The Perfect Homecoming (Pine River #3)

“Huh?” His presence, his question, confused her. Did he mean watching the kids? Did he think she was doing something weird here?

“You’re the worst,” he said hotly. “The absolute worst.”

He did think she was being weird about the kids, and her hackles rose. “And? So? What the hell is it to you what I am?”

“What the hell is it to me?”

“What, do you know them?” she exclaimed, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the little house across the street. “Did you meet them while you were running around town with Luke?” That had to be it—he’d met someone who had complained about her watching the kids. The teenage girls! Emma would bet her diamond necklace that Tashi, whoever she was, had said something about her.

“Meet who?” Cooper demanded. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I just come to watch them play, and the last time I checked, that’s not a crime!”

Cooper blinked. “I’m not talking about watching kids play,” he said, his voice full of anger. “I’m talking about this.” He pulled something from his coat pocket and held it out to her. She recognized the box that contained Carl’s medal.

Emma stared at the box, then pressed her fingers to her temples and tried to understand what was happening. She’d just confessed to watching kids she didn’t know, and he was talking about that damn medal again? “Okay! You have it! You can take it! Go! Fly back to Carl and deliver it on a silver tray for all I care!”

Cooper’s expression darkened. “Did you buy it in town? Did you steal it from someone? Because I sure as hell can’t figure out where you might have come across it.”

“What are you talking about?” she cried. “That is Carl’s fucking medal you wanted so badly!”

“Nope, no, it’s not, Emma,” he said, clearly exasperated with her. “Carl’s medal is blue. This one is red.”

Emma felt a surge of physical panic that almost choked her. How could she have made such a careless mistake? She reached for the box, certain he was mistaken, but Cooper jerked it out of her reach. “Uh-uh. Not until you tell me what’s going on here. Starting with who does this medal belong to?”

She wasn’t about to tell him that she’d taken it from a colonel she’d met in Santa Barbara one night. CEM had staged a wedding for the daughter of a very wealthy Chinese businessman, and the colonel had been at the bar of her hotel when Emma had wandered in, very late, exhausted from the day’s events. The colonel had taken one look at Emma and had sidled over, a smug smile on his face, so sure of himself and his powers of attraction. Turned out, he was what one would call “highly decorated,” with so many medals and insignia and ribbons that he’d laughed at how he could no longer keep track of them all.

Cooper was waiting for her answer. “It’s mine,” she said, staring at the box.

“Yours?” Cooper repeated hotly. “Just where did you get it? Did you do a stint in the armed forces? Did you have a soldier boyfriend? How, Emma? How did you get it?”

“That . . . that is none of your business,” she said, her voice shaking. She hoped her heart didn’t give out, pounding as hard as it was in her chest. “Look, I gave you the wrong medal.”

He snorted disdainfully. “Yeah, I kind of figured that out. I want Carl’s medal, and if you don’t want to be charged with theft, you’d better give it to me.”

Nausea rolled through Emma. She held out her palm to him. “He’s not going to charge me with stealing.”

“Like hell he won’t,” Cooper said angrily. “Did you know his mother-in-law’s wedding ring was under the medal in that box, or did you just luck into it?”

Emma’s wildly beating heart stopped beating so suddenly she couldn’t get a breath. What diamond ring? She never took anything of value!

“You actually look surprised. Yes, Emma, a four-carat diamond ring. If he doesn’t get it back, he’s pressing charges.”

She was going to be sick. A diamond?

She deserved anything Carl did to her. She deserved to be arrested and thrown in jail. She’d just never believed it would happen. “I have his medal,” she said angrily. “I’ll get it. But give that one back.”

“No way,” Cooper said, and Emma watched the box disappear into his pocket. “Give me Carl’s medal first.”

“I’ll get it—”

“We’ll get it.”

“It’s up at the ranch!”

Cooper gestured grandly for her to come around the bench and walk to the car.

There was no way out of this. Cooper was clearly determined and wasn’t letting her out of his sight. “Fine,” she said, and started for her car.

She walked at a clip, reaching the car before him, and put her hand on the driver’s side handle to open it. But before she could, Cooper slammed his hand against the door and held it shut. He was standing very close to her, practically holding her against the car, and glared down at her with eyes so hot with anger they reminded her of smoke. “I’ll drive.”

“You can’t just commandeer my car!”