Bear Claw Lawman

He was just passing through, after all. And she was determined to stay put.

She loved the city, her job and her coworkers. She didn’t just want to help solve the Death Stare case; she wanted to be a part of things in Bear Claw, not just now, but in the future, too. With Matt as the new mayor, determined to turn things around, the city was poised for some major positive changes. She wanted to be there when it happened. She wanted to make the city her new home, her new life.

Which meant she needed to not screw up during the last bit of her probationary period. She knew Tucker and the chief were happy with her work so far, but she didn’t dare get complacent. Her gut said that the past could still come back to bite her in the butt somehow.

Which meant that, for all that she might have needed the not-quite-a-vacation in the woods—the bruises had faded and the cut had healed over to an angry red that would mellow in time—by the end of the second week, she was raring to go, packed and ready an hour before she was scheduled to be picked up.

She wanted to get back to work, wanted to prove herself, no matter what it took. There had been another murder, another torture victim. Not a lieutenant this time, but a cashier at a corner store, someone who didn’t even have any apparent ties to the Ghost Militia.

Jenn knew one thing for certain, though: the Investor had to be stopped. And soon, before he found what he was looking for and left the area, only to begin again somewhere else, with a new city to terrorize.

To her relief, when the uniformed officers picked her up, they took her straight to the crime lab, where Maya was waiting for her, ready to try hypnosis if Jenn was on board.

Jenn’s answer to that was a succinct “Hell, yes.”

“I thought we should go back to Dennison’s apartment. Sometimes revisiting the location can help bring things back.”

Nerves jittered at the thought of returning to the scene, but Jenn nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Then, let’s go.” Maya climbed the stairs to the main floor. “I cleared it with Tucker this morning,” the profiler said over her shoulder. “He said it was okay for us to use the apartment. Gigi and Alyssa have been through the scene a couple of times, but haven’t really gotten any smoking-gun stuff. Which means you and I can go in there and see about jogging your memory without worrying about destroying evidence.”

Jenn winced a little at the reminder of the potentially crucial evidence she’d lost, but nodded. “Thanks for setting it up ahead of time.”

“We didn’t think you’d want to ease into things.”

“You were right about that.” The time away had been good for her, but she hated that she still couldn’t remember the attack, couldn’t picture her attacker’s face or recall what evidence she had packed away after Gigi left.

“Tucker insisted on us taking backup,” Maya said as they hit the main floor, where doors led to the bullpen on one side, the main lobby on the other. Kelsey Meyers was at the front desk, dealing with the phone and keeping tabs on the waiting area. A crutch leaned up against the counter and her K9 partner, Amber, sat beside her.

The sight of the yellow Lab brought a twinge of memory, though not the kind Jenn was searching for. Nick had befriended Kelsey early during his stay in Bear Claw. He hadn’t been flirting with her; no, he’d been drawn to Amber, wanting to know everything there was to know about working with a K9 partner.

When Jenn had suggested he should get a dog of his own, though, he just shook his head and said a guy like him couldn’t have a responsibility like that, not when his work took him away for days at a time, sometimes weeks. Sometimes longer.

He’d given her plenty of warning, she had to admit. He couldn’t have said it any louder if he’d hired a plane to write “This is only temporary” in puffy white vapor across the sky.

“An officer is going to meet us out by the car,” Maya said as they headed for the parking lot. “Tucker said you’re to stay in his sight at all times, and sound the alarm immediately if you see something suspicious, or even get a weird feeling on the back of your neck. Better safe than sorry.”

Jenn nodded. “I’m not going to do anything stupid, like try to lose my bodyguard. Promise.” She was still a potential witness—short-term memory loss could reverse at a moment’s notice, after all.

They stepped through the door, into the secure area where the P.D. members parked their cruisers and personal vehicles. But then, as they approached Maya’s dark green SUV, a figure straightened away from the bumper with a hands-in-pockets move that put Jenn on red alert and sent a surge of heat through her system—one she wanted to believe was anger. Nick. She knew him by the way he moved, the way he looked at her, the way her body reacted.

She hadn’t seen him for two weeks, hadn’t thought she’d missed him. But the sight of the thick, raven-black hair brushing his shearling collar had her wanting to bury her fingers in it, and one look at his stern, uncompromising lips made her want to kiss him long and hard, until the planes of his face softened and his breathing came fast.

She wanted his body against hers, inside hers, pounding them both to oblivion, to a place where it didn’t matter anymore that he’d dumped her or that she couldn’t remember the Investor’s face, it only mattered that they were there, together, riding each other blind, stupid and satisfied.

Even as her blood heated, she cursed him, then herself. Damn him for having been so good, for being there now. And damn her for not being able to let it go.

“What are you doing here?” she bit out as she and Maya got in range of the car, and the man.

“I’m going along to the Dennison place as your backup,” he announced without preamble, without

really looking at her. “Hope you don’t mind.” But his tone said it didn’t matter if they minded or not, that was the way it was going to be.

* * *

N ICK WAS BRACED FOR AN ARGUMENT , and didn’t intend to lose. Now that Jenn was back in the city, with all the risk that involved, he intended to watch out for her, whether she liked it or not.

“I thought Tucker was going to assign a uniform.” A light flush stained her cheeks, hiding the dusting of freckles he’d once traced his fingers and lips across.