Odd Man Out. B.J. Daniels

you, Denver McCallahan. And I know what you’re thinking.”

      “You do?” She let her eyes travel the length of him. If he knew what she was thinking, he’d be blushing.

      But when her gaze returned to his silver-eyed one, she realized with a shock that he did know what she was thinking. She felt her face flush red-hot and looked away first.

      “I’m worried about you,” he continued, his voice gentle. “You think I don’t know what you’re doing here tonight?” She watched him step over a pile of papers on the floor. “You’re looking for Max’s killer, and if you’d arrived a little earlier, you might have found him.”

      “I can take care of myself,” she said, her chin coming up again.

      He smiled. “I don’t doubt that for a moment—under normal circumstances.” The smile faded. “But Max is dead and someone tore this place apart with a desperation that scares me even if it doesn’t you. You could be in a lot of danger.”

      Danger? She’d just gone up the stairs after a burglar with only a phone. Her heart pounded harder, her pulse raced faster just being this close to J. D. Garrison. “I have to go.” She glanced at her watch, seeing nothing. She had to get away. She couldn’t bear spending another minute in the same room with him, wanting to touch him, to feel his arms around her, to kiss those lips. “I promised Pete—” The lie caught in her throat. Who was she kidding? She didn’t even know where Pete was.

      A shadow flickered across J.D.’s eyes as he turned to look at her. “I guess you and Pete are pretty close?”

      She crossed her fingers. “Just like that.” It didn’t bother her at all to let him think they were more than friends. He frowned. “You’ve made a lot of...friends yourself,” she said, unable to stop herself. “Weren’t you engaged to a Hollywood starlet, if I remember right?” Which she did. “And not six months after you left Montana.” She glared at him. “Didn’t take you long, did it, Garrison?”

      His grin was the old J.D.’s. “You haven’t called me Garrison since the last time you were mad at me. I’ve kinda missed it.”

      “I’ll just bet.” She edged her way toward the door, trying to put space between them; she felt like an out-of-balance washing machine.

      As she passed J.D., he reached out and grabbed her arm. His gaze settled on her, solid as a rock. “Where do you think you’re going?”

      “I beg your pardon?” She shook off his hold.

      “Look at this place, Denny,” he said, sweeping an arm out. “What do you think the burglar was looking for?”

      “How should I know?” If she knew that, she wouldn’t be standing here talking to him.

      “Then let me ask you this. Do you think he found what he was looking for?”

      “No,” she said, not sure why she felt so confident that the burglar hadn’t.

      “So, Denny, where do you think he’ll look next?”

      She stared at him, all cocky and sure of himself, standing in the middle of the mess in Max’s office. But he was right. Why hadn’t she thought of it? Because seeing J.D. again had put her mind on a permanent spin cycle.

      “You bet,” J.D. said. “Your burglar will more than likely head straight for the lake cabin because that’s the next logical place to search. He’ll probably be waiting for you when you get there.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Unless you aren’t going home tonight?”

      “I was planning to go to the cabin.” His gaze narrowed. “Alone.”

      A grin played at his lips. “I thought you promised Pete—”

      Oh, what a tangled web we weave... “I promised...I’d call him when I got home.”

      He looked pleased to hear that was all there was to it. “Then change your plans and stay in town at the hotel. I’ll get you a room and you can call him from there.”

      She glared at him. “And just let the burglar have the cabin for the night?” No burglar or even a murderer was going to force her out of her home. And no man was going to start running her life—especially when that man was J. D. Garrison. “Guess again.”

      J.D. let out a long sigh. “Then I’m coming out to the lake with you.” She started to argue but he stopped her. “If there’s no sign of trouble, I’ll just stay for a while.”

      She relented, seeing how hard that concession was for him to make. Unfortunately he was right; it made sense that the cabin would be the next place the burglar would hit. “All right.”

      J.D. held the door open for her. “I’m glad to see you’re not as impossibly stubborn as you used to be.”

      She made a face at him as she swept past. “Don’t push your luck, Garrison.” She could hear his laugh as he walked to a pale green Ford pickup parked down the street.

      Denver climbed into her Jeep and started the engine, thinking how funny life could be. Well, maybe not funny. No, not funny at all.

      She made a U-turn and headed toward the lake. A few miles out of town, she glanced in the rearview mirror to see the lights of the pickup right behind her. J.D. was home. Just like in her dreams. Almost. It made her want to laugh. And cry.

      * * *

      “DAMMIT.” J.D. FOLLOWED Denny out of town, telling himself that it wasn’t seeing her again that had him in a tailspin. But he couldn’t get over his reaction to her. Or hers to him, he thought with a grimace. The woman he’d seen in Max’s office certainly wasn’t the girl who’d had a crush on him at sixteen. No, she’d definitely gotten over her infatuation with him.

      He tried to concentrate on the problem at hand. The destruction to Max’s office and apartment had convinced him of just how much danger Denny was in. But not from Pete. J.D. just didn’t believe Pete capable of tearing apart a place like that—let alone murder.

      And keeping Denny away from Pete was even more impossible than he’d first thought, now that he knew how Denny felt. About Pete. And about J. D. Garrison.

      He smiled ruefully to himself. He’d hoped to charm her as a last resort. Ha. That would be like trying to charm a hungry grizzly bear away from a Big Mac.

      As they neared the lake cabin, J.D. realized his only hope would be for Max’s killer to be found. And fast.

      The lights from Denny’s cabin spilled from the windows and shot like laser beams through the pines. “Damn.” The burglar had already been there, he thought as he followed Denny up the narrow, snowy driveway.

      What if the burglar was still in the cabin ransacking it? Denver slowed, and he knew she must be thinking the same thing. Her headlights lit up a vehicle parked at the edge of the driveway. J.D. stared at Pete’s black Chevy pickup. “Double damn.” He pulled in behind Denny.

      Before he had a chance to get out, Denny walked back to talk to him. He rolled down his window.

      “Pete’s here,” she said, resting her hands on the window frame. “There’s no reason for you to stay now. I’ll be perfectly safe.”

      Right. “Then you won’t mind if I make sure.” He opened the pickup door, and with obvious reluctance, she stepped back.

      “You should talk about stubborn,” she mumbled as they walked up to the cabin.

      A slice of moon peeked through a break in the clouds and splashed the partially thawed lake with thin metallic light. In the crisp night air, he smelled pine and lake water and...smoke. He looked up to see smoke curling up from the chimney. “Looks like Pete built you a fire.”

      She scowled. Clearly she hadn’t expected Pete to be here nor did she seem that happy about it.

      “Looks like he made himself at home,” J.D. added, fighting