Colton Christmas Protector. Beth Cornelison

to her bank lockbox on the way to pick up Nicholas today. “She really did. I just never had a reason to wear it, so I left it in my father’s keeping.” She huffed a sigh. “Guess I should be glad he hadn’t sold it for getaway cash, huh?”

      Reid didn’t bother to answer, but he sent her a sympathetic glance.

      “So now what do we do? Call the police? Turn him in to the IRS?”

      Reid didn’t answer, and she shifted on the seat to study his profile. Truth be told, she’d always considered him an unfairly handsome guy. While Andrew had been her first love—a sweet, honest, loyal man—he’d been only average in looks. Her husband had started putting on a bit of a belly when he hit thirty and she’d gotten better at cooking and baking. But along with his family’s wealth and power, Reid Colton had inherited uncommonly good looks. From his square-cut jaw and straight nose to his thick sandy-brown hair and deep blue eyes, he had turned her head from day one.

      She recalled that first day she’d met Reid Colton at the exclusive private school they’d both attended as preteens. He’d had little more than a cursory glance and polite smile for the daughter of his family’s lawyer, who was not only too tall for her age, but also cursed with both freckles and braces. Her mother had barely finished the introduction on the front steps of the school that first day of sixth grade before Reid had been trotting away to join the cool kids across the crowded lawn. She’d never entirely shaken the crush she had on him in junior high. Even after she met Andrew and had been charmed by his boyish grin and gentlemanly ways.

      “Reid?” she repeated when he remained silent. “What are you thinking? What do I do with this information?”

      He cut a quick side glance to her and flexed his hands against the steering wheel. “Nothing.”

      “What!”

      “You will do nothing. Let me handle this. I’ll do some more digging, see what I captured on the flash drive, go over the files Andrew kept more closely and maybe make a few quiet inquiries to see if I can put together a case that will stand up.”

      “You? By yourself?” She sent him a dark look.

      “Yeah.” He scratched his slightly stubbled chin as he nodded. “I think that’s the best move. If we make accusations too early, show our hand before we have hard proof, your dad could get rid of evidence, cover his tracks...” He paused to send her a meaningful glance. “Leave the country...and we’d never make a case. An important part of managing a case is to not tip off your suspect to what you’re doing too soon.”

      Penelope tightened her mouth and shook her head in disbelief. Was he deliberately ignoring her disgruntled tone or was he that obtuse?

      “I don’t think so.”

      “Hmm?” He sent her a frown with his puzzled look.

      “One, I won’t be shut out.” She bent to stash the jewelry box in the main compartment of her purse. “I didn’t call you today to have you bulldoze in and take over. I get a say in how we handle this.”

      “Pen—”

      “Two,” she continued, poking his shoulder with her finger and cutting him off. “You are not on the force anymore. You don’t have the authority to investigate this and arrest my father if he is, in fact, breaking the law. Remember? You were dismissed for killing my husband.”

      And yeah, she allowed her tone to reflect the bitterness she’d been nursing toward Reid for months. She felt tears rise and wondered why she’d brought him into this mess. She really didn’t want to be involved with him in any way, shape or form.

      He didn’t respond for several tense seconds. His expression said her comments had hit their mark. “I may not be on the force anymore, but I haven’t forgotten how to investigate a crime,” he said in a low tone. “And until I have a more complete picture of what’s going on, what Andrew was thinking, I’m not going to involve the authorities. As far as you being involved...”

      His jaw tightened, and a muscle in his check flexed as he gritted his teeth. “I’d rather you stepped back. You’re too close to this. Let me see where it goes. If I need anything from you, I’ll let you know. But you don’t need the worry added to your plate.”

      She pinched the bridge of her nose and chuckled without humor. “Very smoothly put, Reid. All that was missing was patting me on the head and sending me back to the kitchen with my apron and high heels.”

      He cringed. “Aw, come on, Pen. You know I’m not a chauvinist. I just want to protect you from as much of the fallout from this as I can. You’ve had a tough enough time without adding—”

      “Don’t tell me how hard my life has been,” she interrupted, bristling, “when you’re the reason my husband—” She gasped and grabbed the dashboard as Reid abruptly took a sharp and unexpected turn onto a side road. “What are you doing? This isn’t the way to my house!”

      “I’m not going to your house...yet.”

      “Not going...?” She studied the buildings and parking lots they passed, trying to decide where he was going. Not the Colton estate where he lived with his large, extended family. “Reid, take me home. I don’t have time for this.” She angled her body toward his on the front seat and balled her hands in her lap, itching to slug him in the shoulder. “I have to pick up Nicholas from the church soon.”

      “I’ll take you to the church for Nicholas if we run late.”

      “Reid!” She tightened her fists, her frustration and dismay over the events of the day building inside her. If she did haul off and slug Reid Colton in the arm, who could blame her? Taking a calming breath, she said instead, “You don’t have a car seat for Nicholas, and I will not let my baby ride anywhere unrestrained.”

      “Point taken. Just...give me a little leeway, a few minutes. Okay?” The look he sent her said he knew how hard that would be for her in light of Andrew’s death.

      Her answering stare voiced her skepticism, impatience and irritation. But she swallowed a verbal reply. She didn’t trust her voice not to crack or sound harpy-shrill. She was wound too tight, had too many emotions churning inside her.

      Her father’s duplicity. Andrew’s death. And her complicated feelings toward Reid. Anger and hurt and...attraction. Her stomach jumped and swooped crazily with the private admission. Admitting her continued physical interest in Reid was a big step. She had successfully quashed those feelings while she’d been married to Andrew. Had put them aside all those times her late husband’s partner had been in her home, sat at her dinner table and given her friendly hugs or shoulder squeezes. Shaking herself from her unsettling thoughts about Reid, she noticed a familiar sight out the window and sat straighter in the seat. “The park? Your urgent errand is the local playground?”

      “You don’t like the park?” he asked, furrowing his brow. “I thought I remembered this place was one of your favorite places to unwind and blow off steam, even before Nicholas was born.”

      Amazingly, her nerves seem to calm just seeing the tranquil pond and grassy fields of her favorite park. “I love this place. But I’m hardly in the mood to play on the swings or feed the ducks.”

      He parked his truck near a boat ramp at the edge of the sparkling lake and cut the engine. “We’re not here to feed the ducks. I just couldn’t waste the opportunity of having you as a captive audience. We need to set the record straight.”

      * * *

      Reid saw Penelope stiffen, her jaw grow tight, and he raised a hand forestalling her arguments. “Before you say anything, I know I’m the last person you want to talk to and this is the topic you most want to avoid, but you need to know the truth. You need to know what really happened the day Andrew died and not the innuendo and half truths the media chose to disclose.”

      “I’ve based my opinion of what happened on the police report and trusted witnesses within the department, not the news reports. Give me some credit!” she