The Legend of Smuggler's Cave by Paula Graves Page B

crazy around here all of a sudden. Rain check?”
    “How about tomorrow? I can meet you at the Sequoyah House Tea Room around noon.”
    He could tell from her tone that she wouldn’t take no for an answer. “Okay. Sequoyah House tomorrow, noon. How’re you doing, Mom? Everything okay?”
    “I’m well,” she answered sparely. “I’ll see you at noon.”
    He hung up and shoved his phone in his pocket, both wishing he could get out of lunch with his mother and hating himself for feeling that way.
    His father and grandfather had hurt a lot of people with their lies and machinations.
    Including the people they were supposed to be protecting.

Chapter Eight
    The doorbell chime startled Briar from a light doze on the sofa. Curled up on the cushion beside her, Logan was still napping, but that wouldn’t last long if whoever was leaning on the doorbell didn’t give it a rest.
    She put down the book she’d been reading and grabbed the Glock from her waistband holster, standing on tiptoe to reach the security lens set high into the solid oak of Dalton Hale’s front door. The fish-eye lens revealed Walker Nix’s face, to her relief. She holstered the Glock, twisted open the deadbolt and unlatched the security chain to let him in. “Aren’t you on duty?” she asked, keeping her voice low.
    “Good morning to you, too,” he whispered, stepping inside.
    “Logan’s asleep.” She locked the door and led him into the kitchen.
    He sat, looking around. “Nice digs. Never been here before.”
    She grinned at him. “What, you’re not on the Sutherland/Hale society guest list? I thought you Nixes were one of the oldest families in the hills.”
    “Oh, we are. That might be the problem.”
    Chuckling, she perched next to him. “What are you doing here?”
    “Just checking on you. Seeing how Hale’s treating y’all.”
    “Very kindly, actually,” she answered with a smile.
    “You sound like you actually like the guy.”
    She shrugged, thinking about that brief tension-strung moment she and Dalton had shared in the upstairs hall the night before. She’d put it from her mind, filed it away under Things That Don’t Need to Be Repeated, but the memory seemed to have a rebellious streak. So she’d found the man more attractive than she’d expected. That didn’t mean she needed to act on it.
    “He’s nice,” she said when it became clear that Nix was waiting for something more than a shrug. “Logan seems to really like him, too.”
    Nix nudged her with his shoulder. “What makes you say that?”
    She slanted a look at him. “Jealous? Afraid Logan may end up liking him more than he likes you?”
    “He can afford better toys.”
    “Logan adores you. But you’re never going to be his daddy.” As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she realized how they sounded. “Not that Dalton can— I mean—”
    “Don’t get any ideas about him, Briar.” Nix’s smile faded.
    “I haven’t.”
    “He’d be damned lucky to have you, of course.”
    “Of course.” She smiled, though beneath the humor was a little sting.
    “I just think there’s a reason why he’s thirty-seven and still single.”
    She blinked. “You think he’s gay?”
    Nix shot her a look of amusement. “Should I?”
    She thought about that moment in the hall again and shook her head. She hadn’t imagined the way his eyes had darkened when he touched her or the tremble in his fingers. “No, I don’t think so.”
    “He was engaged once. A long time ago. Her name was Calinda Morgan.” Nix smiled a distant smile. “Prettiest girl at Ridge County High School. Everybody wanted her, but Dalton Hale was the one she wanted. Everybody thought they’d marry. Then his granddaddy sent him to Harvard Law, while Calinda stayed behind. A couple of years later, she met another guy, broke it off with Hale and got married.”
    “Old Pete sent him to Harvard after college? Right about the time Tallie Cumberland and her husband came to town looking for