Page 32 of Kissing Her Rescuer

A distraction would be nice.

After thirty minutes of going over every inch of the truck, Dewey came back into the station. A quick glance at the fax machine still showed nothing. It was going to be a long damn day.

“Waiting on something?” Cameron's sharp question cut through the silence.

Dewey turned. Cameron's right fist caught him across the chin.

He stumbled back, but not before Cameron punched him in the gut.

“Cameron!” He heard Sheriff Dempsey shout. “Stop.”

Cameron didn't listen, because he swung again at Dewey's face.

Dewey shifted in time to avoid a direct blow, but not enough to catch the next punch into his oblique. He took a few steps, propping himself on the desk nearby, struggling to push air into his lungs after that last hit.

“What’s gotten into you?” Dewey wheezed out.

Cameron took two steps and slammed a sheet of paper on the desk in front of Dewey.

99% POSITIVE MATCH

Dewey's head pounded.

He was a dad. What. The. Hell.

“Dewey is Carrie's real father.” Cameron spit out the words before raising his voice to a shout. “When the hell did you screw my little cousin? I thought you just started dating.”

“Cameron,” his dad's warning came.

Dewey looked up, making eye contact with Eliza's uncle, Sheriff Dempsey. Anger swirled across his face as he regarded Dewey. “I'd like to know the same thing.”

Dewey straightened, holding his side to get a better breath. “She called me about three years after she left. She'd caught Zach cheating on her. He'd gotten aggressive when she confronted him about it. Grabbed her. Punched the wall. Then he took off. She was scared. She didn't want you or Juliana involved, okay. So, I went.”

Cameron pointed at the piece of paper. “I can tell you went to protect her.”

“Shut the hell up, Cameron. You don't even know what you're talking about. Eliza and I stayed in touch since she first left. I caught Zach and her riding out of Statem. I programmed my number into her phone and told her either she kept in touch, so I knew she was alright, or I'd come after her. You and I both knew Zach's rap sheet.” He refused to touch his throbbing jaw. “She texted. Often. And emailed. So, when I went to see her, thinking I'd be bringing her back to Statem, yeah, we slept together because I was already half in love with her. And then I told her to come back, that I'd take care of her. Marry her for God's sake.” It seemed like a lifetime ago.

“Why didn't she?” Sheriff Dempsey asked, his anger tightly controlled. Better than Cameron's.

“She never told me. I got a text message a few days later, claiming she loved the S.O.B and would never leave him, and I needed to move on. After that, I hardly heard from her.”

“Does she know you're the father?” Cameron snatched the results back.

“I can't think she'd know and not tell me. She doesn't even know I did the test. My mom figured it out and got Carrie’s sample.”

Cameron sat down. “What happens now?”

“I guess I tell her the news.” He wiggled his jaw. “And I pray that killer right hooks don't run in the family.”

Sheriff Dempsey shook his head. “Don't count on it. I might not be related by blood to him, but the next man taking a swing at you will probably be Hugh Campbell.”

Cameron's dark expression didn't change. “You'll be lucky if he doesn't make it to his gun safe first.”

11

“Are you seriously going to wear that?” Becky sat on the edge of Eliza's bed, flipping through a cookbook of appetizers she and Lexi could make for the wedding. “I mean, I know he took you fishing on your first date, and I believe you if you say that was romantic, but he said somewhere nice for tonight.”

Eliza pulled out a dress she'd worn to church the Sunday before. “This?”

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