An Officer and a Maverick Read online

  The Curious Case of Detective Dreamy

  RUST CREEK RAMBLINGS

  By now, you’ve all heard about Lani Dalton, everyone’s favorite Ace in the Hole bartender. Observed singing and dancing fully clothed in the park fountain on the Fourth of July, she was hauled off to jail dripping wet by dashing detective Russ Campbell. Readers, what would you do if you found yourselves in the strong arms of the law?

  Since then, Lani’s been reluctant to revisit the Case of the Spiked Wedding Punch. Because helping the arrestingly handsome Russ crack the case could risk breaching family confidentiality—and Lani never breaks a promise! So why does Russ keep showing up at the Ace? We at the Gazette would never kiss and tell, but reports of Lani and Russ’s mutual distrust are greatly exaggerated...

  “I’m sorry. That was wrong.”

  Lani blinked at him, trying to focus her fuzzy brain. “Why?”

  “I’m an officer of the law. Using a position of power to take advantage of you is the very definition of sexual harassment. You have every right to be upset.”

  Upset? Lani wasn’t the least bit upset. Russ had finally noticed her! He’d kissed her, and it had felt really, really good. She wanted him to notice her some more. “I’m not upset.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t blame you if you added sexual harassment to that false imprisonment complaint.”

  “Why did you really stop?” She slid closer, until their thighs were touching and her arm brushed his. The heat of just that small contact threatened to make her go up in flames.

  “I’ve sworn to uphold the law. There are rules.” His voice was ragged and he was breathing hard.

  So was she. And right this moment she didn’t give a flying fig about rules.

  * * *

  MONTANA MAVERICKS:

  What Happened at the Wedding?

  A weekend Rust Creek Falls will never forget!

  Dear Reader,

  Brothers can be a challenge. Growing up with four of them gave me firsthand experience with this perspective. They could be obnoxious and took a ridiculous amount of pleasure from teasing their sister. Now I realize those trials and tribulation are what built character—mine. From an adult point of view I can say unequivocally that brothers are worth the trouble. Mine sure are.

  A few years ago my husband had a medical crisis and was hospitalized. He’s fine now but it was touch and go for a while. Questions came up—legal, medical, financial—and talking things through with men whose opinions I value so much was extraordinarily comforting during a very stressful and difficult time. My brothers listened, and that helped more than they will ever know.

  In An Officer and a Maverick, Lani Dalton gets herself into legal and romantic hot water because of a promise she made to her older brother. She refuses to break her word and reveal his secret, even though it could cost her the man she loves. Russ Campbell believes in the whole truth in spite of the fact that getting it cost him everything. Working with Lani to solve the Rust Creek Falls mystery brings these two strong, stubborn, opinionated people together, but falling in love was never part of their bargain.

  I loved telling Lani’s story. Her conflict of loyalty resonated with me because of the close relationship I share with my own brothers. I did my best to do her story justice, and I hope you enjoy it.

  Happy reading!

  An Officer and a Maverick

  Teresa Southwick

  Teresa Southwick lives with her husband in Las Vegas, the city that reinvents itself every day. An avid fan of romance novels, she is delighted to be living out her dream of writing for Harlequin.

  Books by Teresa Southwick

  Harlequin Special Edition

  The Bachelors of Blackwater Lake

  A Decent Proposal

  The Rancher Who Took Her In

  One Night with the Boss

  Finding Family...and Forever?

  Montana Mavericks: 20 Years in the Saddle!

  From Maverick to Daddy

  Mercy Medical Montana

  Her McKnight in Shining Armor

  The Doctor’s Dating Bargain

  Montana Mavericks: Back in the Saddle

  The Maverick’s Christmas Homecoming

  Montana Mavericks: The Texans are Coming!

  Her Montana Christmas Groom

  Men of Mercy Medical

  The Doctor and the Single Mom

  Holding Out for Doctor Perfect

  To Have the Doctor’s Baby

  Cindy’s Doctor Charming

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

  To my brothers—Jim, Mike, Dan and Chris.

  Thanks for always being there. You’re my heroes. I love you guys!

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Ransom Canyon by Jodi Thomas

  Chapter One

  Fourth of July

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if someone strips naked and jumps in the park fountain,” Lani Dalton said out loud, to no one in particular.

  And no one in particular paid any attention to her, what with all the partying going on around her at the wedding reception. Everyone was having a really good time. Braden Traub had married Jennifer MacCallum, and there was little that folks in Rust Creek Falls liked more than celebrating a happy occasion. And wow, were they celebrating!

  It looked as if the colors of American independence had exploded all over Rust Creek Falls Park. Picnic tables were covered by red-and white-checkered oilcloth covers, while red and blue tarps had protected people from the afternoon sun, although it had gone down a while ago. Fireworks had been shot off but people were still hanging around, dancing, talking, laughing and drinking wedding punch.

  She’d just finished two-stepping with her brother and figured there was something weird going on for that to have happened. Nothing said relationship loser like dancing with your brother. Anderson was her favorite, but still... After chug-a-lugging her fourth—or was it fifth?—cup of punch, she felt a little light-headed. Sitting down suddenly seemed like an awfully good idea.

  Walking around and searching for an empty seat, she wasn’t watching where she was going. As a result, she ran into what felt like a brick wall and was nearly knocked onto her backside.

  Strong hands reached out and steadied her. “You okay?”

  Lani was pretty sure that voice belonged to Russ Campbell, a detective from Kalispell who filled in sometimes to help out Sheriff Gage Christensen here in Rust Creek Falls. She felt a familiar quiver of attraction lick through her as she looked up to confirm her suspicion. “Detective Dreamy.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Lani Dalton.” She pointed at herself. “I work part-time at the Ace in the Hole, the local bar and grill. You’re Russ Campbell.”

  “I know.”

  “I know you know who you are.” She giggled and that surprised her because she wasn’t normally a
giggler. “I meant that I know who you are and was introducing myself to you. Lani Dalton,” she said again.

  “Okay.”

  “Not much of a talker, are you?”

  The sheriff was short a deputy and Russ filled in at least once or twice a week. That’s about how often he came into the bar but he never really paid much attention to her. She, however, had definitely noticed him. He was tall and broad-shouldered with thick, wavy brown hair and hazel eyes that didn’t miss a thing. Except her.

  He was nice-looking, but if you happened to catch a glimpse of one of his rare grins, he was absolutely adorable. As far as she knew—and she’d asked about him—no female in Rust Creek Falls or anywhere else for that matter was on the receiving end of those smiles.

  “Okay, then.” He cleared his throat and continually scanned the crowd of people who were getting happier by the minute. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have to keep moving.”

  After months of being ignored, Lani had finally struck up a conversation. Sort of. It was an opportunity, and she wanted it to go on.

  “Are you here for the bride or groom?” she asked.

  “What?”

  “Are you a friend of the bride or groom?”

  “Neither.” He indicated the gold shield hooked to the belt at the waist of his worn jeans. “I’m working. Sheriff Christensen hired me to help with crowd control.”

  Looking way up at him, his features seemed to blur and she swayed a little. Again, his hands reached out to steady her. She couldn’t help noticing his arms, where the sleeves of his black T-shirt stretched across impressive biceps. It was swoon-worthy—that must be why she was a little woozy.

  “Wow, you’re really strong. And your reflexes are really good.” Did she just say that? It wasn’t like her to say whatever popped into her head.

  He was already frowning, but her words seemed to turn the frown into a scowl. “I think you should lay off the liquor.”

  “All I had was punch from the reception, and they said it was some concoction with sparkling wine. No hard alcohol allowed in the public park. You should know that. So I haven’t had any liquor to speak of. I swear,” she said, raising her hand, palm out. “That’s the thing. I work at the bar but I hardly ever drink alcohol. Am I talking too much?”

  “Uh-huh.” His tone was unnecessarily sarcastic. “Let’s find you a place to sober up.”

  “I’m not drunk. And I was looking for a place to sit when you ran into me.”

  “For the record, you ran into me,” he said.

  She shook her head—that was a big mistake. “I don’t think so.”

  “Take my word for it.” His mouth tightened as he scanned the tables and didn’t spot an empty place. “Let’s go over here.”

  She felt his fingers on her arm as he led her through a maze of people who moved for him as if he was Moses parting the Red Sea. “Where are you taking me?”

  “To the park fountain. The edge is wide enough to sit on, and it’s cooler there.”

  They were passing the last of the tables when she saw her older brother Travis chatting up a pretty blonde who Lani happened to know was dating a hot-tempered, jealous cowboy. She would have warned him off, but Detective Dreamy had her in a pretty tight grip. And she spotted her other brother Anderson moving in. He would make sure Travis didn’t do anything stupid.

  “Here you go,” Russ said after they crossed the open grassy area then reached the fountain that was spewing water in the center. “Have a seat.”

  Lani did and set her flag-stamped cup beside her. “Thank you, Detective.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Ma’am? She was a generic female who could be anywhere from nineteen to ninety-five? Seriously? She knew he was on duty, but it wouldn’t hurt him to work on his people skills. Honestly, sometimes she wondered why she was attracted to him at all. Except he was pretty cute, and she’d seen him at the bar, chatting up other people and making them laugh. Apparently, he just wasn’t that into her. Well, she wasn’t into being called ma’am.

  “You can call me Lani. I’m not crazy about sweetie, honey or babe. But please don’t ever call me ma’am. It’s like nails on a chalkboard.”

  “Understood.”

  Loud voices suddenly cut through the general celebratory hum of activity. They were coming from the direction where Anderson had just walked. Skip Webster, the jealous cowboy, was arguing with Travis, who was trying to back away. Then the cowboy took a swing when Travis wasn’t looking. Instead of turning the other cheek, his fists came up to retaliate. Anderson stepped between them to defuse the situation. The other man punched him, and Anderson lashed out with a fist, a knee-jerk reaction.

  Skip went down then started shouting for help. He spotted Russ and hollered for an immediate arrest.

  “I have to go,” Russ said.

  Lani had a bad feeling. “What are you going to do?”

  “Arrest that guy for assault and battery.”

  That guy would be her brother Anderson, and that wasn’t good anytime, but he had a personal legal issue pending. An arrest wouldn’t work in his favor considering he was going to try to get custody of a child he’d just learned he had. Detective Russ Campbell was headed toward that ruckus unless she did something to stop him. Whatever it was had to be loud and immediate.

  She heard the water gushing from the middle of the fountain behind her and did the first thing that popped into her mind, which was clearly becoming a habit tonight. She jumped into the water then gasped at the cold liquid soaking the bottom of her skirt. Russ looked at her as if she was nuts then started toward the arguing men. She couldn’t think how else to stop him, so she started belting out “Firework,” her favorite Katy Perry song, which certainly made her more of a spectacle!

  Well, good. Anything to help Anderson...

  At the same time she smacked the water, sending a wave over the edge that hit Russ’s back. When he turned, she added some dance moves to go with the song.

  He walked over and stopped in front of her. “Please come out of there, ma’am.”

  Now she was just mad and used both hands to shower him with water. Satisfaction circled through her when he swiped a hand over his wet face, and she sang even louder. Surprisingly, she was enjoying herself.

  “Okay, you’ve had your fun.” Russ was using his I’m-the-law voice. “The show here is over.”

  But it seemed no one was listening to him. A few people were stopping to see what the disturbance was all about. Lani appreciated her fan club, especially because Russ kept glancing over at her brothers and Skip Webster, who was still demanding justice at the top of his lungs. Officer Campbell was clearly dying to give it to him—at the expense of her brother. She couldn’t let that happen and had to up her game.

  “Come on in, the water’s fine.” She waved to the few onlookers who seemed to like the idea of a dip in the fountain.

  “Whoa,” Russ said, putting his hands up to warn them off. He sent a glare in her direction. “That’s inciting public disorderliness. If you don’t come out of there voluntarily, I’m going to have to arrest you.” He glanced over his shoulder again.

  Lani didn’t much like the idea of going to jail, but better her than Anderson. She didn’t have any legal problems, although that could be about to change.

  “I dare you to come in and get me, Detective Dreamy.”

  Russ reached out to grab her, and the frown on his face deepened when she backed up and eluded him. “Come on, Lani. Out of the water.”

  “You’re not the boss of me.”

  “As it happens, I am. I told you already, Gage brought me in for crowd control, what with the wedding and Fourth of July celebrations going on at the same time.” He looked around at the happier-than-normal people scattered throughout the park. “And it was obviously the right call.”


  “You look hot under the collar.” Although he wasn’t actually wearing a collared shirt, or technically a uniform. But there was something about his ensemble of choice. The black T-shirt, jeans and boots made him about as hot as a man could get.

  “Doesn’t he look hot?” she said to the crowd around the fountain.

  “Cool him off,” someone called out.

  “Okay.” She sent walls of water at him as hard and fast as she could. Not much connected, though, on account of her keeping her distance so he couldn’t grab her. The physical effort had her staggering, and she almost slipped.

  “That does it,” he said impatiently. “I’m arresting you for drunk and disorderly conduct.”

  “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me, Detective.” Until a few minutes ago it was practically the only thing he’d ever said with the possible exception of could you get me a beer.

  His expression went from grim to really grim as he stepped over the edge into the fountain. Lani winced at what the water would do to those leather boots. Well, it couldn’t be helped. This was for Anderson. She backed away from the advancing lawman while one person started chanting, “Lani! Lani!”

  With the water choppy from their movements, it was hard to dodge him. He was bigger, stronger and faster, so she couldn’t get away indefinitely. But the longer she could keep his attention focused on her, the better.

  She backed up a step, and her sandal hit a slick spot on the bottom of the fountain. Down she went, not completely underwater, but enough to soak the top of her dress and ruin her hair. A second later Russ was right there in front of her, holding out a big hand to help her up. She wasn’t sure where the idea came from but at this moment she didn’t really care. After putting her hand in his palm, she yanked forward with all her strength. He was already off balance and fell on top of her.

  “Damn it,” he sputtered. “You’re under arrest—”

  “So you said.” She brushed the hair out of her face.

  He gripped her arm and tugged her up with him when he stood. “You have the right to remain silent but there’s probably a snowball’s chance in hell of that happening.”