Finding Forever (Smoky Mountain Lawmen Book 1) Read Free Page B

t-shirt and sniffed loudly.  She felt like she was in the
middle of a nightmare.  Diana was dead !  It just didn’t seem possible. 
Especially not this way.  Diana was a sweet woman who was doing her best to
help her son have every advantage he could to live in a world that to him was
overwhelming.
    And
poor Caleb!  His mother and grandmother were his world.  Without Diana, Gemma
feared that Caleb would sink further inside himself to a point where Marcie
wouldn’t be able to reach him.
    She
vaguely became aware of strong arms surrounding her.  Gemma looked up to find
herself eye level with Agent Davidson’s strong neck.  She followed the solid
line of his jaw up to his remarkable eyes.  Through her haze she marveled at
how clear they were.  The color was nearly solid with no flecks of brown or
gold marring their clear blue-green surface.
    He
reached one hand around to brush her hair away from her face.
    “Are
you alright?” he asked.
    Gemma
let the smooth whiskey tones of his voice wash over her and push away some of
the grief.  It helped her pull herself together and focus.  She needed to help
Caleb and the best way she could do that right now was to help Ben and Tristan
find his mother’s killer.
    She
nodded and pushed him back enough that she could stand.  “I’ll be okay.”  She
lifted a foot to step around him—she needed to move if she was going to keep
the restless energy that now filled her at bay—but she never got the chance to
set it down.  Instead, she found herself whisked off the ground by the same
strong arms that just seconds ago had been wrapped around her.
    “Agent
Davidson!”  Gemma clasped her arms around his neck on instinct.  “Put me down!”
    “There’s
glass all over the floor.  And it’s Ben.”  His boots crunched over the broken
glass as he carried her out of the kitchen to the living room where he
deposited her on the couch.
    “Where’s
your broom?”
    “Let
me grab some slippers.”  She started to rise, but he gently pushed her back
down. 
    “Sit. 
I’ll get it.  Now, where’s the broom.”
    Gemma
took one look at the hard cast to his face and decided not to argue.  They must
teach them that look at basic training.  She’d seen the same look on Tristan
numerous times in the last decade.  “There’s a mudroom off the back of the
kitchen.  It’s in the closet in there.”
    He
pointed a finger at her.  “Don’t move.  We need to talk about your friend.”
    Gemma
nodded and sank into the cushions.
    When
he returned a few minutes later he had the file, a bottle of whiskey, and two
tumblers with him.  He wordlessly laid the file on the coffee table and handed
her one of the tumblers.  Gemma gratefully accepted the amber liquid he poured
into it.  She needed the fortification for this discussion and took a hearty
gulp.
    Ben
took a sip of his own whiskey before settling back against the couch.  “Was
there anyone she’d mentioned lately?  Someone, new in her life or that had made
an impression—bad or good?  Or anyone from her past that had resurfaced?” he
asked, jumping right in.
    Gemma
took a deep breath and thought back.  “She did mention a man she’d met.  She
said they’d made plans to go out for dinner after she got back from her
conference.” 
    Ben
frowned.  “Tell me about him.  Did you ever meet him or see a picture?  Did she
tell you his name?”
    “She
didn’t say much about him, but that’s not unusual for her.  She didn’t date
much because of Caleb and tended to be very private.  She did say that dinner
date was going to be their first real date.  As far as his name she only gave
me a first name—Andrew.  I never saw a picture, but I did ask her what he
looked like.  It could be any man, though, Ben.  Light brown hair, average
height, average build, white.  That’s all I know.”  God, she wished she could
help more.  Diana was so secretive, but she’d had reason to be.  Her ex-husband
had