Page 58 of Engaging the Deputy

She nodded. “I’m on my way now. Something wrong?”

“I just wanted to offer best wishes on your engagement.”

“Thank you, but won’t I see you at the wedding?” she asked.

“I’ll have to get back to you on that.” He looked down the highway. Still no traffic. “Well, I should get going. You take care of yourself.”

“You too.” He drove off. She watched him go in her side mirror for a moment before putting up her window and continuing along the road toward the turnoff to Fortune Creek.

It wasn’t until she’d made the turn and was headed north on the way to her new home, her new life and her soon-to-be husband that a thought nudged her.

Where had Dean been heading before he’d seen her? This road didn’t really go anywhere except the mountains. Unless he’d been using it as a shortcut to his wife’s barn. Wasn’t that property off-limits until after the trial?

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Olivia had never been to Fortune Creek. Jaden had told her it was small, buttinymight have been closer to the truth. The town was in the northwest corner of the state, a rock’s throw from the Canadian border. That whole part of the state was lawless except for the small sheriff’s office where her husband-to-be worked.

She saw at once that the town was wild country, set in the mountains surrounded by pines, lots of pines, and rocky cliffs. The closest place of any size was Eureka, miles away, across the narrow Lake Koocanusa that crossed the border into Canada. It made the small Montana town she’d grown up in seem metropolitan.

Jaden, once healed enough to return home, had gone on ahead. She’d taken a few days to pack and spend time with her mother before hitting the road. The first thing she saw when she drove into town was the historic Fortune Creek Hotel with its wide porch across the front.

She’d done a little research on the place she would soon be living in. The all-wood structure had been built in the 1930s by a wealthy Easterner who’d wanted a hunting lodge for his many friends. Since then, it had changed little structurally. A tall, rather skinny building, it rose to four floors with only four large rooms per floor.

The rest of the town was a series of small, narrow buildings. There was a convenience store/gas station, a café and a few empty buildings. But what caught her eye was a boutique with a bright display in the front window. Jaden had told her that the sheriff’s wife, Molly, had opened it. She collected unique things from all over the world to sell there.

It was definitely somewhere Olivia planned to explore, but first she wanted to see her fiancé. She drove only a little farther to find the town ended at a stream. Turning around, she drove back to the sheriff’s office.

Like the rest of the town, it also was small and narrow, with an apartment upstairs where she and Jaden would be living until the wedding. Getting out, she breathed in the mountain air ripe with pine scent. Jaden had already warned her about Helen Graves, the sixtysomething dispatcher.

As she pushed open the door, she spotted the gray-haired Helen behind a desk, knitting something large with variegated yarn. “Hello,” she said as she let the door close behind her.

The woman looked up, eyes squinting. “So, you’re the fiancée, huh?”

“That would be me,” she said with a nod.

Helen looked her up and down for a moment before she smiled. “You’ll do. He’s in the office with the sheriff. You can go in.” With that, she went back to her knitting.

Jaden was sitting in the small sheriff’s office. He rose when he saw her and introduced her to his boss, Sheriff Brandt Parker. They exchanged a few niceties. Then Jaden suggested he help her unload her car and see the apartment upstairs.

“So, what do you think?” he asked, looking anxious as he waved an arm toward Fortune Creek.

“I think it’s charming.”

He grinned and pulled her to him for a kiss right there on the town’s main street. Then he led her upstairs to the apartment. He still had a limp from his injuries at Starling, but the doctor had said he was healing nicely.

Later, Olivia wouldn’t remember much about the small apartment over the sheriff’s office. The moment the door had closed, she was in his arms and he was kissing her, and she’d felt as if she’d finally found her way home.

They hadn’t been together like this since they’d broken off their engagement a year ago. Desire spiked through her, a wildfire of emotions. Her body tingled with expectation as he began to slowly unbutton her blouse, his gaze locked with hers. Her blouse dropped to the floor. He gave her an appreciative look as he took in her black lace bra, passion burning in his eyes.

She could feel her hard nipples straining against the lace as he dipped his head to take one aching tip in his mouth and then the other. Her bra dropped to the floor as she opened his shirt, pressing her palms against his muscled chest and then her breasts to the warmth and strength of him.

Jaden let out a groan of pleasure and the next moment they were tearing off the rest of their clothing. Laughing, they stumbled back to fall on the bed. Naked bodies melting together, they made love without restraint—at least, the first time.

It was late by the time they got around to unloading her car and walked down to the café for dinner. Jaden introduced her to everyone they came across. She felt her face flush with appreciation as the town seemed to welcome her with open arms.

Everyone wanted to know about the upcoming wedding and seemed delighted to hear it would be in Fortune Creek at the hotel—and they were all invited.

Olivia felt a glow of warmth like none she’d ever known. She was excited and full of joy, so much so that she completely forgot about mentioning to Jaden that she’d seen Dean.

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