Sudden Setup

She was shaking her head before he finished his sentence.

“If you accept my help that means going off the grid. You have to follow my rules and cut off all communication with everyone but me,” he said, and the look in his eyes said he meant every word. “You already know what it’s like to be around me. This is what you’ll be stuck with until this...issue is resolved.”

“I’m aware of your magnetic personality,” she shot back. She was also aware that he was the only one who seemed capable of keeping her alive. He might not be one to talk much, but it was obvious that he knew how to hide and a piece of her—a piece she should probably ignore—felt safe when he was around.

“Good. Being angry with me will keep us both from making another mistake like the one we made earlier,” he said, and his gaze dipped to her lips. He refocused on the patch of wall behind her head.

Did he have to keep reminding her?

“If I can’t speak to anyone else, how will the sheriff know what’s happened?” she asked.

“I’ll arrange for you to give a statement, but it won’t be in person,” he said. “Then we’ll disappear.”

She could hire a security company to keep her safe, but there was no time. She needed protection now. And it was too risky to give up her location to anyone before she could thoroughly vet the agency’s employees. This wasn’t the time to chide herself for not thinking of having a security team ready to go sooner. She hadn’t needed to consider it before now. Security on the ranch had always proved up to the task until her father...

Thinking about him caused tears to threaten.

Going to the ranch was out. Again, her father had been murdered at home, so someone had slipped past security. Either way, returning to Hereford might not prove good for her longevity.

Her father had trusted Holden Crawford. And that was saying a lot.

“I want your help,” she stated. “There are reporters everywhere in Cattle Barge and apparently—” she blew out a frustrated breath “—I’m news. If I surface anywhere, then my face will be all over the internet, on live feeds, and that will lead whoever is after me to my location. I can’t afford to be seen right now, and since you seem very good at staying under the radar, you’re my best chance at staying alive.”

His lips thinned and his gaze narrowed.

“I was afraid you’d say that,” he ground out as he walked right past her and out the door.

* * *

HOLDEN STALKED OUTSIDE and paced. The room had felt confining, like he was strapped in a straitjacket. Being in the Texas night air always gave him perspective.

Maverick Mike was dead. He’d been killed in a manner that was meant to make a statement. Sure, the man knew how to have a good time. Holden’s own father had always gotten a look of appreciation when he’d talked about his poker buddy from Texas. The annual secret game that had happened at Hereford every year was legendary but rarely spoken about. Holden was unclear as to how his father had been included, but he’d been making the trip since Holden could remember. Thinking of Pop brought a wave of anger to the surface. Holden should’ve been there to stop it. His fists clenched and that familiar sense of frustration bore down on him. Beating himself up over Pop’s death again wouldn’t change the past.

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