Texas K-9 Unit Christmas: Holiday Hero

“Heard from who?” It certainly hadn’t been Emma. She preferred to keep the details of her breakup with Camden to herself.

“My grandmother. She and Bea sing in the church choir together. Bea wasn’t happy with the way your boyfriend treated you, and she let everyone in the choir know it.”

“That’s...embarrassing, but I don’t see what it has to do with what happened tonight.”

“Is it possible your ex is upset? That maybe he wants revenge? Or wants to drive you back into his arms?”

She laughed, her breath catching as pain shot through her ribs. “Please! Camden is way too busy to chase me down.”

“He’s a lawyer, right? A very successful one, according to Bea. He could have hired someone to do his dirty work.”

“No way. He’s not an idiot. He’d know that he’d get caught.”

“Smart criminals often make the biggest mistakes,” Bea said suddenly.

“You’re awake!” Emma turned to her aunt. Aside from the curlers, she looked the way she had when Emma was a kid. Pretty and plump and lively.

“How could a person sleep with all the noise the two of you were making?” she responded, brushing wrinkles from her skirt and using her walker to stand.

Two months after she’d fallen and broken her hip, Bea still didn’t have all of her mobility back. Emma wasn’t sure if she’d ever regain it, but she brought her aunt to physical therapy twice a week anyway. “I’d say that I’m sorry we woke you, but I’m glad you’re up. It’s three in the morning. You need to be home in bed.”

“I’ll sleep in my own bed when you’re able to sleep in yours.” She patted her hair, frowned. “What in the world?”

“You have your rollers in,” Emma explained.

“Why didn’t someone tell me?” She shot a hard look in Lucas’s direction.

“You just woke up. Besides,” he said, “I thought it might be the newest fashion trend.”

Bea responded with a quiet humph.

“I need to make myself presentable.” She shuffled across the room, her walker tapping on the tile floor. Her shoulders were more stooped than they’d been when she’d visited Emma in Boston the year before. Age had carved deep grooves in her face, but she was still the woman who’d walked Emma through the rough teenage years, who’d cheered her on when she’d gone to culinary school, who’d believed in her even when she hadn’t believed in herself.

She disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door.

Emma sat on the bed, refusing to give in to the urge to follow her aunt.

Bea might be slowly fading, but she’d told Emma that she didn’t plan to go down without a fight.

And, boy, had she been fighting lately.

“What’s wrong?” Lucas asked as he settled into a chair. He looked as if he planned to stay there awhile, his legs crossed at the ankles, his hands clasped behind his neck. He’d always been handsome, but time had refined him. He wasn’t a good-looking kid anymore. He was a very attractive man.

Too bad she was out of the dating market.

Not that she’d have looked in Lucas’s direction if she hadn’t been. He wasn’t her type. She preferred the more academic kind of guy. College professors. Lawyers.

Losers.

“Em?” He raised a dark brow, and she realized that he’d asked a question and that she hadn’t answered it. “You’re worried about Bea, aren’t you? Want me to get her a ride home?”

“I can call a cab for her.”

“Or you could let me call Slade McNeal. He’s on duty, and he’s your neighbor. I’m sure he’d be happy to give her a lift.” He pulled out his cell phone and made the call.

She let him because she didn’t have the energy to fight and because the only other way to get Bea home was to call her a taxi. She doubted a taxi driver would help her aunt up the porch steps or make sure she actually went inside the house.

She didn’t realize that she’d closed her eyes until someone touched her face.

“You in there, Em?” Lucas asked.

“Where else would I be?” She looked straight into Lucas’s eyes. Had they been such a dark green when they were kids?

“Someplace nicer than this hospital?” He leaned in, his hand sliding from her cheek to her nape, the warmth of his palm seeping into her cool flesh.

Her heart did a tiny little flip and her pulse jumped a notch. “Somewhere nicer than Sagebrush would be even better.”

“Speak for yourself. I’ve always loved this city.” He smiled.

“You moved away for a while, though, didn’t you?” Bea had once mentioned that he’d stayed in Houston after college. At the time, Emma hadn’t been all that interested in anything or anyone that had to do with Sagebrush. Since she’d been back in town, she hadn’t had time to think about old friends or to look up high school buddies. Between getting the diner ready and caring for Bea there hadn’t been room for anything else.

“I joined the police force in Houston after I graduated college. Came back to town a few months ago.” He patted the pillow. “Maybe you should lie down. You’re pale as paper, and I still have some questions to ask.”

“About my ex?”

“His name is Camden Maxwell, right?”

“Yes.”

Lucas jotted something in his notebook.

“What are you writing?” She leaned forward, then wished she hadn’t. Her head spun, stars dancing in front her eyes.

“Lie down, Em,” Lucas said, his voice sharp, his hands gentle as he urged her back.

She closed her eyes for a second, took a couple of deep breaths. “I’m fine.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” he murmured, his gaze on the notebook and whatever he’d jotted there.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’ve always been tough.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“I don’t think that I said there was,” he pointed out, looking up from the notebook. “So, let’s get back to the questions. Your boyfriend wanted you to stay in Boston. You wanted to come to Sagebrush. He wasn’t happy about your decision. Is all of that accurate?”

“You’re like a dog with a bone, Lucas,” she muttered. She didn’t want to discuss Camden’s ultimatum with anyone, and she especially didn’t want to discuss it when she was woozy from pain.