“Thanks,” Scott said, extending him his hand. “I appreciate it.”
The two men shook and Natalie realized what was happening. The sheriff was giving them time to get away.
Brock turned to her and gave her a nod. “Miz Wilson.”
But Natalie couldn’t let it go at that. She rushed forward and gave him a hug. A hug, which after an initial stiffening of surprise, was returned with warmth.
“Thank you,” she said, not understanding the rush of emotion and tears. But maybe it had been a long time since someone had done something so nice for her—although she suspected it was more for Scott, the opportunity to get away was still more than she could have hoped for.
“Keep her safe,” the sheriff said to Scott, who must have moved up behind her. He sounded amused when he looked down to meet her gaze, holding on to her as she started to pull back to add, “And I still owe you dinner next time you are in town.”
Natalie grinned. “You’re on.”
The sheriff stepped back, tipped his hat, and left the barn. A moment later, she and Scott followed after him.
Fifteen
Scott gave Natalie about two minutes to gather her belongings from the farmhouse. They’d just turned onto the main road in the car that he’d stashed behind one of the farm outbuildings when the stream of flashing lights and sirens appeared ahead of them.
He didn’t think either of them breathed until the lights and sounds had disappeared into the distance in the rearview mirror. But his pulse didn’t come back to a normal pace until they hit the interstate that would take them south. Only then did his fingers lighten their death grip on the steering wheel.
Scott hadn’t said much since they left. It wasn’t just the concentrating on driving and trying to get away.
Dinner? Over his dead body.
He knew it was stupid and he had no right, but he was pissed. He hadn’t liked seeing Natalie in another man’s arms—no matter how grateful she was or how in debt they were to him.
She’d been surprised that someone would do something like that for her, which made it worse. Scott suspected that the sheriff was just as by the book as he was,yet he’d put that aside and let them go. In other words, Brouchard had done what she’d thought Scott wouldn’t—look the other way—and he was keenly aware that she might have had good cause for that doubt. Scott should have been the one she could turn to.
Was he too rigid? Too uncompromising? He had to concede that maybe the qualities that made him a good SEAL officer weren’t necessarily good for a boyfriend. Or a son. His teeth gritted, his mouth in a tight angry line, not wanting to think about that.
He didn’t want to think about any of it, but after what had happened, he could no longer pretend that he didn’t care. He still had feelings for her. Intense feelings.Possessivefeelings.
He knew the sheriff had seen just how much that hug bothered him and not only understood why but also enjoyed Scott’s reaction. He’d been jealous. Which, as he’d admitted, was stupid. But it didn’t stop the feeling.
From the way Natalie was eyeing him warily, he figured she’d guessed his mood if not the source.
He sighed and forced himself to relax. It wasn’t her fault he was a caveman. “You okay?”
She nodded, looking far from okay. She looked scared and close to tears. “I can’t believe they found me. I thought...” Her voice broke. “I thought I’d found a way out of it. But even with Mick dead there is no way out of this nightmare. They’re never going to leave me alone, are they?”
Scott’s mouth tightened with anger. He wished he wasn’t driving so he could hold her. She sounded so fucking alone.
But she wasn’t. He didn’t know what it meant, but he wanted her to count on him. Even if it meant he had to move his line in the sand a little and compromise on his beliefs, he was going to help her. His goal to clear hisname hadn’t changed, but he wasn’t going to throw her to the wolves to do it.
He reached over and covered her hand with his. It was like ice under his palm. “I’m not going to let them get to you, Nat,” he said with a squeeze of reassurance. He’d been caught unprepared, but he wouldn’t be again. “Damn it, it’s probably my fault. I must have led them to you somehow.”
The timing was too much of a coincidence for him not to be responsible.
“You think they followed you?” she asked.
He shook his head. The men wouldn’t have waited three days. “I don’t think so. But something in my investigation must have alerted them and enabled them to track me to you.”
“Who knows you were looking for me?”
“I wasn’t looking for you; I was looking for Jennifer. And the only people who knew about that are the people who know I’m alive—and that isn’t very many.”
As far as he was aware there were the five—now four—other survivors, Annie Henderson (Baylor’s fiancé), Brittany Blake, Kate, Colt, and the general. Mick could have warned someone before he’d been killed that some of the SEALs had survived the blast, but whoever he worked for wouldn’t have known about Scott specifically.
