Page 28 of Seaside Cowboy's Fairy Tale

Kennedy stepped forward. “We’re serious. Did you see a little white mouse, cute as, well, a button?”

“No, but you can search for yourself, blondie.” The man sized Kennedy up, then leered at her. “I gather it might like to hide in the carpet, right? Or I could give you a lift to search in the kitchen cabinets.”

Wide-eyed in her pencil skirt and white blouse, Kennedy stepped back.

A bit nauseous, Rachel shielded her friend. But then, men like this made her appreciate men like Austin and Tex more. She pushed her cap, hiding her hair, lower on her head and shoved her hands into her cargo pants. “We appreciate your time, but we’ll pass. Thank you, though.”

“Yes, thank you.” Kennedy visibly swallowed.

“Your loss, blondie.” The man slammed the door in their faces.

The rest of the apartment visits went about as well. Only, they gathered lots of shrieks from female occupants at the discovery there might be a mouse on the run.

By the time Rachel returned to her apartment, her shoulders slumped. Would she ever find Button? “Wherever you are, little guy, I hope you’re okay.”

Kennedy hugged her. “I’m so sorry we didn’t find him.”

Rachel held in a sniffle. “Thank you. Me, too. I’ll buy a live-catch trap and if he’s in the apartment, hopefully that will get him back. But if he's really escaped...” She eased out of Kennedy’s embrace, though the hug meant a lot to her. “One of the reasons I shouldn’t date Tex is that someone aimed a gun at him the second time I saw him.”

Kennedy gasped. “As in arealgun? Yikes! I don’t want my hubby’s brother in danger. Or you either, for that matter. Maybe a date isn’t a good idea indeed.”

Rachel’s heart dropped when she thought of calling him and canceling. “He’s taking me boating. We’ll stay away from other boats. And fish and seagulls aren’t known for having guns.”

––––––––

It wasn’t the samecarefree feeling of Tex’s childhood—it was better. Because the first one was in the past and the second one was in the present.

Or maybe because Cinderella was with him in the middle of the ocean. At her request, he’d powered the day cruiser far enough out to sea not to have other boats around them. Now the sleek boat bobbed idle on sparkling waters, and they reclined on the plush white leather benches lining the stern. The sun shone above him, and a warm light shone in his soul, as well. Of course, it helped that nobody had pointed a gun at him for days.

It also helped to have Cinderella beside him. Even though she’d dressed in khaki knee-length shorts and a matching sleeveless top where a silk-screened mouse scampered off with a hunk of cheese—a simple outfit as if not to attract attention to herself—he couldn’t take his eyes off her, and his heart beat fast just being in her presence. She’d kicked off the sand-hued flip-flops she’d accessorized her outfit with, but sadly, her worn-to-frayed-edges gray cap and tortoiseshell sunglasses still covered her hair and eyes.

“The day after the theft, I volunteered to look through the charity ball’s recordings at the police station. Thank you for providing those to them, though it’s disappointing those two cameras stopped working and didn’t record the incident. Makes me wonder if someone on the staff had something to do with it.” She traced her seat’s piping with a finger.

He shrugged, having been put in a difficult situation. But he had a rule of not questioning his decisions afterward. Second-guessing never helped anyone. “I didn’t have much choice in the matter of providing the tapes. They could’ve subpoenaed it, and I’d lose my good relationship with them. On the other hand, if it gets out that I did, I’ll lose those sponsors who didn’t consent to me releasing the recordings. But then, I might stop doing the masquerade ball, anyway.”

“Why?” Her cap and sunglasses hid her eyes, and he desperately wanted to see them.

“I don’t like large gatherings.” He crossed his legs, spreading his arms across the bench’s backrest. He didn’t need to steer any longer, so he could enjoy concentrating on her and the ocean. “Then again, that’s where we met. So it means a lot to me. And we surpassed all previous records in donations.”

“That’s admirable. And you never had any other thefts?”

Even though her voice seemed indifferent, his posture stiffened. He sensed she already knew the answer, and that didn’t sit well. “Just once.”

The sunshine in his soul diminished. Was she here because she was interested in the investigation, not in him?

“What was stolen? And was the thief found?” She shifted in her seat, tucking one leg up beside her as she turned to look at the ocean, but her stance remained guarded, her attention seeming acute in its focus on his answer.

He started feeling like a fool for love. He’d called her a thief in teasing before, but he should walk away before she stole his heart. Instead, he settled sideways, facing her fully. His entire being begged to touch her, but he just splayed his hand on the leather seat between them.

“It was a diamond ring,” he said. “The victim was one of the last people to leave and discovered the ring was missing from her finger. She said it was rather loose and maybe she dropped it. My team searched the building, but never found the ring. She was over eighty and wasn’t sure the ring had even been on her finger at the charity ball, but she didn’t find it at her home, either. The police went through the list of everyone she’d danced with or talked to that evening, including me. But they never discovered the culprit.”

“Was the ring insured?” She looked up at him.

Once again, he wished he could see her hazel eyes behind the sunglasses. He imagined them as luminous as the sun. “I don’t know. I offered her compensation, but she refused, saying the ring was all that mattered to her.”

Cinderella didn’t say anything as if filing information in her head. “Anyway—even though we didn’t get the actual theft on camera—in the recent charity-ball recording, three men looked somewhat similar to the thief. I believe you said the police concluded one had an ironclad alibi. What about the other two?”

“One was cleared, as well. I don’t know the name of the remaining suspect as this is an ongoing investigation.”

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