Page 35 of The Scenic Route
Bennett twitched, and a low growl came from him. Without looking at him, she reached over and squeezed his rock-hard forearm. “That is a real license, and you’re not allowed to ask my status.”
The deputy’s gaze locked on to her, his eyes lighting up as if he had her cornered. Her smile got a little tighter as any hope of catching up to Clint and Dino slipped away. “That sounded like a confession.”
Felicity sighed deeply, tired now that the adrenaline rush of the chase had faded. Before she could respond, Bennett spoke. “That was nothing even close to a confession, and you need to stop before you get sued and fired.”
The deputy’s head jerked at Bennett’s words, and he took a step back before catching himself. “I’m legally allowed—no,obligated—to investigate suspicious behavior. No one’s ever on this road except for—”
His eyes widened slightly as he caught himself, and a seed of suspicion took root in Felicity’s mind. She briefly met Bennett’s gaze, and from his knowing gaze, he was thinking exactly what she was.
After the smallest hesitation, the deputy carefully rephrased. “No one’s ever on this road except for locals. When I see strangers—citystrangers—slinking around the back roads, it’s my duty to investigate.”
“Mm-hmm.” Felicity only had time to make the skeptical sound before the deputy’s cell phone rang. He glanced at the screen and grimaced before stepping away from her door.
“Stay put,” he said. “I’m going to check for warrants.” He answered his phone as he hurried toward his squad car. “Hey, Sheriff. Can I call you back in a few? I’m in the middle of a traffic stop.” He paused to listen, and when he spoke again, his voice was muted. “Yes, ma’am.”
Felicity kept her window down, trying to overhear more of the deputy’s side of his call with his boss, but he got in his squad and closed his door. Turning to Bennett, she raised an eyebrow. “On the militia’s payroll, don’t you think?”
“Yep.” He passed her back her cell phone, and she glanced at the screen to see a two-word text from Callum:On it.
“Good. I was hoping the sheriff’s interruption was…” She trailed off as she watched a second sheriff’s department car roll up behind Litchfield’s. “Seriously? More of them? They’re going to have the SWAT team here in another minute.”
“Think that’s one of your soldiers,” Bennett said, looking over his shoulder.
“Oh?” She couldn’t see very well in the rearview mirror with Litchfield’s squad car in the way, so she stuck her head out the window and craned her neck to see it was indeed Daisy’s husband walking toward Litchfield’s squad.
After a short conversation that was voiced too quietly for Felicity to overhear but that left Litchfield scowling, Chris made his way to Felicity’s window.
“Deputy Chris,” she said, very happy to see a—hopefully—sympathetic face. “Could you remind your coworker that he can’t deport me?”
Chris blinked. “Aren’t you Hawai‘ian?”
“Half. How’d you know that?” Before he could answer beyond a slight wince, she’d already figured it out. “Ah, background check.” She couldn’t blame him, since she would’ve done the same if some stranger had wandered into her town and recruited her wife to her bounty-hunting army. Besides, shewas feeling almost giddy that a reasonable person had arrived on scene, so it was hard to work up any righteous indignation. “Maybe he wants to send me back to Hawai‘i? Because I wouldn’t mind that.”
He grinned and also winced. “Sorry about this. Boaz is new to the department and has some…unfortunate ideas. He’ll have to learn, or the sheriff’ll cut him loose.”
“Hmm.” Felicity watched as Litchfield got out of his squad and started their way. Lowering her voice, she quietly said, “You might want to check his loyalties.”
Chris’s eyes widened, but he shot a look at the approaching deputy and didn’t ask any questions. Instead he gave her a tight nod.
Litchfield grudgingly passed back her license and cards. “No warrants, but you still shouldn’t be wandering around this area.” When Chris stiffened, Litchfield shot him a sideways look and added, “Lots of dangerous things out here—rockslides, bears—nothing city folk like you two want to get involved with.”
“Thanks for the warning,” she said sarcastically, putting her cards away.
With a scowl and abrupt nod, Litchfield stalked back to his squad car and peeled around them, sending a spray of gravel to ping off Felicity’s car.
“Ass.” Chris frowned at the departing deputy before turning back to Felicity. “What do you know?”
A pickup truck approached from behind, carefully skirting Chris’s squad car and Felicity’s sedan, the driver’s gaze fixed on the road ahead while the passenger turned his face away fromthe window. Felicity watched, her mouth open with shock, as the faded blue pickup passed them and continued down the dirt road. She met Bennett’s eyes and saw an answering gleam of excitement.
“Oop!” Felicity made a squeaky sound of excitement. “Gotta go, Deputy! That’s my guy! Thanks for the intervention, and we’ll get together soon to talk about your lovely coworker. I’ll text you! Stay safe! See you!” Even as she was still talking, she was shifting into drive, pulling away from the shoulder as soon as a baffled-looking Chris stepped away from her window. She waved at him out her open window without looking back, her gaze fixed at the rear of the pickup already far ahead of them.
Wind whipped through the car, and she retracted her waving arm and closed her window. She didn’t want to take her eyes off the distant truck in case it disappeared like a mirage, but she had to risk a quick glance at Bennett. When she saw he was full-out grinning at her, she could barely tear her eyes away.
“Can you believe it?” she asked, her voice awed. After all, they’d just witnessed a miracle.
“They were still on the compound drive.”
She felt a grin take over her face. The awful Deputy Litchfield had actually done them a favor. “The bounty-hunting gods are with us today, Mr. Bennett Xavier Green.”
