The Bounty Hunter's Forbidden Desire. Jean Pichon Thomas

      “I’m going to explain everything to you, I promise, but could we—”

      “Are you going to start stalling again?”

      “Hell, no, I’m— Well, yeah, I am, kind of. But, look, can’t we do this over breakfast? Haley, I’m starving. There’s a diner next door already open and serving. What do you say?”

      It took Chase some time to convince her, but he finally had them in a corner of the diner seated across from each other in a booth where they could talk in privacy. She was ready to listen, calmer by then. To a degree.

      Haley waited until the waitress poured coffee and retreated with their orders to accuse him. “You’re not what you say you are, and there is no legal order for my apprehension, is there?”

      “Half-right.”

      “And which half is that?”

      “I am a licensed recovery agent. The ID I showed you is genuine.”

      “Which makes the apprehension order a forgery.”

      “Afraid so,” he admitted solemnly.

      “Why? What is this all about?”

      “It’s a little...complicated.”

      “Uncomplicate it for me. There are a couple of things I need to know. We’ve established what you are. What we haven’t settled is who you are.”

      Chase nodded, understanding her confusion. “The photo in my wallet. You’re wondering why Josh is a Matthews and I’m a McKinley. We’re half brothers.”

      “Mmm, I kind of thought that might be the case. You look alike.”

      “What else? You said there were a couple of things.”

      As if fortifying herself, she brought her coffee mug to those beguiling lips of hers. He watched her swallow the brew, following it down that perfect throat.

      “Yes, the second thing,” she said, lowering the mug. “About what you’re going to tell me... I want to know right now if I have a reason to think I’m being involved in something I’ll have to worry about just by hearing it. Of course,” she added quickly before Chase could reply, “you could lie about it. You did before. Only then I didn’t have a choice about going with you.”

      “And now?”

      “Now if I decide you’re not telling me the truth, I’m going to get up from this booth and walk out of here.”

      “Then I hope this time you’ll believe me, because I need your help. No risk to you.” It was true—he had no reason to think she was in any personal danger.

      There was no denying she was suspicious of him and his motives. Who could blame her? He could tell that by the way she gazed at him silently and how her fingertips beat a slow tattoo on the edge of the table before she made up her mind.

      “All right, let’s hear what you have to say. Just what is this help you need from me?”

      “Josh is missing.”

      Her blue eyes widened. “Says who?”

      “I do.” He bent toward her. “Look, you know Josh is a freelance investigative journalist. I know you know because no one could spend any time with him and not learn that. He would have talked your head off about it.”

      Haley nodded. “He did.”

      “I bet he also told you that for years he’s been looking for the big story that will make his reputation.”

      “He mentioned it.”

      She’s being cagey, Chase thought. Unwilling to give me more until she hears just what I have to say.

      “Some weeks back,” he said, “Josh emailed me that he’d found that story. He was excited as hell about it, but he didn’t share any details. He would, eventually—but he always kept it to himself until the words poured out on the page. All he told me was that he’d be gone for a while. Not where or for how long. Not even the subject of the story. Just that he was following a trail, but he’d keep in touch.”

      “Only he didn’t.” She was perceptive.

      “I haven’t heard from him in all the weeks he’s been gone. Not a single word. When I started to worry seriously, I tried to reach him on his cell. No response.”

      “Did you stop to consider he could be out of the country? Maybe in some remote area where there’s no reliable service.”

      Chase shook his head. “Believe me, I thought of all the possibilities. No, something is definitely wrong. I can feel it.”

      “And that qualifies as missing?”

      Before he could answer her, the waitress arrived with a tray. There was the delay of the soft-spoken young woman setting out their orders—fresh grapefruit and steaming oatmeal for Haley, bacon and pancakes drenched in melting butter and maple syrup for Chase.

      Before she went away, the girl poured more coffee into their mugs, leaving him aware that Haley was staring at his plate. “I don’t know how you all do it,” she said, making a face.

      “Who?”

      “Men. Well, most of the men I know, anyway. You eat all those calories and don’t gain an ounce. We women add pounds just looking at it. I’m surprised you didn’t ask the waitress to add a glazed doughnut to your order.”

      “I might get around to that yet,” he said, tucking into his breakfast.

      She waited until he’d put away a couple of slices of bacon and half of one of his pancakes before reminding him, “You still owe me an answer.”

      He cleared his mouth. “Hell, yeah, I think he’s missing.”

      “And you think I can help you? Why? Why would you suppose I might have information you yourself don’t have?”

      “Why not? Why wouldn’t Josh have shared his plans with you? Isn’t that what lovers do?”

       Chapter 4

      “What in the world,” she demanded, dropping her spoon into the oatmeal in startled surprise, “made you think your brother and I are lovers?”

      “Well, aren’t you?”

      It was what Josh had implied in his last emails before he’d disappeared, that he was crazy about the woman he’d met in Portland on one of his assignments. Sweethearts. That was the quaint word he’d used to describe Haley Adams and him. That they were sweethearts.

      It was this eager confidence to Chase, the brother Josh loved and trusted, that had gotten Chase into trouble. You weren’t supposed to be attracted in any measure, even minimally, to the woman your devoted brother deeply cared for, maybe even hoped to marry. Chase had felt like a heel, still did, for thinking lusty thoughts about her.

      “I can’t imagine what impression Josh gave you about us,” Haley said, “but it seems to be an exaggerated one. We went out often, that’s true, had a lot of fun together, even became very good friends, but it didn’t go beyond that.”

      Not as far as she was concerned, but he was convinced his brother felt otherwise. Poor Josh. He apparently didn’t know about that other guy in Portland, the one who might have been hanging around her before Josh and who, after Josh left the scene, had moved in on Haley. He’d seen it himself.

      Haley sighed. “If you wanted my help, why didn’t you just ask me? Why all this elaborate nonsense about bringing me in because I’d violated a bond on some fictional court appearance?”

      She would smell a lie if he didn’t tell the truth. “Simple. I didn’t trust you.”

      “You