“Unlikely.”
“That’s what she said you’d say.” Paul’s left eye twitched as he glared athim.
“She toldyou?”
“No, she didn’t. She said you would deny it, just like you denied every other woman you knockedup.”
“You should check her dates. When was the baby due? Or when did she say it wasdue?”
“She couldn’t tell without an ultrasound,” Paul said. “She died before she could getone.”
“How do we know she waspregnant?”
“Why would she lie? Especially with all the guys who could have been the father.” Paul scratched his few days’ growth ofbeard.
“Drama? Stirring up trouble in the team?” Grady shrugged. “Salem struck me as being an attentionhog.”
“I was going to marry her no matter whose baby she had.” Paul pursed his lips and drummed the counter with his fingers. “But my parents froze all my assets. They wanted to wait for a positive paternitytest.”
“Might have been wise to know. You know, for health reasons.” Grady finished the whiskey. “I’m going up to Redstone tomorrow to check out those suspicious fires. Some psychopath is running around burning down firefighters’houses.”
“Thought all the causes were natural,” Paul said. “Dry lightning strikes, stuff like that. Media thinks there’s acurse.”
“Right, but whoever started the fire at my parents’ cabin did it on purpose. Investigators found evidence of an accelerant, and since I was on it shortly after it started, it didn’t burn everything down.” Grady kept his eyes focused on Paul, detecting a slight flinch, before he pulled his face into an impassivemask.
“Your fire’s unrelated, obviously.” Paul grabbed a rocks glass and started polishing it. “I’m thinking it’s the Colsons. Kind of convenient for them when one brother’s the sheriff, another one’s the fire chief, their uncle’s the mayor, and the judge is married to theiraunt.”
Grady made a noncommittal sound and put down a couple of bills to pay for his drinks. “Except the guys who lost their houses all slept with Salem. Strange coincidence, isn’tit?”
“Go to hell,” Paul grumbled and turned away fromGrady.
* * *
Tami rushedover to the Mountain Dog Rescue Center with a tub of cherry moose track ice cream. She hugged Linx tightly. “Is he gone? Did you tellhim?”
“Yes, he didn’t take it well. I mean, at first, he was understanding, or maybe just shocked, but after he thought about it, he gotangry.”
“That’s expected.” Tami hustled to the kitchen and took out two bowls. “You want chocolatesauce?”
“Yes, with whipped cream and a cherry on top.” Linx moaned, holding her throbbing head in bothhands.
“That bad, huh?” Tami blew a tendril of her blond hair from her face and dug into the icecream.
“He’s pissed off that I didn’t tell him. He’s hurt. Crushed. All the things I wanted him to feel for hurting and crushingme.”
“And?”
“I feel like crap.” Linx cradled her bowl of ice cream and sank onto the sofa. “It’s like I got my revenge and now it’s hurting me more thanhim.”
Tami sat down next to her. “He’s not as bad as you made him out to be. He has aheart.”
“I know, and I’ve hurt him again. I keep hurting him, and now that he knows Jessie’s hisdaughter…”
“Is he going to leave themalone?”
“I don’t think so. He says he wants to fix it, then we got into a fight.” Linx twirled the chocolate sauce into the ice cream and licked herspoon.
Ginger woke up and squealed from the playpen, obviously hungry—or maybe she heard Tami and wantedcuddles.
