Jean Thomas - The Bounty Hunter's Forbidden Desire

“I’m always open to suggestions,” he drawled.

“That’s good, because that’s exactly what I have. When you get back to Seattle, McKinley...when you get back there, the first thing you should do is fire your private investigator, because he definitely stinks. Then after that, I think you need to find a good ophthalmologist and have your eyes examined.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know I have twenty-twenty vision.”

“I don’t see how either you or your PI possibly can. Because the both of you have badly judged the relationship between Bill Farley and me.”

“Yeah? What is the truth?”

“That poor Billy happens to be desperately in love with my friend Jennifer Donaldson. Only she’s given him back his ring and refuses to see him until he’s broken all contact with the crowd he’s been hanging around with. That much is fact.”

“So, why have you been meeting him? And don’t tell me you haven’t.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it. Yes, I’ve been meeting him. For one reason only. Bill knows how close I am to Jennifer. He’s been pleading with me to intercede for him. But Jennifer is right. He needs to break away from these people. They’re a rough bunch, though, and Bill is afraid of how they’ll react. Anything else?”

“There was that intimate parting on your doorstep.”

“What? The hug of sympathy? Oh, no, don’t tell me you assumed it involved a kiss behind the shrub.”

Chase raised both hands in surrender. “I give up.”

“Not yet you don’t, mister. I gave you the truth. How about yours? Were you ever going to tell me before I discovered that photo in your wallet?”

“I was waiting until Seattle.”

“Why Seattle? Why force me to come all this way? Why didn’t you just explain everything in Portland and save us the trip?”

“I didn’t trust you.”

“You didn’t trust me in Portland, but you would have trusted me in Seattle? How does that make sense?”

“It doesn’t,” Chase admitted. “All I wanted...all I had in my mind was to get you on familiar turf where I was in control, away from any possible interference from what I was convinced were your mob friends who would rush to your rescue with big guns. Look, the fact is I just wasn’t thinking straight.”

“And now? Are you thinking straight?”

“Let’s hope so.”

Chase looked down at what remained on his plate. It had to be cold by now. Neither one had touched their breakfast after the conversation had become so intense.

“I’m not hungry any longer,” he said. “What about you? You want them to bring you a fresh oatmeal?”

She shook her head. “I’m ready to leave.”

“Good. I was hoping for a chance to stretch my legs before we headed back to Portland.”

“You’re in the mood for exercise?”

“It wouldn’t hurt after all those hours yesterday and today that we’ve been sedentary. Also...”

“What?” she urged him.

“I was hoping for a chance to explain to you just why I haven’t been thinking straight.”

“And you feel a walk would be suitable for that?” The look on her face told him she was considering it. “I wouldn’t mind,” she decided.

Chase left a tip on the table, paid the bill at the counter and accompanied Haley out of the diner.

* * *

Considering the wild circumstances that had landed her in both the company and control of Chase McKinley, Haley could have been making a mistake willingly going off with him like this in a lonely place. She sensed, however, that she had nothing to fear. She remembered that she hadn’t feared him this entire time. Despite his bounty hunter swagger, there had been a gentleness lurking within him.

On the other hand, her trust could have more to do with the morning than the man. The sun had risen over the mountains in the east while they were in the diner, promising another feel-good day for Washington. It was still cool, though, with dew on the grass.

Just past the diner, on the access road off the interstate that had brought them first to the motel, was a posted trail to a nature preserve. It was the perfect place for a stroll, lined with the glossy-leaved rhododendrons that were native to the Pacific coast. Even now, past their bloom, they were magnificent shrubs.

“Before you begin,” she said, “there’s something I’d like to know. Josh told me he had this half brother who was an army ranger and stationed overseas. And here you are, a bounty hunter and not overseas.”

“Yeah, well, that’s past tense.” Hands shoved into his pants pockets, he paused to watch a bald eagle circling slowly high overhead. “The thing is, our dad—Josh’s biological father to put it accurately—died from a ruptured aneurysm just a couple of weeks before my current enlistment was up.”

“I’m sorry about your father.” She paused. “They sent you home for the funeral, I suppose.”

“That and to help Josh settle affairs. By the time that was done, I’d decided not to reenlist.”

“I see.” Haley nodded, and then almost as a part of the same action shook her head. “No, I don’t see. Didn’t you care for the army?”

“Sure, I liked it just fine. It was my career.”

“Then why...”

He walked on, changing the subject. Or seeming to. “I bet Josh never mentioned to you that after I quit the army, I joined the ranks of the bounty hunters.”

“Come to think of it,” she said catching up to him, “he never spoke at all about you after that one time.”

“No, he wouldn’t. Josh liked to boast of his big brother’s service record, but I think he thought there was something just a little disreputable about being a bounty hunter. But it suits me. I was trained in search and recovery, and I needed something temporary until I could decide what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

“Fascinating, McKinley, except I don’t see what any of this has to do with you not thinking straight.”

“Hold on, we’re getting there.”

Chase stopped again on the trail, this time to discover a willow goldfinch flitting from holly bush to holly bush.

“Waiting,” Haley sang.

He turned his head to favor her with a grin. “I’m gonna bore you with some more history.”

“How much?”

“Probably more than you’re going to like, but it’s necessary.”

“Going back how far?”

“To when I was very young. I have no memory of my biological father. He walked out on us when I was a baby. The only father I knew was the man my mother married when I was about four. Brian Matthews was everything my biological father wasn’t. I got every kind of attention a kid could want from both him and my mother. That all threatened to change when I was eight years old. Are you cold? It’s a little chilly out here still.”

“I’m fine. Go on. What happened when you were eight?”

“Mom and Dad told me there was going to be a baby, that I was going to have a brother. I figured I wouldn’t have all the attention anymore. Or maybe any attention at all. I hated this kid before he was even born.”

“I detect that didn’t last.”

“I had very smart parents. They knew I was jealous, and they knew what to do about it. Not long after the baby came home from the hospital, they sat me down and placed him carefully in my lap. They said his name was Josh and that I was to be someone very important in his life. I would matter to him. Matter? I wanted to shove the little intruder right back at them.”

“And did you?”

“I would have, except before I could do that, this tiny thing looked up at me with...well, I don’t know that I could call it anything like trust. I don’t suppose the vision of a baby that young is developed enough to be capable of any sort of recognition of that kind.”