Nate by Delores Fossen Page B

Grayson’s office but didn’t shut the door. Privacy and Darcy weren’t a good idea, especially since her nerves were raw and right at the surface.
    “It was a no-brainer. As I said, you love Noah too much to put him in danger.”
    Darcy looked at him and shook her head as if she didn’t know how to respond to that. But she did respond. Man, did she. She stepped forward until she was pressed against him, and slipped her arms around him.
    “I’m wired to handle stress,” she whispered. “But not this kind.”
    Was she talking about Noah now, or this suddenly close contact between them? Nate wasn’t sure, but that didn’t stop him from pulling her into a hug.
    Unfortunately, a hug he needed as much as she did.
    He, too, was wired to handle stress, but it was different when his entire world was tipping on its axis. For so long he’d been living in a dark cloud of grief and pain over losing Ellie that he had nearly forgotten what it was like to feel something, well, good.
    His body was burning for Darcy. There was no denying that. But that didn’t make things easy. Or even acceptable. Wanting Darcy could put a wedge between him and his family.
    Without breaking the armlock they had on each other, she eased back a little and looked up at him. A soft breath left her mouth. Like a flutter. And her face flushed with what he thought might be heated attraction.
    Nate tested that theory by brushing his mouth over hers.
    Yeah, attraction.
    “We shouldn’t act on this,” Darcy whispered.
    But she didn’t back away. She kept her mouth hovering just beneath his. Her breath smelled like the cinnamon tea she’d had earlier, and he wanted to see if she tasted as good as she smelled.
    But Nate didn’t get the chance. The sound of the footsteps stopped him.
    He braced himself for a face-to-face with one of his brothers, who would almost certainly notice all the heavy breaths and lust-filled eyes that Darcy and he had for each other. But it wasn’t his brother.
    It was Wesley Dent.
    Nate stepped into the hall, directly in front of the man.
    They knew each other, of course. Nate had interviewed and interrogated him at least a half-dozen times. Times that Dent apparently hadn’t liked because his green eyes narrowed when he looked at Nate.
    Unlike Edwin and Adam, there wasn’t much polish here. Dent wore his usual jeans and untucked white button-down shirt that was fashionably rumpled. It was the same for his shoulder-length, highlighted, brown hair. As a rule, Nate didn’t trust a man who got highlights and manicures. He especially didn’t trust Dent.
    Was he looking at the person behind the kidnapping?
    Just the thought of it caused the anger to boil up inside him again.
    “I heard about your daughter. And your son,” Dent said, glancing at Darcy before he brought his attention back to Nate. “You’ve arrested Edwin and Adam?”
    “Not at the moment,” Nate informed him. “They’re here for questioning.”
    Dent’s eyes narrowed again. “Why not just arrest them? They’re behind this.”
    “Where’s the proof?” Nate challenged.
    “The motive is proof.” Dent looked up, huffed, as if he couldn’t believe Nate hadn’t done the obvious—arrest his dead wife’s ex and son. “Those two morons wanted you to set me up. To fix the investigation. If that isn’t proof, I don’t know what is.”
    “Maybe,” Nate mumbled and he left it at that.
    “How did you know about the kidnapping being tied to you?” Darcy asked. She stepped out into the hall with them.
    Dent wearily shook his head. “It’s all over the news. I tried to call your office, to make sure you and your son were okay, but your secretary said you were out indefinitely.”
    All over the news.
    Though he hadn’t turned on the TV or opened a newspaper, Nate didn’t doubt that word had gotten out. Heck, this was probably a national story by now, especially with so many deaths and the kidnapping from a small-town preschool. But he did have to