“He’ll be on our turf this time. This is Texas. Here we have the right to protect ourselves from scum like Damon Bridger.”
“Staying wouldn’t be fair to you. You didn’t sign on for this when I drove up in front of your barn.”
“I knew you were in trouble that first day. I let you stay then. I want you to stay now.”
He wanted her to stay. The words soothed her troubled heart. She looked into those beautiful blue eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Never more certain, baby.”
She leaned across the seat and very softly kissed him. “Thank you.” She was staying. At least for now.
She still wasn’t sure what she was going to do if Damon showed up at the ranch.
She’d keep a bag packed for her and Ivy just in case.
Chapter Twenty
Halfway through the flight, Josh and Linc came out of their seats and sat down together at the back of the plane so they could talk.
“You know you have a problem,” Linc said. “And it isn’t the charges Bridger filed against you.”
Josh ran a hand over his unshaved jaw, feeling the familiar roughness. “I know.”
“You think he’ll come after the girl?” Linc asked.
“I don’t know. I warned him what would happen if he did. He knows my background, knows I’m former military. Maybe he’ll be smart enough to leave her alone and move on.”
“What’s your gut say?”
Unconsciously, his hand fisted. “I think he’ll come. His ego won’t let him back away.”
“You figure that’s what’s driving him. Ego?”
Josh thought about the wild look in Bridger’s dark eyes when Josh had asked him about Lisa Shane. “Maybe. Could be something a lot worse than that. Tory thinks Bridger might be the guy who abducted her friend. Takes a special kind of pervert to torture a woman that way.”
“You think Bridger did it?”
“Police don’t think so and his alibi holds up.”
“But Tory’s friend can’t remember.”
“No, and that might be the only thing keeping her safe. She told Tory she was going back home with her parents for a couple of months. They live somewhere in upstate New York.”
“Kidnapping’s a federal offense. The guy who took her is in very deep trouble. Good chance he’ll want to take care of loose ends.”
“And Lisa is definitely that. At least she’ll be leaving the area as soon as she’s released. That ought to buy the cops some time to find this guy.”
“Unless he was just passing through. Women all over the country disappear without a trace. Lisa was lucky to escape.”
“Yeah.”
“What about Bridger?” Linc asked.
“I’ve asked Ham to keep an eye on him for the next few days, make sure he doesn’t head for the airport.”
“You can’t watch him forever.”
“No. With luck, Bridger will decide Tory isn’t worth the trouble.”
