Nevada stared at the door, half-afraid to answer. She wasn’t ready to face Cat. Their conversation would require a certain level of delicacy and preparation.

The knock came again.

Slowly, cautiously, she crossed the living room and looked out the peephole.

“Thank goodness,” she said, pulling open the door.

Tucker leaned against the doorframe, looking handsome and capable. One corner of his mouth lifted. “Expecting someone else?”

“It crossed my mind.”

“Mine, too. I’ve come to claim my woman.”

It was a new century and she supposed she should object to the claim. Truthfully, though, hearing the words made her feel all gooey inside.

“What does that mean?” she asked.

“I’m taking you home with me. Pack a bag. We have dinner reservations in half an hour. I’ve already picked out the wine.”

Wine sounded nice, as did spending the night with him.

“Give me five minutes.”

TUCKER’S SUITE at the hotel had a living room with a sofa and two chairs, with a big bedroom beyond. She dropped her bag onto the bed, then turned to face him.

“Feed me.”

He chuckled. “You never were one to play games.”

“Not my style.”

He took her hand and they went downstairs. Once in the restaurant, they were shown to a corner table. The wine was already open and poured, and menus sat to one side.

“Very well prepared,” she said, sliding in.

He settled across from her. “I can be smooth.”

“It’s nice to have proof.”

He leaned toward her. “How are you feeling?”

“Good. No headache. My back and butt are a little sore from the impact.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe I was so stupid and didn’t pay attention to where we were standing. I know better. Are you going to write me up?”

“Not this time. But if you do it again, you’ll be in big trouble.”

“I won’t.” Not that there were any more explosions planned. “So, what did I miss?”

“Your mayor scares the crap out of me,” he admitted.

“Don’t feel bad. You’re in good company. Mayor Marsha has a way of getting exactly what she wants.”

“Quickly, too. The blast area is already blocked off. There are plenty of police standing guard. Extra security people have been ordered and will be arriving in the morning. Some famous archaeological team has been contacted to deal with the find. They’re arriving tomorrow, too.”

She sipped her wine. The full-bodied taste rolled over her tongue. The man knew how to pick wine, she thought, remembering Tucker had other talents, as well.

“What does this mean for construction?” she asked.

“The mayor swears we’ll have our site fully back within two weeks. Even doubling that, a month isn’t bad. We can put off the parking lot and focus on the other end. One of the advantages of working on a hundred acres. The big question is going to be who owns the gold.”

“Did you get to see it?”

“A few pieces. There are carvings and statues, some jewelry. It’s a pretty big find. I don’t know anything about archaeology, but I’m pretty sure the people in khaki shorts are going to be happy.”

“The find will also be good for the town,” she said. “More tourists. We do love them and their dollars.”

“Sure. And here I thought life in a small town would be boring.”

“Never that.”

He studied her.

She sighed. “I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

“I can’t help it. You were hurt on my watch.” He picked up his wine. “How’s Cat?”

“I haven’t talked to her.”

“Do you want to?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Jealous?”

“Not completely. Just…dealing. It was my first live girl kiss.”

“Mine, too.” She shrugged. “I’m going to have to talk to her. I don’t think she’s genuinely interested in me. I think this is about her art. But I also don’t want to hurt her feelings.” She picked up her wine, then put it down.

“Oh, God,” she murmured, mentally putting the pieces together. “We’ve all kissed each other. It’s practically a threesome.”

Tucker leaned back in the booth and laughed. The sound rolled over her, making her smile. Being around Tucker always made her feel better, she thought. Today she found the whole “safe and protected” thing pretty appealing, but it was more than that. She liked how he treated her as an equal and accepted her as part of his team.

She handed him a menu. “Brace yourself. I’m in the mood for steak.”

“Go for it. You’ve earned it.”

The server appeared a minute or so later and took their orders. When they were alone again, Tucker poured her more wine.

“Do you know anything about Máa-zib history?” he asked. “I never knew they worked with gold.”

“I didn’t either. Most of the stories around here are about how they were a matriarchal society who didn’t have much interest in men.” She smiled. “Except for the business of getting pregnant.”

“A romantic bunch, then.” He took a sip of his wine. “My mother was the one with the most Máa-zib blood. If she ever talked about what she knew, Dad’s forgotten and no one in his family ever told him stories. I asked him a few years ago and he couldn’t remember her ever saying anything.”

“You were young when she died.”

“I don’t remember her at all,” he admitted. “There are a few vague images, but I suspect they come from my dad telling me about her, rather than me having memories of my own.”

“That must be difficult.”

“It’s all I know. I can’t miss what I never had.”

Probably true, she thought, but sad. “If she hadn’t died, would you and she have traveled with your dad? Or would you have been raised in one place?”

“I don’t know. I never thought about it.” He reached across the table and touched her hand. “I could have grown up in a place like Fool’s Gold.”

“There are worse fates.”

“I like it here. More than I thought I would. There’s a sense of community. Mayor Marsha can be a little rabid.”

She grinned. “She’s protective.”

“I’m glad she doesn’t carry a gun.”

The feel of his fingers brushing hers ignited nerve endings all over her body. Later, she thought. While she was sure Tucker would agree if she suggested they move the party upstairs, she found herself wanting to wait. Not only for the sense of anticipation, but because this was nice. Spending time with Tucker—like a regular couple.

As soon as the ideas formed in her mind, she reminded herself there was danger in thinking like that. They worked together, which was its own complication, and he didn’t believe in love. Not that they were at the love stage. Or even close to it.

Still, this was a good time to remind herself that getting involved would be stupid.

JO LAY ON HER SIDE, her body heavy with satisfaction, her mind quiet for once. Will stretched out beside her, facing her, his hand on her hip, his expression intense.

“I could get addicted to you,” she murmured.

“Good.”

Not good, she thought. Far from good. Falling for a man—she knew the danger. Still, now that she’d given in, she couldn’t convince herself to back off. Being with him was easy. Right. Talk about scaring the crap out of her…

Jake, her cat, jumped onto the bed. Being a typical feline, he ignored her and walked over to Will to be petted.

“Damn cat,” Will muttered, scratching behind the cat’s ears.

“You always say that, but you’re very good to him.”

“He’s okay. For a cat.”

She smiled. “You’re a softie. So tough on the outside, but it’s just an act.”

Instead of smiling, he kissed her.

“I love you.”

His words fell into the silence. They were unexpected and unwelcome.

Not love, she thought frantically, sitting up and pulling the sheet with her. Never love. They weren’t supposed to get that involved.

His mouth twisted. “Judging by the panic in your eyes,” he said gruffly, “this isn’t welcome news.”

She rolled off the bed and picked up her thong. After slipping it in place, she pulled on a T-shirt, then faced him.

“No. It’s not.”

“At least you’re honest.” He sat up, leaning against the headboard in her small bedroom. Pain darkened his eyes. “Want to tell me why?”

Annoyed that the scratching had ceased, Jake moved to the foot of the bed and began washing his face.

Will was a good man, Jo reminded herself. She’d always known that. He was kind and normal and he couldn’t possibly understand. Telling him the truth meant losing him. Not telling him probably meant the same. She’d hurt his feelings, the one thing she hadn’t wanted to do.

“You gonna spend the rest of your life hiding?” he asked. “What is it? Did somebody hurt you?”

She folded her arms across her chest. “It’s not going to work. If I tell you, everything will change.”

“No, it won’t. I’m not that guy.”

A claim he’d made before. But he was wrong. Everyone was that guy, she thought.

“Just tell me,” he insisted. “I can’t fix it if I don’t know what it is.”

“There’s no fixing. It’s my past and it can’t be undone. It simply is.”

He stared at her. “There’s nothing you can say to make me turn away. I love you. That’s not going to change.”

He meant it. She could see it, and she almost believed him. But that would make things too easy, she thought sadly. She wasn’t that lucky.

She stood there a long time before accepting the fact that she didn’t have a lot of options. If she didn’t tell him now, he would bring it up later. Either she gave in or they were done. She tried to tell herself that not wanting to lose him didn’t mean she was weak, but she knew that she would be lying to herself. Somehow, when she wasn’t paying attention, this man had become important to her.

A narrow straight-back chair stood in the corner of her room. She pulled it up closer to the bed and sat down. The past that she had done her best to put behind her flared up now, surrounding her.

“My parents died when I was pretty young,” she began, studying her short nails rather than looking at him. “I was in foster care for a few years, different places. It wasn’t great, but nothing too awful happened. I wasn’t abused or anything. But I never belonged, if that makes sense.”

She looked up and found him watching her intently. Her stomach tightened. Nothing about this was going to end well, she thought sadly. But it was too late now to come up with a lie.

“When I was about fifteen I was sent to live with a woman who was new to the foster care system. She was older—at the time I thought she was ancient. Now she seems less elderly.” She managed a smile. “I think she was in her late fifties. Sandy. She was nice. Really nice. Sweet. She cared, which no one had for a long time. Then I met Ronnie. He was a year older than me in school, a bad boy. Sexy as hell, with tattoos and a motorcycle. I couldn’t resist him. The day he kissed me, I knew I could die happy.”

She looked at the blanket, at the floor. Anywhere that was safe.

“Being with Ronnie was exciting. Dangerous. One day we stole a couple of bottles from a liquor store. It was too easy. We got drunk. Sandy never knew, never guessed. Ronnie was so polite to her. She adored him and was happy for me. I felt bad, deceiving her, but that didn’t stop me.”

“I know that type of guy,” Will said.

“Then you won’t be surprised to know things escalated. We robbed a corner grocery a couple of towns over. Then held up a dry cleaner. They barely tried to stop us and the police had no clue who we were. Being bad like that was exciting and fun and something we shared. By day we were students and at night, we were Bonnie and Clyde.”

She looked at him then and shrugged. “I’d only heard part of that story. I didn’t know how it ended.”

She drew in a breath. “We decided our graduation present to each other would be to rob a bank. Sandy was having me fill out college applications and said she’d put away a little money to help me pay for it. I couldn’t believe it. I should have listened, I should have accepted the gift, but I wanted to be with Ronnie more.”

“You robbed a bank?” Will sounded shocked.

“We tried. We did a decent job planning and would have gotten away, except the bank manager decided to stand up to us. Ronnie had a gun and…”

Now came the hard part, she thought. The part that haunted her. She could still remember the terror in the bank manager’s eyes. The way he kept looking at the pictures on his desk. He had a wife and three kids. To this day, she could recognize those kids anywhere.

“We were so young and so stupid,” she continued softly. “Ronnie was screaming at him to hand over the money and I—” Her throat tightened. “I went along with it, saying Ronnie would shoot him if he didn’t listen. I was so scared, but determined.”

She sucked in a breath. “The police broke in and one of the customers in the bank screamed he was going to shoot and someone fired, then they all fired.”

She hadn’t known a gun could be so loud. The sound had filled the small bank, echoing until it had seemed to explode in her head. The subsequent gunshots had seemed to go on forever.