“Shaken.” My lungs constricted as I watched her throw her phone charger into her bag before swiping up her e-reader from the nightstand. I hated that my hands were on my phone instead of on her. I hated that I couldn’t erase the look on her face. All I wanted was to take her in my arms and keep her protected. “I think she might need some support from the girls.”
“No problem. They’re here when she needs them. Just come home, bro.”
As I locked the cabin door I was determined to get my hands on whoever had invaded her privacy. Whoever had violated her. My fists itched, my vision went narrow. I would find them. I would make sure they understood what it meant to cross a Miller.
And when I did they would wish they hadn’t. What scared me was that my money would have been on Declan, but something was gnawing at me. After him turning up at the ranch again, I was beginning to think that this wasn’t his style. He was a little prick who liked to be seen. He’d wanted Tally to know that he was still around, still playing with her, still determined to get what he wanted. The messages didn’t sit with what I was seeing from him. And that fact fucking scared me more than anything. If it wasn’t him, then it was someone worse. Someone quieter. And that chilled me right through my bones.
Chapter 43
Safe Haven – Ruth B.
Wilder
The night had been long, neither me nor Tally had gotten much sleep. Sheriff Jackson and one of his deputies came over and dusted for fingerprints and asked for the CCTV footage. I’d offered to sit up through the night and go through it, but he insisted. I had an idea that he knew I’d go on a rampage if I found out who it was.
I’d been to check on the cow with the broken leg, once Tally finally fell asleep. As I paused in the front hallway to toe off my boots, I looked through to the kitchen to see her sitting at the kitchen table nursing a mug of coffee asshe stared off into the distance.
“Hey, sweetie.” Lily was padding down the stairs, a pile of textbooks in her arms. “You look exhausted.”
“We didn't get much sleep. Tally was tossing and turning all night.” My stomach flipped as I thought about what could have happened if I hadn't taken her out to dinner. If she'd been alone in the cabin. The image of her standing there vulnerable, unprotected, made my lungs seize. Every creak of the house had jerked me awake, my hand automatically reaching for her in the dark, needing proof of her warmth beside me. “How's she been?”
Lily looked over to the kitchen before giving me a small smile. “Quiet. A little nervous every time there's a knock on the door or a noise outside.”
A fist tightened around my heart. That wasn't my Brownie, the woman who faced down horses twice her size, who'd driven nineteen hours alone to save Dream Maker, who squared up to life with her chin lifted and her spine straight. Someone had stolen that from her, and the rage that sparked hot and fierce in my chest made my hands curl into fists.
“You kept the doors locked, though?”
“Didn’t you need to use a key to get in?” Lily shook her head, but grinned.
“Yeah, I did.” Running a hand over my face, I groaned. “I hate this, Lil, not knowing who it was. Why would they do that?” Nausea rolled and rose to my throat as I considered what might have been. “Sick bastard.”
Lily’s hand cupped my elbow. “I know but the sheriff will find them.”
“He better find them before I do because I swear, Lily, I’ll kill them with my bare hands.”
“Remember that Tally needs you here, not locked up. Okay,” she said, glancing toward the kitchen. “Now you’re here I’m going over to the kid’s camp to check on some of the school equipment that’s been delivered. You’ll be okay?”
Nodding, I kissed her cheek and then moved past her toward the kitchen and Tally. As I walked through the door she looked up.
“Hey.”
“Hey, Brownie. How you feeling?” I dropped a kiss to the top of her head before smoothing my hand down her hair. She was wearing it loose today,her long, dark auburn waves cascading over her shoulders and down her back. I fucking loved it in braids but loose was my favorite. It was how I liked it when we were in bed.
“Tired, scared.”
I pulled out the chair next to her and dropped into it, taking her hand in mine and bringing it to my lips. “We will find whoever did it, I promise.”
“I know. I just wonder if…” She sighed as her gaze trailed to the window.
It was a cold, blustery day and the wind had picked up and it was good to be inside in the warmth for once.
“What do you wonder?”
Her gaze whipped to mine. “You think it could be someone other than Declan?”
It felt great to have her voice the same niggling feeling that I’d been having all night. It had gnawed at my head that it didn’t seem like his kind of deal.
“It crossed my mind,” I told her. “He’s a little weasel but he’s got an ego. An ego that makes me think he’d want you to know everything that he was doing to you.”
