Myrna Mackenzie - Just Pretending

Stories of family and romance beneath the Big Sky!

“I can handle trouble, David.”

He grinned again, then moved out the door and pulled it almost shut behind him.

She couldn’t help smiling. Her skin felt alive and tingly even though the only touch she and David had shared had been slight and over too quickly. But there was something about the lazy way the man looked at her that made her feel that he had touched her time and time again. There was something about the quiet, deep tone in his voice when he said her name.

“The man is definitely right,” she whispered to no one in particular. “It’s a good thing you know how to handle trouble. He may be a top-notch agent, but David Hannon is going to be a major source of very deep trouble.”

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grew up not having a clue what she wanted to be (she hadn’t been born a princess—the one job she thought she might like, because of the steady flow of pretty dresses and crowns), but she knew that she loved stories and happy endings, so falling into life as a romance writer was pretty much inevitable. An award-winning author who has written more than thirty-five novels, Myrna was born in a small town in Dunklin County, Missouri, grew up just outside Chicago and now divides her time between two lakes in Chicago and Wisconsin, both very different and both very beautiful. She adores the internet (which still seems magical after all these years), loves coffee, hiking, “attempting” gardening (without much success), cooking and knitting. Readers (and other potential gardeners, cooks, knitters, writers, etc.) can visit Myrna online at www.myrnamackenzie.com.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Four teen

Chapter Fifteen

The town of White horn, Montana, didn’t look as though it had just been kicked in the teeth, David Hannon thought as he pushed through the outer doors of the police station. The July sky was blue, the sun was out, the mountains in the background were spectacular, and the town appeared to be every man’s vision of the perfect place to settle down. But, of course, if everything in his hometown had been perfect lately, he wouldn’t be here. At least not on a search for the truth.

David moved beyond the sunlight and into the station. He removed his dark sunglasses, smiled down at the middle-aged woman sitting behind the desk and told her who he was and who he wanted to see. She scribbled his message down on a scrap of paper and excused herself.

“Hey, Hannon, it’s been forever. Good to see you,” a booming voice called, snagging his attention as David walked further into the room and grinned at the deputy sheriff heading his way. “But if you wanted to catch any of those weddings your family’s been staging lately, you’re too late. Of course, the way your clan has been falling, there might be something Cupid’s slipped into the water supply. Better watch out. You could be next. Just another smooth bachelor fallen facedown in the wedding cake.”

David shook his head, still grinning as he reached out to shake his old friend’s hand. There had been a couple of unexpected weddings in his family in the past few months. But that wasn’t why he had returned.

“Reed, it’s great to see you, too. And you’re right. I only wish I could have made it here in time for both Frannie’s and Cleo’s weddings, but I couldn’t get away at the time.” It was the truth. It had nearly killed him that he hadn’t been able to get here in time to see the sister and cousin he was crazy about each take their turn walking down the aisle.

“So, you missed the weddings and now you’re here for…”

“To see my home and family, kiss the brides, congratulate the grooms on their good fortune, say hi to all my old buddies,” he said. “Do a little nosing around while I’m here.”

“Thought so,” the man said. “Can’t blame you. I’d be doing the same, if it were me, considering all the things that have been going on.”

Another deputy showed up and slapped David on the back. “David, it’s good to see that pretty face of yours. You don’t come around nearly enough. Means less women fainting at your feet, more dates for me, but still we’ve all missed you, bud. I couldn’t help but hear what you said. That nosing around you’re talking about have anything to do with those bodies that were found at the future resort/casino site out on Kincaid land?”

David tilted his head, reluctant to say too much until he knew which way the clouds were rolling in. “I thought I’d see if I could help out.”

“In an official capacity? FBI send you to assist?”

More like they hadn’t stopped him. His superior had known where David was going when he requested a leave of absence and he also knew what was going on here in White horn, but David was overdue for some time off. Still, it was a mark of Phil’s confidence in his professionalism that the man had okayed the leave without question. “Don’t get in too deep, Hannon, or I’ll have to call you back,” was his only comment. David didn’t plan to give Phil any reason to do that, but he fully intended to get at the truth of what had happened here in his hometown.

“Yeah, are you here as Special Agent Hannon or simply as David Hannon, one of White-horn’s favorite wandering sons?” another man asked with a chuckle.

“We’ll see,” David answered with a shrug and a grin. “Who’s the chief investigating officer on this one?” A lot would depend on how open-minded and cooperative the officer was.

The men exchanged a few sidelong glances. “That would be Detective Neal. Over there,” one man said.

David turned and looked toward the back of the room where his old friend had pointed and met with a sea-green-eyed stare and a pair of raised delicate blond brows. She was tall, slender, very crisp, her white blouse a sharp contrast to her black pantsuit. Her outfit and her demeanor said she was no-nonsense, just as her position required her to be. Nothing unusual about that. David had worked with plenty of female special agents, trusted his back to more than a few. Some of them had been colleagues, some friends, some more. None of them had ever made him think of hot nights and tangled sheets and drinking champagne from a woman’s lips. Until this second, that is. This lady detective was definitely a very special case, and she was frowning at him right now. She made one last comment to the person she’d been conversing with and started walking his way.