He caught her hand before she could pull it back and tucked it through his arm, drawing her so close their shoulders touched as they stared at the fort’s ruins.
When he looked her way, his smile creased his eyes. “Trust me.”
Oh, boy. That was like crossing the Grand Canyon on a tight wire. She focused on the flapping US flag in the center of the parade ground. “Okay, but you have to promise not to say anything to any other law enforcement members if I do.” She held her pinkie out for him to seal the deal.
He wrapped his own around hers. “Cross my heart.”
She leaned closer to him and in a quiet voice spilled what she knew about Joe’s history in a rush of run-on sentences.
“Holy fuck,” he said, frowning at her after she finished.
“That’s not the worst of it.”
“What do you mean?”
In another breath, she filled him in on the diamond killer and her cousins’ current worrisome position while waiting for the hammer to fall. “Remember, you have to keep quiet about all of this. If Claire finds out I told you, she’ll tear me a new ass.”
He nodded, his forehead drawn. “Mum’s the word, but this is some serious shit.”
“I know.”
“And you’re right in the thick of this mess with them now that you’re here.”
She shrugged. “They’re my family.”
“How do you feel about carrying a gun?”
She laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“Mac asked Claire the same thing lately.”
“Is she carrying?”
“Not with Crazy Kate running around throwing poo at anyone who looks at her wrong.” Natalie explained the situation with Kate and her pregnancy-induced temporary insanity.
“Sweet Jesus,” he muttered when she finished. “Your family really knows how to keep life exciting, huh?”
She chuckled. “Are you regretting vacationing down here now?”
He stared down at where her hand rested on his arm. “Not even a little.” His gaze lifted to hers and held for several breaths. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Hurting you.”
She jerked as if she’d been burned. “Don’t, Coop.” She tried to pull free, but he held her in place. “Let’s not go there again.” She was having too nice of a time to return to all of that pent-up pain.
“I know you’re angry at me still and I don’t expect those feelings to go away without some time, but I need to clear the air.” When she didn’t say anything, he continued. “You messed with my head that night at the Purple Door Saloon.”
She thought back. “But I didn’t do anything.” Well, besides almost having sex with him, which broke all of her rules about first dates—not that what happened between them was even close to a date.
“You’re right. You didn’t. You were just being yourself, and that was the problem. We were supposed to be having a little fun, but I lost control somewhere along the line. That was new for me.” His gaze slipped to their hands. “I’ve never lost control around a woman before, but you had this way of kissing me that turned me inside out.”
Her pulse pounded. “Coop, stop,” she whispered.
“No. You need to understand why I acted as stupid as I did after that night. You scared the shit out of me, Natalie.” He looked up and gave her a crooked smile. “Hell, you still do. All you have to do is look at me and my hands get clammy and I can’t remember my name. That’s some powerful trouble. These feelings … they’re new to me. It’s unsettling to say the least, yet addictive as hell.”
She leaned toward him, unable to stop herself. Maybe just one kiss … “Coop,” she whispered.
His focus lowered to her mouth.
“Howdy doody, tutti-fruttis!” Harvey’s voice called out behind them, splashing ice-cold water on the moment. The screen door to the visitor center whapped closed behind them. “What’s going on out here?”
She pulled free of Coop’s hold. Her cheeks baked as she stared blindly out at the juniper- and yucca-dotted hillside behind the ruins.
“I thought you weren’t up to hiking,” Coop said, facing his uncle.
“I wasn’t. Ranger Phil stopped by to see how I was doing and we got to talkin’. He invited me to follow him up here on the service road so he could show me around. He’s inside yammerin’ on the phone right now, but I’ll introduce ya as soon as he joins us.”
Harvey sidled up next to Natalie at the railing. “How was your stroll around the fort? Did you learn anything enlightenin’?”
She glanced his way. The old goat had seen Coop and her holding hands, she could see it in the way his blue eyes twinkled and his gold teeth shone in his banana-wide grin.
“It was certainly educational,” she admitted.
“Educational, huh?” He snickered. “Is that what you kids call it these days?”
Chapter Eleven
“This plan is going to work about as well as Hitler’s attempt to ice skate through Russia,” Chester told Ronnie as he drove his truck into the lot at the Dirty Gerties.
Ronnie rolled her eyes. “Quit being such a fuddy-duddy. I know what I’m doing.”
He guffawed. “I bet Custer told his second in command the same thing before he rode west out of the Black Hills toward Little Bighorn.” He parked and turned to her. “There’s still time to change your mind, you know.”
“You sound like Katie.”
Her sister had tried to talk Ronnie out of following the instructions in the voice message that had been left for her this morning on Katie’s phone by Lyle’s lawyer. Ronnie had thought she’d clipped all ties to her ex-dickhead non-husband, but she’d overlooked one loophole—Katie still had the same phone number as she had before Ronnie’s world imploded.
“No shit,” Chester said. “I’d have figured Crazy Kate was the mastermind behind this buggy notion of yours.” He glanced out the window as a black pickup eased past them and exited the parking lot. “I bet if you call the sheriff right now, he’d be here in five minutes to join us.”
“I don’t want the sheriff here for
