HARLEY DIDN’T KNOW what to expect from Sawyer’s uncle. A man who’d masterminded his nephew’s murder should at least look like an asshole. She found a middle-aged man sitting in an interview room, wearing a pair of round glasses, a sweater vest, khaki pants, with a balding pate. He looked like somebody’s uncle.
He got to his feet when she walked into the room. His gaze swept up and down her disheveled, dirty appearance, and his brows rose. A flash of something passed across his face, but it was gone in seconds. Definitely hiding behind the mask of a befuddled professor.
“May I help you?” His voice was deceptively soft.
“I came to apologize, Mr. Henrickson.” She managed to inject a note of defeat in her voice. “You hired me to do a job, and I failed.” Harley sat down with a thump in the chair and leaned forward.
“Pardon me? I have no idea who you are.” He put his glasses back on and regarded her with a sharp, blue gaze.
“I’m Harley Graham, sir. I was supposed to protect your nephew, and I failed.” She ran a hand down her face and winced at the grime and stink. Harley didn’t need to put on much of a show since her B.O. was doing it for her.
“You’re Harley Graham.” Lance shook his head. “No wonder you failed. I would never have hired you if I’d known you were a woman.”
Harley told herself to swallow back the umbrage at that particular comment. “I’m an Army veteran sir and spent ten years defending this country. I’m capable of protecting one man, but when there were six men to one, even a professional like me can’t win. They dropped in from a helicopter and shot him before I could even pull my gun.”
She let that big fat whopper land like a belly flop on a flat pond. Harley kept her gaze on the ground, presumably in shame. “I tried to save him, but I was too late.”
“Why aren’t you dead too, then?”
Her head snapped up. “Dead?”
“You said there were six of them who dropped in via helicopter. I can’t imagine how you survived.” His gaze bored into hers. “I think you’re lying to cover incompetency. This was the work of three men only. And a helicopter? Ridiculous. Your lies are incomprehensible.”
“Three, hmm?” She crossed her arms. “How did you know there were three?”
He blinked behind the lenses of his glasses. “I was making a supposition.”
“Those are dangerous in my line of work.” She got to her feet and put her hand on the butt of the pistol riding her hip. “It’s convenient that you showed up here in Eagle Rock, insisting he was dead. I wonder why that was?”
“I had information that indicated he’d been killed.” He straightened and glared at her. “I’m a concerned uncle, who hired you to keep him alive.”
“And hired the mercenaries to kill him. Sent to the very location he was hiding off-the-grid in remote Montana.” She leaned in close and lowered her voice. “My gut instincts have saved me more times than I can count. You wanted him dead.”
“I’ve no use for such a frivolous boy. He was going to ruin the company I built.” This was the real man behind the power. His back straightened, and gone was the sweet man from a few minutes ago.
“Then you’re going to be disappointed.” She pushed against his shoulder. “Because that man just survived all three of your assassins, a twenty-five mile hike through the roughest terrain in the mountains, and is a damn good man, not even remotely frivolous.”
Sawyer walked into the room with his fists clenched. She had the satisfaction of seeing the color drain from Lance’s face, and shock slide through his eyes. “Impossible.” The older man’s voice shook.
“Possible.” Sawyer folded his arms. She couldn’t help but note his tattered dirty clothes, scattered hair, and smudged face with two days of whiskers. He was a different person than she’d met a few weeks earlier. “I’m going to make sure you pay for this, Lance. You won’t see the light of day again. You shouldn’t have poked the bear.”
THEY SPENT THE rest of the day giving statements to the police. Hank drove them back to the cabin for Sawyer’s things. After confronting his uncle, he’d retreated into himself and did nothing more than arrange for a private plane to pick him up at the airport. He’d closed off from everyone and everything, including her.
She shouldn’t be surprised. Theirs was a relationship never meant to last, no matter if she’d fallen in love. The shine would’ve faded, and then they both would’ve been miserable. When they arrived at the cabin, he went inside to pack.
She and Hank changed the tires on her truck with the ones he had loaded on the back of his. The hard work helped to keep the pain away that she knew was coming.
“You okay?” He gestured to her face.
“I’m fine. Nothing’s broken. It’ll heal.” She tossed the lug wrench back into her toolbox that was welded into the back of the truck. “Thanks for all this.”
“Don’t thank me. Your man paid twice what he owed.” He handed her a check. “That should get you back to Texas. You have a job up here anytime you want. I knew you were the right person for this job.”
She managed a smile. “Thanks. I’m going to head back to Texas and see if I can use my newfound status to get more work.”
“If I can, I’ll send some your way.” He shook her hand and drove off, leaving her to her thoughts.
Sawyer emerged a little while later with his duffel bag and a plastic bag, which he held up. “I stole the kitten puzzle.”
Harley was going to miss this man so very much. “I’d say you deserve it.”
The ride to the airport was filled with the awkward silence she thought they’d left behind. Never before in her life had she put her heart on the line. Fear had stopped her. Now, she understood the joy of love, along with the pain that followed. She couldn’t regret her time with him because it had showed her what she could have. If only for a short time.
She pulled up to the entrance and put the truck in park. “Safe travels.”
He took her hand. “Thank you for everything, Harley.”
“It was my job.” She pulled away in every way possible.
He stared at her, but she looked away, not willing to stare into his eyes. It was better this way. They needed to go back to their lives. He had a corporation to run in the big city. She was a country girl, a veteran with a fucked-up brain, and a fledgling business. It was a misalignment and never would make it past the lust stage.
“Goodbye, Harley.” He kissed her cheek and then in moments, was gone.
As she watched him walk into the airport and out of her life, she told herself him walking away was what she wanted even while her heart ached so hard, her bones hurt.
SPRING BROUGHT HEAT to Texas, which was no surprise. Harley pulled her T-shirt away from her skin and blew down at her boobs. At barely ten o’clock, the temperature was already almost ninety degrees.
She’d saddled her mare and ridden for a couple of hours. The barn, and air conditioning, awaited. She trotted the last hundred yards and slid off the horse.
“I know you’re as hot as I am, girl.” She patted the horse’s withers and led her toward the barn door, which stood open.
“I thought you were sexy with a gun in your hand. I didn’t know seeing you on a horse would be even better.”
Sawyer’s voice cut through her, and she stumbled forward. Strong arms caught her by the waist, and, suddenly, she was in his arms.
“Sawyer?” She took him in at a glance. He wore a pair of comfortable jeans, a t-shirt, and of all things, a cowboy hat. Her breath caught in her throat while her heart slammed into a gallop.
He was here!
“Hello, Harley. I’ve missed you.” He cupped her cheek, and she told herself not to melt into a puddle at his feet she was so relieved seeing seeing him.
“What are you doing here?” She moved away from his embrace, needing to be on her own two feet to figure out what was happening. Her thoughts whirled in circles.
“I told you. I’ve missed you.”
“Why are you dressed like that? On vacation from your starched denims?” She couldn’t quite yet allow a bubble of happiness to overwhelm her. It had been a month since he’d left Montana. Why hadn’t he contacted her since then? She wanted to release the joy that danced within her, but first she had to understand where he’d been.
His gaze was steady, locking with hers. “I had to make arrangements to sell my apartment in New York. And my company.” He put his hands on his hips. “I couldn’t lead the company after what happened. I had to start fresh somewhere else.”
“Oh.” Nothing he said meant she’d entered the equation. No use getting her hopes up. She gestured to the mare. “I need to get her in the barn and wiped down.”
While the threat of despair tried to overtake her, Harley told herself to walk calmly, but she didn’t take a breath until he fell into step beside her. Once again, the naturalness of being with Sawyer surprised her.
“I missed you too.” She confessed as they walked into the shade of the barn. Her hands were clammy and fear of rejection almost took her courage. Almost.
“Thank God. I thought for a minute I’d made a terrible mistake,” he murmured good-naturedly.
He was still charming. Still gorgeous.
Harley busied herself unsaddling the mare while he watched her. She wiped her horse down and tried to tell herself she was a coward for not talking about how she felt.
“Are you about done?” He leaned against the stall door, one brow raised.
She’d spent too much time hiding from her emotions. Now, she had to step up and be strong. She walked out of the stall and closed the door. He waited while she walked to the sink on the wall and washed her hands.
After she hung up the towel, she turned to him. He opened his arms, and she walked into them. As he surrounded her with his warmth, his beloved scent, she managed not to cry, but something like a sob escaped. Her hat fell to the floor.
“I’m thinking of buying a ranch, and maybe starting a business in Texas. What do you think?” He spoke against her hair.
“I think I’d like to have you around.”
He chuckled. “Oh, around, hm? How about that? She wants me around.”
She hugged him and buried her face in his neck. “I have a very small apartment, but it’s clean. And it has a bed.”
“Excellent. That’s all we need.” He tilted up her face and kissed her quickly. “I brought the puzzle in case we run out of things to do.”
She laughed, and then squealed when he swung her around in a circle. It seemed that the threat of death had finally brought life and love to Harley’s world.