Luck Be a Lady - Cathie Linz [38]
“Not being aware of the law doesn’t give you the right to break it,” Rowdy said.
Megan gritted her teeth and counted to five before saying, “Logan slept in the car.”
“Only for an hour.”
“How do you know that? Were you watching us? Did you have some kind of hidden camera on us? That is soooo illegal. And sleazy!” Her stomach turned at the thought of him watching her and Logan in bed this morning.
“Calm down. There were no cameras involved.”
“Then how do you know Logan didn’t sleep in the car?”
Rowdy pointed out the window. “I sat here and watched you. I saw him go in the room with you and he didn’t come out until this morning.”
“Maybe he did in the middle of the night. Maybe you fell asleep and missed that part.”
“I didn’t miss any part.”
“I think you did,” she said. “I think you fell asleep and missed the part where Logan slept in the car.”
“Nice try, but no cigar.”
Which was something Buddy would say, but that didn’t endear Rowdy any to her. “This would never stand up in a court of law.”
He shrugged.
“Where’s Pepper?” Megan demanded. “I can’t believe she’d approve of this.”
“I’ve heard of speed traps in small towns, but nothing this asinine,” Logan said as Pepper came out of the café kitchen.
“Hey, we are not a small town,” Pepper said. “We are an itty-bitty-teeny-weeny town with revenue issues.”
“So you try to make money by forcing people to get married?” Megan shook her head in disbelief. “How crazy is that?”
“No crazier than you going to a brothel to find out about your mother.”
Logan held Megan back, as if afraid of what she might do to Pepper. Instead he gave Pepper an icy stare and said, “That was a cheap shot.”
Pepper looked embarrassed. “Yes, it was. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that about your mother, Megan. You can’t help the fact that her high school friend is a madam.”
“Hey, people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones,” Megan said. “It’s not like you all are taking the high ground here by threatening us with a shotgun wedding.”
“What’s the problem? You know you like Logan,” Pepper said. “We’re just speeding along the inevitable. You two were meant for each other.”
Logan released Megan to turn her to face him. “What did you tell them?” he said suspiciously.
“About what?”
“About us. Did you and Pepper have a little heart-to-heart over those vintage dresses? Did the two of you come up with this plan?”
“What?” Megan blinked at him in amazement. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re not denying it.”
Furious at his accusation, Megan turned to Rowdy. “I’ll pay a thousand dollars notto marry him.”
“No can do. And I’ll have to tack on another five-hundred-dollar fine for trying to bribe a city official.”
“Nice going,” Logan told Megan thirty minutes later as they both stood in Last Resort’s version of a jail cell.
“Me?” she said. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“You should have done something.”
“Like what?”
“You’re a cop. I thought you were supposed to be trained to handle situations like this. Instead you did nothing. Which makes me think maybe you’re the one who planned this.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Like I said, you were passive. That’s not like you.”
“The guy had a shotgun.”
“So?” she said. “I’m sure you’ve faced armed situations before, right? You could have taken him. Heck, I probably could have taken him.”
“Don’t even think about it. I’ve seen too many cases where things went bad fast because someone got cocky where a gun was involved.” He took her by the shoulders and gave her a stare meant to make her obey. “Promise me you will not do anything stupid.”
“Define stupid.”
“Trying to grab anyone’s weapon.”
“Okay.”
“Or disobey my orders.”
“Whoa, I have a problem with that one,” she immediately said.
“Why?”
“Because you’re too bossy.”
“I’mtoo bossy? What about you? You’re the one who got the additional charges against us. I could have talked us out of it,” he said. “That’s what I’m trained to do. Instead you flew off the handle and made things worse. And now we’re locked in some stupid storage room.”
“I did notfly off