Free The Art of Love and Murder by Brenda Whiteside Page B

slant to her eyes.
    Lacy gawked at Chance. “Sheriff?” The dark and dangerous bad boy image might be blown.
    He nodded at her then at the waitress. “Hi, Laura. Didn’t know you worked here.”
    “This is my second week.” The young waitress glanced at her again with a sweet smile, looked at Chance and pinched her lips together as if suppressing a grin. “I’m still working at the Grand View and here part time. Until my husband gets a job.”
    “Did you and the jerk get home okay last night?” He darted a glance at Lacy. “Her pet name for him, not mine.”
    “Thank you, we did.” She rolled her eyes, opened her mouth then looked as if no more should be said on the matter. She raised her brows and flicked her eyes toward Lacy.
    “Laura, this is Lacy Dahl. She’s visiting Flagstaff from Scottsdale where they light their walkways much better than we do.”
    “Nice to meet you, Ms. Dahl. I didn’t know the Meadowlarks had friends in Scottsdale. I have an aunt who lives there.”
    “Nice to meet you, Laura. I don’t think the Meadowlarks knew they had friends in Scottsdale either.”
    Laura blinked. “Huh?”
    Chance chuckled. “We’ve just met. Yesterday.”
    “Did you mean the Grand View Hotel, Laura? That’s where I’m staying.”
    “I clean rooms there. Do you like it?”
    “Yes, and don’t tell me about the ghosts.” She smiled and waggled a finger at her. “Seems everyone is convinced I’ll see one.”
    Laura stabbed the air with her ink pen. “I haven’t seen any, although one housekeeper tried to use it as an excuse for not putting a room back together properly.” She put a hand on her hip, mimicking the lazy maid. “I did clean the room. Must’ve been the ghost who made this mess.”
    She giggled. “I better get your order. What can I start you two out with?”
    “Your choice, Chance.” She closed her menu.
    “Give us the grilled flatbread and also the asparagus appetizers. And a bottle of the Teira Merlot.”
    “Great. Thanks, Sheriff.” Laura flashed them both a smile before moving to the next table.
    “So, you’re a sheriff?” She regarded him with a different slant. Dangerous and sheriff didn’t seem congruous. Phoebe might be disappointed she hadn’t met her first bad boy after all. So much for first impressions. No surprise. Reading men was not her forte. If she’d gotten nothing else out of her marriage, she’d learned that about herself.
    “Sheriff is what they call me.”
    “Were you walking the beat last night when you came to my rescue?”
    “I don’t walk a beat.” A chuckle cracked his serious expression.
    “Well, what do sheriffs do?”
    “I’m an elected official; the Coconino County sheriff. Most of what I do is—”
    “Ah, the man in charge. Of the whole county?”
    He shrugged, but he didn’t reply right away as Laura returned with their wine.
    The man in charge fit him. On the surface anyway. She still couldn’t help but feel she’d read something about him, more than merely a reserved personality.
    They gazed at each other as the young waitress poured the wine for him. He sipped and nodded his approval. She finished pouring and moved on.
    “Okay, Sheriff , I’m impressed. Elected official. How daunting.”
    “Daunting?”
    “I can’t say I’ve ever dined with a politician before.”
    “I’m far from a politician. I’m a sheriff, Lacy. Plain and simple.”
    Sheriff or not, plain and simple hardly described the man on the other side of the table. Something simmered below the surface. Maybe his calm exterior and his unreadable face had something to do with his job. Or not. His demeanor spoke to privacy, and she couldn’t imagine him campaigning, speaking to crowds, making promises and kissing babies.
    She lifted her glass. “Here’s to being in the right place at the right time.”
    He lifted his glass in the air, lifted his brows in a question.
    “You might have saved my life.” Although she’d been frightened last night, she