A Wild Fright in Deadwood (Deadwood Humorous Mystery Book 7) Read Online Free PDF Page B

who was going to use them only for his own gain. In spite of Rex’s threats to reveal his role in their conception, he had no intention of actually following through and playing daddy. He was simply using his position as leverage to try to control me.
    Somehow, I needed to make him go away for good. Too bad killing him wasn’t going to work. Detective Hawke was already printing up wanted posters with my picture plastered on them. I didn’t want him to up the bounty for my hide.
    Movement at the end of the hall interrupted my internal blustering.
    “Can I help you with something, Miss?” Doc leaned his shoulder against the wall. His gaze slid over me, brushing away all thoughts of Rex Conner in one smooth stroke.
    I tried to give Doc a smooth stroke back, but my eyes kept hitting snags on the way up, starting with the well-worn blue jeans hanging low on his hips. His black thermal hugged his ribs making his shoulders look solid and broad. I was going to need those shoulders shortly to help me carry the load of emotional baggage I’d picked up during my trouble-filled milk run this morning. His dark brown hair looked finger plowed, making me wonder how much Harvey had told him about our visit with Prudence.
    I arched one eyebrow. “What do you have to offer, Mister?”
    “Let me see.” He patted his pockets, first front and then back. “Seems like I have something somewhere around here in case a gorgeous blonde wearing purple cowboy boots walked in my back door.”
    “Give her yer lollipop,” Harvey hollered from behind Doc.
    “Harvey, you’re ruining the moment,” I shouted back.
    “Here it is.” Doc offered his right hand, palm up and empty.
    I often enjoyed being touched by that hand. He could do all sorts of wonderful tricks with it when it came to making me levitate off his bed. “With the way things have been going since I left my pillow, I’m going to need two of those.”
    “Throw in a fifth of whiskey for me,” Harvey interrupted again. “That damned ghost got me good and boogered.”
    “Come here, Boots.” Doc’s voice had that sexy, gravelly growl that made my heart gallop off into the sunset.
    I closed the distance between us, taking his outstretched hand, moving into his arms. He smelled woodsy and fresh, his aftershave making me want to burrow deeper under his covers and forget about the world and all of its creepy “other” crawlies.
    “I’ve missed you,” I whispered, trying to keep the nosy Nellie out front from being privy to our few seconds of hallway foreplay.
    “My diabolical plan to make you a smitten concubine is working.” He studied my face, zeroing in on my eyes. “Got something you want to tell me?”
    “About my day?”
    “About your nights.”
    Doc was too observant for my own good. He must have noticed the red lines road-mapping my tired eyes. “My nights? Well, let’s see. To start with, you haven’t been there next to me.”
    “That’s your fault.” He leaned down and stole a kiss.
    There was no need to steal. I would have given him a whole bundle for pennies on the dollar.
    “Are you feeling better?”
    I nodded, easing back so that I could look up at him without craning my neck. “The quarantine order has been lifted.”
    I’d insisted Doc stay away while I went through the nasty bout of illness for two reasons. First, I didn’t want him to catch it. Second, I didn’t want him to pass it on to Cooper, who I figured might shoot me in his high-fevered state for adding fits of coughing to his pain. The detective’s ribs still had to be sore from that sharp-toothed beast pouncing on him in Harvey’s family cemetery last week.
    “What are you doing tonight?” Doc asked.
    “Hanging out with my kids in front of the TV while my aunt plays catch-up in her workshop.”
    Aunt Zoe had gotten behind on several blown-glass orders due to helping me out during the flu. Tonight she was planning an all-nighter with her glass furnace and block tool.
    “Is there