A Dad For Charlie

Because Jasper O’Neill walked around Butterfly Harbor looking like death’s less optimistic minion? Paige had met Jasper only a handful of times. He was quiet, sure. Introspective, one might think. But if appearances were any indication, there was also the way he embraced the black clothes and had jet-black hair that covered equally dark eyes. And then there was the attitude he wore like a second skin. Yeah. Paige could understand why he was at the top of the list. That didn’t mean he was guilty.

“If this was anyone other than Luke Saxon we were talking about I’d be inclined to agree with you.” Paige had little to no faith in law enforcement, but that was because of her own personal bias. Luke was one of the reasons she still had some. “You know Luke’s own history. He’d never railroad someone just because they look the part or it’s the easy way out. He goes by the evidence.” What that evidence might be, however, was the question. She could probably find out. A few questions here and there, if only to put Nina’s and Willa’s minds at ease...

What was she thinking, getting involved? Just moments ago she’d been reminding herself to keep her head down, and now she was considering poking around an active criminal investigation?

She should get up and walk away. Luke was a good man. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt this family; not if he could help it. And yet...

Paige wasn’t one to turn her back on people who needed help. She could do this. Carefully, quietly. Yeah. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She could do this. “I have some pull with the groom.” Paige’s heart leaped ahead of her brain. “Let me poke around a little. Maybe it’s not as bad as you think. Maybe they’ve found something that exonerates him and just haven’t let you know yet.”

“We can’t ask you to do that,” Willa said. “You have so much going on already.”

“You’re not asking, I’m offering. And I always have time for friends,” Paige said. “Your family has a serious fight ahead of you. The last thing any of you need is a distraction. All your energy needs to be going to getting you better, Nina. If I can help make things a little easier, that’s what I’m going to do.”

“You’ll talk to Luke for us?” Willa’s disbelief scraped against Paige’s heart. “You’ll try to convince him Jasper’s not involved?”

“I’ll do my best.” A promise she felt pretty confident she could keep. Dealing with Luke was easy enough, and thankfully he’d taken the lead. Now, if she had to try to extricate information from Deputy Fletcher Bradley...

Paige shivered. Oh, well, that would be a whole other story.

Handsome, attentive, charming Deputy Bradley Fletcher. How many times had she felt herself getting sucked into the attraction vortex that seemed to develop whenever she got into his orbit? She’d gone out of her way to avoid him, especially after realizing he was just as interested in her. Not that he’d pushed or tried to insert himself into her life; just the opposite. He seemed to respect the fact she wanted to keep her distance. Which, of course, made him all the more appealing. The kicker was he was so good with Charlie; he flipped all those switches inside her that made her wish everything about her life was different.

Nope. Paige gave herself a hard mental shake. That train of thought needed to be derailed immediately. As uncertain as Paige was about a lot of things in her life, she knew one thing for sure: no matter how appealing the good deputy might be, anything other than a cursory friendship was absolutely impossible.

Because a lawman like him would never understand a fugitive like her.

CHAPTER TWO (#u760a3c9d-5538-5b04-9853-a5cde400e719)

“FASTER, DEPUTY FLETCH! Spin me faster!”

Charlie Cooper’s demanding squeal lightened Fletcher’s heavy heart. Taking the political hit for his friend was one thing; needing to go after a member of an already overburdened family he’d known most of his life was another. The O’Neills had so much to deal with already. How could he even think about sacrificing one of their own to save his friend’s career?

No wonder Luke hadn’t said much about the investigation. He probably felt as conflicted as Fletcher did.

“I think that’s fast enough.” Fletch found himself laughing as Charlie released his hand and tottered dizzily on her sneakered feet. He caught her around the waist before she fell into the lush flower bed in front of the Flutterby Inn. He steadied her and glanced up as Paige Cooper exited the inn. She stopped short on the edge of the porch, her knowing, beautiful blue eyes glistening almost as brightly as her recently changed hair. The now strawberry blond tresses with hints of fire matched those of her daughter’s, except where Charlie’s was razor straight, Paige’s tumbled around her shoulders in thick, glossy waves. She was girl-next-door pretty, with that radiant smile of hers and a small dimple in her left cheek. All of that seemed so surface, but it was all he had. Despite the overwhelming desire to know more.

Every time he saw her was like the first time. And that first time...

Whew. He felt the rush of heat in his face. That first time it was as if Fletch had been tackled by the entire defensive line of his high school football team. He did his best and tried to maintain his cool and keep a straight face around her. He wasn’t a man prone to feeling, well, flummoxed.

And Paige Copper definitely flummoxed him.

He also found her utterly fascinating. She was always helping people, always doing something. She wasn’t one to just sit back and wait for things to happen. She made them happen. His interest confused him, but that was the case with any mystery that crossed his path. How could he be so fascinated and yet so...in the dark? Talk about a puzzle begging to be solved.

The air around him stilled and she released the soft yellow of her summer bridesmaid dress, the gauzy fabric draping over her pretty form.

He blinked. There were times he wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms and kiss her. Then there were others where all he wanted was to talk to her; get to know her, learn about her. Discover whatever secrets he was convinced she had.

That she did just about everything she could to avoid him should have stung. Instead, it was like honey to a bee and he couldn’t resist the pull. But he respected her enough—and whatever ghosts she carried with her—to do as she silently asked and kept his distance.

He was a man who not only followed the rules, he lived by them; possibly the only thing stopping him from running a simple background check. Somehow that felt like an invasion; something that if she were to ever find out, she’d never forgive him for. He might not know a lot about her, but he had little doubt she was the kind of woman who valued honesty and truth above all else. He wasn’t about to violate either. He sighed.

So be it. At least Charlie seemed happy to be in his company, and being around Paige’s little girl definitely kept a smile on his face.

Paige’s sparkling gaze landed on him and sent his racing thoughts skidding to a halt. Until she looked past him to where Luke stood watching his wife and her maid of honor hamming it up in front of the camera. Fletch’s smile dipped as Charlie darted out of his grasp. Gil Hamilton wasn’t the only one up to something today.

Paige walked down the stairs and beelined for the sheriff. “Luke? May I have a quick word with you?”

Luke turned, his dark eyes heavy with celebratory happiness. He blinked, nodded. “Sure. What about?”

“It’s about Jasper O’Neill and these break-ins,” Paige said. “I was just speaking to Willa and Nina—”

Luke shifted to full attention, his brow furrowing. “I don’t think—”

“Paige, I need to talk to you.” Fletch locked his hand around Paige’s wrist and spun her toward him. “Wedding stuff. We’ll be back in a second.” He tugged her toward him, ignoring the brief look of panic on her face as he pulled her to the edge of the narrow path leading up to the lookout point. He stopped just shy of being able to see the foam spraying off the crashing waves. He didn’t need that nightmarish roar of the ocean any louder in his ears on top of dealing with Paige.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Paige shivered as a cold breeze shot over them.

Fletcher shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. “Today isn’t the day to talk about Jasper O’Neill, Paige.”

“Thank you.” Even as he saw her debate rejecting the offer, she clasped her hand around the edges and drew it closed across her chest. The thin gold chain and butterfly charm glistened against the sun and the hollow of her throat. Paige’s eyes narrowed. “Since when is it any of your business what I talk to the sheriff about?”

“Since the break-ins are my case.” For a man who didn’t lie, he seemed to be setting a world record. “Luke asked me to take over. You want to talk about Jasper, you get me.”

“Oh.” She shrugged inside his too-big jacket and twisted her head back and forth. She couldn’t have looked any more thrilled if she’d been handed a rotten egg. “Well. Maybe once he’s back—”

“I’ll have it closed by then.” Boy, he was just digging himself deeper. “What’s this about, Paige? Did Willa and Nina tell you something we should know?” Like where he should start or why Jasper had hit the top of Butterfly Harbor’s Most Wanted List?

“You mean am I going to give you a reason to go chasing after an innocent sixteen-year-old kid who was probably in the wrong place at the wrong time? No.” Her eyes went ice cold. “I’m not.”

Why did Fletch have the feeling she wouldn’t have been so prickly if she’d talked to Luke about this? What was it about him that made her so...hostile? “Who says he’s innocent? His family?”

“Who says he’s guilty? Or what does? Why did Luke question him? What evidence is there against him?”

Had Fletch climbed onto some whirlwind roller coaster without realizing it? He knew Paige tended to jump in whenever anyone needed help, and he admired her for it. But picking up the sword to fight for a kid with Jasper O’Neill’s reputation seemed a stretch even for her. “First, it’s none of your business how we run an investigation, and second, this doesn’t have anything to do with you. And unless you’ve taken up yet another job as a private investigator, there’s nothing about the case I’m going to share with you.”

“So you are going after him.” She puffed up in defiance. “Are you looking at anything other than his record, anemic as that is? Fingerprints at the scenes? Witnesses who saw him loitering around those houses?”

“I’m not talking to a civilian about this.” By the time this day was done he was going to be an expert in bluffing. “I can tell you, and you can assure Nina and Willa, that we’ll take every proper step necessary where Jasper is concerned.”

Her snort of derision had him taking a step back.

“So I was right. You aren’t even considering anyone else.”

He hadn’t anticipated adding irritating as one of the missing pieces to the Paige Cooper puzzle. “It means Jasper is one avenue we’re exploring. And he hasn’t done himself any favors over the years by pushing legal boundaries. If you’re done interrogating me, it looks as if you’re needed for your bridesmaid pictures.”

He motioned toward a frantically waving Abby Manning, blond curls bouncing, her maid-of-honor bouquet of yellow and white roses interspersed with eucalyptus leaves an odd kind of beacon.

“We aren’t done talking about this.” Paige removed his jacket and held it out to him. “I’m not letting you railroad him or his family.”