on the old side and good about not barking unless they sensed danger.
He glanced at Rae. “I can show you to a guest room. But honestly, I’m famished. If you’re exhausted, you can go to sleep, or you’re welcome to join me in the kitchen for leftovers.”
“I’m hungry too.” She dropped the bag holding a few belongings on the floor next to the door.
Liam led her into the kitchen and flipped on the lights.
“I’m exhausted, but I don’t think I can sleep.” She kept her voice low as she climbed onto a stool and ran her hand over the butcher-block countertop. “This place is beautiful. So what’s your story, Liam? How do you go from ranch life in Jackson Hole to working undercover for the DEA?”
Liam retrieved plastic containers of leftovers from the fridge. He’d hoped to avoid that particular conversation and would make it as succinct as possible.
“My parents fought a lot. Mom died in a fire when I was a kid. Dad drank and wasn’t fun to be around. The ranch was run-down and falling apart. Nothing like what you see now. So when I turned eighteen, I joined the marines. I figured nobody would ever push me around again if I was a marine. I joined law enforcement after that, and the next thing you know I was working undercover to take down drug-trafficking rings. They said I had a knack for it.” His only failure, his last operation. But . . . Let it go, Liam. No need to rehash their past. He cleared his throat. “After I got out of the hospital and still wasn’t approved to go back to work, I ended up coming back here. I was impressed to see what Heath had done. He’d expanded the home and the ranch. Built cabins for guests. Created a glowing reputation. Added horses and a guided offsite tour. I’ve been working with him since I got here.” At least he was trying to work, though oddly enough he found it uninspiring. He tried to find peace. Tried to make Heath happy too.
He dished up plates and stuck one in the microwave to heat. “While that’s warming, I’m going to get my laptop.”
His room was on the first floor, just down from Evelyn’s attached cabin. Heath had added that because she’d wanted her own separate entrance to the home after Heath and Harper were married. Back in the kitchen he found Rae warming up the next plate. She’d set utensils on the counter. A memory startled him.
Rae had been arranging plates on a table for a quiet meal for them. A romantic meal. She had smiled up at him, bashful, when he’d walked into the room and noticed what she was doing. His heart had pinged around inside then.
It pinged around inside now at the memory.
He’d been foolish to work with a reporter, but she was a different breed. Plus, she’d wanted to make the world a better place, though they had gone about that task from different angles. She’d already discovered information he could use in his own investigation, so their liaison had formed naturally and out of a desperate need to find a missing trafficked woman, to find the hidden person behind the drug and human-trafficking ring. Their partnership had been unofficial and off the record. But he’d grown attached to her.
And it had been because of Rae that he’d known he’d wanted to escape his life working with the DEA. She represented goodness, or at least he’d thought so. Admittedly, he’d been blinded by his feelings for her, then blindsided when it all came crashing down.
The microwave dinged and brought him back to the present. She glanced up at him, only then noticing he’d returned with his laptop, and she smiled. Yep. That same smile that had caught his attention to begin with and stolen his heart.
He shook off the sudden melancholy and slid his laptop onto the counter. Booted it up.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to eat?” She climbed onto a stool next to him as she slid a plate for each of them onto the counter.
“I’m sure you’ve heard of multitasking.” He sent her a half grin. “I want to see what we can find out about the man you mentioned who had stalked Zoey. What was his name again?”
“Simon Astor.”
Liam typed in the name, and instantly the headlines regarding remains popped up. “When did you say that Zoey went missing the first time?”