“Don’t feel bad, sweetheart.” His arm brushed hers as they rounded the corner.
“Who said I did?” Had he caught her ogling him?
“You. Every emotion you have is plainly displayed for the average Joe to see.” A small speck of blood on his forehead indicated he’d dug the gravel from his scrape. “It’ll be better if you stick to the truth as much as possible. Or don’t say anything.”
“What are you talking about?”
He kept his hand against his side with those long legs of his moving at a steady pace toward the car. No one would have guessed he’d been knifed.
She tossed the plastic sack in the backseat. Shoot. The cocky SOB had gotten her out of the store before she’d put the shirt on. She couldn’t leave him alone again. The jacket would have to do.
It was preposterous to think she was running from the police. Paranoid to think a cop tried to kill them. Unbelievable to think she felt safer in her car with a stranger than at home. And totally logical that she’d do anything to find her brother and clear his name.
The door shut, rocking the car ever so slightly. Unlike her self-confidence, which was rocked to her core.
“Well, Darby, where to now?”
“We need another car. My brother won’t ask any questions.” But the Sergeant Major certainly would.
“I thought you said your brother was missing.”
“My younger brother, Michael. Yes.” She put the car in gear and pulled away. “My older brother Sean is in Plano this weekend.”
“Will we be asking for his vehicle or exchanging?”
There was enough surrounding light to distinguish that hint of conceit and rogue smile.
Dear God, it was too embarrassing to think she was attracted to this DEA agent. But why not? His dry wit hadn’t turned disrespectful with her inexperience. She would concentrate on what she did best. Attraction didn’t help but it wouldn’t hinder them finding her brother.
“ERREN. COME ON, WAKE UP.”
Darby’s sensual voice penetrated a fog in Erren’s brain, a depth he rarely allowed himself to get to while on a job. A real dream. And he had a weird feeling Darby had been the star. He inched his lids open. The sun ricocheted off the mirror straight into his eyes.
“I fell asleep?”
Darby leaned on the steering wheel, furiously writing. The details of her face were hidden by her crazy, curly hair falling in front of a rounded cheekbone.
“Understatement. You’ve been snoring like an asthmatic hound for a couple of hours.”
Him? Sleep? Not possible. He’d blame it on the knife wound and call it passing out. Twice in one night? Never happened. He’d never live it down. Of course, no one would ever know. Darby had no one to tell, and he couldn’t joke about it with Pike.
Pike was permanently gone.
Shifting so the warmth of the sun left his face, he flexed his stiff muscles. Stretched his side. No pain.
Darby paused, placing the tip of the pen in her mouth and tapping it between her teeth. That type of annoying habit usually bothered him, but he was more concerned with the intense concentration in her eyes when she faced him.
“Time to go. They’re almost up,” she said matter-of-factly, but placed the pen back to her paper, continuing to write.
This brother must be an early riser. Most days about this time, Erren was heading to bed. He hid a yawn behind a full stretch of his arms. He’d live on a couple of hours of sleep. But what about his new partner?
The pen stopped racing back and forth in her fingers. She tapped it a couple of times against the steering wheel, then wrote something on the paper and closed the notebook. She’d made some type of decision the previous night. Something had convinced her to stay with him. Whether it was searching for the package or finding out why the cops wanted her out of the way—it didn’t matter.
Taking credit would be nice, but realistically, she couldn’t trust him this soon. Whatever had happened to keep her on his side, he liked this confident woman.
“Anywhere to get coffee around here?” he asked, catching his first look at where they were. “Somewhere in this field? I thought we were heading to your brother’s place.”
They were parked next to a truck connected to a small trailer. He couldn’t see around it, blocked by yet another truck on the far side. Trees stood in front of them and cars lined the road to their left. There seemed to be a lot of empty cars, but no people.
“We’re parked next to my brother’s truck. I’m sure the Sergeant Major’s got a thermos of coffee at his camp.” She looked at her watch. “But we won’t be here that long.” She placed the notepad in the console and turned the key to lock it away. “Tic Tac?”
He held out his hand and she shook two of the breath mints from their container. “Okay, I’m as curious as the next guy. What were you writing? And who is the Sergeant Major?”
“It’s a summary of last night. I’m documenting our movements. Things tend to get jumbled together if an officer waits too long to write down his or her notes.”
Cops like her made cops like him nervous. He’d have to get a look later on. First things first. They needed another vehicle.
“Time to move. The balloon’s up and the Sergeant Major will be headed to the john.” She got out of the car and he followed around the parked trucks into a crowd of people.
“Balloon? And who is this Sergeant Major?” What the Sam Hill was she leading him into? A brother is one thing, but a sergeant major of what exactly?
“Yeah, it’s the Plano Balloon Festival.”
“And your brother is working here?” His confidence slipped a notch with the nervousness he recognized in his voice. Things lifting off the ground always made him edgy.
“They’re amateur balloonists. He and my dad own their own rig. It’s the
Did she know she was talking in code?
They wove in and out of busy people, half-inflated balloons and giant baskets lying on their sides. No one questioned them and a few people even waved at Darby. It was obvious that she was at home and in her element.
“You might want to keep your head down. Someone might have heard about your disappearance,” he advised.
“It’s not much farther.” She ignored his advice and waved at another couple.
Erren watched her stride through the bedlam. Clearly these people were crazy to inflate objects to carry them where only birds were meant to go. Hot air balloons ranked just below hang gliding and parasailing. Skydiving would never be on the list since he’d never be in an airplane.
Give him a knife fight in a dark alley any day.
“Sean’s not alone yet.” She came to an abrupt halt. “Hold on.”
Turning her back on an inflated balloon and the two men securing ropes, she brushed off imaginary lint from his shoulders. Definitely hiding her face from the men.
The balloon was huge, dwarfing the trees, with markings like gold blades or sabers against an array of army drab.
“I think the guy you keep referring to as the Sergeant Major headed south.”
She peeked over her shoulder, spun and almost skipped to her brother. Same build, same hair, same features. It looked better on Darby. “Hey, Sean.”
“Cool, I didn’t think you could make it this weekend.” Sean finished securing the balloon. “The Sergeant Major’s in for a surprise.”
“More than you know.” Darby gave the man about his age a hug.
“Who’s this?” Sean jerked his head toward Erren.
“Richard Paladin. Nice to meet you.” He stuck his hand out, received a solid shake and a complete once-over from big brother.
Darby’s eyebrow shot straight up, but she also gave him an approving look for using a different name.
