Page 63 of Montana Manhunt

Noah chuckled at his friend. “Sorry, buddy. The ladies are right. Finish the story.”

Grant growled. “I will pay you back for this.” After an enormous sigh, he said, “I set up the love-sick sap and the princess on a date. She met me for dinner, and I invited Saleem to join us. By the time we ordered dinner, the princess and Saleem were totally ignoring me. I asked for my food to be delivered as take out, paid for all three meals, and returned to my unit.”

“Did it work?” Violet asked.

“They married two months later, and now have three children.”

“Wait.” Rayne frowned. “I think I read something about this in the news. Didn’t the headlines report a princess and a pauper romance?”

“That’s the one.”

“Oh, man. I wish I’d known you were responsible for that sooner. I would have asked you for more details. That was the best story of the year.”

Grant winked at her. “I’ve added matchmaker to my resume.”

She laughed. “Good to know. Your success is worthy of the title.”

Jana returned. “Dessert for anyone? We have a dessert called Chocolate Explosion that gets rave reviews from everyone who tries it.”

Noah smiled. “How big is the dessert?”

“Big enough for the four of you to share.”

“Sounds great. Bring it on.”

“Perfect. You won’t regret the choice. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”

“Shouldn’t we be making plans for tonight?” Violet asked softly. “We won’t have much time as it is.”

“Chocolate is a girl’s best friend.” Rayne grinned.

“With four of us, it won’t take long to demolish the cake and ice cream.” Noah cupped Violet’s nape. “You need the calories, sweetheart, and you have a well-known weakness for chocolate.”

Jana returned with a large plate loaded down with several slices of chocolate cake, scoops of vanilla ice cream, and caramel and chocolate drizzles. “Here you go. Enjoy, folks.” After collecting their empty dinner plates, she returned to the kitchen.

“Good grief.” Violet’s eyes were wide. “That’s huge.”

“No wonder people share this dessert.” Rayne picked up a spoon and dug in.

Fifteen minutes later, the serving plate was empty. Violet shook her head. “I can’t believe we ate every bite.”

Jana walked up to take the dessert platter. “How was it?”

“So good,” Rayne said. “Thanks for the suggestion.”

“Of course.” She held up the bill. “Who gets the bad news?”

“That would be me.” Noah glanced at the bill, then handed the woman his credit card.

Minutes later, they were back in the suite, preparing to return to Morrison. “How vigilant are the boys in blue around Morrison?” Grant asked Violet.

“Not anywhere near our level of alertness. However, since Cami was murdered, the patrol cops might pay more attention to the area than they would otherwise.”

Grant looked at Noah. “Two o’clock?”

“That’s the plan.”

A nod. “Good.” He glanced at his watch. “Gives us time for a brief nap before we do the cat burglar thing.”

---