watch over her, even though the bachelor males wouldn’t have hit on her now that she was mated. She thanked both for coming.
“We’ll keep her and Lucas safe,” Maverick promised Josh. “Go, learn what you can about the men who broke into her shop and who orchestrated it. We need to stop these guys.”
“We will. Then we’ll return here.” Josh hugged her again, and she loved the heat of his body pressed against hers in the chilly outdoors, and then he kissed her soundly. “See you in a bit.”
“Don’t worry about us.” But she knew his worried expression meant he would.
Then he and Adam drove to the police bureau.
“Okay,” Brooke said to the others when she returned to the house, eager to begin working. “I’ll show Lucas my website, and then we’ll get started on the boxes.” She showed Lucas what she wanted for the website and online store.
He offered her some options for taking money on her website, and she picked the one she wanted. Then he began to work his magic. She was glad he could focus his attention on something positive instead of getting himself into trouble.
“What do you want me to do?” Brad asked.
“Josh usually checks the security videos in the morning to see if anyone was hanging around observing the house or shop, if you wouldn’t mind checking the one in the house.” She figured that was a good job for a Navy SEAL. “I can give you a box of vintage replica merchandise to tag. Lucas can add them to the online store too. I usually don’t have time to add faux vintage items, just the real thing.”
“I can do that,” Lucas said.
“Okay. I’ll check the video while you’re over at the shop,” Brad said.
“Thanks, Brad. I so appreciate it. Maverick can haul over a couple of boxes so you don’t get too bored. And I can get caught up.” By the time the new year rolled around, she should have the shop in tip-top shape.
Then she and Maverick headed over to the shop.
“You know, it’s my fault you saw Josh first,” he said.
“How’s that?” She went inside and turned off the security alarm.
Maverick followed her inside. “I saw the news about the reindeer calf showing up at your shop. It was on Twitter and other social network sites. I’d been watching for any news about a reindeer calf in Oregon, somewhere close by. When I saw the calf, I knew it was Jingles from the collar he was wearing, and I told Josh. He said he was on his way to check it out.”
“So if you had come to see for yourself instead?”
“Teaches me to send my brother instead of going myself. He was just closer, and being a police detective, he knew he had to do the investigation. I knew for sure he was hooked on you when he wanted me to bring the reindeer to your place again.”
Smiling, she took him upstairs to one of the storage rooms. “That was so much fun. I really appreciated both of you for doing that.” She motioned to some of the boxes. “These are new merchandise. I have their original prices on an invoice inside the boxes. If Brad can mark it up by 100 percent, that would be good. If they don’t sell, I can put a discounted sale price on them later.”
“All right.” Maverick carried the first of the boxes over to the house.
Brooke put on Christmas music to enjoy while they worked. Then she looked for another safe in her great-aunt’s shop, something she’d been meaning to do.
The very annoying sound of a smoke detector suddenly went off in the shop’s kitchen, telling her it needed a new battery. She headed for the kitchen just as Maverick returned to get the other box for Brad.
“Brad said the security video didn’t show any trouble. I’ll look at the one for the—” Maverick paused as the smoke detector beeped again. “I’ll change that if you have a battery, once I drop off another box of merchandise at the house for Brad.”
“I do. And thanks. Great on the security video. I imagine it’s too much to hope that whoever is in charge of the attempted thefts has given up.”
“I doubt it, if that thumb drive is worth enough.” Maverick carried the other box over to the house while Brooke found the batteries and a stepladder. When he returned, he changed out the battery on the smoke detector.
“Smoke detectors are a necessary evil. I hate