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“Now, why are you driving out of town like a bat out of hell again? I left you in the hotel to sleep. So what are you doing and who are you chasing?”
She stared at him, utterly speechless…until she exploded.
“What am I doing? Who am I…I’m chasing you, idiot! What are you doing? I thought you were gone! You just got up and left me after last night without even a note or a text—”
His brow knit beneath the tan Mountie hat. “I left a message with Turner that I had left for work and we’d talk later.”
“You…left…a…message…with…Turner?” Checking her mirror to make sure there were no cars coming, she got out and rounded the front in her bare feet, ignoring the sharp rocks as she faced him. “You could have texted or left a note in the hotel room. Why couldn’t you tell me?”
Luke didn’t seem fazed at all that she was livid. “Actually, I couldn’t find a pen or paper and I didn’t have my phone on me last night, or this morning, so Turner seemed like the best choice.”
She wanted to kick him right in the berries. Instead, she settled for his shin, which actually hurt her toes.
Luke rubbed his shin with his hand, shooting her a mock scowl. “Assaulting a police officer? Really?”
He was treating this all like it was a joke, and it hurt. Her eyes stung and she tried to fight back the lump in her throat. “This is funny to you? After what happened last night?”
The amusement left his face. “What do you mean? When she didn’t answer right away, he reached out for her, and took a hold of her shoulders. “What happened last night, Marley? I want you to tell me.”
“I…we…we made love and I…I thought… you said you loved me.”
Luke’s breath whooshed out. “I did say I loved you, and you fell asleep. Just passed out snoring after I’d put my heart on the line. That was cold, sweetheart.”
That smile was back, proving he was messing with her, and this time, she hit his arm.
“I do not snore!”
Luke’s hands slid down her arms and wrapped around her waist. “Yeah, you do, but I don’t mind. What I want to know is if you have anything to say to me today.”
This was it. Her chance to tell him everything that had been bubbling up inside her for the past four months.
“I love you. I was speeding after you because I thought you’d left without knowing how much.”
She was suddenly crushed against Luke’s chest and lifted off the ground as his lips crashed over hers. A thrill shot down her spine and she wrapped her arms around those broad shoulders, holding on for dear life.
He pulled away enough to mumble, “What took you so long, woman?”
Giddy laughter bubbled up her throat. “I was afraid that you’d tell me you didn’t feel the same way.”
Luke set her back on her feet, shaking his head. “I took care of you when you had snot oozing from your nose, and looked like some kind of swamp creature. Of course I feel the same way, dummy.”
Marley glared at him. “I’m getting really sick of people calling me dumb.”
“Then stop being dumb.”
She grabbed him by those big ears and pulled his mouth down to hers, just to shut him up. Their kiss ig
nited something, and before she knew it, he had her pressed against the side of the sheriff’s car, her legs wrapped around his waist.
Then something occurred to her and she pulled away from his kiss.
“Did Kendall and Brent know you’d taken a job with the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department?”
Luke cocked his head to the side. “Of course they did. Why?”
Fury laced through Marley as she realized they’d set her up. “Because they’re a couple of bastards, that’s why! They made me think you’d left town to go back to L.A.”
Laughing, Luke smoothed some of her hair back from her face, leaving tingles in the wake of his touch. “I think they like a little drama in their lives.”
