No Strings Part 14

Unfortunately, they'd not made plans for a second get-together. Which meant she'd be waiting again until Morgan was ready.

Morgan felt Berta's eyes on her and she was hoping- praying-that her night of free love with Reese Daniels wasn't plastered on her face. Plastered and glowing.

She turned away, feigning interest in the paper she was reading. She picked up a pen and forced a frown to her brow, pretending to be deeply absorbed in the latest traffic report issued for their district. That is, until Charlie tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to jump.

"Do you have to sneak up on me like that? Jeez," she said, trying to cover her embarra.s.sment.

"Surely that report can't be that interesting. What'd we have?

Five visitors last month?"

Morgan looked at him wryly. "Six. And it's so skewed. I mean, every one of the snowmobilers at the lodge hit our trails at one time or another."

"And if they don't sign in, it's like they were never there,"

0.

Charlie said. "But everyone's got the same problem. You think they have an accurate account up at Blue Mesa?"

"No. But it's a huge lake. They estimate their figures on the high end. Why can't they do ours?"

"Based on what? Summer campgrounds are easy and we've got decent figures. But winter? They have nothing to use but trailhead sign-ins. It's always been that way. You know that."

"I'm just saying, it's no wonder we have no budget to work with. Why can't we have Rick make them sign in?"

"Rick is a businessman," Charlie said. "He's not concerned with our figures, our budget, or even our rules."

"You mean Cutter's Chute?"

"Yes. He knows-like we do-that Cutter's Chute is a big draw for him. So what if it's on private property? We conveniently have a trail that skirts the ridge. And when anyone asks him how to get there, he tells them to head up the canyon."

"Okay. So how about we put up some signs that say we are going to start issuing citations for those who don't sign in? We could cite some safety rule or something."

Charlie smiled. "What's all the interest in our numbers, Morgan? You afraid your position is going to get cut in the winters now?"

Morgan shrugged. "You never know. When you leave, they could bring in some hard-a.s.s. It won't take but a few weeks during the winter for him to realize there's not a whole lot going on up here."

"Oh, Morgan, quit worrying. Your job is safe." He sat on the corner of her desk and folded his hands together. "Got a call from Chief Daniels just a bit ago."

"Oh, yeah?" Morgan commented as nonchalantly as possible.

"Seems she wanted my approval before she asked you to a.s.sist her with something."

Morgan swallowed. "Uh-huh." Then her eyes widened.

"Please say it's not more skiing."

He laughed. "Afraid so."

0.

I'll kill her.

"Seeing as how you're not busy-you said so yourself-I couldn't see turning her down."

"Thanks a lot."

"She said she wanted to take up fishing. I told her Ed Wade was her man, but she said she'd rather you show her around." He smiled mischievously. "I guess you made a good impression on her the last time."

"From her comments, I gathered she hated fishing."

He shrugged. "Wouldn't know about that. She's looking at some backcountry streams though. Off the beaten path."

"Snowmobiles can get off the beaten path."

"Too noisy."

Morgan's eyebrows drew together. "You're enjoying this far too much," she said.

"Oh, it'll do you good to get out. There's nothing going on.

h.e.l.l, even Berta's got to try to scare up some paperwork to keep her busy."

"Yeah, but, Charlie, skiing?"

He stood. "I told her you'd love to."

Reese heard the bell jingle as the sheriff's office door was opened, then closed a bit too forcefully.

"Is she in?"

Reese smiled, recognizing Morgan's voice. And by the tone of it, Charlie had just mentioned skiing.

"Yes, Morgan. I'll just see if she's busy-"

"Trust me, she's not," Morgan said and a few seconds later, she stood at Reese's door. "Skiing? Are you trying to p.i.s.s me off?"

Grinning, Reese got up and motioned Morgan into the room, closing the door behind her. "And good morning to you too."

"It was a good morning."

"Now, now."

"You don't even like fishing," Morgan said.

"I never said I didn't like to fish, I said I don't fish. Big 0.

difference." Reese went back around her desk and sat down, waiting for Morgan to do the same.

She finally did, albeit with a huff. When their eyes met, Reese saw a softening in them and smiled, watching a matching smile show on Morgan's face.

"I should hate you."

"But you don't."

"I'm a.s.suming you have a legitimate reason for a skiing and fishing excursion?"

Reese nodded. "Last night was extremely enjoyable. Don't you think?" Reese smiled as a slight blush crossed Morgan's face.Morgan nodded. "Yes. Yes, it was."

"Good." Reese leaned back in her chair. "But knowing you, you would have debated the merits of it and taken days before you'd decide to see me again."

"Days, huh?"

Reese leaned forward and smiled. "I didn't want to go days."

"I see. So you'd rather torture me with a ski trip?"

"I thought it would be a good excuse to see you. And, it might satisfy one of your rules."

"What? The no kissing while skiing rule?"

"I was thinking more of the discreet rule," Reese said. "Charlie most likely told you about my request in front of Berta. Not to disappoint, you probably bemoaned the fact that you hate to ski. So you march over here, ignore Eloise's attempts at office protocol and barge into my office, demanding an explanation."

She pointed at the phone, showing one line in use. "And no doubt Eloise and Berta are on the phone right now, trying to figure out what is going on."

Morgan stared at her, finally smiling. "Clever. So we're just going to pretend to go skiing and fishing then?"

Reese laughed. "No. We have to follow through with the whole thing."

Morgan frowned. "I don't quite see the benefit. If you think I'm going to suffer through hours on skis-in the cold-then go 0.

home with you, you're crazy."

"I got the impression you liked to fish."

"Sure. In the summer, standing by a stream, my truck within sight. I love to fish." Morgan leaned back and crossed her ankles.

"And you? Why don't you fish?"

Reese looked away for a moment, thinking that her reason was really quite silly. Especially after all these years. She cleared her throat before speaking. "Fishing was always a pa.s.sion of mine.

In fact, we grew up fishing almost every weekend."

"Got sick of it?"

Reese shook her head. "No. That wasn't it. My father, it was his great love. Most weekends we'd take the boat out to Lake Mead and fish dawn to dusk. Even when I was in college, I'd ditch my friends to join my brothers out on the boat." She looked across the desk, meeting Morgan's eyes. "There was an accident."

She swallowed. "Freak boating accident. My father died."

"Reese, I'm so sorry."

She shrugged. "Long time ago. It took me a while to get over it. My mother, well, she never recovered. We were all there. We all saw it. We hit something, a log or something, and Dad got tossed out of the boat." She took a deep breath, still finding the words hard to say. "And the boat ran over him." She looked up.

"I was driving it."

"Oh, my G.o.d," Morgan whispered. She got up, moving beside the desk and squeezing Reese's hand with her own. "I'm sorry." She shook her head. "I can't imagine your grief."

Reese took comfort in Morgan's gentle touch, and she looked at their hands, their fingers entwined, remembering Morgan's touch from last night, how those hands had moved across her body, boldly touching... demanding. She closed her eyes, letting her fingers play with Morgan's for a second longer before looking up. "You better move away, or our cover is blown," she said lightly.

Morgan smiled. "Sorry."

Reese cleared her throat again. "Anyway, I wanted no part of 0.

fishing after that. Truth be told, I wanted no part of my family either. My mother, well, she never said the words, but in her eyes, I could see that she blamed me."

"Oh, Reese, surely not. It was an accident."

"Yes. That was all I had to hold on to. It was an accident.

An accident that tore our family apart. Our time together got less and less. Phone calls replaced visits, and I started working myself into exhaustion so that I was too numb and too tired to remember that day. And we just drifted apart. It happened so slowly, I don't think anyone noticed."

"You don't see them at all?"

"When I quit the force in Vegas, I dropped by my mother's place, just to let her know I was leaving. I was shocked. I hadn't seen her in years. I mean, she looked like my mother, but it was just a sh.e.l.l. Her eyes were lifeless. All around the room, there were pictures of my father, like hundreds of pictures. My mother was living her life through those pictures, while her real life just faded away. I'm not really certain she even knew I was there."

"That's very sad."

"I went to see my brothers too. They, at least, had normal lives, kids. And they look in on her from time to time." She shrugged. "And I escaped the desert heat for the high mountains.

You'd be surprised at how many tourist towns have a hard time keeping law enforcement. Jobs have been pretty easy to find."

"Maybe you're not the only one dallying with the mayor's wife?" Morgan teased.

Reese laughed. "I have learned my lesson."

"I see." Morgan paused. "So, when do you want to do this little ski trip?"

"I checked the forecast. Might hit the upper thirties tomorrow.

No snow."

"And that's supposed to tempt me?"

"Okay, so what if I promised you dinner after our trip?"

"Dinner?"

"At my place."