"This is the most amazing kitchen I've ever seen." She reverently ran her fingers along the cool granite, tracing every vein of color.

"Thanks. I did most of the work myself when I remodeled after my parents moved to Florida."

There were already two gla.s.ses on the counter next to an open bottle of wine. Wade poured a generous amount, the deep, rich color of the red wine swirling into the gla.s.ses. He handed Sydney one of them, raising his own and clinking it against hers before taking a drink.

"Is there anything you can't do?" She took a long sip, savoring the woody, plum flavor. Sydney moved around to the stove to peek into one of the pots. Lifting the lid, she saw a delicious red sauce bubbling inside.

"I can't crochet. My hands are like baseball mitts, according to my mother." He waggled his fingers playfully at her. "Or dance, I don't dance." Sydney laughed, remembering back to the night of the festival and what he had said to Agnes when she suggested he dance. It was nice to know he'd been truthful and hadn't made an excuse to escape.

While he drained the pasta, Sydney drank more of her wine, loving the warm feeling that was spreading through her body. It could have been from the drink or Wade, it didn't matter. She felt the tension and worry slowly leaving her body. This time she initiated the contact between them when she reached around him and snagged a piece of spaghetti from the strainer.

"Don't worry, I'm a great dancer." She popped the noodle into her mouth as she leaned back against the counter. "I'll teach you."

"I can't wait," he said with a wolfish smile that made Sydney both excited and nervous.

Working side by side in the kitchen, they put the finishing touches on dinner. It was amazing how comfortable they were together. Sydney set the table while Wade laid out the food. The square shaped table was cozy and intimate, especially when Sydney put the place settings side by side rather than across the table from one another. If she was going to have this date, then for one night, she was going to enjoy herself, and the closer she was to Wade, the better.

When they finally sat down, Wade filled her plate. Each bite was more delicious than the next. Flavors exploded in her mouth, and it was intoxicating knowing that he had gone through so much trouble for her.

"This is amazing, Wade. Thank you."

"I'm glad you came. I know Melissa didn't give you all the details on the auction before you entered and you could have said no." For just a second he lowered his defenses and she could see his vulnerability.

With a sincere smile she said, "I don't think Melissa would have left for Europe until she forced us into this date."

"Forced?" he asked with a smile.

"Coerced is probably a better word." Feeling happier than she had in a long time, she raised her wine gla.s.s. "To Melissa and her brilliant ideas." She knew she'd remember this night for the rest of her life and she had Melissa to thank for it.

They spent hours talking and laughing about everything from movies, to music, to the people in town. Their time together flew by. It was great to see him so animated. It was a side of him she hadn't seen before. He shared a lot about his family and she shared pieces of her past, without giving too much away. A part of her wanted to lay it out a the whole ugly truth. There was something about him that made her want to open up and trust him, but she knew it couldn't happen. For a second she allowed herself to think that a relationship with Wade was possible, but then reality rushed back in. They were pathetic fantasies and she knew it, but it felt good to think about frivolous things for a change. All the darkness seemed so far way when she was with Wade.

In the middle of their evening, Sydney's phone beeped. She did her best to ignore it, angry that she hadn't turned it off completely, but if there was a problem with Faith, she wanted to make sure she could be reached at any time. There was no way she could stand to be completely cut off from her daughter. She apologized, but Wade understood her need to stay connected to Faith and didn't seem bothered in the least. When she checked the message, they both were relieved to see it was from Melissa. She sent a picture of the St. Louis Arch, a.s.sured them she was fine and sent her love.

"She has always loved an adventure." Wade laughed as he took the last of the dinner dishes and rinsed them in the sink.

"I can imagine running around with you and her brother kept her on her toes and prepared her well for this trip."

"You have no idea."

AFTER DINNER, THEY WENT outside, where Wade led her to a porch swing that was tucked off in the shadows. He lit a few candles on the small table and placed a blanket across her legs as they finished the bottle of wine in the crisp fall air.

"You're so lucky," she murmured turning to snuggle closer to him for warmth. It was impossible to keep from smiling when he slipped his arm around her shoulder and held her tight against his side. Sydney just hoped the darkness would hide her reaction from him a little.

"Why?" he whispered against her temple.

"Because you have all of this." She waved her gla.s.s at the house and the property. "You have a town that adores you, a supportive family, you enjoy your job, and we've already established you're good at just about everything." His chest shook with laughter.

"I like this," he said softly looking out into the dark.

"What?" Sydney murmured softly.

"This. Here. With you."

It was as if the world around them had gone silent at his words. After all the months of wanting him, she finally had him all to herself. As Sydney looked up at him, she found herself holding her breath, waiting for what might come next. His eyes were intense and sparkled in the moonlight that played across his face. Eyes that were staring at her lips.

"Wade." She managed to exhale his name before he kissed her, the rich flavor of the wine mixing with his own intoxicating taste. Though his lips moved gently, she could feel the power in his body that he was holding back. This kiss was nothing like the last one. It was so hot Sydney could feel herself burning up under his touch. His hand knotted in her hair, pulling her even closer to deepen the kiss. Sydney felt like the world was spinning and grabbed onto his shirt to ground herself on Earth.

Then, as quickly as it began, it ended. Immediately she felt the loss of their connection. While she tried to regain her composure, Wade stood up and stared off into the dark as if looking for something. His body language had changed from relaxed to edgy in a matter of seconds, and it startled her. Sydney stepped behind him, wrapping the blanket around her arms.

"What's wrong?" She heard the distant rustle of twigs snapping and that tingle of awareness she had went down her spine. Had someone been out there, watching them?

Wade tried to shrug it off, wrapping an arm around her and kissing the top of her head. "Nothing, just a deer. Probably a buck." Another woman might have fallen for his act, but Sydney had been on the run long enough to know when danger was close and she felt it in her gut like Wade did. She scanned the trees, looking for the source of their unease but whoever it was had left.

"Come inside," Wade said as he slipped his hand into hers and led her toward the door.

The danger had pa.s.sed but Sydney's heart was racing as Wade pinned her against the doorframe with his much larger body. There was something raw and powerful about Wade that Sydney found irresistible, even if it wasn't a good idea. Instead of being cautious, she made the dangerous choice to play with fire. "I am a little chilly."

"I think I know a few ways to warm you up," he said in a low, s.e.xy drawl that gave her gooseb.u.mps. He ushered her inside, locking the door behind them.

They didn't make it any farther than the entryway before he captured her mouth again. Strong hands settled on her hips then wandered over the curves of her body. In their wake was a burning trail, mapping his progress across her skin. Sydney's arms locked around Wade's neck, pulling them closer together, desperate for more contact. She longed to feel every inch of his rock hard body against hers. She'd dreamt about this countless nights, but the reality blew all those dreams away. There was something erotic about the way his muscles responded to her touch as she, too, explored his body.

Without warning, she felt like the floor had dropped out from under her. Wade scooped her up into his arms as if she weighed less than a feather, and carried her to the couch, never losing contact with her lips. The fire and pa.s.sion built between them until Sydney was certain they'd both go up in flames. The b.u.t.tons on her shirt fell open and she couldn't tell if she had done it, or Wade. A flurry of hands and skin found each other, greedy for more. All the months of s.e.xual tension between them came to a head leaving them breathless and desperate for one another. Nothing could have stopped her from sleeping with Wade in that moment, nothing.

"s.h.i.t," Wade cursed as his phone started ringing on the table.

"Ignore it," Sydney gasped as his hand found her bare breast.

"Done." With a growl, Wade lowered his head and drew her nipple into his mouth. When his house phone joined and started clamoring, he let out a string of curses. "Don't move." He ran his hand through his hair in frustration, looking at her as she laid spread out on his couch like an offering, panting like she had just run a marathon. There was no controlling his anger when he picked up the phone.

"What?" he barked. Whatever he heard on the other end of the phone made his eyes lock on her like laser beams. Sydney started to panic. "Calm down. She's right here, why?"

What if he found out?

While he turned his back and asked a series of vague, short questions, Sydney frantically searched for her shirt and shoes. She tugged her disheveled hair into a ponytail and was ready to take off if he tried to take her in. He was s.e.xy, mouthwateringly gorgeous and made her hotter than any man ever had in her life, but she wasn't going to jail and she wasn't leaving Faith. She was horrified when she looked down into her hand and saw she had grabbed the paperweight off of the side table. How far was she willing to go to protect her secret? Horrified at her subconscious behavior, she dropped the gla.s.s weight to the floor with a thud. Wade gave her a confused look as he set down the phone.

"Sydney." He cautiously approached and settled himself into a crouch at her feet.

He knew. Everything about his body showed he was trying to be calm but she could tell that he was ready to explode with anger.

"You have to come with me."

"No." She was prepared to run when Wade's words changed everything.

"That was Cara."

"Cara?" Confusion was quickly replaced by panic. "Oh my G.o.d, is it Faith?" Sydney was on her feet before Wade stopped her and pulled her into his arms.

"Faith is fine, but Cara had quite a scare."

"Is she all right? Pete?" Something awful had happened. She could feel it in her gut. Wade calmly took her hands and Sydney braced herself for the news.

"There's been another murder."

AN HOUR LATER, WADE was still recovering from the sound of Cara screaming hysterically into the telephone, desperate to know that Sydney was all right. It took a few minutes for what she was saying to actually sink in, that a woman was dead behind the diner. A blonde. And he could only imagine how terrifying it was for Cara and Pete to see the woman and immediately wonder if it was Sydney or Melissa. After he calmed Cara down and spoke with Pete, he'd told Sydney what happened and watched her face go completely white at the news. She had immediately called Melissa for her own piece of mind and confirmed again that she was all right and over a hundred miles away from town in St. Louis. It wasn't until they pulled into Sydney's driveway that the color started to creep back into Sydney's face.

Once the shock had pa.s.sed, Sydney insisted on seeing Faith. Wade drove her home and led her upstairs where Agnes had already tucked the little girl into bed. When she saw the five-year-old curled up, safe and sound, she crawled beside Faith, wrapping her body protectively around her daughter and let her frightened tears fall. When she looked over her shoulder at Wade and with weepy eyes asked, "Will you come back?" he was lost to her. All he wanted to do was pull her and Faith into his arms and calm their fears. Forever.

"As soon as I can," he said as he wiped the small trail of tears from her cheek. "I promise."

Downstairs, Agnes offered to stay with them until Wade got back. She flashed him a Smith and Wesson to prove she had things covered and was able to protect the precious cargo sleeping upstairs. It shouldn't have made him feel better to know there was a seventy-five-year-old woman with a gun protecting Sydney, but it did. Agnes Whittman was a skilled markswoman and knew how to handle a firearm. If anything looked suspicious, she'd take care of it. Of that he was certain.

"Go. They'll be fine," she said ushering him out the door. "On a night like this I plan on shooting first and asking questions later, so make sure you identify yourself when you come back. Understand?"

"I think we've lost enough people. Don't you?" When Agnes simply raised an eyebrow at him he shook his head. "Fine. Do what you need to. Anything seems off, you call me."

"Certainly, Sheriff," she said with a wave of her gun. "Go find the b.a.s.t.a.r.d that's doing this."

"I'll find him."

As he pulled into the diner, a sense of dread washed over him. He'd spoken with Sam and was relieved to hear the woman wasn't anyone from town. That made him feel a bit better knowing he wouldn't be seeing a friend's body, but death was never easy to process. No matter how many times you see someone dead, their life taken prematurely, it was a difficult thing to swallow.

The flashing lights from the other police cars were a terrible beacon in the night across the parking lot of Pete's. Wade parked his car and walked to the side of the diner where two of his officers were talking. "Here he is," one said as he approached.

"What happened?" Wade asked, surveying the area around him. The weather had taken a turn, the bitter cold biting against his skin as the wind whipped past. Off to the side, Pete's car was parked diagonally with both doors open.

"It's awful. She's got stab wounds all over her, Wade. It's a nightmare back there," Sam, one of his deputies, said, his voice shaking. There hadn't been a murder in Elton, ever. So this was all new to Sam. Wade felt for him, but there was still work to be done so he pushed on.

"Who found her?"

"Pete and Cara, poor things. They're both in shock. What we know so far is that Melissa had left earlier in the evening for St. Louis so they closed up the diner at the usual time, alone. Pete and Cara went home for a while, but had to come back for something."

"Anything inside that might help us?" Both men refused to meet his eye. They were holding something back and it annoyed the h.e.l.l out of him. "What aren't you telling me?"

They awkwardly shook their heads. "Nothing, boss. It's just...well, Melissa left a note for Sydney that was kinda personal. She was asking Sydney about her date. With you." When Wade's only response was a cold stare that told them he had no intention of discussing Sydney or his date with them, both of the officers wisely dropped the potential line of inquiry and got back to work.

The deputies quickly gave him a rundown of the scene and who they had called already. Wade wondered if there was a link between this and the girl they found in Greenville.

He'd put it off for as long as possible. Now it was time for him to go to that place inside himself where he could shut off his emotions and objectively investigate the crime scene. He'd done it countless times overseas, but this was the first time he had to do it at home. As he turned to walk behind the diner, Sam grabbed his arm.

"It's bad."

Luckily, Wade was familiar with bad. He'd lived through bad and thought it ended when he came home, but obviously he was mistaken. He knew what Sam meant. He'd barely rounded the corner when he felt like he had been punched in the gut.

The scene turned his stomach. The woman's lifeless body was face down on the asphalt of the back parking lot. She was naked, her arms were splayed out and her legs were bent, making her look like a rag doll that had been dropped onto the floor. Her blonde ponytail fell over her face, hiding it from view. The police photographer was snapping pictures from various angles to doc.u.ment everything he could that might give them a clue as to what happened here. With each flash of the bulb, Wade noticed another detail.

She hadn't been killed here, there wasn't enough blood. The body had been dumped here, her murderer probably far away by now. But was he really? Two murders in a month, a town apart. If there was a pattern or a connection between their deaths, Wade was determined to find it.

Wade cleared his throat. "What've you found?"

"Not a heck of a lot. Melissa was supposed to close, but they let her leave shortly after you and Sydney took off, according to Pete. He and Cara locked up and left here around nine." He handed Wade a clear plastic bag with a sc.r.a.p of paper. "Melissa left this for Sydney." He recognized Melissa's handwriting from his countless diner tickets.

Syd, Hope you had a hot night with Wade and aren't still mad at me for the auction. He's a great guy and you're a great girl and I just wanted you to see what could be.

Love ya lots!

Melissa ps: Did you kiss him? I am dying to know and you better text me before they close the door on my plane or I'll kick your b.u.t.t all the way from Europe. Love you, Syd!

"Pete and Cara were getting ready for bed when he realized he forgot to take the breakfast sausage out of the freezer, so they headed back to the diner and that's when they found her." Sam shook his head. "I thought Pete was having a heart attack when he called the station. He thought it was Sydney. Cara heard him scream Syd's name and she apparently bolted from the car and took off around back. We found the two of them huddled together against the wall with their phone in hand. I think they were talking to you, Wade?"

Wade nodded his head. "Melissa had called them earlier to let them know she made it to St. Louis so when they came back to the diner, they saw the long blonde hair and thought it was Sydney, but she was still at my place. Sydney called Melissa right away while I kept them talking until I heard the sirens in the background and knew you guys were here with them."

"I take it you asked if Melissa saw anything unusual before she left the diner?" Sam asked, looking up from his notepad.

"She left shortly after we did and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Only three cars in the parking lot when she left, all of which she knew, and each one belonged to someone in the diner. No one lurking in the area, no cars parked on the side of the street. Her car was packed and ga.s.sed up for her trip so she left straight from here."

Everything that had been photographed was in plastic bags to protect any trace evidence from contamination. Unfortunately besides the body, there wasn't much that had been dumped with her to give Wade something to go on. A small pile of her clothing was tossed haphazardly beside her body along with a section of rope that appeared to have been tied around her feet. It had come loose and was lying a few inches from her, but other than that, there was nothing.

"Give me a minute." The deputy respectfully retreated around the corner, leaving Wade alone. In the quiet he looked down at her pale, lifeless form, wondering what kind of life this poor woman had been ripped away from and who was looking for her.

"Oh, honey. What happened to you?"

It took a few moments but Wade managed to collect his thoughts and focus. He noted multiple stab wounds on her back that were wet with what little blood she had left in her body. He carefully lifted the hair from her face and he could see a large welt on her forehead surrounded by several sc.r.a.pes and dried blood. She must have been slammed into something, probably to knock her unconscious, then stabbed repeatedly. The lack of defensive wounds on her hands and arms indicated the attacker took her down quickly. Whoever he was, he had made sure to kill her somewhere else, and left as little evidence as possible.

Using what he had, Wade reconstructed what might have happened, imagining the car pulling in the main entrance to the parking lot. He had probably kept her body in the trunk. Wade looked for any indications on the asphalt like tire tracks that might give them a car model for this b.a.s.t.a.r.d, but there was nothing. He'd probably pulled behind the building for cover, popped the truck and tugged her out, tossing the clothing out last. No other buildings backed up to Pete's Place, so the odds of someone seeing anything were slim to none, but they'd look into it, nonetheless. Maybe there was an unusual car driving around that caught someone's eye. He was definitely going to call Melissa again and see if there was anything she could add.

Wade walked around the area, searching for anything they might have missed. He was about to leave when a triangle of white caught his eye, something covered in some kind of liquid that must have oozed from the dumpster. On instinct, he gripped the corner with his fingertips touching as little of the paper as possible. He called for Sam and when he poked his head around the corner Wade asked for an evidence bag. If this was related to the case, he wasn't going to risk damaging the evidence by handling it too much. Of course whatever that foul stain was on the paper might have already destroyed everything. Sam ran over, holding the bag open while Wade gingerly slipped the paper inside.

"I'll go log this in." Sam disappeared, leaving Wade alone again with his thoughts.

It could have been Sydney. The irrational thought jumped into his mind until he couldn't escape it. It could have been a night she and Mel stayed late. They could have been closing up and she could have walked out to this psycho dumping a body behind the diner and then G.o.d only knows what would have happened to her. He glanced back and saw the blonde hair and for a split second, it was Sydney lying there on the ground. The anger it stirred in him was illogical, but real.

He had to push the thought from his mind before he hit something. Tonight had been the first time they'd been alone together, so he shouldn't be feeling so strongly about Sydney, but he did. The thought of anything happening to her threatened to send him into a blind rage. It also confused the h.e.l.l out of him.

"Wade. I think you need to see this." His deputy motioned him over, the evidence envelope still dangling from his fingers. In the distance, Wade could see the county coroner had arrived.

"I'll find the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who did this to you." He stifled his rising anger and focused on work. It was the only thing he could do that might make a difference for this woman and her family.

"What?" Wade held out his hand to the deputy.

"Did you look at this at all?"

Frayed nerves and strung out emotions got the better of him and he snapped. "No, I was busy. What's the problem?" Wade s.n.a.t.c.hed it from Sam's hand, careful not to damage the contents but his irritation was obvious in his body language.

"Flip it over."

When Wade did, his rage was replaced by confusion. He held the plastic bag closer to his face to get a better look. A figure was on the paper which now looked to be a photograph. Some of the liquid had oozed off the image and was starting to collect at the bottom of the baggie. With his thumb he wiped a little more off through the plastic. When he did, he nearly dropped the bag.

A face took shape.