conjecture about her age.”
He sighed. “Pity.”
“Yes. You can’t change how old you are. You can only disguise it.”
“I could always color my hair . . . ?”
She laughed and punched him playfully, almost upending his coffee mug. “Oh, you! Anyway, you’re in your prime of life right now. Why would you want to be younger?” She leaned toward him. “I don’t like men my own age,” she said in a conspiratorial tone. “So if you start looking younger, I’ll have to move out!”
He chuckled. “Never. I’d send out search parties and bribe you to come home.”
“Bribe me with what?” she asked, and arched her eyebrows several times.
“Chocolate,” he said with twinkling dark eyes. “It’s your greatest weakness.”
She drew in a long breath. “I guess it is. I never met anything chocolate that I didn’t like.”
He sipped coffee and put the mug down. “We need to talk about what happened to your mother,” he said abruptly.
She bit her lower lip. She hadn’t told him about Darrin’s accusations. She probably should . . .
“There was a investigator in town this morning, at the police department. I’d stopped in to check with them about Darrin.”
Her face went white. She wasn’t even breathing.
He saw the terror in her eyes. “He was looking for you. Honey, I don’t know how to tell you this. They think you pushed your mother down the staircase.”
Tears stung her eyes. She had to react as if it were a surprise; she didn’t want Butch to know that she’d read that in the Aspen newspaper. She hadn’t even planned to tell him about it, because she didn’t want to worry him.
“Oh, don’t do that,” he said tenderly, and pulled her close. He wrapped her up against him, kissing her soft blond hair. “Don’t! I won’t let them hurt you!”
She clung to him, shivering a little. “Darrin’s good at telling lies, when he’s sober,” she said. “I thought he’d say it was an accident,” she added miserably.
“Apparently, the coroner lodged some doubts about her injuries not aligning exactly with an accidental fall.”
“I’ll bet that put a stick in Darrin’s spokes,” she muttered.
“I don’t doubt it. But it puts you in a dangerous position,” he added. “I know you’re not capable of murder, certainly not of killing your own mother. But he could claim to have seen you push her down the stairs.”
She nodded. “I worried about that.” She closed her eyes. “I can’t even afford a lawyer. And if Darrin has access to Mama’s bank account, he can afford the best. Even if he can’t, he can sell stuff she had, for money to help keep him out of prison. It’s not right.”
His lean hand smoothed up and down her spine. “We’ll come up with something.”
“Is the investigator still in town?”
“I don’t know.”
“I guess Darrin could afford to hire him, too.”
“He wasn’t hired by your mother’s boyfriend. He was an investigator with the district attorney in Aspen.”
“Oh, dear,” she moaned.
“Honey, you’ve got your mother’s will in your pocketbook,” he pointed out. “That being the case, do you think Darrin’s anxious to find you?”
She grimaced and drew back. “That would give me a motive for murder.”
“Yes, but it would be bad for him, wouldn’t it, because it would prove that you inherited your mother’s estate. He’d be left with nothing.”
“Oh.” That hadn’t occurred to her. She stared at Butch. “It would put you in danger, if that investigator finds me.” She sat up. “I need to find a place to go . . . !”
“No, you don’t,” he said shortly. “I lived through hell in the Middle East. I’m not afraid of some two-a-penny bad guy who has to get drunk to beat up a woman to make himself feel big!”
Her expression softened as she looked at him. She smiled gently. “Do you know, your ex-fiancée was a total idiot?” she mused.
He chuckled. “What brought that on?”
“You’re very protective of people you like,” she said simply. “I’m glad I’m one of them.”
He smiled at her. “I can’t lose you,” he said. “I can’t make a biscuit,” he added, tongue in cheek.
“You beast!” she accused.
He leaned forward and kissed her pert nose. “I thought I might talk to that investigator, if I can find him.”
She felt her whole body shake with nerves. “I don’t know, Butch.”
“You can’t live your life in fear,” he pointed out. “At some point, you have to stand up to him. I’ll be right there with you.”
“You could be right there in jail alongside me, too,” she said abruptly.