How to Land Her Lawman (7 page)

“More than six months.”

“But less than a year,” Will guessed. The other guy merely lifted a shoulder. This was starting to feel like an interrogation in that special room with the two-way mirror. “Care to tell me your name?”

“Jack Garner.”

“The writer. I read your book.”

“Good. I have a mortgage to pay.”

“Didn't say I bought it. Just read it.”

They stared at each other for several moments and finally Jack said, “Okay. I'll bite. What did you think?”

“It was good.” Will was picky about his reading material, but he'd really liked the book. “The action was realistic. I'm guessing you spent some time in the military.”

“Army special forces, Ranger division.”

That explained why the details were spot-on. “I look forward to the next one.”

“Yeah.” Jack frowned and took a long pull on his beer.

Will glanced over at April again. She was wearing a pink sweater set with black slacks and had her hair long and silky past her shoulders. She looked so kissable it made him ache. Part of him thought if he stared long enough he'd catch her looking at him. And then what? Even his nephew had advised him to keep his distance. But too often rational thought and hormones didn't see eye to eye. So here he was being pathetic.

“Why don't you just go over there?”

Will met Jack's gaze. “What?”

“You keep staring at that table in the corner. Don't know which one of those ladies you're interested in, but do something about it, man.”

“The blonde is my sister and she's engaged.”

“Got it.” Jack saluted with his beer bottle, letting him know he'd received the warning loud and clear. “So it's the cute brunette.”

Jealousy balled in his belly and he wanted to warn him off April, too. But he had no right and that just pissed him off more. “That hasn't been confirmed.”

“Yeah, it has. If I were you, I'd just go over there and sit down.”

“Who made you my wingman?”

“It's a dirty job, but apparently someone has to do it.” Jack looked amused.

“Why would I take your advice?” Will challenged. “Because you know so much about women?”

“What I know about the fairer sex would fit on the head of a pin.”

“Then I have to ask: What makes crashing their conversation a good move?”

“It's what you want. You're preoccupied. You're staring at her and it's getting obvious.” Jack paused, then added, “And, frankly, you're just not very good company.”

Will stared at the other man for a second or two then laughed. “Don't hold back. Tell me how you really feel.”

“Will do.”

When Jack grinned, Will's gut told him it was something the man rarely did. He held out his hand. “Will Fletcher. Acting sheriff of Blackwater Lake.”

“Good to meet you, Sheriff.” Jack shook his hand. “Now leave me alone and let me brood.”

“Roger that.”

Will picked up his beer and headed over to the table where the two women sat. “Mind if I butt in?”

“Hi, Will,” his sister said. “Have a seat.”

He'd planned to anyway, but it was nice to be invited. “How are you, April?”

“Good, thanks.” She gave him a big smile. “So you survived the Fourth of July.”

“I did. Here's to that.” He held up his beer and they clinked their wineglasses against it.

“I saw you talking to Jack Garner, the writer,” his sister said.

“Yeah. Nice guy.”

“He doesn't usually talk to anyone when he comes in here,” Kim added. “Before you ask how I know that, I should tell you that I don't spend that much time here in the bar. Delanie told me.”

“Well he's probably got his reasons for keeping to himself.” Will knew some guys on the police force who developed PTSD from incidents related to the job. He figured in army special forces Jack Garner had seen things that changed him, things he didn't want to talk about.

“Actually, Will, I'm glad you're here,” his sister said.

That was a surprise. “So I get a pass on crashing girls' night?”

“It's not so much girls' night,” April said. “More of an emergency management meeting.”

“What's wrong?” He looked from one woman to the other. “You're not calling off the wedding.”

“No.” Kim's voice was adamant. “But you know all those files and the paperwork on the table the other morning?”

“The crap?” he asked wryly.

“Yeah. That.”

“What about it?”

“I'm beginning to be overwhelmed.” Kim caught her bottom lip between her teeth.

“You know I was kidding about that, right?” He hadn't meant to freak her out.

“I know. It's just that I'm feeling the pressure. On top of the fact that my dress is back-ordered.”

“It just kills me that I can't be your maid of honor,” April said.

“I didn't think I needed one. But I also didn't realize there would be this much stuff. Besides, you're my photographer and I know the pictures will be amazing. That's what this is all for. When Luke and I are old we can look at our wedding album and ask who the babies are in the pictures April Kennedy took. It's just the putting-it-all-together part that's getting to me.” She sighed. “Maids of honor come and go, but pictures are forever.”

Both of the women looked as if they were ready to have an emotional moment that would probably involve tears, and Will was beginning to regret crashing the party. Like most guys, he wanted to fix it. Anything to keep them from crying.

“So pick someone else to be your maid of honor,” he suggested. “You have friends, right?”

“Of course I do. But if I ask someone now they'll feel like an afterthought. That might hurt their feelings.”

“If they're really your friend, it probably wouldn't be like that,” he pointed out.

“Family wouldn't be like that at all,” April said. “They would just be there for you because you need them. It's too bad you don't have a sister.”

Suddenly there was a gleam in Kim's eyes. “I've got it.”

“Unless Dad has a secret baby daughter somewhere, you still don't have one. So what do you have?” Will asked warily.

“A brother and an idea. You can be my maid of honor.”

He shook his head. “I don't meet the physical requirements. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not a maid.”

“Okay. Man of honor then. Besides, what's in a name? You can be my second, like when duels were fought in the olden days. I think you'd be fantastic, Will.”

“He would. What's that police motto? To protect and serve? It takes a guy's guy to be a man of honor.” April's voice was pleading.

And Jack Garner was right. She was so cute he wanted her in the worst way. How could he say no to her? “Okay. But if the squad in Chicago finds out about this, I'll get you back,” he warned her.

“Oh, Will—” Kim started to cry.

“Oh, for Pete's sake.” He handed her a napkin then took her hand in his. “I said yes so you wouldn't cry.”

“I'm just happy,” she said, dabbing her eyes.

“This calls for a toast,” April said. “To Will, the best man of honor you could ask for.”

“Probably the only one,” he grumbled.

Kim laughed as intended. “To Will.”

They touched glasses again and he met April's gaze. She wasn't ignoring him now. She was looking at him as if he'd hung the moon. As if he was her hero.

If he invited her to dinner right this minute would she say yes? Not only did he not want to ask her in front of his sister, a guy's ego could only take so much rejection. Private was better.

He didn't know what April's problem was. Other than the fact that he wasn't staying permanently in Blackwater Lake.

Still, they both knew where the other stood and there wasn't any reason not to have some fun while he was in town. When he got a chance, he planned to pursue that line of questioning.

And he was going to pursue it very soon.

Chapter Seven

A
pril helped Kim carry her wedding dress upstairs. Not only had her first choice arrived without a hitch, it fit like a dream. No alterations required. The bridal shop at Mountain's Edge Mall had offered to store it for her until the wedding, but Kim refused. She'd said everything was starting to feel too out of control and this gave her the illusion of having power over it all.

“I'm guessing this isn't a slip dress.” April was wrestling with the bottom half of the heavy, bulky, zippered storage bag.

“Not a chance. I'm a mom, but I've never been married before and this is going to be my dream wedding.” There was a note in her voice that hinted at convincing herself more than anyone else.

“Would it be this heavy in a dream?” April asked, trying to tease her friend's nerves into submission. It was obvious that asking Will to be her man of honor hadn't taken the edge off the pressure she was feeling. “How are you going to move in this dress?”

“On my day I will float on air,” Kim assured her.

They finally made it upstairs and turned left toward Kim's room. Her son's, which his mother often said could be mistaken for a biohazard waste dump, was right next door. April knew Will slept across the hall.

She forced herself not to look in that direction and check out where he was hanging his hat these days. He hadn't asked her out again, but the other night at Bar None he'd joined her and Kim. He seemed to have a good time and April did, too. It felt a little like a date and she hoped Kim's strategy of making Will work for it wouldn't cost her a chance to go out with him.

“I guess Will isn't home yet.”

“If he was, I'd have made him haul this behemoth up the stairs.” Kim backed into her room, pushing open the door with her shoulder. “It's the least the man of honor can do.”

“It was really sweet of him to agree to do that.”

“I know, right?” Kim waited for April to bring the bottom half of the bag into the room. Instead of sliding doors, her walk-in closet had a closing one with a metal hook on the outside. They managed to put the dress's heavy-duty hanger on it. She looked at April and blew out a breath. “It just felt appropriate to ask Will to stand up with me. If it can't be you.”

“Could have knocked me over with a feather when those words came out of your mouth,” April admitted. “I thought you were kidding.”

“I was a little. At first. Then I realized I could really use someone. I'm not even sure what for because you've been there for me, for everything.”

April's gaze drifted to the zippered garment bag. “Can we look at it again?”

“Twist my arm.” Kim reached up and unzipped the bag, letting the full tulle skirt spill out.

They stared at the strapless bodice, sparkling with crystals and tapering to a fitted waist, where the full skirt flared out. It oozed femininity.

April sighed. “I can just picture it all. The roses and lilies, with a few hydrangeas thrown in for color in your bride's bouquet. Hank, Tim and Will in their black tuxes. Guests gathered for the happy occasion.”

“Yeah.” Kim's voice was a little shaky.

Time for a pep talk. “Then you walk down the aisle, where the man of your dreams is waiting next to the minister who will preside over your vows.”

“That's the plan.”

“Are you writing them?” April asked. Her friend was most confident with the written word and loved instructing her students in the art of essay writing. “If Blackwater Lake High School's favorite English teacher doesn't write her own vows, what kind of message would that send?”

“Not a good one, I'm guessing.” Doubt crept into her expression.

“Oh,” April said staring at the stunningly beautiful dress. “You're going to look so gorgeous in this when you become Mrs. Luke Miller.”

“Oh, God—” Kim's eyes widened.

April thought maybe this was a good time to take the focus off the dress. She spotted several boxes in the corner and walked over to peek inside. “The invitations. They're beautiful.” She picked one up and ran a hand over the embossed white lily and read the words out loud. “Mr. Henry Fletcher and Mr. and Mrs. Frank Miller request the honor of your presence at the wedding of their children, Miss Kimberly Fletcher and Mr. Luke Miller.”

“Do you really like them?”

April had helped her pick them out. “Even better than I thought. These came out so great. It's going to be official.”

“Eek—”

There was a knock on the open bedroom door. “Anyone home?”

“Will, I didn't hear you come in.” Kim looked at her wristwatch. “It's late.”

“Long day. Some tourists having a little too much fun.” His gaze was on April when he said the last word. There was a smoky look in his eyes and a rough edge to his voice that hinted at the kind of fun a man and woman needed privacy for.

Or maybe that was just her imagination, April thought, because she'd had that kind of fun on her mind since this dating-and-dumping plan had started.

“Hi, Will,” she said.

He nodded, then looked at the dress and whistled. “I guess you got the one you wanted.”

“Uh-huh.” Kim bit her lip uncertainly.

“And you rode shotgun,” he said to April.

“Yeah.” Her gaze was on her friend, who'd turned a little pale.

“I'm kind of new at this man-of-honor thing. Is it in my job description to stand guard now over this big, poofy ball of white?”

Apparently those words pushed Kim over the edge because she burst into tears.

“I was kidding.” Will looked at April and said, “What did I say?”

“N-nothing. It's me,” Kim blubbered.

“What's wrong with you?”

“Everything,” she wailed.

“Like I said, I've got no experience with this MOH stuff, but I'm a quick learner.” He took his sister's hand, led her over to the bed and sat her on the floral spread before going down on one knee in front of her. “It would help me out a lot if you'd be a little more specific about what the problem is.”

“I think I'm making a big mistake.” She buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

Will met April's gaze with a look that said he would rather do police paperwork in triplicate than deal with a weeping woman. He stared at the floor for several moments, shaking his head. Any second she expected him to bail. Say something about a hysterical woman being above his pay grade. Or advise his sister to walk it off.

Finally he sighed, then said, “Kimmie—”

“W-what?”

He stood, then sat on the bed beside her and settled his strong arm around her shoulders. “Why do you think getting married is a mistake?”

“It just is.”

“So you don't love Luke?”

“Of course I love him.” She lowered her hands and stared at her brother as if he were crazy. “He's handsome, funny, kind and loving. Sexy.”

“Too much information,” Will said.

“The point is that Luke is everything I've ever wanted in a man.”

“Okay. Then your son doesn't like him?”

“Tim likes Luke a lot. He played matchmaker for us.”

“Okay.” One corner of Will's mouth curved up. “He actually told me that when we went fishing. So, moving on. Obviously his parents think you're not good enough for their son.”

“Don't be ridiculous.” She sniffled. “His family likes me better than him. And they love Tim. Already they're insisting he call them Grandma and Grandpa.”

“Okay. Then there's something here that I'm not seeing,” he said.

Brilliant strategy, April thought. Will was going through everything step-by-step to eliminate her fears instead of just telling her it would be okay.

“Maybe Luke and I should just go to Vegas,” Kim said.

“So it's the big, showy wedding that's freaking you out,” he deduced.

“Some,” she admitted, meeting his gaze. “There are a lot of details to take care of. What if I forget something? Worse, what if it's all a huge mistake, and Luke and I end up hating each other?”

“That's not going to happen.” Will was adamant.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because you've kissed a lot of frogs and waited for the right guy.” He lifted her hand and put it in his big palm, then folded his fingers around hers. “Take it from someone who didn't wait and got it wrong.”

His gaze settled on April when he said the last words. Her legs wobbled and she locked her knees to keep from toppling over. His blue eyes darkened to the color of the lake and more than anything she wanted to drown in them.

“I never liked the woman you married,” Kim said.

“Yeah.” He smiled at her declaration. “You've made that abundantly clear. More than once.”

“Sorry.”

“Does Luke know you're the queen of saying I told you so?”

“You'd have to ask him.” But she laughed for the first time. “I guess it's just everything getting to me. The invitations. The dress. Food and flowers. Writing vows. It's getting real. And pretty darn scary.”

“A normal reaction,” he reassured her.

“Yeah?”

“No question. Anyone who doesn't have a meltdown and take inventory of the situation shouldn't be doing it.”

“I guess you passed the test,” April said.

“Tests are good,” Kim agreed.

“So says the teacher.” Will pulled her in for a bear hug. “You waited for the right guy and deserve to have a big party to celebrate. It's going to be perfect.”

Kim nodded. “You're right. Thanks for talking me off the ledge.”

“What's a man of honor for?”

His sister smiled and nodded, then said, “I need to go wash my face.”

“I was going to say,” he teased. “You look a little puffy.”

She laughed, then left the room.

April released a breath. “It happened so fast. I was excited about the dress and the wedding and couldn't stop talking. When I realized she was starting to panic it was too late.”

“Bound to happen,” he said.

“You were amazing with her.” His gentle common sense, reassurance and understanding tugged at April's heart. “You even used your own experience to convince her she was making the right choice.”

“That's me. A horrible warning.” But there was laughter in his eyes when he said the words.

“I didn't mean it like that. You did really good today, Will Fletcher.”

And as gooey as she was feeling inside, it was probably just as well she hadn't gone out with him. This was a sweet side of Will, the side that could break her heart again if she wasn't careful.

Just because he admitted that he got it wrong with April before didn't mean the two of them could get it right now.

* * *

April put a low-cal, frozen chicken-enchilada dinner in her microwave to cook and tried to convince herself she wasn't lonely, bordering on pathetic. She had a successful business and loved her work. Lots of people called her friend. But all were married with the exception of Kim, whose single status would change about six weeks from now before summer ended.

The truth was that Kim's approaching marriage hadn't made her think this way; the engagement had happened months ago. These feelings hadn't surfaced until Will came back to town. Along with him came old memories that she'd managed to put away. Memories of runs, dinners, movie dates. Memories of not being by herself.

She was over him. Really. But it had been more than a week since he'd asked her out and she'd turned him down. Kim's reasoning seemed sort of lame now, all things considered. Only three days ago he'd reasoned his sister out of a meltdown. Then April and Will had had a moment alone in Kim's bedroom, which she was certain had been a
moment
. After that...nothing.

“They don't call. They don't write,” she muttered, listening to the hum of the microwave. And for real excitement she watched her frozen dinner turning inside the appliance.

Then things got exciting. At the same time the microwave beeped a signal that her cheese enchiladas were now warm and probably rubbery, there was a knock on her kitchen door. That made it official. She might be lonely, but pathetic was off the table because someone wanted to see her.

“Please let it not be a door-to-door salesman,” she pleaded.

Although they'd ring the bell beside the front door. It was probably one of the Fletchers—Hank, Kim, Tim or Will. Her money was on the first three.

After turning on the outside light, she saw Will through the sliding glass door and knew she'd have lost her bet. Her heart started thumping. Hard. But that was only because she was so happy to see
someone
. Anyone. And he had something in his hands that looked suspiciously like a pizza. There weren't many things that could fit in a big square flat box.

April unlocked the door and slid it open. “Hi.”

“I come bearing food. And wine.” There was a bottle of red tucked under his arm. It was starting to rain and the outside light made drops of moisture sparkle in his dark hair. “In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to tell you it's a bribe.”

“Oh?” She stepped back to let him in out of the rain, then closed the door behind him.

“I need asylum.”

“Did you say
an
asylum?” she teased.

“If you don't let me in, that's exactly where I'll be headed.” He almost looked dead serious, but there was a hint of laughter in his eyes.

It was surprising how well she still knew him, could still read him. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing, I guess. As far as I can tell, there's not a crisis but Kim is making everything wedding into a federal case. It's driving me nuts.” He set the pizza box and wine on the island and looked at her.

April remembered the pleading expression from a lifetime ago. It was the one that could get her to do anything. Of course that was a time when it took very little to get her to do whatever he wanted because she'd been blinded by love.