Bride Of Dreams

The way he said her name in his low, husky voice was enough to send shivers down her spine. Not to mention the way he looked at her, as if she was the blue plate special of the day. She managed an impersonal smile as she held her order pad in one hand and pencil in the other.

“Let me guess,” she said. “The usual?”

He nodded without returning her smile. “I’d say that sounds like a plan.”

“I’ll be back with your juice.” She whirled away and headed for the counter to drop off the order slip, although she knew Marge would have already started Cooper’s breakfast.

SHE WILL STEAL YOUR HEART and give you her own.

Cooper hated the thoughts provoked by his grandfather’s words that swirled inside his head. Especially when he was looking at a lovely young woman who was about as off-limits as a woman could get.

Caroline Benning was new in a town that boasted few newcomers. No one knew all that much about her other than she was twenty-two, had lost her father not long ago and had been traveling because she felt the need to get away. Cooper wondered if that need to get out of town had anything to do with a boyfriend.

His cop’s eye gauged her to be about five foot eight and too thin, at around one hundred twenty pounds. He was certain the blond highlights in her light brown hair weren’t real, but the dazzling green eyes were, since he didn’t see any hint of contact lenses. For work, she kept her just-past-chin-length hair back in a barrette. The pink-and-white-striped, short-sleeved shirt she wore with a short denim skirt made her look younger than her twenty-two years.

She seemed a little shy, uncertain about people, but around him she actually appeared wary. He couldn’t think of a reason why he’d cause that reaction in a young woman he barely knew.

Unless she had something to hide.

He didn’t want to think that was the case. He liked looking at her too much.

“Hey, Cooper, heard Margaret Ingalls stole more of Nora Gates Forrester’s underwear,” Henry Farris called out from his usual perch at the counter. His cronies, not one of them under the age of seventy, surrounded him. Leathery fingers, gnarled by time and arthritis, wrapped themselves around coffee mugs or held on to a rich breakfast pastry. “When ya goin’ to bring her in for questioning?”

“It hasn’t been easy to find Margaret. I thought I’d call on Psychics R Us for help,” Cooper called back.

The elderly men cackled their appreciation of his joke.

“Maybe Nora needs to put those special tags on them. You know the ones I’m talking about,” Barney Metzger interjected. “Like the ones she puts on clothes in the store.”

“I’ll let you make that suggestion, Barney.” Cooper lifted his coffee cup in a silent salute.

When Caroline set his glass of orange juice on the table, he inclined his head in a thank-you. The moment she was gone, he returned to reading the morning paper, until she returned with his food.

THE SCENT OF BLUEBERRIES and sausage, mixed with something light and floral, alerted him before she stood by his table.

“Have you ever ordered anything different for breakfast?” she asked curiously, setting the plate in front of him.

Cooper studied the stack of five pancakes, the golden surface dotted with blueberries he knew to be fresh. His mouth was watering in anticipation of that first bite.

“Not for the past sixteen years,” he replied. “When you find something good, you tend to stick with it.”

“Some day you ought to go wild and try them with bacon,” she whispered as she refilled his coffee cup. She moved away as Marge called an order for pickup.

Cooper settled back to savor his breakfast. And visually savor Caroline. Some would say his interest in the young woman was because she was pretty. No, there was more to it than that. He just wasn’t sure he was ready to further explore those thoughts.

“That’s what I like to see first thing in the morning. A member of our esteemed law enforcement team sitting here stuffing his face with blueberry pancakes instead of out there fighting crime. Makes me feel downright safe.”

Cooper looked up. “Up yours, Spencer. I do this to keep my energy level up, so I can catch all those bad guys you’re worried about.” He waved toward the empty seat across from him.

Brady Spencer slid into the seat across from Cooper. He made a face as he stared at Cooper’s plate. “One day a breakfast like that will catch up with you,” Brady pointed out.

“You’re just jealous because I have a better metabolism than you. Comes from being more active than your average sedentary surgeon.”

Brady’s retort was interrupted by Caroline’s appearance.

“Would you like a menu, Dr. Spencer?” she asked.

Cooper noticed that Caroline’s usually bright smile appeared a bit strained. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear she was nervous.

Brady looked up and flashed the smile that quickened many a woman’s heart. “Just coffee, thanks, Caroline.”

She quickly set a cup down in front of him and filled it. She topped off Cooper’s cup before leaving.

Brady glanced at her. “Lovely woman.”

“You don’t want Eden to hear you say that,” Cooper advised him. “She’d have your hide for sure.”

Brady’s smile broadened at the mention of his new wife. “Nah, she wouldn’t damage anything serious. She’d just make sure I never looked at another woman again.”

Cooper thought of the Spencer men and the women who’d enriched their lives. He admitted, only to himself, that he wouldn’t mind finding a woman who could do that for him. He didn’t hold out much hope for it.

The last woman he’d had a relationship with had told him he was too serious. She couldn’t imagine him going out and cutting loose. He told her that wasn’t him, and if she cared for him, she’d take him the way he was.

She took herself out of his life the next day.

“So what brings you here?” Cooper asked.

Brady shrugged. “Just wanted to talk with an old friend. Anything wrong with that?”

“Depends on what that old friend wants to talk to me about.”

Brady glanced toward the counter, where Caroline was taking an order from old Henry Farris. He had to be at least ninety, but it didn’t stop him from trying to look down her blouse as he ordered his usual oatmeal and a bran muffin.

God love them, nothing ever changed in this town.

“What do you think the Woman of the River looks like?” he asked suddenly.

Cooper refused to rise to the bait. He used the side of his fork to cut off a bite-size piece of pancake, and brought it to his mouth. Brady, used to his evasion tactics, patiently waited.

“Laughing Bear knows more about that story than I do,” he said finally. “Why don’t you ask him?” He flashed a mock-threatening stare at Brady as the other man started to reach for a sausage. Brady shrugged and backed off.

“I would think the woman in the legend could have blondish hair and green eyes. What do you think?”

“I don’t think about it,” Cooper lied as he took another bite. He didn’t want to think about Caroline. He wanted his life to go back to the way it was. He especially wanted to consider his pancakes, which had fresh blueberries folded into the batter, the best pancakes in the world. As far as he was concerned, he rated them right up there with his first taste of coffee in the morning.

Brady leaned across the table. “I need to talk to you about something,” he said in a low voice.

Cooper read the gravity in the other man’s eyes. “How serious are we talking?” He also kept his voice low, so no one could overhear their conversation.