“Just stay safe.” Ham turned and walked away as Linc closed the distance between them, his strides long and purposeful.
During their brief but intense phone conversation, Linc had told her the plane would be arriving at the airport an hour later than scheduled, but that he would be on it.
Dressed in a short-sleeve button-down yellow shirt and a pair of expensive beige slacks, he moved with the authority of a man used to being in charge. He was worth millions, she knew, having Googled him that morning before Ham arrived. And every inch of his six-foot-five-inch frame oozed success.
She’d known Cain was going to be on the plane, but she hadn’t expected to see the smartly dressed blond woman in the white linen skirt suit walking beside him, his wife, Carly Drake Cain.
Tory looked down at the stretch jeans she was wearing with a sleeveless peach print blouse and a pair of open-toed sandals and thought of the tailored skirt suits and expensive heels she had once worn to work.
Each time she had run from Damon, she had left some of her things behind. When Damon had found her in Carlsbad, she’d been forced to abandon the last decent clothes she still owned.
“Victoria?” Even Linc’s voice sounded powerful.
“I’m Tory.” She held out her hand, which Linc wrapped in both of his.
“It’s nice to meet you,” he said.
“You too.”
“We’re neighbors. We’re still working on rebuilding the big house so we’re out at the ranch quite a bit. If work hadn’t been so hectic, we would have met sooner.” He turned. “This is my wife, Carly.”
“Hello,” Tory said.
Carly leaned over and gave her an unexpected hug. “I’m so glad we got to finally meet you.”
Tory’s russet eyebrows went up. “I didn’t realize Josh had mentioned me.”
Carly smiled. “He told us you were staying at the ranch. You wouldn’t be there if he didn’t care about you.”
Tory returned the smile. She supposed that was true. Josh was definitely the kind of guy who took in strays.
She glanced up as a man in a navy blue pin-striped suit came off the plane and crossed the tarmac to join them. He was fortyish, with silver threaded through his light brown hair, stylishly dressed.
“Tory, this is Nathan Temple,” Linc said. “He’s a criminal attorney. He’s going to handle things for Josh.”
Criminal. The word made her stomach burn. Josh was no criminal. And yet as she looked at Nathan Temple, relief washed through her. The attorney had competence and professionalism written all over him.
Plus, a man as successful as Lincoln Cain would only hire the best.
“It’s really good to meet you, Mr. Temple. How soon can you get Josh out of jail?”
Carly and Linc exchanged amused glances. Maybe she was being a little too pushy, but she couldn’t stand to think of a vital man like Josh being locked behind bars.
“Please call me Nate,” Temple said, “and it shouldn’t take long. I need to get down to the jail and talk to him, find out what’s going on.”
“The Jeep that Josh rented is parked in the lot.” She dug the keys out of the small leather purse slung over her shoulder.
“I’ll drive,” Linc said, holding out one of his big hands.
Since he didn’t look like the kind of guy who ever lost an argument, she simply handed them over.
They all piled into the Jeep, Tory in back with Carly, who had insisted Nathan Temple ride up front with her husband. Linc punched the address for the Scottsdale Police Department into the GPS and drove the Jeep out of the lot.
“You said Josh mentioned I was staying at the ranch,” Tory said to Carly as Temple cranked the air conditioner up another notch. It was a little after one in the afternoon and the Arizona heat was climbing.
“I heard about it first in town,” Carly said. “Iron Springs is a small community. Everyone knows Josh has a pretty new housekeeper living out at the ranch.”
Tory glanced away. “Yeah, I can imagine what they’re saying.”
