boat.”
The huge warm Henry family farmhouse where he’d be celebrating Christmas dinner swept into his mind unbidden. He could almost feel the warmth of the fire in the living room, smell the hay in the barn and hear the rattle of cutlery and the babble of voices in the dining room as his parents and three brothers passed dishes around. No, he knew exactly what it was like to be from somewhere. He also knew what it was like to feel like he didn’t really belong there. He blinked and the thought was gone, replaced with the pale light, snow and Chloe’s eyes on his face.
“I hear you,” he said, waiting for his mind to catch up with his words. “But, like I told you, I’m on borrowed time. My cover was never supposed to drag out this long and is now nearing its expiration date. I have to figure out who’s making the stuff. That means finding who’s selling it, and I’ve spent three months completely failing to make the kind of inroads I need to with these students.”
“Hey, Officer Brant!” a female voice shouted. They turned. It was Poppy, an outspoken and dark-haired student he vaguely knew from one of his classes. She was running across the parking lot, dragging Hodge, one of his third-line players, after her.
“Poppy!” A smile filled Chloe’s face. “Glad to see you got out okay.”
“Yeah. Johnny and I piled some weights up against the door, and we stayed low until the police came for us.” She propelled Hodge forward.
Trent couldn’t help but notice that the young man wasn’t exactly smiling. Jeremy Hodgekins, better known as “Hodge,” was a giant, with a sturdy six-foot-three frame and a bright future, if he could figure out how to stay out of trouble long enough to make it through college. As far as Trent knew, he was the only member of Third Line to ever find himself in the back of a police cruiser, but only for throwing punches and nothing that had earned him more than a warning. “This is Hodge.”
“Hey,” the young man said. “Thanks for your help.”
“No problem,” Chloe said. “It was a team effort. Your coach really saved our lives and had our backs.”
Hodge didn’t look convinced.
See, this was Trent’s problem. He could walk into any dangerous and dingy bar in the country and demand immediate respect because people knew in a glance what he was capable of. But these students? He’d never give them a reason to fear him and they’d never have a reason to trust him. Poppy whispered something in Hodge’s ear. He ran his eyes over Chloe.
“Yeah, maybe,” Hodge said. He nodded to Trent. “That’s your fiancée, right? The one whose picture you showed us. Aidan thinks so, anyway. Why didn’t you tell us you were marrying a cop?”
Heat rose to the back of Trent’s neck. He forced a grin on his face and didn’t meet Chloe’s eye.
“Well, like I told you guys, she works in northern Ontario,” Trent said. “But she came through when I needed her.”
Hodge nodded like that was enough of an explanation. The students wandered back into the crowd. Trent turned to Chloe. “I can explain—”
“You don’t need to,” Chloe said quickly. “You’re undercover. You used an old picture of me as a prop for your cover identity. It makes perfect sense.”
Did it? There was something he couldn’t quite place in her tone. Then again, something about being this close to Chloe threw his radar off.
“I just hope the fact that they now know I’m a cop won’t hurt your cover,” she added.
So did he. He took a deep breath and prayed. Lord, You’ve been the one consistent presence through everyone I’ve ever been or pretended to be. I asked You for help. Is Chloe showing up Your answer?
“We can work with it,” he said. “I need that cell phone, and I could honestly use a second brain on this case. I used that old fake-engagement picture of us taken on the gondola at Blue Mountain to bolster my cover. It was an impulse more than a grand plan, but now that you’re here, we can use it to our advantage.
“You’ll go undercover for one day as my fiancée. Tomorrow’s the twenty-third and the last day of school before the holidays. It’s the last hockey game before Christmas, too. I’ll take you to the college with me, then we can do the team dinner and you can come to the game. Maybe you’ll spot something I’ve missed. Coach Henri is a big softy, so you’ll probably want to play your cover as sweet, cute and kind of gushing. It’s not ideal, but it’s the only option I can think of and I’m not up for complications right now. So, how about it, Detective? You willing to pretend to be crazily into me in exchange for an official assist on this case?”
Her lips parted. A look floated in her eyes that was so raw the only word he could think to describe it was personal. She looked at him like they weren’t just two cops—one provincial and one federal—who sometimes worked together on joint assignments. No, she was looking at him like they were close friends or even former sweethearts, and like he’d once done something to hurt her. Then she blinked. The look was gone. “Thanks, but no. I appreciate why you used my picture for your cover. But I’m not looking to go undercover with you like that again.”
What? He thought she’d wanted in on this case. All she had to do was to pretend to be in a relationship with him for a day.
“I know it’s not ideal. But my cover is already set and there’s only so much I can change at this point. Plus, we’ve pretended to be a couple before. We play those roles well.”
Maybe even a little too well. There’d been a moment at the end of the last case where he’d almost wished he’d had an excuse to drag it out a little longer, which is what had led to him asking her out for coffee. “It will only be for a day. Just one day. After that, you’ll take the ring off your finger again and we’ll go our separate ways.”
But Chloe was still shaking her head. Then she reached into her pocket, pulled out the cell phone and pressed it into his hand. “Here. Take it. I’m off duty and you identified yourself as the lead officer on the scene. If you need me to write a report about what happened tonight, get someone to contact my superior officer.”
This was unbelievable. The Chloe he knew was tenacious. But here she was just handing him her only leverage and leaving. “But I thought you wanted to be in on this case!”
“So did I.” Her hand brushed his shoulder, sending odd and unexpected shivers up his spine. “But I think I was wrong. Take care of yourself, Trent. I really hope this works out well for you.”
His mouth opened but he couldn’t think of any words to fill it. Chloe was walking away and he didn’t know what to say or how to stop her. The phone was in his possession. He’d just won the argument. So why did it feel like he’d just lost something much more important than that?
* * *
Chloe’s cell rang. Headlights shone against her living room window, filling it with a brief flash of light. Then the glass went dark again. She sat up and looked out. Snow beat against the pane. Wind shook the glass. The clock read a quarter to seven in the morning. She picked up her cell and glanced at it to see a missed a call from a blocked number. It had to be Trent. But he was the last person she wanted to talk to right now. It was bad enough she’d just turned down the opportunity to work on the payara case and mitigate the damage an investigation into Butler could do to her career, the last thing she wanted was to try to explain to him why.
He’d
