Free Coyote by Rhonda Roberts

owe me big time — and they know it.’
    â€˜When did you arrive?’
    He stared into my eyes hard. ‘Six hours ago. But I changed first; I wanted that SS uniform off me as fast as possible.’
    That meant he’d come here straight from the debriefing. How did he even know how to find me straight out of the portal?
    Honeycutt lounged back against the windowsill, just behind me. I swung my chair around and my knees almost touched his. Daniel stared down at me, his blazing eyes saying more than I could read. All I knew was what I felt. An overwhelming desire to run my mouth across his …
    I shook my head. I had to take my time with this. He was like playing with plastic explosives — I wasn’t sure I could recover from this one.
    Daniel slid his arms forwards, straining his black T-shirt against his chest, and firmly held the arms of my chair with his long, muscular fingers. ‘We need to talk, darlin’.’
    His body language said we needed to do something else entirely.
    Â 
    We both heard it at the same time. Footsteps down the hallway; the front door opened.
    Honeycutt went on alert. ‘Are you expecting someone?’ He must be still edgy from his mission.
    â€˜It’s okay.’ I swung my chair back to the door. ‘I’ll bet that’s my partner, Des Carmichael.’
    Des plunked his bag down on the secretary’s desk in the foyer, then came straight into my office. He scanned my face, then surveyed Honeycutt’s protective position next to my chair with amused interest.
    â€˜Daniel Honeycutt, I presume?’ Des stuck out his hand. ‘Glad to see you made it back in one piece, Marshal.’
    Honeycutt grabbed it and they shook with genuine pleasure.
    I blinked.
    Both men were prone to overly swift character judgements. But I could tell they each liked what they saw.
    Honeycutt kept silent while Des and I went over the case, just asking the occasional catch-up question. But as soon as he’d heard it was to search for a diary in old San Francisco he’d relaxed. He had to return to the NTA for more debriefing and then needed to catch a few hours’ sleep at his place in Marin County. We arranged to meet after that. He said he’d find me.
    Des and I locked up and went down to the street. The rain had subsided from a deluge to a heavy shower. We were both heading home to Half Moon Bay, on the coast just south of San Francisco. Des rented a place near the little seaside town; my beach house was further south.
    Des got into his car, then rolled down the window and beckoned me over. The rain was slanting in his window, so I held my umbrella over us both. ‘You know, Kannon, I like your Marshal Honeycutt.’
    â€˜He’s not my anything, Des!’ I snapped. Then felt confused at my reaction.
    â€˜Well, that’s not what Honeycutt intends.’ He smirked at the thought.
    I didn’t reply. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I was more than relieved to see Daniel well and whole, but … now that I was confronted with it, the thought of opening up again made my chest ache.
    Des smiled at my indecision. ‘That’s right, Kannon, you’d better be bloody sure about Honeycutt before you start anything.’
    â€˜Not again!’ I rolled my eyes. ‘Cease with the Ice Age dating tips, Des … please!’
    He’d got sick of watching me grieve over losing Alex and had taken to giving me regular ‘Get back onthe horse’ pep talks. And they were usually uttered in frank enough language to feel like blunt force trauma. When Des felt you needed to know something he didn’t hold back.
    â€˜Some things never change, Kannon. And I recognise the look your Marshal Honeycutt has …’ Des nodded to himself. ‘Yeah, you’d better be sure. Because I don’t think this one will let you go … not once he has you.’
    â€˜I’m not rushing into anything, Des.’