Bachelor Sheriff. Пола Грейвс

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СКАЧАТЬ was Tuckahaw Road, which he knew from his days on patrol was mostly woods dotted with the occasional farm. Once he crossed the old steel bridge that spanned the meandering waters of Tuckahaw Branch, the houses were fewer and farther between along the twisting country road.

      After another sharp curve, the road straightened, and Aaron spotted a fire engine and two Chickasaw County Sheriff’s Department cruisers parked haphazardly in front of a two-story farmhouse ahead. The house was still standing, he noted as he pulled his truck behind the closest cruiser. That was a plus.

      One of his fellow deputies, Blake Clayton, greeted him as he approached. “Fire made a mess of the kitchen area, but the truck got here in time to stop it from spreading.”

      “Started in the kitchen?” Aaron fell into step with Blake as the deputy led him to the back of the house. A kitchen fire didn’t sound much like arson.

      “Back of the house behind the kitchen, actually,” Blake corrected. Rounding the corner, they found a couple of fire-fighters, still clad in their heavy slickers and rubber boots, crouched in front of the charred remains of what looked to be a gas generator.

      One of the firemen moved, revealing a small, slim woman standing a few feet behind him, a frown creasing her forehead as she watched the firemen investigating the scorched areas behind the house. Homeowner, Aaron guessed. She looked familiar.

      Her gaze shifted, bumping with his. Her mouth fell open slightly, her blue eyes widening with a flicker of recognition. He searched his brain for where he knew her. Definitely not an ex-girlfriend; he’d never gone for brunettes, although he had to admit he was intrigued by this particular brunette, even as disheveled and smoke-smudged as she was at the moment. She dropped her gaze, and he felt an odd sense of disappointment.

      Blake Clayton spoke to the woman. “Ms. Draper? This is Deputy Cooper, one of the Sheriff’s Department investigators. Deputy Cooper, this is Melissa Draper, the homeowner.”

      Memories clicked into place. Melissa Draper. From his high school graduating class. Geeky, shy, total brainiac. No wonder he hadn’t remembered her at first. He’d have barely remembered her back in high school.

      Not that he was particularly proud of that fact.

      Aaron held out his hand for a shake, then dropped it as he realized Melissa’s arms were wrapped around a shivering puppy. The dog looked up at him with scared brown eyes and let out a soft moan somewhere between a whimper and a howl.

      “Deputy Cooper and I have met,” Melissa said to Blake, though her gaze remained locked with Aaron’s. He felt an odd flutter in the center of his chest. “I thought you’d be off playing pro football somewhere.”

      He felt an old, bitter twinge of regret. “Blew out my knee first week of training camp, so I had to find another career.”

      She looked genuinely sympathetic. He wouldn’t have blamed her for indulging in a little pleasure at his downfall instead. High school social politics had been brutal, and people like Melissa Draper had always ended up outside the in-crowd.

      “What about you? What’re you doing these days?” he asked.

      “I’m a lawyer.” She didn’t bother to hide the touch of pride in her voice.

      Figured. She’d been voted most likely to succeed, hadn’t she? Something like that.

      The puppy whined again, drawing Aaron’s attention back to the present. The poor thing was shivering. Melissa didn’t look much warmer herself. Time to get his mind back on the job and get the two of them someplace warm and safe.

      He addressed the two firemen who’d continued examining the charred generator while he’d been talking to Melissa. “Any verdict yet, guys?”

      Perry Davis, the younger of the two and an old high school teammate, glanced at Aaron. “Still looking.”

      “How much longer before I can have my house back?” Melissa asked quietly. She was stroking the puppy’s head soothingly, shushing his occasional whimpers, and looked ready to pass out from stress and exhaustion.

      “The damage is limited to your kitchen, but the power company’s gonna have to reroute your power supply. You don’t have a generator anymore, and even if you did, it would still require pretty massive rewiring before you’d get any juice to your house.” Perry Davis gave her an apologetic look. “I figure it’ll be at least a week. Depends on how quickly the power company can get technicians on the scene and whether your insurance company will want a further investigation first.”

      Melissa looked ready to crumple into a heap right at Aaron’s feet. He reached out, cupping her elbow. She gave a start, pulling away to look at him with wary eyes.

      He dropped his hand away, guilty about giving her a fright. Her nerves were probably stretched to the snapping point at the moment. “You can probably call your insurance agent as early as seven,” he murmured, gesturing for her to follow him away from the damage site. “Meanwhile, let’s get you and Scooter here somewhere warm.”

      Her lips twitched at his words. “His name is Jasper,” she corrected softly. “And somewhere warm sounds wonderful.”

      “I’ll drive you to your folks’ place. They’re still out on Hickory Bluff Road, right?”

      “No,” she said quickly, darting him a look of dismay that caught him by surprise. “I mean, yes, they still live on Hickory Bluff Road, but I don’t want to go there. I can find a hotel near my office—”

      “Hotels won’t take Jasper.” A sudden image flashed through his mind, catching him off guard—a picture of himself taking Melissa home to his own house, filling her full of hot chocolate and tucking her and her whiny puppy beneath the warm covers of his bed. Ruthlessly, he pushed the surprising image aside.

      “I’ll find somewhere to stay,” she insisted, although he could see the wheels of her mind churning desperately for a solution to her problem.

      “You could stay at my folks’ place. They have a guest cottage they keep up for situations just like this.”

      She arched a dark eyebrow at him. “They take in a lot of house fire refugees?”

      “Okay, maybe not situations exactly like this.”

      “There’s still the problem of Jasper,” she said.

      “Is he house-trained?”

      “Yes, but—”

      “Not a problem.” He glanced at his watch. It was after five o’clock now. His parents were early risers. “I’ll give Mom a call, set it up.” He turned to Blake, who was looking at him with a puzzled expression. “What?”

      “Nothing,” Blake said, but the puzzled look didn’t go away.

      “Perry, is Ms. Draper okay to go upstairs and pack a bag for herself?”

      Perry looked away from his examination of the ground around the ruined generator. “Oh, yeah. The damage inside was limited to the kitchen, and the structural supports look like they avoided any major damage.”

      Aaron put his hand on Melissa’s shoulder. She flinched again, and he dropped his hand away. “Sorry.”

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