ll catch up on everything, but right now I have to run.” He kissed his sister on the cheek and waved to Darby. “It’s so great to see the two of you again.”
“Did Flint tell you a package arrived for you?” Lillie asked.
Tucker had forgotten about it for a while. “He did.” He could see that Lillie was busting at the seams to know what was inside. “It was just somethin’ I sent on ahead of me. No big deal.” She looked disappointed. “No mystery. Sorry.”
But as he left, he couldn’t help but wonder who’d sent the doll and what exactly the message had been.
As he walked to his pickup, though, he saw that he’d gotten a different kind of message. Someone had stuck a folded piece of paper under his driver’s-side windshield wiper.
He looked around before pulling it out. As he opened it, he saw the girlie lettering and felt a chill. He knew it was impossible, but he would have sworn it was Madeline’s handwriting.
It read: You shouldn’t have come back.
* * *
AFTER A QUICK shopping trip downtown, Kate was ready when she got the call that her date was waiting for her downstairs.
Her date? This wasn’t a date. This wasn’t even work. This was about justice, plain and simple. So how did she explain the butterflies? She hadn’t had butterflies the first time she went out with Peter or any other man that she could remember.
So why was she so nervous about going out with Tucker Cahill? She’d met her share of handsome cowboys. What made Tucker Cahill different?
It wasn’t his crooked grin. Or that jolt of current she’d felt when he’d grabbed her arm in front of the hotel and she’d seen him up close for the first time. It was what she’d glimpsed in those gray eyes, a pain she’d recognized heart-deep.
Kate pushed the thought away, telling herself that Tucker Cahill was no different from any other man she’d interviewed for a story. He was merely a source. She would do the job she was damned good at. She’d get the information she needed from him, and if she couldn’t get him to help her, she would have no reason to see him again.
But as the elevator door opened, she saw him and her heart took a roller-coaster-ride dip. In his dress Western attire, he was even more handsome. But it was the look on his face when he saw her that squeezed her heart like a fist. Had any man ever looked at her like that?
She looked away, not surprised to see that several women in the lobby were admiring the cowboy. As she stepped out of the elevator and started toward him, the women gave her an appreciative look—though a little green-eyed.
For a woman who didn’t consider this a date, she’d put her hair up, leaving several dark tendrils to fall free around her face. Never one to wear much makeup, she’d kept it at a minimum, but at the last minute she had added just a touch of coral stain to her lips and two drops of her favorite perfume between her breasts.
The dress she wore was teal and fell over her curves like warm tropical waves. The hem hit just above her knees, calling attention to her long legs and the strappy new heels she’d purchased uptown.
From the widening of Tucker’s gray eyes, it had been effective.
“You look amazing,” he whispered as he leaned toward her. His lips brushed her ear, sending shivers rippling through her. She caught the scent of his cologne, something woodsy, masculine and surprisingly seductive.
She breathed him in, wanting more and feeling bereft when he stepped back, taking his scent with him.
“There’s a restaurant within walking distance of the hotel, if that’s all right,” he said, those gray eyes locking with hers. A woman without her grit could get lost in those eyes.
“Perfect.” She figured she needed the fresh air to clear her head. This was starting to feel dangerously like a real date.
Tucker placed a large, warm hand at the center of her back. The heat burned through the sheer fabric of her dress as he steered her toward the front door. His touch sent a wave of knee-buckling need through her. She took his arm, feeling a little unsteady on her legs as she realized this wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought.
* * *
TUCKER HAD HIS breath taken away at the sight of Kate Rothschild as she came off the elevator. It hit him hard, as it had been a long time since a woman had done that to him.
He reminded himself of what he’d seen her do at the creek. Kate had some connection to Madeline. Add to that the fact this woman was an investigative reporter. He had no idea why she’d done it, but he didn’t think for a moment that she’d suggested dinner because of his charm—or lack thereof.
“Why don’t we cut straight to the chase?” he said once they were seated in the restaurant and had ordered wine. “What does a city slicker investigative reporter and daughter of a Montana congressman have in common with the skeletal remains of a woman found in a creek in Gilt Edge, Montana?”
Kate seemed taken aback by the question. He’d caught her off guard, something he doubted happened often. She smiled and leaned back as the waiter appeared with the bottle of wine and poured them each a glass.
After the waiter left, she said, “You do get right to the point.”
“I’ve found it saves time. So why don’t you tell me what I witnessed down at the creek?”
“I’m not sure what you think you saw,” she began.
“You knew Madeline. And what I saw tells me that you had mixed feelings about her.”
She laughed. “You sure that’s what you saw?”
He met her gaze and held it. “We goin’ to keep playin’ word games? What’s
