Marie stared at Bishop, shaking her head at her wife. “I never did have a lick of manners, but I got a real good nose for trouble. I don’t like the looks of this one. He looks like he’s hiding something.”
Bishop had to give her credit. He was hiding pretty much everything, but he simply shrugged and gave her a harmless little smile. “I’m just trying to figure out who trashed the Finn cabin.”
A long moment passed and finally Marie nodded. “Good for Nell. You let me know if you need an extra gun. I’m damn good at taking a son of a bitch down.”
“Marie!” Teeny threw her hands up.
Marie finally cracked a smile and sent a wink her wife’s way. “He’s good with me if he’s helping out Nell and her momma. They need someone to watch out for them. Nell’s too good to see real trouble coming her way, I always said. Now, I smell your cider, darlin’. You always know how to warm me up.”
She enveloped the smaller woman in a bear hug.
“God, Mom, can you stop with the gross affection stuff?” Logan made a vomiting sound as he grabbed another couple of cookies from the table, but Bishop caught sight of Seth watching the two women, a wistful expression on his face.
Poor little rich boy.
“Thanks for everything, ladies.” Bishop grabbed his coat from the hanger and buttoned up. Teeny pressed a bag of cookies into his hand, for the “road” as she called it. He walked out of the house feeling deeply unsettled because he’d liked it there far too much.
He managed to make it out the door and halfway down the drive when Seth Stark came running out. He hadn’t put a coat on and he stood on the porch, his hands shoved in his pockets. “Someone looked into your cover story. It was probably Stef Talbot. He checks into everyone who comes to town for any length of time. I think it’ll hold, though. He didn’t look past the surface stuff. Are you on the run?”
The snow couldn’t be any colder than Bishop’s gut in that moment. He forced himself to smile. The kid couldn’t possibly know anything. “What are you talking about?”
Seth hopped off the porch, his teeth chattering just a bit. “It’s a good construct, but I know just how deep to go. The information about you appears to begin at your birth, but it was uploaded to various databases just a week ago. You see, the truth is always in the code if you know where to look for it. So I’ll ask again. Are you on the run or are you undercover? You could be a con artist, I suppose.”
He was surprised that criminal hadn’t been the first possibility on the kid’s list. It would have been the first thing Bishop would have thought of. The kid was far too smart for his own good. “It wasn’t the feds who came for you, was it? It was the Agency.”
A single shoulder shrugged. “I’ve done some work for them. Damn it. You’re Agency. That’s why you were able to take out all those guys in the bar fight. Well, it makes me feel better. I was worried you were going to try to take Nell for all she’s worth. It’s not much, by the way.”
Perhaps a little nugget of truth was called for. After all, he wouldn’t be using the name Henry Flanders again after a week or two. He would need to come up with another cover because he didn’t trust just having the one in place, but he’d already known he would get rid of the Henry cover last night. He couldn’t leave it out there for Nell to potentially find one day. “I’m on vacation. I’m only here for a few days.”
“And you thought you would just sleep with Nell while you’re here?”
Or maybe he would have to take the little fucker out anyway. “I like her, but I’m not the right man for her. I don’t live a life that she could possibly understand or accept.”
Seth’s eyes seemed to find something in the snow. “Yeah, well, sometimes we have to accept who we are deep inside.”
At least the kid was reasonable. “Yes. And Nell wouldn’t like that me very much, but I do care about her. It’s why I want to make sure she’s safe. I can handle this problem for her and then I’ll disappear. I’ll just be a nice memory for her. Of course, if you tell her, she’ll feel used when I’m really not trying to use her. I genuinely care about the lady. Can you leave things be at least long enough for me to figure out who’s trying to hurt her?”
Seth nodded. “Okay.”
“Get back inside. Your lips are starting to turn blue.”
“I only said sometimes, you know.”
Bishop sighed. “What are you talking about now?”
“Sometimes we have to accept who we are and sometimes we just have to change who we are so we can get what we want. I play a lot of D&D.”
Bishop snorted. “I bet.”
Seth shook his head. “Don’t be a snob. You can get really attached to a character in D&D, and then you miss one saving throw and bam, your character’s dead and you have to start all over again. But you don’t stop playing. You keep going, and a lot of times you find out that the character you end up with is way better than the one that came before. Sometimes you just gotta keep going until it’s right, until the skin fits finally. That’s all I’m saying. Let me know if you need any more help.” The kid turned and ran back inside.
Bishop stared at the cabin, wondering if he’d ever felt right in his own skin.
Chapter Seven
Nell sighed as she eased into the hot tub. This was exactly what she needed. She’d lied a little to Henry. She was sore, but not so much that she wanted to miss a minute of his lovemaking.
She closed her eyes, letting the soothing sound of the tub lull her. Her body felt well used, as though she’d finally figured out what it had really been made to do. Henry had been voracious this morning, using his mouth on her and then working his cock deep inside.
If only she didn’t have that ignorant man trying to hurt her, she would probably still be in bed with Henry.
“Hey, are you up for some company?” A soft voice brought Nell out of her reverie.
Nell opened her eyes and smiled. Callie walked in followed by a tall, handsome man with dark hair and slate gray eyes.
“Hello, Stefan,” Nell said, sitting up more properly. “When did you get back from New York?”
Stefan Talbot was the richest man in Bliss, but he also had an undeniably soft heart when it came to the women of the town. Nell had made a study of the artist. He was a rather fascinating character. Tall and lean with icy eyes, he could look every inch the ruthless king of all he surveyed, but the minute someone was in trouble, Stef was on hand with an open heart and an even more open checkbook. On several occasions, Nell had managed to squeeze a huge check out of Stef for a good cause.
“I got in late last night. I enjoy the city, but I have to admit, it’s good to be home for a while. The light here is different than anywhere in the world. It’s softer. I paint better here.” Stef dropped his robe, and Nell couldn’t help but admire the painter. He was an extremely attractive man, but her eyes turned down almost of their own accord. Somehow it didn’t seem right to look at someone else now that she’d been in Henry’s bed.
Stef slid into the water with a long sigh. “Apparently I came back into town at just the right time. Callie called me last night to tell me about all the new people we have hanging around.”
Callie winced as she, too, dropped her robe and got into the hot tub. The resort was clothing optional with the singular exception of the pool and the hot tub. No bathing suits allowed for the tenants of the Mountain and Valley Naturist Community. “Sorry, I have a problem with the gossip bug. I don’t really think of it as gossip. It’s more like sharing fun stories about the people I love.”