“All good?” Her voice rose. “You attended a confidential group under pretense.” Her frown only made her more beautiful. “Ivar left very early and yet you stayed. Why?”
Because of her. Because he couldn’t stand to be away from her, even though that had to be his path. He wouldn’t endanger her, and that was that. “I can’t tell you,” he murmured. Did her pretty mouth taste like peaches? Man, he had to stop thinking like that.
She socked him right in the gut. Hard.
It was the second time he’d been caught off guard that day. He had to get a grip on himself.
The rain started to lessen outside.
She rubbed her wrist. “That’s it. I’m out of here.” Without waiting for a response, she marched right to the door.
He sighed. This was going to be more difficult than he’d feared. There was no way he could leave her right now—not until taking out her stalker.
She looked over her shoulder, her gaze haughty. “The rain is letting up. Are you coming?”
He set his stance. “Oh, I wouldn’t miss it.”
Chapter 3
Mariana tried to sit taller in the chair on the other side of the sheriff’s desk. Her hair had dried and frizzed around her head, mud coated her legs, and her hands would not warm up. Raine lounged next to her, irritation carving lines in his face. “Sheriff, thank you for seeing us,” she said, trying to keep the edge out of her voice. They’d had to wait a half an hour in the waiting room.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” the sheriff said, not sounding sorry at all. He rubbed a beefy hand through his buzz cut hair before hitching his pants up over his slight beer belly. “I was working on my campaign, considering I have an opponent this time.”
Yeah. An opponent Mariana had been helping to campaign. “I see,” she said quietly, letting her tone speak volumes.
Raine stretched lazily. “This is a waste of time.”
Yeah, she’d had to argue with him about making a police report of their kidnapping, but he’d finally relented. “We need a record about this to create a good case once we find this guy,” she reminded him. Again.
The sheriff looked them both over. “All right. You mentioned to the deputy at reception that you were both kidnapped and held at the old, abandoned barn at the McPearson place.”
“McPearson place?” Mariana asked.
The sheriff nodded. “Yeah. The elder McPearson died a couple of years ago and left the property to the county, but there’s not much to do with it. We do have a 4th of July party out there every year. I’ll send a deputy to look around, but it sounds like you were just dumped there.”
Mariana rubbed dirt off her pants. “How would kidnappers know about the place?”
“Everyone knows about that place. It’s even on the website for the town,” the sheriff affirmed.
Great. That didn’t help.
The sheriff looked them over. “Were you rolled in the mud?”
What a putz. The guy was in his thirties but had the belligerent tone of an angry teenager. Mariana plastered on her most professional smile. “We had to walk several miles in the rain and mud until a nice farmer picked us up in his old truck. Since it was full, we had to sit in the back, and it started to rain again. We’re lucky to be here so early, Sheriff.”
The sheriff drew out a notepad. “All right. Start from the beginning.”
Mariana cleared her throat and then told the sheriff the entire story, starting with the stalking events in Dallas and watching as he kept diligent notes. When she wound down, he looked up at her, his head tilted.
Then he focused on Raine. “Is this what you corroborate?” he asked.
Raine nodded. “Yep.”
“Interesting.” The sheriff sat back and placed his hands on his belly. “Let me get this straight. You were drugged, came to in the barn right after Miss Lopez was brought in, strongly shook off your hood, and then magically broke the cuffs binding you?”
Raine didn’t so much as twitch. “Yep.”
The sheriff swung his sharp gaze to her. “Have you thought this through?”
