Something was up, and Jo wanted to know what.
But she didn’t fool herself. She wanted to know because of Elijah, too.
She followed him into the tidy one-room shop. It offered a limited but carefully selected range of outdoor equipment and gear, from the brightly colored kayaks that hung from the ceiling to the racks of mountain bikes, snowshoes, cross-country skis and backpacks. Jo squeezed past a display of hats and gloves that reminded her of the deficiencies in her Vermont wardrobe. She hadn’t packed for traipsing after mountain man Elijah. She debated helping herself to a pair of wool socks, but instead she filled a triangular paper cup from the watercooler.
Elijah headed straight to the wooden stairs.
Jo took two gulps of water and followed him up the stairs. She considered saying something about his butt, which looked extremely fine to her, but decided she’d been reckless enough with him for one day.
She stayed behind Elijah as he knocked on a closed door at the top of the stairs. But there was no answer. No surprise, but Jo noticed his hesitation, the tension in his hand as he held it to the door. “Tempted to break in?” she asked calmly.
“I don’t need to. A.J. has the key.”
“Same difference, Elijah. If Devin-”
“Easy, Agent Harper.” He lowered his fist back to his side and turned from the door, face-to-face with her and very close. “You’re getting all excited thinking about slapping me in handcuffs.” He was obviously enjoying himself. “Another time, sweet pea.”
“You used to call me sweet pea at eighteen. I don’t think I liked it then, either.”
“You loved it,” he said with a grin, brushing past her and trotting back down the stairs.
Jo crushed her paper water cup and followed him at a more deliberate pace, her thighs feeling her five-mile run with Beth that morning and her fast trek up and down a decent chunk of Cameron Mountain. Her left side ached from her airsoft bruises-a well-timed reminder of why she was in Vermont in the first place.
Elijah dipped behind the counter and disappeared through an open door into a small back room. Jo tossed her paper cup in a trash can, again thinking about the virtues of a trip to New Zealand. Elijah had fifteen years of military experience that had honed his natural skills as a leader and an independent thinker, but even before he’d joined the army, he’d had a remarkably positive mental attitude. All the Camerons did. They weren’t brooders. She wasn’t afraid of Elijah going off half-cocked, but that didn’t mean he’d do things her way. The past seven months had dealt him a tough hand.
He came out of the back room and set a gray metal box on the counter, then opened it up. “A.J. keeps petty cash in here.” He flipped the box around, allowing Jo to see inside. Index cards, a few dollar bills and change. Then he said, “Three hundred dollars in fives, tens and twenties is unaccounted for.”
“You mean it’s been stolen.”
“Borrowed, stolen-it’s gone. A.J. noticed first thing this morning. Normally he doesn’t check the box every day, especially this time of year when it’s slow, but lately he has been.”
“Because you asked him to keep an eye on Devin. You think he hasn’t told you everything he knows about your father’s death.”
“He hasn’t,” Elijah said. “He skipped work this morning, too. A.J. called me. I checked the café first. Then I headed out to the Whittakers’ place. I didn’t know about Alex Bruni until Vivian Whittaker told me.”
“Did you ask Devin about the missing money when you caught up with him?”
“He said he doesn’t steal.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I believe he’s holding back.” Elijah got still, his eyes half-closed on her. “But so are you.”
Jo let that last comment slide over her and nodded to the box. “The key’s in the lock. No reason to even have a key if you keep it in the lock.”
“I’m sure A.J. will thank you for pointing that out, Jo.”
She stood back from the counter and looked up at a bright red kayak hanging from the ceiling. Why not rent it for tomorrow, go out on the lake before it froze and paddle to her heart’s content? Missing money, two teenagers with problems-why push herself into the middle of whatever was going on with Devin Shay, Nora Asher and the Camerons? Even Alex Bruni’s death in Washington wasn’t her concern.
Elijah shut the cash box. “You need to level with me. Soon.”
Jo’s throat felt tight. Maintaining professional distance and objectivity in her hometown was difficult. With Elijah, she didn’t even know why she tried.
He returned the cash box to the back room and walked out from behind the counter. “I have a fair amount of experience with people who don’t want to talk.” He got very close to her. “What are you hiding from me, Jo?”
She had to tell him about his father’s trip to Washington. What he’d said among the cherry blossoms about his fears for the second-born son, about his regrets. But not now. Not while Elijah was staring into her eyes. She could feel his tension and her own as she noticed a small scar on his jaw. It hadn’t been there when he was nineteen. What did she know about Elijah Cameron anymore? What had made her think she knew anything?
“Jo.” He tucked a finger under her chin, nothing about him less intense. “Hell.”
She could have done something to break the tension between them. Smiled, laughed, kicked him, started talking about hypothermia. Anything. But she didn’t, and when his mouth dipped to hers, her lips were already parted. This time it wasn’t a light kiss. It was fierce, hungry, his arms going around her as he drew her hard against him. Even through his jacket she could feel his muscles, the ruggedness of him as they gave, took, fired each other with their kiss.
He caught her around the hips and lifted her, pressed her against him, and she could have stripped off every stitch on her-on him-right then and there.
But he’d had that effect on her forever, and even as she moaned with wanting him, she knew it would be madness to give in to it.
“Elijah,” she said.
“I know.”
He set her down, kissed her on the lips and walked out of the shop without so much as a glance back at her.
Jo ended up helping herself to a pair of wool socks after all-she’d pay for them later-and tucked them into her jacket pocket as she left the shop, locking the door on her way out.
The sky had darkened, just a hint of orange now on the western horizon. The air was still, very cold.
She didn’t see her hawk.
Elijah stood on the walk with his hands shoved into the pockets of his canvas jacket. “You’re a complication, Jo.” There was no desire or humor in his expression now, but no bitterness or anger, either. “You always have been.”
“Does that mean you’d have kicked in Devin’s door if I hadn’t been standing there?”
His gaze fell on her and the corners of his mouth twitched. “I was more tempted with you there.”
He didn’t have to explain further. Devin’s room, Jo thought, had a bed. Not so cold now, she changed the subject. “It looks as if Devin’s spending the night on the mountain.”
“If he is, he’ll need gear. He didn’t have a pack on him.”
“Maybe he has one in his truck. Where is it?”
“Not here-neither is Nora’s car. I’ll check up the road and see if they parked at any of the trailheads.” He looked out across the road toward Cameron Mountain. “Camping in these conditions is a serious business. Devin’s done it before. Nora hasn’t.”
“They could both show up back here in time for dinner-”
“A.J. will let me know if they do.”
Jo gave an exaggerated shiver. “I’d be on my way by now. Just the thought of a bowl of hot beef stew in front of the fire would get me back down here. It’s freezing.”