Page 59 of Haystacks and Hoaxes

“Thank you,” Mila told Decker the moment he climbed inside the armored Land Rover he was driving them to work in this morning. She smiled as she buckled her seatbelt. There were still so many things in her life that were messed up, but her relationship with her stepbrother was no longer one of them.

He grimaced as he clicked on his own seatbelt. “You say that every morning. Pretty sure you’ve thanked me enough.”

“It’s never going to be enough, Deck.” She drew a tremulous breath. “Mom and I owe so much to you and your dad. I might not even be alive if?—”

“But you are,” he interrupted. “And you’re the reigning MVP at Lonestar Security.”

“Whatever.” She chuckled at his insistence in calling her that. “I’m nothing more than a junior forensic artist in training, and everyone knows it.”

He raised his eyebrows at her as he backed from thegarage. “What everyone knows is that the newest forensic artist on our team cracked Monty Chester’s missing persons case wide open.”

She blinked back happy tears as she relived the moment she’d watched Mr. Monty’s frail, too-thin body carried out of his home. The elderly farmer was an emaciated version of his former self. He’d been sealed inside his storm cellar to die, but he’d managed to survive on his latest brain child — a complex maze of PVC pipes warmed by a series of solar-powered black lights. It was a water garden he’d been experimenting with, hoping to figure out a way to produce crops year-round. Since the project was only in the experimentation stage, he’d been unable to harvest enough fruits and vegetables to keep himself sufficiently nourished. He’d been rationing out the meager provisions as long as he could. He’d been rationing out the stack of firewood, too, using each stick to send up the smoke signals that Mila had captured in her sketches. He’d lost all hope that he would be found in time, but that hadn’t stopped him from trying.

“I couldn’t have done it without Rock,” Mila declared fervently. Not just because of his impressive skills as a forensic artist, but because of the way he believed in her.

Decker grinned at the mention of her partner. “Are you guys officially dating yet?”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “What do you think?” Though she was capable of singing Rock’s praises all day long as a forensic artist, she wasn’t ready to talk about their relationship yet. It was still too new, and they were still figuring it out.

“What I think,” her stepbrother retorted, “is that you’re as much in love with him as he is with you.”

“I am.” She saw no point in denying it. “Thank you for the way you handled that. Us.” The fact that she’d gotten apromotion and a pay raise out of it made her giddy every time she thought about it.

“As long as you guys keep things professional on the job, no one but Johnny will have a problem with the fact that you’re dating.”

“Why would he care?” Though she pretended innocence on the topic, she knew what Decker was implying. Johnny’s flirting had been flattering, but that was it. Nothing more.

Her brother shook his head at her. “As if you didn’t already know the poor guy had his hopes up in your direction.”

She spread her hands, chuckling. “I don’t think he’s going to have much time for dating after he purchases that dairy farm he’s been going on and on about. Unless he wasn’t serious about it.”

“Oh, he’s serious alright.” Decker kept a close eye on what was happening in his rearview and sideview mirrors as he drove down the mountain toward Lonestar Security.

“Where did he get the money?” Mila knew it wasn’t any of her business, but she was in the mood to be nosy.

“Same place Josh and I got our seed money to start Lonestar Security.” He glanced into his rearview mirror again.

“From bull riding?” That sounded like a stretch to her.

“Yep. As long as you win, it can be pretty lucrative.” He sounded distracted.

“What are you looking at?” She twisted around in her seat but couldn’t see anything besides the normal traffic behind them.

His jaw tightened. “There’s a black sedan following us.”

Uh-oh!She craned her neck for a glimpse of the vehicle in question as they reached the parking garage at LonestarSecurity. He gave the gate attendant a quick description of the vehicle and asked him to keep an eye out for it.

“Sure thing.” The gate guard saluted Decker, and he drove into the garage to park the vehicle. Then he stuck to her side like glue while they crossed the parking lot and entered the building.

“No offense, but I can’t wait to get my life back,” she muttered as he held open the door for her.

“No offense taken.” He gave her one of his superior older brother smiles.

“I think you enjoy smothering me.” Not that she wasn’t grateful that he and Chanel had given her a safe place to crash, but she genuinely missed her independence.

“I’ll admit I’ve enjoyed getting to know you better.” He winked at her. “Gwen sure enjoys having an aunt, too, in case you failed to pick up on that.”

His words turned her insides to a gooey marshmallow. “She’s such a cutie!” A bit of a diva with her many princess dresses and toys, but having a clothing designer for a mother was probably to blame for that. One who was a former Remington, at that.

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