Justice Inked (Cowboy Justice Association 7) (15 page)

His face split into a huge smile and he nodded eagerly, scooting onto the padded bench.

“What’s good here?”

They discussed the merits of different dishes, and when the waitress came Rayne settled on the chicken parmesan and he ordered the cannelloni. With lunch business squared away she couldn’t delay speaking any longer.

“It was a robbery,” she offered. “And then they found a dead body out back. So it was a nasty business all the way around. But I’m fine. They didn’t steal anything except my apparently false sense of security.”

James’s brows shot up. “A dead body? That’s terrible. Was it a friend?”

“No, I didn’t know him. He was from out of town but I still felt terrible for him. He was shot down like a dog in the street. That’s no way to go.”

“I’m just glad you’re okay.” He looked down at the table and then up at her. “I’ve been wanting to call you, ask you out. I was going to call Jared and get your number but things have been pretty busy at the clinic.”

Months without a glimmer of a man in her life and now she had two that wanted to date her. When it rains it pours. That’s what her mother used to say.

James was a nice man. A good guy. He didn’t turn her on in the least. Her feelings were more friendly or brotherly than lover-like. She couldn’t picture herself kissing or having sex with him. She needed to let him down gently. This wasn’t his fault.

It was Dare’s.

And that sexy son of a gun was walking in the front door of the restaurant at this very minute, his sister Sophie right beside him. His gaze quickly settled on Rayne and then those steely blue eyes narrowed as he took in her dining companion.

James’s gaze followed her own as she watched Dare and Sophie settle into a table on the other side of the restaurant.

“He’s the sheriff?”

Rayne dragged her attention from Dare back to James, who was giving her a quizzical look. “Yes. Dare Turner. I was just wondering if he had any new information on the case.”

She wasn’t the best liar and James’s expression said as much. He glanced at Dare and then back at Rayne. “Is that his girlfriend? She looks young for him.”

“Sister, and she is young. Just eighteen. She wants me to do a tattoo for her.”

It was a desperate gambit to change the subject but James seemed to take pity on her.

“Eighteen seems awfully young. Tattoos are for life.”

“You sound like Dare,” Rayne laughed. “He was livid when he thought I had given her one. I thought he was going to blow a blood vessel in his head.”

I can’t go two seconds without talking about that man. What is wrong with me?

“I’d say I have to agree with him.” The waitress slid their entrees onto the table. “This looks delicious. I’m glad I ran into you today. I hate to eat alone.”

Rayne was used to it. All through lunch she kept sneaking glances over at Dare and Sophie, sometimes catching him looking right back. Glaring would be a better word for it. He didn’t look happy which wasn’t all that unusual, but right now he looked grumpier than usual. With his job there was no telling what his problem was today. Or perhaps Sophie was finally telling him that she was leaving town. Rayne wanted to be far away when that happened. Dare was going to go ballistic. And then he’d get really upset.

The waitress brought the check and she reached for it, but not as quickly as James. He held it up and shook his head. “Please let me get this. I have a feeling this is my last chance to buy you a meal.”

“I don’t understand.”

James looked over at Dare, a rueful smile playing on his lips. “A man knows when a woman isn’t interested. I’ll be graceful in my defeat.”

Heat rushed to her cheeks and her hand flew to her throat. Hopefully everyone didn’t see through her this easily. “I’m sorry. I just…oh crap. I’m just really sorry. It’s not you. You’re a great guy.”

“You’re a nice woman.” James placed some bills on the check. “I’d offer to be your friend but…”

Wrinkling her nose, Rayne groaned. “Believe me, I get it. Can I apologize again?”

James patted her hand. “I wish you wouldn’t. It’s no one’s fault. It just wasn’t meant to be. But I’m still glad I ran into you today. I truly was worried about you.”

Now she really felt guilty. She’d barely given James a thought since that night. As a person, she sucked.

“Thank you. I’m really fine. I’m just so–”

James held up his hand. “Really. Stop. It’s just one of those things. I’ll survive. Hey, maybe you have a cute friend you can set me up with.”

That pulled a smile from her. “Most of my friends are married but I’ll keep it in mind.”

James slid out of the booth. “Then we’re good. Thanks for having lunch with me. It’s my turn to apologize but I do need to get going. Maybe we’ll run into each other again.”

“I’ll walk you out. I have a few errands to run before I head back to the shop.”

Rayne and James exited the restaurant and she would have sworn an intense blue gaze followed her the entire way, boring a hole into her back. It was a relief as she bid James goodbye and headed down the sidewalk.

She didn’t owe Dare an explanation about her lunch with James. It was completely innocent and she and Dare had only had the one date. They hadn’t discussed being exclusive either. Besides, the jerk hadn’t even bothered to call her yet.

And that hurt more than it should.

Chapter Seventeen

“A
re you listening to me?”

Sophie smacked the table, dragging Dare’s attention from Rayne’s retreating figure. He’d come here with his sister to have lunch only to run smack dab into Rayne…and her date. The man looked like a decent guy, too. Well dressed and nice looking. Probably educated and successful. The man had paid the check and then they’d walked out of the restaurant with his hand on the small of Rayne’s back, guiding her out. It had to be a date. Dare didn’t buy lunch and then put his hands on women he wasn’t dating.

“Of course I’m listening to you.” Dare struggled not to sigh in frustration. “Tim’s wonderful. Tim’s amazing. I get it, sis. He’s the greatest. Who are you trying to convince? Me or you?”

Sophie’s cheeks colored but she looked more annoyed than embarrassed. “I know how wonderful Tim is and that’s what I’m trying to tell you. He’s great and he takes good care of me.”

Snorting, Dare bit into a breadstick, trying to concentrate on his little sister instead of thinking about Rayne and that guy. Dare had searched his memory banks but he was positive he’d never seen her lunch companion before today. He also couldn’t help but wonder why she’d gone out on a date with him when she had a guy like that on the line.

“You’re not listening again,” Sophie hissed. “What is your problem?”

“I don’t have a problem.”

Rayne Dunn wasn’t a problem. He didn’t care that she was having lunch with another man. It was fine. Okey dokey. No issue here.

“I’m trying to tell you something important. That’s why I suggested we have lunch.”

“Then spit it out. I’m not getting any younger.”

Sophie laughed and pointed at him, her finger wriggling playfully. “You certainly aren’t my
older
brother. One foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. You practically creak when you walk.”

“I’m a geriatric, now talk.”

Dare dug into his fettuccine with an enthusiasm born of clawing hunger. He’d missed breakfast and Sophie’s idea to meet for lunch had seemed like a godsend at the time. Now he was annoyed as hell.

“Like I was saying…Tim is a great guy and we have so much fun together. He makes me really happy and we get along well. I think we have a real future.”

That wasn’t the best news Dare had heard today, or even this week. He wanted Sophie to get over Tim as soon as possible. The guy could barely take care of himself, let alone Dare’s sister.

“Your future is wide open. It doesn’t have to have Tim in it.”

“But I want it to.” Sophie’s chin lifted in defiance. “I’m trying to tell you something and you’re interrupting me.”

“You keep hemming and hawing. If you have something to say you should just say it.”

Sophie’s eyes bugged and she emitted a long, pissed-off groan. “You are such a butt. I knew you’d be like this, which is why I didn’t say anything until now. So here it is. I got into school in Denver. I’m going to start in January. Tim is going to get a job down there and we’re going to live together. There. I said it.”

Dare kept running the words through his head over and over as if to make some sense of them. It sounded like Sophie was leaving and moving in with that little prick Tim Wallace.

“Can you say that again?”

Sophie took a big breath and let it out noisily. “I’m moving to Denver for school. Tim is going with me.”

“You can’t–”

“Stop there,” Sophie interrupted, her voice firmer than he’d ever heard it before. “The decision has been made. I’m of age and I’m going. Girls all over this great nation of ours go off to school when they’re eighteen and the world keeps on spinning. I want this, big brother, and you will not stop me.”

“But–”

“No. The decision has been made,” she repeated in a no nonsense tone, although her lower lip trembled slightly. “You can either make the rest of my time here in Valley Station pleasant or you can be a dick. Those are your two choices. That’s it.”

Dare wrestled with emotions he wasn’t used to dealing with and avoided as often as possible. Fear. Love. The pain of separation. Mostly fear, though. Sophie was a young girl and she had no idea what evil there was in this world. He’d seen it, been up close, and the visions still haunted him at night. If she wasn’t close by he couldn’t protect her. She’d be out there alone.

The worst thing was she didn’t see how vulnerable she was.

“I don’t think you should go.”

Her blue eyes, so like his own, filled with tears. “You want me to stay? And do what, Dare? Get a minimum wage dead end job that leads nowhere? Because that’s what we’re talking about if I stay here. My life will basically be over before it’s started. And the worst thing is that you know that. It’s why you left when you were my age. You know this and you’re holding me back for some selfish reason that I cannot even begin to comprehend. Do you not want me to make something of my life?”

It wasn’t that simple. Either-or. This or that. It was far more complex and he wasn’t sure he had the words to explain it.

“Of course I do. You deserve everything in the world. But leaving town with Tim Wallace isn’t the way to accomplish it. You have to be patient.”

Her mouth fell open and then she laughed, but she didn’t sound amused. “What am I waiting for? Prince Charming? I think this little podunk town is fresh out of those. If I want to do something in my life, I can’t wait around for someone to rescue me. I have to do it myself and that means taking chances. Something that you excel at and yet you don’t want anyone else to do it.”

Dare flushed as Sophie reminded him of his past. He may have done some foolhardy things in his youth but now he acted like a damn adult.

Except the other night when he’d danced in the rain with a sexy little tattoo artist. That had been out of character for the adult Dare. Obviously he hadn’t been thinking straight, or at all for that matter. His libido had been doing the talking. Rayne had looked gorgeous, wet from the storm, her smile wide and her eyes lit from within, a joy she seemed to radiate. He’d wanted to get closer and be a part of it.

“Earth to Dare.” Sophie waved her hand in front of his eyes, pulling him back to reality. “You’re not listening again. Should we table this and try again another time? Not that it matters. I’m going and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

Christ on a pogo stick, he was in deep today. Half of his brain was still thinking about Rayne and the other half was desperately trying to keep his little sister from making a horrible mistake. If he’d had any brain cells left he would have been concentrating on bringing a killer to justice, but the women in his life had him twisted sideways and upside down.

“You’re right. Short of physically restraining you, I can’t stop you. But I can keep telling you that Tim Wallace isn’t the wonderful boyfriend that you think he is. I’ve seen his type before and it always ends the same. As for moving, I don’t want you to go. There are closer schools, Sophie. You could even go to school online. You don’t have to leave Montana to get an education.”