Page 60 of Bachelor Cop Finally Caught? (Hot off the Press! 2)

Even though she understood why he was being so circumspect, it still hurt a bit. “The wedding was very nice. How was your conference?”

“Not bad. Excuse me, I’d better go speak to the bride and groom and offer my apologies for missing the ceremony.”

With that, he walked away. Without a backward glance.

“Well.” Tina gazed after her brother with apparent bemusement. “He’s in an odd mood.”

“I didn’t think so,” Polly said, seeming surprised by the comment.

“I did. Did you notice, Lindsey?”

“Maybe he’s just tired from his conference,” Lindsey offered weakly.

“I suppose you’re right. Oh, there’s Donna—I’ve been wanting to talk to her about something. See you later, Lindsey.”

Polly dashed off, as well, joining a chattering group of teenagers in one corner of the ballroom. Lindsey was left alone.

She didn’t stay that way long, of course. It was only moments later when a friend joined her, followed by a couple of others. But it still stung badly that Dan had practically brushed her off so easily, when she’d been so very pleased to see him.

He called her that night, a couple of hours after she arrived home from the reception. She had half expected him to drop by, but once again she was disappointed.

“Sorry we didn’t get to talk more at the reception,” he said.

She had to work a bit to keep the lingering hurt out of her voice. “I was hoping we’d get to spend a little time together.”

“It was…awkward. With so many people there watching us and all.”

Lindsey didn’t remember anyone actually watching them. She believed that more attention had actually been turned toward the bride and groom. She kept that opinion to herself, though, when she murmured, “I thought you might come by here tonight.”

“I’m a little tired. And there might have been talk if my truck was seen in your driveway the very night I came home.”

She was getting decidedly impatient with his paranoia about other people finding out about them. Would it really be so bad if they went public? Sure, there would be some talk at first, but then the novelty of the relationship would wear off. Attention would then turn to fresh, new gossip, and Lindsey and Dan could concentrate on themselves.

“So when will I see you?”

“I’ll try to drop by tomorrow for a little while. Will you be home?”

“Yes,” she said with a faint sigh. She would wait for him—just as she’d spent the past four days waiting for a phone call that had never come.

They wouldn’t be able to go on this way much longer. At least, she wouldn’t.

The one place Lindsey felt comfortable visiting Dan without arousing curiosity was in his office. She’d always spent considerable time there. Carrying her reporter’s notebook, she charmed her way past Hazel on the following Wednesday afternoon with the excuse that she wanted to ask him about a home break-in that had happened the night before.

She did ask him about the break-in, of course, carefully recording his answers for a news article. She even argued with him a little when he wouldn’t give her a list of the items stolen. He told her that was neither her business nor her readers’.

“What else is going on here?” she asked when they’d settled that touchy point.

He shrugged. “The usual. We’re having some trouble with the McAllisters again. They got into another loud and violent altercation last night. I don’t know why those two don’t split up before one of them ends up killing the other. She’s as bad as he is—they get to drinking and they turn mean.”

“I suppose no one else would have either of them.”

“You got that right.”

She held her pencil poised above the pad. “Any other calls last night?”

“We’re cooperating with the state police on a drug case that might have some connection here in town. There’s nothing for you to print now, but I’ll let you know if anything newsworthy goes down.”

There’d been a time, she mused, when he wouldn’t have given her even that much about an ongoing investigation. Maybe they were making some progress. “I hate to think about drug dealers coming into our little town.”

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