Thank you, Delilah for sharing your blog with me today. It is my pleasure to be with you and your readers.

Where does that fit in today’s world of #metoo and the constant barrage of negativity, violent and crass behavior anywhere from our child’s sports games to all the way to the President? We have seen OJ Simpson, Chris Brown and most recently Rob Porter in the White House.

Civility is missing. Anger is the replacement. Our environment is ripe for abuse. A sobering statistic is 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men will experience severe intimate partner physical or sexual violence or stalking by an intimate partner.

With the #metoo movement going viral, we saw the tidal wave of support for victims. Women of all races, religions and economic backgrounds received encouragement to share their stories and when the courts allowed it, prosecute their offenders. It was often the case that an offender had multiple victims. The strength and power in numbers.

The #survivorspeaks movement created by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence is a lonely journey. Domestic violence occurs in the vacuum of a consenting adult relationship. The abuse takes place over months and years. The stigma rings like church bells. “Why doesn’t she leave?” Abused men suffer a double stigma. “Why doesn’t he leave? What a weak man that a woman could do that.”

In my many lives I was a collegiate date rape victim, an Emergency Medical Services first responder, and an advocate for victims of rape and domestic violence. I am also a wife and mother of sons and daughters. Where does the conversation start? Parents want to believe everything is going to be okay in the world they grow up in. In reality, their future is a minefield. My advice is to begin at the beginning.

Awareness. It begins early with teaching your child the names of their body parts and the understanding that some parts are private. Body secrets are never okay. No one should take pictures of your body parts. Teach them they will never be in trouble for telling a body secret. Teach them how to get out of a bad situation—scream, run, find a safe adult—police officer, firefighter, postal person, teacher and even a mom with a group of kids. The rules apply to people you know too. Importantly, there is a lot of discussion about good touches and bad touches. Sometimes an inappropriate touch will tickle or feel good. Without understanding that, every stigma is enhanced by guilt. If a child grows up with the understanding about their own body, they learn to set boundaries. Knowledge is power.

Teens have a growing need for greater understanding. Anyone can be a victim of domestic violence.

Victims of abuse do not bring it on themselves. They do not necessarily lack confidence. They are not a co-abuser. Abuse occurs when the abuser feels entitled to the power and control and uses verbal, physical or sexual abuse to get there. POWER AND CONTROL. THIS IS NEVER ABOUT LOVE.

Why stay? That’s the biggest question outsiders ask. An advocate and a provider of emergency care, I have seen many reasons. All I can understand. Love. They love the abuser. He or she wasn’t always like this. Stigma. What will people think. They want the relationship but not the abuse. A nice version of the abuser is very nice. Niceness creates a false sense of security. Isolation–abuser controls all aspects of the victim’s life. Fear to reach out to old friends. Depression. Retribution. Loss of custody. Don’t want to leave a pet. Every potential bad outcome of reporting is seen on TV, online and in the movies. They are caught in a vicious cycle with law enforcement. In some states, if an incident is called in and there is evidence of abuse, the abuser will go to jail. This occurs no matter what the victim says. The police know you didn’t fall down the stairs, walk into a door, or are so flexible that you reversed your hands to leave hand prints on your upper arms or cheeks. A police officer who arrives at the same address often, easily can become less attentive each time. They are keenly aware that one in three female and one in twenty male murder victims died from an intimate partner crime. The responders feel helpless when a victim returns over and over again. The victim is so tired, and they feel their options are few, but there is light at the end of this tragedy.

One phone call. One hand reaching out. For anonymous, confidential help available 24/7, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or 1-800-787-3224 (TTY) and Americans Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center International Toll-Free (24/7) 1-866-USWOMEN (879-6636).

*~*~*

I write Romantic Suspense, often using what I know. The journey to writer took a more twisting route. A mom of four, and wife of a fellow first responder, my life was filled to the brim. In 2001, New York was victim of a heinous terrorist attack. That day, I watched my husband leave and for the first time in his law enforcement career, I thought he wouldn’t come back. My oldest son, 11 at the time lost his innocence. He realized truly what daddy did. He got off the school bus and asked will Daddy die. In 2006, a parent’s nightmare, my youngest was diagnosed with Leukemia. I’m proud he is a survivor today. In 2010, my health declined. A stent in the main coronary artery, followed by a tumor on my kidney, followed by a Lupus diagnosis and two strokes–on either side of the front of my brain left me reeling. Unable to read more than a newspaper headline, I began an arduous rehabilitation. Add mega-doses of steroids to alter dreams and play with sleep, I started to create a story. Ian Chase came to me in a wildly, wicked dream.

I’d like to introduce you to the results of that effort. Secure Desire: A Chase Group Story. The story is the opening of a series about the men and women of the Chase Group. Designed by Billionaire brothers Ian and Kieran Chase, a high octane venture capital company stakes a private security company that takes on cases where justice has been skewed. This first novel tells the story of Chase Group CEO Ian Chase, and Art Historian/FBI agent, Cassie Ellis. Six years after a first meeting, their paths cross for the second time, Ian leads his personnel to save Cassie and in turn the future of the United States. Part romance, part thriller, filled with political intrigue and modern medicine, Secure Desire is a cover to cover page-turner. Secure Again will be coming soon.

Visit me at https://www.rldunnauthor.com. Ask a question or leave a comment. Include you are from Delilah Devlin’s blog and three of you will have a chance to receive your choice of a piece of jewelry from the five (5) dollar collection at 8thaveemeralds.com (No purchase required.)

Autumn is my favorite time of year. Crisp air, bright colors, and I can wear my favorite sweaters without having an instant hot flash!

I’m a knitter so when I get my words done for the day I can be found in front of a good movie or binge watching a new series, sipping my favorite coffee or tea.

We’ve been blessed with two baristas in the Krotow family, one of which is my husband. He makes me a London Fog and I have to tell you, it’s the best non-coffee hot drink I’ve ever had. You don’t need an espresso machine or frother for this, either. A little handheld battery whip or frother is nice, but again, not necessary.

Here’s how I like my London Fog:

Steamed Milk (you can heat it in the microwave, just make sure to stir it so that you don’t get burned)
Brewed Earl Grey tea (or any other favorite tea)
Vanilla syrup (I like all natural, without corn syrup)

Pick out your favorite mug from your cupboard, which is probably way neater than mine.

Brew the tea of your choice according to instructions. Usually for black tea it’s best to steep it for 3-5 minutes.

Steam/heat the milk. If you can, froth it with a frother or whip.

Add vanilla syrup to your taste, to the hot tea. I like the bare minimum, as I enjoy the full flavor of the tea. But a lot of folks love tablespoons of the stuff. Do whatever works for you! Stir.

Top with steamed milk.

Enjoy with a great book or pair of knitting needles. Preferably both!

Thanks for having me! It’s always great to connect with Delilah Devlin readers. You all rock!

Peace,
Geri

The Pregnant Colton Witness

One night of passion with Officer Nash Maddox left Dr. Patience Colton breathless—and pregnant! The two are unexpectedly reunited when Patience becomes a witness to a murder and K-9 cop Nash rushes to her rescue, along with his canine companion. The two will stop at nothing to protect their growing family, but a killer has other ideas

THE COLTONS OF RED RIDGE Harlequin™ Romantic Suspense Continuity
Buy Links:
Amazon
https://amzn.to/2Ip32d2
Nook
https://bit.ly/2OWwsle
Apple Books
https://apple.co/2RalKZE
Google Play
https://bit.ly/2DEq8h4
Kobo
https://bit.ly/2R8B0Xh

About the Author

Geri Krotow is the bestselling author of the Silver Valley PD series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense, and the Bayou Bachelors series with Kensington Lyrical Caress. A U.S. Naval Academy graduate and Intelligence Officer, Geri left her Naval career to pursue writing. Geri enjoys creating sexy contemporary romances and tingling suspense.

Geri loves to connect with readers!

Please sign up for her newsletter: https://gerikrotow.com/contact/

Find Geri on Social Media!
https://www.facebook.com/gerikrotow
https://twitter.com/GeriKrotow
https://www.pinterest.com/gerikrotow/
https://www.instagram.com/geri_krotow/

A Quick Note about CONTESTS!

These contests are still open!

1. 1. 1 Day to Hook — Meet Cochise (Contest)
   2. 2 Days to Hook — Meet Dagger (Contest)
   3. Cynthia D’Alba: Two SEALs in Paradise

HOOK is here!

Yes! My baby is out in the world! I’m excited for me and for you! I can’t wait until you read it, because I can’t wait to hear what you think! I loved the story, so I’m hoping the things that sparkled for me will be the same for you. Let me know! And if you have time and inclination, I would love it if you told a friend about the story or wrote a review! Reviews are key to readers taking a chance on a story. They won’t believe my hype, but they will take the word of another reader, so…if you can…post a review!

I hope it doesn’t take forever for you to read this one. I can’t wait to hear! 🙂 Also, for now, Hook is on Amazon, exclusively, so that I could offer it through Kindle Unlimited. If you are a KU subscriber, you can read it for free! It will be available in print as soon as Amazon completes its internal review, so if you have to have a physical copy in your hands, don’t fret! It’s coming, maybe today!

MONTANA BOUNTY HUNTERS: Authentic Men… Real Adventures…

Former Army Ranger, Dylan “Hook” Hoecker, has a new job along with a new prosthetic arm. Being a bounty hunter is the closest career field he could find as a civilian that gives him the adrenaline rush that is his addiction. So, when his first solo assignment is to keep an eye on a flight risk the boss bonded out of jail, he’s not thrilled. However, he soon discovers a fresh addiction—one mouthy, nerdy redhead, who resists his attempts to keep her out of trouble.

Felicity Gronkowski is grateful for the bone the head of Montana Bounty Hunter threw her. She didn’t have the money to pay for bail, but he has a soft spot for former military, and she bartered to install a new computer system in his satellite office in Bear Lodge. Being on the outside of jail was her first imperative because she has to figure out who framed her for a series of high-end robberies while she worked installing home security systems. However, her bounty-hunting babysitter isn’t giving her any slack. Every time she thinks she’s given him the slip, he’s one step ahead of her. Either she has to find the perfect method of distraction to escape him or she has to enlist his help to clear her name.

Get your copy here!

Wolf is coming!

In just a month, the next installment of Montana Bounty Hunters will be here! And you can pre-order it now!

MONTANA BOUNTY HUNTERS: Authentic Men… Real Adventures…

Former Marine “Wolf” Patterson is working with a team of MBH bounty hunters in the densely forested Kootenai Forest to bring in one Reese Tobin, a man wanted for arson, who escaped from jail just before his trial. When Wolf catches up to him, Tobin draws a gun, telling Wolf he can’t return to lock-up or he’s a dead man. Just as one of his teammates is about to lunge toward Tobin to take him down, a shot rings out, and Reese is dead.

Former Army Military Police Officer, now Deputy, Meg Henry, was the officer who arrested Tobin, and nothing about that night sat right since. After hearing he was killed, she heads to Kootenai, hoping to talk to the men who were with him last, hoping Tobin told them something that might help her figure out the mystery surrounding him. Because handsome bounty hunter, Wolf, was the last to talk to Tobin, Meg offers Wolf a ride back to the sheriff’s department. They barely begin their conversation when they find themselves running for their lives. Meg doesn’t know who to trust, but she instinctively trusts the tall, intensely attractive Wolf. Together, they work to unravel the mystery while staying one step ahead of someone who wants them both dead.

Pre-order your copy here!

UPDATE: The winner is…Amber Daulton!
*~*~*

A Quick Note about CONTESTS!

There are several still open, but some are closing soon!
Be sure to enter while you have the chance!

1. Tell Me a Story… (Today’s the last day!)
2. Cynthia D’Alba: Two SEALs in Paradise
3. Keta Diablo: 5 Haunted Cities to Put on Your Bucket List (Contest — 2 Winners!) (Her prize is to die for!)
4. 3 Days to Hook — Meet Reaper (Contest)
5. Today’s! (Details below!)

Countdown Continued…

So, back to my countdown to the release of Hook (Tuesday, folks!)…

Dagger was the second book in the series, and did I ever have fun with the story! The opening scene told me everything I needed to know about this couple. Lacey and Dagger had history and lot of hurt feelings they’d never addressed. If you read the opening, you’ll see what I mean. It’s funny, and they’re both out for blood (well, not really, but it’s a funny competiton!).

Missed a book in the series? No worries. Just click on a cover to find out more about these stories, read opening scenes, and find out where to get them!

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me which of the covers above you like best!

Meet Dagger

MONTANA BOUNTY HUNTERS: Authentic Men… Real Adventures…

Former Army Ranger, Daniel “Dagger” Renfrew, has been a lot of things—an Army Ranger, a Seattle beat cop, a PI, and now, a bounty hunter, which, so far, suits him just fine. In his job, he doesn’t look for easy takedowns. He likes lying in mud or snow with his binoculars trained on a window, hoping for a glimpse of the dirtbag whose mugshot he carries in his hip pocket. If they’re badasses—all the better. Dagger prefers when assholes try to run, because then he has an excuse to mix it up, get physical, and blow off steam in an all-out brawl—when the situation warrants, of course. One morning when he’s working his side gig, repossessing cars, he discovers the car he’s taking belongs to his old high school sweetheart, and there’s nothing like sweet revenge…

Lacey Jones is furious when she finds a very large, scary dude trying to steal her car. It’s the last straw. She’s lost her job and is about to lose her apartment, so there’s no way in hell she’s letting him take her damn car! When she discovers its Dagger, her old beau, she jumps into the car with him. When she learns how he makes a living, she’s curious…and then determined to become a bounty hunter herself. How hard can it be?

Click HERE to find out where to purchase your copy and to read the opening scene!

UPDATE: The winner is…Keri Richards!
*~*~*

On Tuesday, the next story in my Montana Bounty Hunter series, HOOK, releases to the world! And I can’t be more excited! I haven’t had this much fun writing in a long, long time. If you’ve sampled my hunters, you know why.

The heroes are badasses! All of them are ex-military. They’re all super protective, can handle themselves in a fight, and when they fall for a woman, they fall fast and hard. What’s not to love? So far, I’ve written five books in the series, but I have ideas for many more as well as a spin-off series you’ll get a hint of inside Hook.

In the meantime, we’re going to do a little daily countdown and revisit the heroes I’ve introduced you to so far, beginning with the guy who started it all off, REAPER. Along the way, there will be prizes. So, be sure to check in!

Missed a book? No worries. You’ve got the weekend to catch up! Just click on a cover to find out more about these stories, read opening scenes, and find out where to get them!

 

 

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, why not try your hand at brainstorming a name for some future, sexy Montana Bounty Hunter? I’m not judging your creativity. Just have fun!

Meet Reaper

Former Marine, Reaper Stenberg is a bounty hunter, running his own satellite agency of Montana Bounty Hunters, along with his partner, Jamie Burke. As a general rule, Reaper doesn’t like working with a partner, especially female partners. When chasing a bail-jumper, he prefers to keep his head down and follow the leads. He doesn’t like the “chatter” that usually accompanies working with a woman.
However, partnering with Jamie has taught him a few things. There are women who can focus on the job at hand without letting silly distractions get in the way of his concentration. Jamie is one of those rare creatures who doesn’t gossip, doesn’t get into his business, and can actually be useful when shit goes sideways and they have to get physical. Over the months since their boss, Fetch Winter, put them together, Reaper has come to admire the woman’s grit and ingenuity.

And then Jamie up and gets busy planning her wedding…

See what happens when Reaper has to deal with a ride-along author, Carly Wyatt, who—when shit goes sideways—proves his first female partner’s grit and ingenuity aren’t just lucky happenstance, and who challenges Reaper’s strict relationship rules.

**Includes a FREE short story at the end!**

Click HERE to find out where to purchase your copy and to read the opening scene!

Morning all! Cynthia D’Alba here. Hugs and kisses to DD to allowing me to invade her private space today. (Wow! Upon re-reading that last sentence, I realize that can be taken in a couple of different ways. Oh well. Whatever! HA)

I’ve taken A LOT of time off from writing during 2016, 2017 and 2018. Those who follow me in Facebook, you know all about my illness. Those whose do not, no biggie. That’s in the past. My point is I am finally back to writing. My brain can once again string together words. WOOT! Progress.

I have TWO (gasp) new releases coming in October. I hope you’ll enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

First up, Hot SEAL, Cold Beer – which released yesterday!

©Cynthia D’Alba 2018

Hot SEAL, Cold Beer is about a destination wedding, a blind date, and a SEAL who isn’t looking for love. Well, actually, my heroine isn’t looking either! Here’s a little more about the story…

Nicholas Falcone, aka Nikko, aka Falcon, is five months out from active SEAL duty, putting his pre-service accounting degree to use while going to law school at night. He’d love to take a vacation between semesters, but every buck is earmarked for his education. When a fellow accountant approaches him about his sister needing an escort for a destination wedding, Nikko jumps at the idea. With the wedding families footing the bill, what does he have to lose?

Surgeon Dr. Jennifer Pierce is still stinging from a broken engagement. Going to a destination wedding at the Sand Castle Resort in the Caribbean would be great if only her ex-fiancé and his new wife weren’t also attending. Her options are to find a date or not go, but not going isn’t really an option. That means letting her brother set her up with a guy from his accounting office…Heaven forbid. When did accountants start looking like this?

Amazon 📷https://bit.ly/2Of9GnZ
Barnes and Noble 📷https://bit.ly/2LT2EIO
KOBO 📷https://bit.ly/2Mm4NsK
Apple/iBooks 📷https://apple.co/2MiODQO
Add to Goodreads TBD! – https://bit.ly/2MkktMV

The second, Hot SEAL, Black Coffee, releases Oct. 23!

©Cynthia D’Alba 2018

Dealing with a sexy ex-girlfriend, a jewel heist, and a murder-for-hire can make an ex-SEAL bodyguard a tad cranky.

Trevor Mason accepts what should be a simple job…protect the jewels his ex-girlfriend will wear to a breast cancer fundraiser. As founder and owner of Eye Spy International, he should send one of his guys, but he needs to get his ex out of his system and this is the perfect opportunity to remind himself that she is a spoiled, rich debutante who dumped him with a Dear John letter during his SEAL training.

Respected breast cancer doctor Dr. Risa McCool hates being in the limelight for her personal life. Her life’s work is breast cancer treatment and research, which she’d rather be known for than for her carefree, partying debutante years. She agrees to be the chairperson for the annual breast cancer fundraiser even though it means doing publicity appearances and interviews, all while wearing the famous pink Breast Cancer Diamond for each public event. The multi-million dollar value of the pink stone requires an armed bodyguard at all times.

Past attractions flame, proving to be a distraction to the serious reality of the situation. When Risa and the millions in diamonds go missing, nothing will stop Trevor from bringing her home, with or without the jewels.

Here are the preorder links. Order both and I’ll publicly thank you on Facebook and Twitter! Seriously, I don’t usually do preorders so this makes me nervous!

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H7W28XF
Apple/iBooks https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/hot-seal-black-coffee/id1435829603?mt=11
Nook https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1129508808?ean=2940161795552
Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/hot-seal-black-coffee

Now, if you’re STILL with me, THANK YOU. (Breathes sigh of relief!)

Leave a comment here on the blog to be in the running for a prize TBD by the winner!

AND here’s all are my online homes where we can visit!

https://www.facebook.com/cynthia.dalba
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCynthiaDAlba/
https://www.amazon.com/Cynthia-DAlba/e/B0067UOSH8/
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/cynthia-d-alba

It’s too early in the morning for me to be getting the giggles, but I just re-read my title. Don’t get it? Say it out loud now. LOL! Get it? Okay, I’m over it. Or maybe I’ll wait until I have this little bit written then I’ll go back and laugh again.

I’m still finishing up Hook. But it’s coming very, very soon (October 16th!). I’m sharing a snippet from the opening. I love my bounty hunter openings. I always try to introduce the heroes as they’re right in the middle of the action, taking some skip down. Hope you enjoy meeting Hook!

Hook

Former Army Ranger, Dylan “Hook” Hoecker, has a new job along with a new prosthetic arm. Being a bounty hunter is the closest career field he could find as a civilian that gives him the adrenaline rush that is his addiction. So, when his first solo assignment is to keep an eye on a flight risk the boss bonded out of jail, he’s not thrilled. However, he soon discovers a fresh addiction—one mouthy, nerdy redhead, who resists his attempts to keep her out of trouble.

Felicity Gronkowski is grateful for the bone the head of Montana Bounty Hunters threw her. She didn’t have the money to pay for bail, but he has a soft spot for former soldiers, and she bartered to install a new computer system in his satellite office in Bear Lodge. Being on the outside of jail was her first imperative because she has to figure out who framed her for a series of high-end robberies while she worked installing home security systems. However, her bounty-hunting babysitter isn’t giving her any slack. Every time she thinks she’s given him the slip, he’s one step ahead of her. Either she must find the perfect method of distraction to escape him or she has to enlist his help.

Pre-order  your copy here!

Dylan “Hook” Hoecker had no problem keeping pace with Dagger and Cochise as they raced along the dark alleyway, following the skip they’d tracked to a gun shop in Libby. Scooter James had made the crew the moment Dagger entered the premise. Perhaps it was Dagger’s burly physique that had tipped him off, or maybe he was just nervous having three intense-looking dudes enter the store, but he’d run for the back exit.

No, Hook’s legs had never been an issue. He ran like the wind, easily leaping over a barrel Scooter dumped on its side, hoping to trip them. Beside him, Dagger cursed, and Hook couldn’t help smiling as the big guy went down. This skip was his. When he reached the end of the alley, Scooter veered left and ran through a stand of motorcycles, tipping over one, which sent the rest slowly falling like dominoes. Bikers sitting at outdoor café tables nearby rose and filled the street, shouting and moving toward their Harleys, forcing Cochise and Hook to push past them.

Cochise went down when one biker stuck out a foot, perhaps angry that their chase had scratched his ride.

Hook waved his prosthetic arm, which, sometimes, had even those who weren’t so tight with the law pausing and giving him a break. He didn’t mind one bit using his disability to give him an advantage. He shouted out a “Thanks, man,” when one biker rolled his bike forward to clear his path.

Now, it was just him following the slap of Scooter’s Adidas on the pavement. Hook paced himself, forcing himself to keep his breathing even so he’d outlast his target. He didn’t use every bit of his strength to close the gap, because he knew he’d need anything extra to take the fucker down once he began to slow.

In his mind, Hook thanked his physical therapist, who’d concentrated on helping him make the adjustment to his new circumstance, learning to use his prosthetic, but who also continued to meet him on the track three or four mornings a week to make sure he worked out the rest of his body to help, not only keep him toned for the work he did, but to keep his dark moods at bay. Raydeen Pickering was a hero in his mind, because she went the extra mile for every man and woman she accepted into her treatment program.

Ahead of him, Scooter ducked into another alley.

“He’s turned again,” he said, knowing the others could hear him through the radio in his earpiece. “Left, into an alley.”
“I’m behind you,” Cochise said. “Don’t let him out of your sight.”

“I’m cutting through another alley. Will try to get to the street before he does,” Dagger said in his ear.

Hook went left and entered an alley lit by a single golden bulb at the back door of a restaurant. He ran past rank-smelling trash bins and plastic bags but didn’t see his mark ahead. “Don’t see him,” he said, and then slowed and turned.

Something dark swung at his head, and he held up his right arm to deflect the blow from a two-by-four from a pallet, no doubt. But the board hit plastic and metal and bounced off. Hook swung under it with his left, catching Scooter in the chin. Their target dropped like a sack of rocks across a row of trash bags lined up on the dirty, smelly pavement.

Hook stood over Scooter, shaking his left hand because it hurt like hell. Then he noted that his prosthetic dangled kind of funny. He tried to open and close the claw, but apparently, Scooter’s blow had damaged the cable. “Fuck,” he said, and gave Scooter a light kick in the side. “Bastard.”

The sounds of two individuals converging on him from different directions forced him to contain his anger and tuck his prosthetic against his body to hide the damage. The last thing he ever wanted to have happen was for one of these guys to think he was less capable of mixing it up. For the most part, he thought of his arm as an advantage in a fight. Metal hit harder than flesh and bone, and, generally, it could sustain a punch much better, too.

Thankfully, he kept a spare in his vehicle. He just had to get there. But first things first.

Scooter moaned from the ground as Cochise then Dagger came to a halt beside him and stared downward.

“Like we tried to tell you before you ran like a scared rabbit,” Hook said to Scooter, “we’re fugitive recovery agents, and we’re taking you to jail.”

Scooter pushed up on an elbow. “What the hell is that smell?”

Dagger sniffed. “Don’t know, but now I’m hungry. Could be chili.”

“I think it’s stew,” Cochise dead-panned. “Benny’s Eats makes a mean beef stew.”

“Shit, it’s all the way up my shirt,” Scooter said as he sat, rubbing his jaw.

“Well, looks like you’ll have something to snack on during the drive back,” Dagger drawled.

Scooter let out a huff. “Goddamn. My car, man. I left it at the gun shop.”

“You’ll just have to pick it up from impound,” Dagger said, “if the judge is stupid enough to let someone bond you out again.”

Hook reached down his left hand to help Scooter to his feet.

Scooter frowned. “Damn, you wearing armor on your arm? My teeth about rattled out of my head when I hit you.” Then he glanced at Hook’s metal claw. “Well, shit. That explains a lot.”

Hook reached for his handcuffs from the pocket on the back of his web belt. When he pulled them forward, he realized he wasn’t going to be able to cuff him, not one-handed.

Cochise held out his hand. “Let me do the honors.”

Hook pressed his lips together and handed him his handcuffs. If he’d been on his own, he’d have managed, somehow, but he might have had to put Scooter back on the ground first. He hadn’t quite mastered the single-handed snap using his left hand. Everything was harder to master with his left. Maybe he should ask Raydeen to add handcuffing to the everyday tasks he worked on improving.

Once Cochise had Scooter restrained, he stood back and let Hook grip Scooter’s upper arm to take him back to their vehicles.

The walk back was interminable. They passed the bikers who shot them birds but otherwise stayed pretty mellow. Back at the gun shop, Lacey, Dagger’s partner, gave a wave to the shop owner and sauntered their way. She’d canvassed the businesses in Libby days ago, leaving cards. No doubt the middle-aged owner had been only too eager to snitch, because then she’d grace his shop again. Dressed in skin-tight jeans and a pink button-down blouse that she’d knotted at her midriff, Lacey looked like a sweet confection. All that was missing was the powdered sugar.

“Hey there, Scooter,” she said. Then she shook her head and held her nose. “Good Lord, he is not riding in our vehicle.”

Hook grunted. “You can ride with me. I’ll even let you drive.”

Lacey might have looked like a cupcake, but she was one sharp cookie. Her gaze went to the arm he’d tucked close to his body, and she gave him a broad smile. “Dagger, you don’t mind if I ride with Hook, do you? I’ve never had the chance to talk with him alone.”

Dagger narrowed his eyes.

Lacey gave him a blinding smile. “See you back in Bear Lodge! Only you’ll be way later than us,” she said, then held her nose again and gave him a wink.

Cochise chuckled. “Come on, Scooter. You’ve got a new date with a judge. Bet if you sweet talk your jailers, they’ll let you have a shower before they put you in your cell.”