Maggie K. Black - Undercover Holiday Fiancée

“Yeah, maybe,” Hodge said. He nodded to Trent. “That’s your fiancée, right? The one whose picture you showed us. Aidan thinks so, anyway. Why didn’t you tell us you were marrying a cop?”

Heat rose to the back of Trent’s neck. He forced a grin on his face and didn’t meet Chloe’s eye.

“Well, like I told you guys, she works in northern Ontario,” Trent said. “But she came through when I needed her.”

Hodge nodded like that was enough of an explanation. The students wandered back into the crowd. Trent turned to Chloe. “I can explain—”

“You don’t need to,” Chloe said quickly. “You’re undercover. You used an old picture of me as a prop for your cover identity. It makes perfect sense.”

Did it? There was something he couldn’t quite place in her tone. Then again, something about being this close to Chloe threw his radar off.

“I just hope the fact that they now know I’m a cop won’t hurt your cover,” she added.

So did he. He took a deep breath and prayed. Lord, You’ve been the one consistent presence through everyone I’ve ever been or pretended to be. I asked You for help. Is Chloe showing up Your answer?

“We can work with it,” he said. “I need that cell phone, and I could honestly use a second brain on this case. I used that old fake-engagement picture of us taken on the gondola at Blue Mountain to bolster my cover. It was an impulse more than a grand plan, but now that you’re here, we can use it to our advantage.

“You’ll go undercover for one day as my fiancée. Tomorrow’s the twenty-third and the last day of school before the holidays. It’s the last hockey game before Christmas, too. I’ll take you to the college with me, then we can do the team dinner and you can come to the game. Maybe you’ll spot something I’ve missed. Coach Henri is a big softy, so you’ll probably want to play your cover as sweet, cute and kind of gushing. It’s not ideal, but it’s the only option I can think of and I’m not up for complications right now. So, how about it, Detective? You willing to pretend to be crazily into me in exchange for an official assist on this case?”

Her lips parted. A look floated in her eyes that was so raw the only word he could think to describe it was personal. She looked at him like they weren’t just two cops—one provincial and one federal—who sometimes worked together on joint assignments. No, she was looking at him like they were close friends or even former sweethearts, and like he’d once done something to hurt her. Then she blinked. The look was gone. “Thanks, but no. I appreciate why you used my picture for your cover. But I’m not looking to go undercover with you like that again.”

What? He thought she’d wanted in on this case. All she had to do was to pretend to be in a relationship with him for a day.

“I know it’s not ideal. But my cover is already set and there’s only so much I can change at this point. Plus, we’ve pretended to be a couple before. We play those roles well.”

Maybe even a little too well. There’d been a moment at the end of the last case where he’d almost wished he’d had an excuse to drag it out a little longer, which is what had led to him asking her out for coffee. “It will only be for a day. Just one day. After that, you’ll take the ring off your finger again and we’ll go our separate ways.”

But Chloe was still shaking her head. Then she reached into her pocket, pulled out the cell phone and pressed it into his hand. “Here. Take it. I’m off duty and you identified yourself as the lead officer on the scene. If you need me to write a report about what happened tonight, get someone to contact my superior officer.”

This was unbelievable. The Chloe he knew was tenacious. But here she was just handing him her only leverage and leaving. “But I thought you wanted to be in on this case!”

“So did I.” Her hand brushed his shoulder, sending odd and unexpected shivers up his spine. “But I think I was wrong. Take care of yourself, Trent. I really hope this works out well for you.”

His mouth opened but he couldn’t think of any words to fill it. Chloe was walking away and he didn’t know what to say or how to stop her. The phone was in his possession. He’d just won the argument. So why did it feel like he’d just lost something much more important than that?

* * *

Chloe’s cell rang. Headlights shone against her living room window, filling it with a brief flash of light. Then the glass went dark again. She sat up and looked out. Snow beat against the pane. Wind shook the glass. The clock read a quarter to seven in the morning. She picked up her cell and glanced at it to see a missed a call from a blocked number. It had to be Trent. But he was the last person she wanted to talk to right now. It was bad enough she’d just turned down the opportunity to work on the payara case and mitigate the damage an investigation into Butler could do to her career, the last thing she wanted was to try to explain to him why.

He’d asked her to pretend she had feelings for him.

Chloe sighed and lay back on the couch. She’d been wired after leaving the sports center. She hadn’t spotted Butler at all after walking away from Trent, so she hadn’t had the opportunity to really talk to him except for the few rushed words they’d exchanged in the moments after she’d first run out the sports center. The brief conversation she’d had at the scene with a rookie female officer named Nicole Docker hadn’t told her much of anything. So she’d gone for a drive, then shopping and finally a long walk through the woods surrounding her rural, country house.

All the while she’d felt the problem of Trent and the payara investigation moving through her mind like the tumblers of a lock she couldn’t quite open. When she’d told him she wanted in on the investigation, she’d envisioned something strictly professional—something that wouldn’t involve staring longingly into his eyes while he pretended he had feelings for her.

But something about standing there with him in the early morning light as he’d asked her to act like she was crazy about him had sent her heart pounding like she was cresting the top of a roller coaster without knowing how big the drop was on the other side. She was done with chaos and the men who caused it. Working undercover with Trent was like eating a six-scoop ice-cream sundae with whipped cream, bananas, caramel and chocolate drizzle. It was an incredible thrill, which made her feel like she was working at the very top of her game. That was, until he’d left her sitting alone in a coffee shop wondering how she’d fooled herself into thinking he actually cared.

Her fake engagement ring from their last undercover mission lay on the coffee table. She’d dug it out of her jewelry box when she’d gotten home and wasn’t quite sure why she’d bothered keeping it, considering it was probably only worth a few dollars and she’d never be able to wear it without thinking of Trent. She picked it up and twirled it around in her fingers. It was a heavy, solid ring inlaid with intricate strands of imitation diamonds and emeralds. It felt expensive. Not that she believed for a moment it was anything more than a good piece of costume jewelry. When Trent had given it to her at the start of their last assignment, he told her he’d fished it out of a mud puddle at a truck stop.

Headlights moved past her window for a second time. She looked out. It was a dark pickup. Was it the same driver passing twice or just a coincidence? Her cell phone buzzed again, and this time her sister’s contact picture flashed on the screen. She dropped the ring and answered it. “Olivia! Hi!”

“Chloe!” Her sister’s voice was breathless, almost flustered. “Hi! I hope this isn’t too early. Abby’s been teething. Molars, I think. So time has lost all meaning.”