Classified K-9 Unit Christmas. Lenora Worth

only two hours ago.”

      “I have to be fed every two hours.”

      Nina snorted and shook her head. “Right.” Then she said, “Okay, we’ll get you fed, but then I’m hanging out here. I’m worried about that girl.”

      “She’s hiding something, no doubt,” Thomas said, turning serious in that lightning quick way she’d noticed. “She said she should never have gone back to Helena. She knows about the key and she panicked when she realized she didn’t have her phone.”

      “And you can read minds?” Nina asked in surprise. But she had to agree with him.

      “I can read people,” Thomas replied. “That girl is scared, of course. But it’s more. I think she purposely dropped that bit about the key to give us a hint. She’s terrified and that’s understandable, but she said she didn’t know anything. Which to me means she knows a lot.”

      “You have a point,” Nina said, as they hurried through the buffet line. She got a salad and Thomas ordered meat loaf, mashed potatoes with gravy and a giant biscuit. The man knew how to down some serious food. How did he stay in such good shape? “She did seem pretty emphatic about not knowing anything.”

      “My gut is burning,” he retorted.

      “Maybe that’s just the pastries and the meat loaf,” she said with a grin.

      “Ha, ha.” He chewed on a chunk of meat loaf before he answered. “No, this is my gut telling me I’m right.”

      “Are you always right?”

      “Not always. But about 99 percent of the time.”

      She had to laugh. He made her do that. “Tell me about you, Deputy Marshal. So I get from the accent and the way you can go all cowboy that you grew up in Texas.”

      He leaned close, his gray eyes twinkling. “Why, yes ma’am, I sure did. Texas through and through. Went to college in Austin, got my degree in criminal justice, worked in law enforcement in several capacities, applied to become a US Marshal and I’ve been one for five years now. Based out of Florida for a while, but I had a hankering to come back West.”

      His smile was pro but his eyes went beyond professional. They turned all smoky and flirtatious in a quicksilver way that made her insides shake like the Jell-O the man at the next table was trying to eat.

      “You like your job, don’t you?” she asked, to keep the conversation moving. To make his eyes change back to a safe level of gray.

      “I do. I mean, chasing bad guys, yeah, what’s not to like?”

      Nodding, she laughed at that. “Same here. I love being a K-9 officer for the FBI.”

      “It’s dangerous work.”

      “You mean for a woman.”

      “I mean for anyone.”

      Then he did the stern, serious thing again. “What put that chip on your shoulder?”

      “Oh, you mean the chip about how hard it is to be a woman in what most consider a man’s profession?”

      “Yeah, that one.”

      “I told you I come from a big family, right?”

      “Yes.”

      “Well, I have four brothers. All in law enforcement.”

      “Ouch. So you joined up because you had to prove yourself to them.”

      “And to my father, who is a retired sheriff.”

      “Whoa. Can’t they see how good you are at your job?”

      “No, what they see is their little sister trying to do a job they think is not suitable for her. And...they’re all kind of jealous that I’m in this elite FBI unit when they’re locals who work hard.”

      “They should be proud of you,” Thomas said, the passion in his words shaking her. “I never had much of a family. My parents divorced when I was little and I kind of got shoved from my grandparents to my aunts and uncles. My dad worked construction and traveled a little too much, and my mom skipped out on me once they got divorced.”

      Nina’s heart did a little flip. No wonder the man moved around like a nomad. “Do you ever go back to Texas?”

      “Yeah. My granddad left me a small ranch there. I head straight to it when I need some downtime. He was a good man, a churchgoer, just not an affectionate man.”

      Nina wanted to keep talking, but they needed to get back. She stood up and said, “Well, remember, if we get through this, you are definitely coming to my family’s house for Christmas.”

      Then she realized she’d overstepped and wished she could take it back. Maybe they’d be done before Christmas.

      He grinned, which only made him even more handsome. “Oh, so you want to make those ornery brothers even more jealous. I mean, who wouldn’t be impressed with a US Marshal, right?”

      She shook her head at his antics. “Right.”

      They’d just turned the corner back to the waiting area when a male nurse hurried up to the guard at Kelly Denton’s door. When the nurse saw them, he took off running in the other direction.

       FOUR

      Thomas went into action, tackling the man dressed in hospital scrubs in time to stop him from getting away. Another nurse immediately called security. The hospital would go on lockdown until they cleared this up.

      The deputy who’d been guarding Kelly’s room didn’t miss a beat. He helped Thomas by putting a heavy, booted foot on the man’s backbone while Thomas grabbed his hands and cuffed him. Together, they lifted him up and slammed him down in a nearby chair. Thomas searched his scrubs and found a small knife.

      Nina held her gun on the man until she knew he was secure. “I’ll check on the girl.”

      By now, nurses and doctors were merging inside the room where Kelly Denton lay sleeping. She woke with a start, her eyes wide. “What’s going on?”

      “Everything’s okay,” Nina said, thinking they should have stayed close by. But at least they had a suspect now. Only the man they’d tackled wasn’t Russo. “Just a ruckus outside. You’re safe.” Better not to upset her again so soon.

      But she had to wonder if the girl needed to be moved again.

      When the medical team had checked and rechecked Kelly, her parents came in. After they’d seen her and were reassured she was on the mend, Nina took them outside and explained what had happened.

      “Do you know of any reason someone would want to harm your daughter?” she asked.

      “No,” they both replied.

      “But she’s been away for almost a year,” her mom added. “Maybe someone followed her to Helena?”

      “It’s your job to find that out,” Mr. Denton said. “I thought she was being protected.”

      “She is. We’ve taken the man into custody, but he’s not talking. He won’t tell us who hired him, but he’s not going anywhere, I promise.”

      “They could send someone else,” Kelly’s mother whispered, tears in her eyes. “Can’t we take her home to Helena?”

      Nina glanced at Thomas, who had joined them. He frowned and pondered that. “The doctors aren’t ready to release her yet, but when they do, we’ll have to send someone with her if the man who shot her is still at large. Do you have any other place you could take her for a few days?”

      “My parents live about thirty miles from Helena in a gated community. We could take her there,” Mrs. Denton offered.

      “I’ll