Propping a shoulder against the doorframe, he gave her his best shark’s smile. “That sounds fascinating. Tell me more. You can start with details, specific details.”
She leaned her hip against the railing with an impatient huff. He wasn’t sure if she was imitating him unconsciously or mocking him. Either way, the movement made his skin prickle with awareness. “Why do you care?”
“I’m a curious guy.”
Grace cleared her throat while muttering, “Stalker.”
“I prefer the term ‘future friend.’” He smirked, getting a strange charge from the way she narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re making this get-to-know-each-other phase much more difficult than it needs to be. Let me show you how it should be done. I’m Officer Hugh Murdoch, and I live in Monroe, Colorado.” He held out his hands in a ta-da! gesture. “Now you go.”
“My name is Grace Robinson.” She bit off the end of each word. “And you can kiss—”
“Okay!” Jules interrupted in a loud, fake-cheery voice.
“Can I go next?” Dee asked. “I’m Dee—”
“Nope. Remember, we don’t play Hugh’s games. They always end in tears.” Jules shot a warning glance at Grace, who offered her an apologetic grimace in response. Hugh watched the interplay with interest. Whatever Grace’s secrets were, he was sure that Jules was fully aware of them. From the expressions on the kids’ faces, they were in the loop, too. If the children knew, then surely Hugh could figure it out. “Now that introductions are done, maybe we should move this out of the doorway?”
“We could,” Hugh said, turning back to Grace. Every time he looked at her, her beauty kicked him in the face. “We could also continue sharing time.”
Grace’s shoulders drooped in a sigh as her gaze shifted to Theo. Hugh was instantly annoyed, and he opened his mouth to say something, anything that would bring her attention back to him. When that desire registered, he snapped his mouth shut. Why did this woman bring out the third-grade boy in him? What was he going to do next to get her attention? Tackle her in the sandbox?
The thought of tackling her, of feeling her under him, made his skin heat.
“As much as I’d love to do this whole interrogation thing again, could you just fill him in about me?” she asked Theo, sounding cranky. “I’ve been traveling for what feels like an eternity, and I’m tired. Jules, if you could just point in the direction of my room, I’d be forever grateful.”
“I’ll show you,” Jules said, turning toward her. When she started heading Grace’s way, Theo’s grip on her hand brought her to a halt. With a gentle smile that Hugh knew Theo, the prickly bastard, did not in any way deserve, Jules squeezed his fingers before pulling free and heading up the stairs with Grace in tow. Hugh couldn’t pull his eyes away until Grace was out of sight.
“What’s the story?” he asked, when the most perfect rear view he’d ever seen had disappeared.
“Why are you here?”
“That’s not the story.” Hugh sighed with exaggerated patience, and he heard one of the twins give an amused snort. Ty, most likely. “I’m talking about Grace’s story.”
Although Theo still didn’t look too happy, he relented. “High-school friend of Jules. Ex is a”—he glanced at the watching kids—“dirtbag.”
“No accent.”
“Moved a lot as a kid.”
“Military?”
“Flaky parents.”
“Most recent location?”
“Bangor, Maine.”
“None of that’s true.”
Theo shot him a look that told him to shut it, reminding Hugh of their fascinated audience—their fascinated, scared audience. His jaw tightened. If the kids knew what was really going on, that meant Not-Grace was involved in whatever mess Jules and her family had escaped, which meant it all fell under the same no-digging rule as Jules. When Theo had told him to stop investigating Jules, Hugh had let it go, despite his inner cop’s objections. He already knew that he wouldn’t be able to do the same with the beautiful woman who called herself Grace. Their hostile, yet intriguing, encounter had lasted just a few minutes, but that had been enough. Hugh’s interest was caught. He wouldn’t be able to rest until he knew who she really was. “Nope,” he said. “Not happening.”
“A word.” Theo jerked his head toward the door.
They descended the porch steps in mutual silence, as Hugh tried to hide the way pain shot through his thigh with each downward step. For whatever reason, going down stairs was even more painful than going up. They ended up next to Hugh’s pickup, out of earshot of the kids, who were now watching from the doorway.