Harmony's Way

CHAPTER 9

Keeping distance between her heart and Lance wasn’t going to be easy, Harmony admitted two days later as she drove through town in her assigned Raider. The spare Raider was normally kept in case one of the others was down for repairs, Lance had explained the day before, almost apologizing for the sad shape of the vehicle.

It wasn’t the best of the lot, she admitted, and it definitely wasn’t fit for desert patrol, but once she learned its quirks, maneuvering it through town was easy.

Tourist season was in full swing in Broken Butte. The desert, canyons and cave formations outside town made it a regular attraction for summer travelers. The town itself had an Old West flavor, from the boutiques, cafes and specialty shops that lined the main thoroughfare, to the bars, restaurants and hotels that rimmed the edges of the city.

There was a clinic, hospital and medical pavilion on one side of town, then along the western edge was a small industrial park and the stockyards to accommodate the ranchers.

It was a charming town, she admitted as she made her way along the industrial area she’d been given to patrol.

There were a few homes on the outskirts of town here, a trailer park as well as a few apartment complexes, but she had heard from the other deputies that it was considered the quietest part of town.

It was boring as hell, but she contented herself with the fact that as long as she wasn’t in town, then she wasn’t likely to run into H. R. Alonzo. Or get into any more trouble.

Good ole Reverend Alonzo was going to keep pushing buttons until some enterprising Breed decided they had heard enough of his propaganda and capped a bullet in his brain.

He was the scourge of the Breed community, rallying the Blood supremacist and purist societies to protest every advancement the Breeds made in society. At present, he was once again applying for a permit to protest Megan Arness’s ranch and the Breed halfway house she had set up there.

Megan Arness was another problem, and Harmony did not want any part of the empath and her Breed husband. They had nearly caught up with her in France last year. Why they had given up the chase she had never been certain, but before they did, she had wondered if outrunning them was a hopeless cause.

Megan Arness could blow her secrets faster than anything or anyone alive if she got close enough. Harmony knew her shields were strong, but she also knew the rumors of that woman’s power to detect emotions and secrets. And Harmony had too many secrets to hide.

And then there was the fact that sometimes tourists were just strange. She had stopped a mugging the day before— wrestling with the little SOB who had snatched a young mother’s purse had been irritating as hell. He had been hyped on drugs and stronger than normal; she had been forced to slam his face into the pavement to disable and restrain him.

Unfortunately, she had broken his nose. She hadn’t meant to. Hell, she wasn’t used to wearing kid gloves. The little twit should have felt lucky he was alive rather than scream police abuse. Which was what had gotten her assigned to the town’s outer limits.

“Harmony, your GPS is blinking again.” Lance’s voice came over the Raider’s communications link, suggesting a thread of irritation. “Have you been messing with it?”

She rolled her eyes. She had fixed it to begin with.

“I haven’t touched it, Sheriff,” she drawled as she reached to the dash and tapped at the GPS display. “It appears to be working fine on this end.”

She checked her mirrors before pulling into an empty lot and adjusting the tracker module set in the dash.

“Don’t start working on it.” Lance’s irritation was coming across loud and clear. “When you come back in, check with Davy in the garage; tell him I said to check it out.”

“Davy worked on it the first time,” she informed him as she unclipped her seat belt before leaning to the side to look at the wires under the dash. “You should let me take it back to the house. I could get it together in a few hours on my own.”

“A terrifying thought,” he remarked. “Turn it in to the garage. And stop fooling with the wires.”

She jerked her hand back from under the dash guiltily as she glared at the receiver.

“If the GPS is down, you can’t track me,” she snapped.

That wasn’t going to work. She was a little too paranoid for that scenario. Jonas’s terms for placement on the force was that she be trackable at all times. The bastard.

“It’s fading, not offline,” Lance assured her. “Go ahead and call it a day and head in to the garage. Maybe Davy will let you help him work on it.”

She grimaced at the thought, then rose in her seat and sighed in frustration. Her gaze lifted to the rearview mirror and she froze in shock.

The navy and white SUV had parked close behind her, and the familiar form sitting in the driver’s seat had her checking around the area quickly for witnesses.

Damn, she didn’t need this.

She flipped the comm link back on, speaking as she kept her eyes on the vehicle behind her. “Control, I’m going to need to take a personal break before heading in. There’s a station just ahead.”

“Roger that.” Lenny Blanchard’s voice came over the link. “I’ll inform the sheriff.”

Which meant she had only a few precious minutes.

Pulling out of the vacant lot, she headed for the station ahead, where she turned in and drove around to the back of the building.

Dane.

Harmony parked the Raider, watching as he stepped from the SUV before lounging against it with deceptive laziness.

“I don’t have time for this.” She stopped a few feet from him, watching him warily.

He was as savagely hewn and intrinsically handsome as ever. White-blond hair framed his darkly tanned face as he stared back at her from emerald green eyes. He was a few inches taller than Lance, easily six-five, with a powerfully corded muscular body that made most women pant in lust.

“I received a report you were captured.” His gaze raked over her.

And here was the part that always confused her most about Dane. How had he known she had been taken?

“Yeah, well, let’s say I’m on parole,” she quipped. “And meeting with you is going to cause problems. What the hell are you doing here?”

“I’m here to rescue you.” White teeth flashed dangerously. “Are you ready to leave?”

Harmony stepped back quickly. He was more than capable of making her leave; he had done so before. She stared around the deserted area, searching for his backup. Dane always had backup.

“I can’t leave, Dane.” She finally shook her head firmly. “I’m sure you know exactly why I’m here by now.”

Dane always seemed to know everything.

He crossed his arms over his chest as he watched her silently for long moments.

“Of course you can.” His eyes finally narrowed on her as-sessingly. “I have a heli-jet waiting outside town. We can be out of here in half an hour.”

“I told you, I can’t leave.” She gritted her teeth over the words as she felt her mind rebelling at the idea.

God, what was wrong with her? The mating heat was supposed to affect her body, not make her stupid. Of course she could leave; she just didn’t want to. That was all. Freedom was a powerful lure.

“I just have to stick this out six months…”

“You won’t make it six weeks before your enemies find you,” he bit out. “The change in hair color is a nice touch. The makeup is nice. But you’ll be found, Harmony. Eventually.”

“Not if I’m careful.” And she did know how to be careful.

Dane grunted as he watched her closely.

“We can get you out, Harmony. In a matter of months we can figure out how to hack the Bureau’s computers and delete your files…”

“Jonas won’t let me go that easily. It’s better to play this game out and have it done with.”

“He’s set you up to fail, sweetheart…”

As though she weren’t very well aware of that.

“I don’t have time for this.” She shook her head quickly. “I have to head back to the department and get that stupid GPS fixed. I can’t run this time, Dane. If I stick it out, then he’ll wipe the records.”

“You’re fooling yourself, Harmony.” His smile was knowing. “He’s trapped you. I can get you out of it.”

She took another step back. For years he had always been there, pulling her ass out of the fire. He had rescued her, saved her life more than once, and always seemed to know exactly where she was, and what she was doing at any given time.

And she had never known why. She had never really questioned why until lately.

Suddenly the haze of hormones, hunger for Lance and confusion cleared from her mind. She stared around the deserted area, the hairs at the back of her neck lifting before her gaze returned to him.

“You know I’m being watched,” she said, certain of that fact.

“Of course.” His smile was supremely confident. “But not at the moment. Go on, little girl, run back to your sheriff. I’ll hang around awhile and watch your back. Just like I always have.” It sounded like a threat.

“I’d prefer you leave.” She had a feeling things were about to get a hell of a lot more complicated.

“I’m sure you would, baby.” He smiled again as he swung into the SUV. “I’m sure you would. Unfortunately, I think my curiosity has been aroused.”

With that, he closed the door, engaged the engine and drove away.

Not for the first time in the past week, Harmony cursed.