Zeph Undercover by Jenny Andersen

gave the mare a pat and led her back to her stall. “And you didn’t tell me you’d be there last night. What if I hadn’t heard Mr. Fitzgerald introduce you? I could have ruined the whole thing.”
    He nodded. “I would have told you ahead of time if I’d known I’d run into you. And Frank tried to find you to let you know.”
    She turned her back, concentrating on packing her equipment back into the boxes. “Yeah, I can understand you wouldn’t look for me at a black tie dinner. Poor unsophisticated farm girl and all.” How childish could she get?
    “You make a big deal out of being such a country girl and hating cities, but you clean up damned good and I didn’t notice you playing the country bumpkin with the mayor and all those fancy dudes who were fawning over you all night.”
    “Country bumpkin?” she squeaked. “Country bumpkin? You think— Let me tell you something, Mr. City Sophisticate. I’ve been planning and hostessing political dinners since I was seventeen. I’ve had dinner at the White House, and—and—” Anger choked the rest and she stopped for a few deep breaths.
    “Allie, I didn’t—”
    “Is that what our fancy dinners last summer were supposed to be about? Was the country bumpkin supposed to be overwhelmed by the glamour of the big city?”
    “No. I wanted you to have a good time. Yes, I did hope you’d find it...dazzling...but—”
    “So I’d fall right into your bed? Well, it sure worked, didn’t it? You had me right where you wanted me.” She turned on her heel and walked to the truck that Chaz had left for them. “So I was supposed to be so bedazzled that I’d spend the next however long running to L. A. whenever you were in the mood for my company?” she flung over her shoulder.
    “Well, if I did, I was wrong.” He stamped after her, his footsteps thudding like a Percheron. “How is it you can leave your precious practice for this little jaunt, partying it up in Sacramento, but you don’t have time to visit me in L. A. because you’re on call twenty-four seven?”
    She squashed a quiver of pleasure. That sounded like jealousy to her. “If I can do it for Chaz, why not for you? Is that what you’re saying?”
    “That’s not quite the way I would have put it, but since you asked, yeah, that’s what I’m saying. I didn’t think you were a liar.”
    “I’m not a liar. I am on call. In case it escaped your notice, we came here today in a helicopter. And it’s standing by to take me home if there’s an emergency. Even you have to admit that’s not quite the same as driving to Los Angeles. I didn’t notice you hiring a chopper.”
    “Fine. So Mentrine can afford to fly his private air force. How does that explain the party?”
    “I arranged with a vet in Nevada City to take emergency calls. Chaz wanted my father there. He likes having a retired judge around. Thinks it makes him look better, more important or something.”
    Zeph’s attention had zeroed in on that like a bird dog sighting a big, juicy duck. “Does he need something to make him look better?” he asked.
    “Of course not,” she snapped. It always comes back to your job, doesn’t it?” She heaved a box of supplies into the back of the SUV. Zeph set the other box beside it. She glared at him. He glared back. Great. Now we look like a couple of kids squaring off in the playground. “And you’re after Dad, and Santos. And Chaz, and Clark, and—is there anyone not on your list?”
    Fury stabbed across his face. “No.”
    Allie swallowed a complicated mix of amusement, sympathy, and commiseration. It must be eating him up to be so baffled by a case. “Investigating anyone who comes along isn’t very efficient.”
    “Sometimes it’s the best we can do. So why were you at that dinner if you hate social stuff so much?”
    “As my father’s hostess, I was requested to attend also. You can’t believe I was at that stupid shindig by choice.”
    He shrugged. “I don’t know. It seems