Page 28 of The Undercover Cowboy

“It’s illegal to do that unless he’s a suspect in an investigation,” he said in what he thought was a more reasonable tone.

“From what you said, he’s probably a suspect in someone’s investigation.”

“But not mine. I’m not going to chase him all over the world.” The last thing he had heard was his father was pretending to be a member of the royal family of some obscure country thatsounded feasible enough to allow him free room and board all over Europe.

“Even if it meant you could find him and maybe stop him from hurting anyone else?”

“You sound a lot like my mother right now.”

“That sounds like an insult,” she said, a small note of hurt in her voice.

He was fucking this up. Badly. Dolly had no idea she was pushing all his buttons. “You’d understand if you ever met her.”

“Do you see her often?”

Nash shook his head. “She’s toxic.”

“I’m sorry.” She laid a hand on his arm. “If you ever want, you’re welcome to join me and my sisters for some family time. It’s chaotic, noisy, and loud as hell. But no one is toxic.”

“Thanks,” he said.

“I bet you were a good agent.”

“I tried to be.” Not good enough, though.

“It sounds like it was exciting. How does being a PI compare?”

“It has its moments, that’s for sure. This is about as exciting as it gets. Most of this job is paperwork and computer time, not just skulking around in the dark with a beautiful woman.”

Dolly smiled at that, so maybe he’d managed to salvage the situation.

“The trail leading to Blevins and what he’s up to is finally narrowing down.” He jerked his thumb behind them. “Victor Lance knows more than he’s saying. But he’s too afraid of Blevins to spill the beans. The Mexican fighting bulls or the petting zoo are new ventures that could be a front for smuggling or racketeering. While it would be nice to catch Blevins red-handed, the more likely way this is going down is through research and dumb luck.”

“Sounds like my job too, sifting through tons of social media content to find that one viral post. Don’t forget, I can do some digging online too if you need me to research something. Two heads are better than one.”

“I don’t want you to risk your job for this. I know how busy you are. You’ve got to make me look good after all.”

“I’m not going to have to work all that hard.” She gestured to where the petting zoo was locked up tight for the night. “Donnan over there is going to make you an internet sensation. While we’re here, we should check on him.”

“Might as well.”

The petting zoo loomed like a child’s playroom abandoned at dusk, scattered with the shapes of miniature animals sleeping or shifting restlessly in their enclosures. Miniature goats nestled together for warmth, a solitary donkey stood stoically by the fence, and fluffy rabbits burrowed into the hay.

“Looks peaceful,” Dolly murmured, her flashlight beam dancing across the little signs that listed information about each animal.

“Doesn’t seem like Blevins’s style to put together a petting zoo for kids out of the blue,” Nash said. “I wonder what he’s really up to here.”

“His style is more like mud wrestling pigs or something.”

“Not that there’s anything wrong with that.” Nash grinned.

“As long as everyone consents,” Dolly said, “I’m fine with it. I just don’t want to promote it.”

They inspected the floors, but it didn’t look like there were any secret compartments hastily covered up by straw. Donnan was sleeping peacefully by a larger version of himself. The goats bleated softly as they passed by. They moved on by where the pygmy pigs were snuggled up for the night. “No hidden diamonds in their pen that I can see. No bags of drugs crammedin between the feed bags. I’m beginning to get discouraged,” Dolly said.

“This is a dead end,” he said. “We should go. It’s getting late.”

When they left the petting zoo, they had to pass by one of the horse barns to get back to where the Winnebago was parked. Nash trailed behind, his eyes never leaving her figure as she moved with a sexy sway.

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