The Perfect Homecoming (Pine River #3)

“I’m not commandeering your car, I am commandeering you. Give me the keys.”


He wasn’t kidding. “No,” she said, alarmed and angry at once.

“I’m serious, Emma. You’ve played me enough. I’m done with the games. Give me the goddamn keys.”

He looked so serious, so angry! He looked as if he could strangle her right there and was working to restrain himself from doing just that. Emma reluctantly pulled her keys from her purse. She shoved them against his chest, forcing him to drop his hand from the car to catch them. But he was quick; he grabbed the keys and her elbow at the same time, and marched her around to the passenger side before she knew what was happening. He practically stuffed her inside the car, and a moment later, he was in the driver’s seat, hitting the gas as he backed out, causing her tires to squeal.

“Hey!” she cried out with alarm. “Slow down! There’s snow on the road.”

“If you’re going to own a car like this, maybe you should learn to drive it,” he said gruffly, and sped onto the road.

Emma braced herself against the dash. “You know this is totally illegal, right? What you’re doing is called abduction.”

“Call Sam,” he said with a shrug. “I’m more than happy to let him sort it out.”

“Bastard,” she said angrily. “Why are you in such a big hurry, anyway?” she demanded nervously as he maneuvered her car around the main drag and onto a seldom-used road that ran along the rail tracks and bypassed town.

“Because I’d like to get on with my life, Emma. I’d like to finish this job and leave the crazy behind—meaning you. And on top of that, I don’t trust you.”

“I never said you should,” she snapped, and folded up into a tight ball, her legs crossed, her arms crossed, and sank into her seat. “I never asked for you at all.”

He said nothing to that, but she could see the bulge in his jaw from the clench of his teeth.

They hardly spoke on the way up to the ranch, Cooper driving so recklessly that Emma’s breath was snatched from her at every turn. They bounced down the road to the house, and he slowed considerably as he pulled into the drive. He hadn’t even stopped when Emma thrust the door open and bounded out, slipping and sliding on a patch of icy snow in her haste, and righting herself by grabbing onto the open car door. She ran through the dogs that had eagerly emerged to greet her, pushing their snouts out of her way and hoping they would close in on Cooper and slow him down.

She opened the front door and slammed through the screen door. It banged loudly behind her.

“Hey!” Madeline said, appearing with a basket of laundry. “What’s wrong?”

Emma didn’t respond as she took the stairs up, two at a time. She was panicked, her breath coming in painful gulps. She had to get the other medal out of her bag before Cooper saw it. She had no doubt he’d follow her up this time, no doubt that he was right behind her.

In her room, she fell to her knees and reached under her bed. Damn it—she’d pushed it far underneath and had to wiggle partially under the bed to get her hand on it. She grabbed the handle and pulled it out, popping up—

“Shit,” she muttered.

She was too late. Cooper was at the door of her room, his hand gripping the frame. “What’s the matter?” he asked, only slightly out of breath. “Is there a fire?”

“This is my room! You can’t come in here!”

“I’m already in,” he said, and stepped inside. His hands were on his waist again, and he nodded at the bag. “What’s that?” He lifted his gaze to hers. “What’s in there?”

He asked it so suspiciously that she wondered if he knew just how crazy she was. “What do you think?” she asked bitterly.

“Nothing would surprise me. Let’s have it, Emma. Give me the medal.”

“Just wait out—”

“No,” he said.

Emma groaned. Or did she whimper? She was dazed with anxiety as she unzipped her bag and plunged her hand inside, her fingers rummaging, trying to find the box. But she had so many things in that bag, she couldn’t find it.

“What are you doing?” he asked as she swept her hand blindly along the bottom of the bag.

“I’m looking.”

“You’re wasting time,” he said, and moved forward, as if he meant to take her leather tote.

With a gasp, she grabbed her tote and held it closer. “I have a lot of things in here. Will you stop pressuring me?”

“Look, I just want to get out of here—”

Emma suddenly surged up onto her knees and dumped the bag upside down onto the bed. The evidence of her depravity tumbled out of it, falling and bouncing on the lumpy bed. All of it. Ties and tie clips. Medals and pens. The panties she’d stuffed into this bag.

She risked a look at Cooper. He was looking at the pile curiously, not understanding what the strange hodgepodge was. But as Emma sorted through it, looking for the box, his expression changed, sliding from confused to shocked.