Jenna Kernan – Native Born (страница 9)
Hi, My Name Is... Pissed Off, she thought.
Gabe Cosen appeared through the doors and paused only to speak to the receptionist in Apache before coming to meet her.
“Agent Walker. Nice to see you again.”
She accepted his offered hand. The handshake was firm and brief. Chief Cosen stepped back from her. Gabe had none of his brother’s swagger. He had bedroom eyes that made Cassidy uneasy and the same full mouth as Clyne. But his gaze was completely different. She saw no hint of distain or banked resentment.
“Chief Cosen. I understand this isn’t the first time you have seen me today.”
“That’s true.” Chief Cosen grinned and she felt nothing. Why did Clyne’s attention stir her up like ice in a blender?
Chief Cosen removed his gray Stetson and gave it a spin on one hand. His hair was cut very short, which was so different from the long, managed braids of his older brother.
“Police headquarters is right across the street. I’m going to get you and Luke set up right after lunch. Say one o’clock?”
“That’s fine.”
“I’ve got to speak to Clyne. Would you mind?” He motioned for her to accompany him.
She forced a smile. Why had she been hoping she would not have to see Clyne again today?
Cassidy kept pace with Gabe as they walked down the hall and through the outer offices of the tribal council. She resisted the urge to look at Clyne through the bank of glass that skirted the door to his office.
Gabe paused before the assistant’s desk. The Apache woman sat with her legs slightly splayed to accommodate her swollen belly. Cassidy thought she looked ready to deliver at any moment. The woman held the phone wedged between her ear and shoulder as she wrote something on a memo pad. She still had time to lift a finger to Gabe in a silent request that he wait.
Gabe stepped back and faced Cassidy.
“You settling in?” asked Gabe.
“I haven’t been to the casino hotel yet.”
“Oh, it was my understanding that you would arrive last night.”
“Personal business. Delayed.”
His smile faded. “Of course. How are you feeling?”
She shifted testing her ribs and felt the sting of healing muscle. “Fine.”
He peered at her from under his brow and she felt he did not quite believe her.
“Well. On behalf of myself and my family, I want to thank you personally for protecting our older brother yesterday.”
The display of manners, so divergent from those of his older brother, shocked her into speechlessness.
“Ah,” she struggled. “You’re welcome.”
“Strange, don’t you think, that you would be the one responsible for his protection?”
Was there an accusation there or a hint of suspicion?
“It was a rotation.”
“Yes. So I understand.” Gabe didn’t try to hold on to his smile.
“I thought you’d be more present today,” she said.
“Clyne didn’t want the BIA feeling unsafe.”
Had she and Luke been too obvious? She didn’t think the BIA officials even noticed her.
“He’s been courting them for months and was afraid my force would raise questions about security. He has another rally tomorrow. Phoenix this time. Then Friday, some folks from a home-building charity visiting. Another outdoor gathering, touring the proposed building site here on Black Mountain.”
“So you don’t want help with the investigation. You asked for us to protect your brother?”
“No. I need investigators. But someone just tried to kill Clyne yesterday. I could use the help keeping him safe.”
“But why me, specifically?”
He watched her for a moment that stretched on to eternity.
“Can’t you guess?”
“I don’t like guessing games, Chief Cosen. Any games, really.”
“Miss Walker, you have been a mother to my sister for most of her life. Perhaps the only mother she remembers. It seemed to me that we should know something about you and that you might want to know something about us.”
She knew all she needed to know about them, or wanted to. “This has nothing to do with the investigation.”
“It does. But two birds, so to speak.”
“Do your brothers feel the same?”
Gabe rubbed the back of his neck and she had her answer.
“Gabe!” Clyne’s voice was much louder than it needed to be when he called from the open door.
“Excuse me.” Gabe stepped into his brother’s office and shut the door.
She could hear their words but did not understand Apache. The angry voices and the flailing arm gestures were clear enough as both men engaged in an epic battle of wills.
Gabe eventually reached for the knob. Clyne stood with both fists planted on the surface of his desk. Gabe cleared the threshold and planted his hat on his head. His breathing was fast and his nostrils flared as he turned his attention to her.
“My brother would like to take you to lunch,” he said.
The office assistant lifted her brows at this announcement and glanced from Gabe to Cassidy still waiting.
“I was meeting Luke for lunch.”
“He told me that he will see you after lunch,” said Gabe.
Cassidy reached for her phone and sent Luke a text. The reply was immediate.
C U after lunch.
Cassidy squared her shoulders and marched into the lion’s den.
Clyne looked back to Field Agent Walker, who glared at him from the outer office, her eyes now glinting like sunlight on a blue gemstone. She held her navy parka in her lap, because he had not offered to hang it and wore a blazer, presumably a different one. One without a bullet hole in the back. Her drab gray button-up shirt did not quite hide the flak jacket beneath, and her practical lace-up nylon boots showed salt stains on the toes. Fully erect, she didn’t even reach Clyne’s chin. Her blond hair had again been yanked back into a severe ponytail but the March wind had tugged the side strands away and they now floated down about her pink face. If she were Swedish, he did not think her skin could be any paler. Outwardly, they were completely different, but they had one thing in common. They were both fighters. So why did his chest ache every time he forced himself to look at her?
She seemed ready to spit nails. He lifted one of the fists he had been braced upon from his desk and motioned her forward as a Tai Chi master summoned his next challenger.
Walker’s fine golden brow arched and her pointed chin dipped. He lowered his chin as well, as one ram does when preparing to butt heads with another. He thought he welcomed the fight, but her proximity raised a completely different kind of anticipation. He identified the curling tension of sexual desire and nearly groaned out loud. Not for this woman. No. Absolutely not.
Her stride was staccato and devoid of any female wiles. So why was he breathing so fast?
Now he noticed how her eyes seemed not quite sapphire, but more ocean blue and flashing like a thunderstorm.
She marched into his office with her coat clutched at her left hip, leaving her gun hand free.
“Just so we are clear,” said Clyne, “I haven’t changed my mind.”
“Good afternoon to you, too, Councilman.”
He ground his teeth. Something about her made him forget his manners. He had a reputation for charm but this woman stripped away that veneer like paint thinner on varnish. He felt about as enchanting as a prickly cactus. He glared at her, deciding if he should retreat, advance or return her greeting.
“I don’t need protection,” he said.