Page 71 of Between a Rock and a Hard Cowboy

That fucked up thought sure put a damper on his previously merry mood.

As down as Linc was feeling after being trapped in a vehicle with the pissed off Ethan and the pious Wyatt, that’s how up Eva was in comparison. He walked into his family’s living room and found her humming a Christmas tune while spiking her cup of eggnog with some of Wyatt’s bourbon.

“Got more of that for me?” he asked, in great need of it. He loved seeing her happy. He’d love even more to feel as happy as she looked right now.

She turned and smiled. Damn, did his knees just go weak when she looked at him?

“There’s plenty,” she said. “What kind of heathen could drink eggnog without bourbon in it?”

He bobbed his head, walking closer. “The kind who drinks it with spiced rum instead?”

She raised her glass to him in a toast. “Also an acceptable option.”

“What put you in such a good mood?” he asked close enough to kiss her but restraining himself.

He knew better than to try even a peck hello. Public displays of affection were not Eva’s thing. And in her mind, his family’s living room would qualify as public.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Must be the anticipation of all those cookies.”

He didn’t believe that for a moment. Maybe she’d performed a particularly successful hacking or something. Not that he really believed that was what she did for a living… At least he mostly didn’t believe it.

Maybe this wasn’t her first eggnog and he had some catching up to do. She poured and handed him a glass and he got started on that catch up right away. But he did keep an eye on Eva and her overly good and very suspicious mood.

Her bad moods he was used to. But this good mood was proving very disconcerting.

ChapterThirty-Seven

The Hacker Who Saved Christmas. It had a nice ring to it—even if she never would be able to tell anyone what she’d done.

She did the calculations in her head. She’d emailed the information packets days ago. One to the district attorney of the county where the woman Emmett had exploited lived. One to the woman’s son who’d discovered the theft but couldn’t find the hidden money. One to Emmett’s parole officer including his location—which was not where the state parole board specified he should be.

One packet had even gone to a contact with the connections to put it in the hands of the proper department at the FBI. They might be interested in all the naughty business Emmett had conducted over state lines. Things could move slowly in law enforcement but she was confident the Navy SEAL who owed her at least one favor, a guy who had close contacts high up in the government, could get things moving.

In any case at least one of the many packages should get results shortly. Maybe even before the cookies were decorated. That was the reason for her good mood, which Linc had questioned, when he wasn’t staring at her like she’d gone crazy.

Poor guy. He looked very stressed. They all did. The men of the family were trying to hide it for Darcy’s sake and Poppy was always quick with a fake smile—probably a benefit of her Hamptons society training. But Eva knew they all bore the weight of that damn will and Emmett’s presence just down the mountain in town.

Little did Emmett know that he had indeed reached the bitter end. Not just by coming here but more, from not leaving again once he’d gotten his jump drive. He should have scooped up his crypto booty and ran.

She might have just let him go and been grateful if he had. But he hadn’t.

He stuck around. And he showed no signs of leaving. Of course she had to take action.

No one was taking this family down. Certainly not the snake.

She was smiling to herself while putting a black hat on her gingerbread man—a nod to her profession that no one else would get—when Linc glanced at his cell phone and groaned.

“What?” she asked.

“Emmett.” He didn’t elaborate but still every eye in the room was on him after that announcement.

Her eyes narrowed. “What now?”

God, she wished her SEAL contact, Zane Alexander, would hurry up and send in the feds to wrangle that snake and take him away from here.

“He wants to borrow my truck,” Linc enlightened them.

That silenced the room of all sound from the adults. There wasn’t even the scrape of a spoon against an icing bowl now. Just the softly playing Christmas carols streaming in from the next room and the sound of Darcy crunching as she beheaded yet another gingerbread man.

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