at Zeke. “You never said anything about dating anyone—”
“I’m as surprised as you are,” Zeke said, with a flicker of a smile. “This is a small town, but believe it or not, I don’t have you on speed dial.”
Stanton’s lips moved but no sound came out. Zeke eased his body up and towered over him. “Dena’s right,” he said firmly. “Go back to the station and get a warrant.”
Stanton backed up, red-faced and flustered, like he’d just realized the mess he’d created. He blinked hard, raised both hands. “I don’t know…I just—” He waved a hand toward the road. “I just came from…you know…Susie—”
“I’m really sorry to hear about Susie,” Zeke said softly. “But I’ve got my rights.”
Stanton gulped. He turned and almost ran up the steps and across the verandah. Dena stood next to Zeke, and stared at the back screen door that slammed after Stanton entered the house. Sadness washed over her. Both men had lost someone they’d truly cared about. She knew all about that.
The sound of Stanton’s car driving away snapped them both out of their reverie.
Zeke turned. “I suggest we go riding right now, unless of course, now that we’re dating you intend to stick around.”
“Are you sure we should do this?”
“What? Date?” His tone teased, trying to make light of an awful situation, but he still looked pale.
“No.” She looked up at him. “I mean yes, well…go over to the hotel site.” She wanted to go, desperately, especially as she’d hoped to get information from Stanton. That chance was now shot to hell. Getting to the hotel site with Zeke might be all she had going for her, but she wouldn’t insist, wouldn’t put him through that now, if he didn’t want to go.
“It might be your only opportunity.” His voice softened. “You said it’s important to you.”
He’d put her needs before his own. She blinked hard. That was sweet of him.
He took her hand. “Don’t worry about Stanton. He can be odd like that. Thanks for back there, you calmed him. He acted on impulse but he’s a decent cop, and he adored Susie.”
She swallowed hard at the sensitivity in his green-hazel eyes, the way his voice cracked when he said Susie’s name. His hand felt warm, comforting.
“I knew he needed to be distracted.”
“Poor Susie, I wonder how long ago it…well, when it happened,” he said softly. “Last time I saw her mother, she’d said Susie had moved away and they hadn’t been in contact.”
Dena pulled in a quick breath and followed him. They passed the pool and the casita on the approach to the stables. Zeke stopped, and a pained look crossed his face.
“The last time I saw Susie, she was drunk and we argued.”
“Oh, that’s awful, but—”
“It gets worse. Stanton had been called to the bar to break up the disturbance. It had to have been about four months ago.” He pressed his lips into a thin line and strode into the stables.
Dena slowed her pace. She couldn’t believe she’d gone through all of this today and not once had a feeling of panic. It felt so right to be here, to be taking action. Could she risk telling him the truth? After a few minutes she went inside. A horse whinnied and another nickered.
Zeke sat on his haunches, his hands inside a metal bucket. The horse he’d just ridden was still saddled. He looked up, held out slices of apple and small carrots to her. “Want to give José a snack?”
“Oh, um…sure. Which one is he?”
“The old Criollo.”
She took the apple slices. “I’m not familiar with the breed.” She wanted to distract him, get him to talk about something he loved, and she sensed that subject would be horses.
He sat back on his heels. “My father’s family had him delivered from Argentina as a surprise for my sixteenth birthday.”
Dena gave him an impish grin. “Do horses live that long?”
“Hey.” He tried hard to look offended but laughed instead. “I’m not that old. José is twenty-two. He was two when we got him. He’s in the last stall.”
She liked Zeke’s laugh. So, he’s thirty-six, a year older than me. She walked around, sniffed at the hay, the straw, the horse smell of the stable, and enjoyed it all, even the odor of warm manure. She handed out treats to the first two horses. Zeke moved toward her and the sun streamed in from the row of small windows high above them. His blonde hair glinted with threads of gold. She pulled