Page 30 of Her Baby, Her Badge

It didn’t.

Cassie stopped, then shifted back to Grace. “Are you doing this because of what the CSIs found at the crime scene?”

Grace tried very hard not to blink. It was poker-face time. “What do you mean?”

Cassie huffed. “I heard that the CSIs are back at the fence.”

So maybe Cassie was fishing, but Grace wasn’t playing. “A CSI will often examine the scene several times. It’s routine.”

“No,” Cassie argued. “This wasn’t routine.”

Grace merely lifted an eyebrow, an invitation for Cassie to continue.

Once again, Cassie huffed. “A friend was driving by and saw the CSIs and stopped. She said they looked excited, and that one of them made a call. That doesn’t sound routine.”

Grace considered the possibility that the “friend” was actually Cassie. But there was nothing criminal about observing CSIs unless the person actually trespassed or went onto the crime scene. If that had happened, Larry would have let her know.

“Anything found at the scene will be processed and evaluated,” Grace finally said. “And I can’t discuss the details of an active investigation with you.”

Oh, that statement didn’t please Cassie. She aimed a glare at Dutton. “But you’ve discussed it with him.”

Grace didn’t mention that Dutton was a potential target and not a suspect, and thankfully her silence let Cassie fill in the blanks. “You’ll regret this,” Cassie warned them and then stormed out.

Well, that was two people she’d managed to rile in the past hour. Three, if she counted Brian. And while this was part of the job, Grace felt at the moment that being sheriff was taking a serious toll on her. Dutton must have seen that on her face, because on a sigh, he shut the door and went to her.

And pulled her into his arms.

Grace nearly went with the knee-jerk reaction of pushing him away. But she didn’t. It was ironic, but Dutton was the one person who truly knew the fear she felt over the baby being in danger. That shared camaraderie, though, was a dangerous thing.

Still, she didn’t move away.

Didn’t stop him from easing her closer to him until they were body-to-body. Breath-to-breath. She purposely didn’t look up athim. No way could she resist him if she did that. So she just stood there and took everything he was giving her. And he was giving her plenty. Not just comfort, but that swirl of heat that seemed to make her forget the urgency of their current situation.

“I can’t do this,” she muttered, but still didn’t move away.

He did, though. Despite his bad-boy reputation, Grace knew a statement like that from her was as good as a no. “I, uh, just hate to see you like this,” he said.

“I hate to be like this,” she confirmed. Now she risked looking at him and saw the traces of heat still in his eyes. “Mercy,” she muttered. “I wish I could take a pill or a vaccine to stop this heat.”

Dutton smiled, that damnable smile that made him look so hot. “Trust me, I’ve wished the same thing about you.” Then, he lifted his shoulder in a shrug. “Well, I did before I got you pregnant, and after that, well, let’s just say I need a pill to stop spinning certain fantasies.”

Grace felt what she thought might be a shiver of fear, excitement and worry all rolled into one. Dutton hadn’t meantthat. Had he? He must be talking about sex and not some fantasy about them riding off into the sunset together with their baby. For once, she hoped it was the sex. The attraction was a lot easier to deal with than a lifetime commitment with the one man who could shake the very core of her world.

Thankfully, Grace didn’t have to respond because Dutton’s phone rang, and when he looked at the screen, he muttered, “It’s the PI.”

“Jake, you’re on speaker,” Dutton told the man. “And Sheriff Grace Granger is listening.”

“Good,” the PI said, “because she’ll want to hear this. Eleven years ago, Grace’s mother arrested two teenagers. Delaney Moreland and Keith Cassaine. They were sixteen.”

Grace didn’t have to press her memory to recall the names despite it being over a decade ago. “Underage drinking. Delaney choked on her own vomit in the back seat of the cruiser while my mother was bringing them in.”

“Bingo,” Jake confirmed. “And you were one of the deputies who assisted in the arrest. Delaney’s parents filed a lawsuit against your mother and the entire police department, but they lost.”

“Yes, because the ME stated that Delaney likely would have died from alcohol poisoning if she hadn’t choked.”

Still, that hadn’t lessened the guilt her mother and she had felt. A girl had died, and they hadn’t been able to prevent that.

“Do you think this is connected to the murders of two cops?” Grace asked.

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