The Perfect Match

  “Hey, Lola,” he called to the soccer mom. “I’ll be back in about fifteen minutes. Once I get this lady and the dog here settled.”

  Jake Stone chuckled. “Take your time, Lawless. I’m soaked already. I might as well take a turn in the wet seat.”

  Cash saluted him with a grateful wave, then grabbed the Newfie’s leash. The dog knew the instant the alpha took control. If Destroyer could have, he would have saluted.

  “I—I brought the dog here,” Rowena argued. “I can get him h-home.”

  “I’ll help Rowena, Daddy,” Charlie volunteered, still looking shaken.

  “No way, cupcake. You go have fun with Hope. I’ve got this crisis covered.”

  Reluctantly, Charlie let herself be herded away by Deirdre.

  Rowena had always felt a little awkward, strange, the new person in town. But as she and Cash and the sopping-wet dog wound their way through the crowd, she knew they made a spectacle few citizens of Whitewater would ever forget.

  People clapped, yelled out teasing remarks—not just to Cash but to Rowena, as well. Kids called out to her about the pets she’d matched them with, wondering if guinea pigs could swim like the big dog, or if kitties liked the water.

  It warmed Rowena to see how much people cared about Cash, respected him. And as the story of her plunge in the tank spread, their good-natured jokes gave her a sweet taste of what it would feel like once she belonged here like Cash did. A welcome she wanted now more than ever.

  When they reached Cash’s SUV, she was surprised to see him flip the back hatch open.

  “Get in, dog,” he ordered, grabbing his spare jacket and wrapping it around Rowena’s shoulders. Destroyer did as he was told, and Cash closed the door with a bang.

  “You can’t mean…you’ll never get the wet dog smell out of your car,” she warned.

  “Guess I’ll just have to deal. Occupational hazard when you take a dip in the dunk tank.”

  “Wh-what kind of occupation is that anyway? Working overtime, my foot!”

  “This is the first year I’ve been able to take on that concession. I’ll be manning it from now on if I have my way.”

  “Why? It’s cold! It’s miserable! And I only went in the water once.”

  “It’s my way of paying back. Remember when I told you Mac’s medical bills weren’t free?”

  “How could I forget? You about bit my head off and you made me feel guilty at the same time. That was pretty rotten of you.”

  “Yeah, well. You saw a fine example of my temper the first time you met me. You could have stayed out of my way.”

  “Destroyer’s the one who…who…got so attached to you and your kids. He just dragged me along for the ride.”

  She was right, Cash thought wryly. In spite of Destroyer’s latest infraction, he was probably going to be stuck with the dog forever. He should be loading Rowena into the car, too. Driving her home, then rushing back to the dunk tank. But he found himself lingering.

  “You know the proceeds from the Harvest Fair go to help the community,” he said. “Sometimes scholarships for local kids, sometimes help for families whose homes have been hit by fire. Right after the accident, the committee donated a huge chunk of money to Mac’s medical fund.”

  “Mac’s…”

  Did she have any idea how hard it was for him to admit it? That he hadn’t been able to afford everything his daughter needed when she was so badly injured. The hospitals, the specialists. The surgeries. The wheelchair and God knew what else.

  “It can get cold this late in the season, so it’s always been hard for the committee to convince somebody to get wet. I figure it’s the least I can do.”

  “Wh-why didn’t you tell me? When I got so mad at you?”

  Cash looked down. “I’m not proud of the fact I couldn’t provide everything my daughter needed. It’s still hard for me. Besides, it seemed…”

  Safer to keep you angry, smarter to drive that look out of your eyes, like I’m some kind of hero when I’m not.

  He never said the words, but he could tell she understood them. Maybe there was something to all that intuition garbage of hers after all.

  She peered up at him, those eyes that made him ache, made him want to feel warm again when he’d been cold for so long. “Why tell me now?” she asked softly.

  “Because…” He lowered his gaze, searching for the words to explain. Not knowing if he could ever find them. His muscles clenched when he saw the angry red welts the frantic dog had clawed into her skin from collarbone to breast.

  “Sonofabitch!” Cash swore, touching one of the nasty scratches. “Now I am mad at the dog.”

  “It’s nothing. Really,” she brushed his concern off. But when she glimpsed her chest, dismay flooded her features. Her blouse was ruined, Cash noted, the cloth stained with glitter and tempera paint from—what the hell was that thing around her neck?

  Her eyes filled with tears.

  “The dog hurt you!” Cash exclaimed, feeling like he’d been punched. “Why didn’t you say something?”

  “N-no. That’s not it.” Her voice quavered as tears escaped, running down her cheeks. “It’s…my necklace.”

  Cash watched as she scooped the sodden mess off her shirt as if it were some kind of treasure. Pasta strung on yarn.

  “Ch-Charlie gave this to me and it’s ruined.”

  Cash stared down at her, stunned. Tears. Over a necklace Lisa would never even have put on in case it stained her blouse.

  Cash couldn’t help himself. He cupped Rowena’s cheek, swept away the tears with the pad of his thumb. “I’ll have her make you another one.”

  “I know…it’s silly.” Her voice cracked and so did the hard wall he’d built around himself. “I want…this one and it’s all wet.”

  Cash glanced around, saw how alone they were. He pressed his cheek against hers and closed his eyes. They were different, so different. His face a little roughened eight hours after his last shave, her skin too soft, too tender. Just like Rowena’s heart.

  Yearning surged from deep inside. And for an instant he wanted something from this woman, far more important than sex—and far more dangerous.

  He wanted to comfort her and be comforted himself. To drive back the shadows and share…share the truth about fears and doubts and mistakes he’d never wanted to confess.

  He kissed her where her tears had run, tasted the salt of her, the unbearable sweetness. Her breath hitched and Cash trailed his mouth to the corner of hers.

  “Rowena.” He whispered her name deep inside where even his conscience couldn’t hear it. “Rowena…Rowena…”

  “Hey! Hey, you!” A woman’s shout cut in. Cash glimpsed a blonde stranger charging toward them, the jacket of her business suit flapping, her heels clicking militantly on the pavement. He started to draw Rowena into a protective embrace, wanting to shield her tears, save her dignity. But the stranger grabbed his arm and wrenched him away, her eyes ablaze with righteous indignation behind intimidating black glasses.

  “Look at me when I’m talking to you, mister!” she railed, her blue eyes flashing. “Who the hell are you and what did you do to make my baby sister cry?”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “BRYONY?” Rowena exclaimed, and Cash could see stunned recognition registering as she stared at the woman who looked ready to take Cash apart with a pitchfork. “Cash, this—this is my big sister.”

  Rowena’s sister? Cash thought in astonishment. This Bryony person didn’t look as if she was even from the same planet as Rowena. Understated, expensively tailored clothing accented posture a marine would envy, silver blond hair was twisted into submission and caught back in a tortoiseshell clip. The woman could be a poster child for the young urban professional.

  Black framed glasses did their best to hide anything feminine or vulnerable about her eyes. She needn’t have bothered with them at present. She had roughly the expression of the most cutthroat criminal-defense attorney Cash had ever faced in a courtroom.

/>   “I told Mom and Ariel something was wrong, Rowena!” The woman shifted her black leather briefcase-style purse higher up on her shoulder. “I could tell when I talked to you on the phone last week. And now, here you are crying. And I’d bet my medical license that he’s the reason why!”

  Cash stiffened under the weight of the woman’s glare. Truth was, he hadn’t made Rowena cry this time, but he’d been plenty hard on her before. Even the possibility that he’d brought tears to those warm green eyes in the past made him sting with regret.

  “Maybe we’d all better settle down and take a deep breath,” he said in his calmest deputy voice. “I’m Cash Lawless.”

  “Of course you are,” Bryony bit out in a tone that could give a man frostbite. “The deputy with the kids who tried to steal Rowena’s dog.”

  Cash felt his temper rise, fought it back. He could understand the impulse to protect someone you loved. “Stealing is a pretty harsh charge, Dr. Brown. My daughter’s nine years old. She found the dog running loose and she brought it home.”

  “Then you have my sympathy, Deputy Lawless, because your child is bound to run you a merry chase. She sounds just like my sister—always finding somebody to save.”

  Cash knew what Bryony Brown was implying, comparing his little girls to Rowena’s strays. He wanted to grab the woman by the arms and shake her.

  “Bryony, stop it!” Rowena stepped between them as if she’d read his thoughts. Her face shone, beet-red. “This isn’t what it looks like!”

  “It never is.” Cynicism dripped from Bryony Brown’s words. “So how about if you and I get out of here so you can tell me all about it.”

  Rowena dug in with a stubbornness that would have done Mac proud. “Bryony, you’re way out of line here.”

  “I’m out of line? It’s a simple question, Row. Explain what you’re doing in the middle of this parking lot, soaking wet, crying your eyes out with this guy while the rest of the world is at Pumpkin Hell.”

  “Harvest Fair,” Cash corrected, bristling at the woman’s scorn for his town, his child. Bryony had a look reminiscent of Lisa’s sister—a high-ticket item who knew her price tag wasn’t one his salary could afford. An interfering sort who thought she knew best and was going to make sure younger sister saw things her way.

  “I was crying because I broke something…precious.” Rowena’s voice quavered, pushing a sliver of something unexpected into the shell closing back around the place she’d opened in him moments before. “Cash was just…comforting me.”

  “Such a great guy.”

  “He is!” Rowena exclaimed, her eyes flashing. “And anyway, it’s none of your business what the two of us were doing! You’re not even supposed to be here.”

  “Neither are you!” Bryony challenged. “Shouldn’t you be at your shop? The pet shop that was going to be the be-all end-all of your existence?”

  “I never claimed that.” Rowena’s chin tipped up. “You and Mom did. I said the shop would make it possible for me to work with last-chance pets and—”

  “And heal the world.” Bryony turned back to Cash, exasperation pulling down the corners of her mouth. “But could Rowena do it the way Browns have healed for decades? No. Not with a scalpel in an operating room. Rowena is going to fix everything with some rusty old piece of junk a batty old woman—”

  “Enough,” Cash snapped in his hardest deputy voice.

  Bryony went rigid, blinking in astonishment behind her glasses lenses. It was nice to know he could even cut doctors off in the middle of a tirade.

  “I appreciate that you’re upset, Dr. Brown. You’re worried about your sister. But causing a scene here, in the middle of a parking lot, is no way to handle this.”

  Bryony opened her mouth, shut it. Cash sensed it wasn’t something she did very often when she had an opinion. She swallowed. The strand of gumball-sized pearls at her throat rippled, reminding him of the necklace he’d bought Lisa when MacKenzie was born, the pearls beautiful, perfect, but much smaller than she was used to. Lisa hadn’t bothered to take them with her when she left. He’d put them in their velvet box, tucked it away to give Mac someday.

  “You’re right.”

  Bryony Brown’s words blindsided him. Her lipsticked mouth pursed, as if admitting that to him cost her, big time. One thing he and Rowena’s sister had in common, Cash thought. Neither of them liked to admit they’d made a mistake.

  “I didn’t come here to yell at you,” Bryony said. “I came here to see my sister. Make sure she’s okay. We’re all…worried about her.”

  I’ll just bet you are. Cash’s life depended on being able to gauge what people were thinking. And Bryony Brown made no attempt to hide her opinion of him, his town, his kids.

  A deputy? Divorced? With two kids, one in a wheelchair? Oh, yeah. He knew exactly what Dr. Bryony Brown thought of him.

  And yet, the idea of leaving Rowena to be lectured by her far tougher sister when she was still broken up by the ruined necklace bothered him in spite of his badly singed pride.

  “Rowena,” he said, turning to look at her, the drying tracks of tears on her cheeks, the smears of paint from her ruined necklace on her blouse. God help him, he’d never seen her look more beautiful. “Do you want me to take you home?”

  “No. I’ll go with my sister.”

  Unexpected bitterness welled up in Cash. It wasn’t fair to Rowena, but he couldn’t help it—her words the same ones Lisa had used when she broke his daughters’ hearts.

  “Fine.” The ugliness in him leaked through just enough to draw Bryony’s incisive gaze.

  Rowena’s eyes pulled at him, pleading. As if she sensed in him all that poison, knew somehow her sister had cut some of it loose. “You need to get back to the dunk tank. It’s important, Cash. What you’re doing here.”

  She stretched up on tiptoe, kissed him on the cheek. In front of her sister. In front of the whole freaking parking lot. “I’ll see you on Monday.”

  Not if your sister has anything to do with it.

  “I will,” she insisted, again seeming to read his mind. “Do you want me to take Cla—Destroyer?” She pointed to the Newfie worriedly smearing up Cash’s back window with tennis-ball-sized nose prints.

  “Take that—that wet dog in my car?” Bryony’s eyes went round. Too bad Cash was wound too tight inside to enjoy it. “I thought it belonged to him…his kids. It’d never fit.”

  “Destroyer does belong to them. But I’m babysitting. The dog. While they’re all at the fair.”

  It was tempting to hand the sopping wet Newfie over, let Destroyer become Rowena’s uptight sister’s problem for a while. But Cash had seen enough interactions between Lisa and Joan over the seven years he’d been married. Sometimes he’d almost felt sorry for Lisa. Seemed as if the younger sister always paid for any rebellion.

  “It’s not a problem,” Cash said. “I’ll run the dog home quick and put him in the backyard to dry. Jake said he’d cover for me until I get back.”

  Rowena gave him back his jacket. She looked up at him, so earnest. “The Stones are nice people, Cash. I like them.”

  “That’s a big surprise!” Bryony grumbled under her breath. “You like everybody.”

  “Not everybody,” Rowena said with an edge to her voice Cash couldn’t help but admire. She turned to her intimidating sister. “Right now, Bryony Brown, I don’t like you at all.”

  Dropping that little bombshell, Rowena spun on her heel and walked away, toward a gunmetal-gray Porsche with two seats and enough engine to haul ass.

  Maybe it would be better if Rowena did just that, Cash thought. Hauled ass, out of his life, out of his head, out of the hot dreams he’d been having at night, alone in his bed. Dreams he knew would be different after today. He looked down at his hand, saw the green smear of tempera paint and glitter Charlie’s water-soaked necklace had left there.

  I broke something precious… Rowena’s words rippled through him. He couldn’t help feeling that he had, too. He’d decided th
at first night he’d kissed her that he’d never give the feelings he had for Rowena a chance to grow. And yet, for just a moment, when she’d been weeping over that necklace, he’d almost…

  Almost made the biggest mistake imaginable.

  Get involved with another woman whose family would look down on him? Take the chance that they’d be cold to his children, as well?

  No. He wasn’t going to risk letting that kind of rejection back into his daughters’ lives. They’d already suffered enough.

  But he wanted her.

  Rowena.