ANDY’S HEART BROKE FOR MIKE. She loved the goat too. Gretchen was a sweetheart and slut for attention. It would be impossible not to love her. But no one had been as close to her as Mike. The young man held the animal in his arms, cradling her head and whispering soft nonsense words to her as the veterinarian gave her the shot to put her down. The lye had done too much damage and none of them could bear to let the animal suffer. Knowing it was the right decision didn’t make it any easier. She stayed with Mike while he carried Gretchen to Dr. West’s truck. The woman wouldn’t have needed to offer to take Gretchen’s body with her, but she must have sensed the situation was more than a normal vet visit.

When they got back into the barn, Mike started working like a madman, cloistering the goats to the side while he cleaned the contaminated feed from the trough. She wanted to hug him, to offer him some kind of comfort but he didn’t slow down enough to let her get close to him. She considered pushing the issue, but his demeanor practically screamed stay away. So she would—for the time being—and when he was ready to talk again, they’d all be there to help him through it. Until then, she’d throw her energy in alongside his and take care of the goats while Liam took care of whoever did this. She still couldn’t wrap her head around why anyone would want to hurt the goats. It took a special kind of evil to hurt an innocent animal.

“We need to find something we can use as a temporary feed trough until we can be sure this one is clean,” she said.

Mike looked up from the water bucket he was wrestling with and for a moment there was gratitude mixed with the pain in his expression.

“Finish up with the water and I’ll go see if I can find something we can use.”

She didn’t have to ask to know she wouldn’t get him to leave the rest of the herd. Not with the feed still in the trough, not while they were still in danger. And she ought to check on Millie. Liam told Andy to stay in the barn, but it was her farm. She knew her way around better than anyone and despite him going all serious on her, she didn’t believe any of the humans were in danger. She wasn’t reckless, not anymore, and she had no intention of taking any unnecessary chances. She’d find something to use as a trough, check on Millie and then find Liam and help him figure out who’d killed Gretchen. Or call the local police and let them handle it. For all she knew, it was a thing other farms had experienced.

Not bothering to slide the door closed behind her, she slipped out of the barn and started across the field toward the shed. There was a big low basin leaning against the back wall that might do as a trough, at least until they could rig up something else. And she wanted to see if whoever killed Gretchen had messed up the soap shed. She couldn’t stand the idea of someone being in her private space but it didn’t make sense for the lye to come from anywhere else.

Liam must have had the same idea. She was almost in shouting distance of the shed when she saw him hurry inside. She picked up her pace, the idea of having someone to share the burden with the only bright spot in her otherwise heartbreaking morning. For the first time in—well, maybe ever—the thought of leaning on someone else didn’t scare the crap out of her. Millie had been right the day they met Liam; he was strong enough to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders and not get a hump.

She froze in her tracks when she saw the other man slip into the soap shed behind Liam. He’d been so focused on following Liam, he must not have noticed her. She didn’t need to know who he was to recognize him as dangerous. It was a little like seeing a lion or tiger from a distance. Something primal deep inside her instinctively warned her away. Except she couldn’t stay away; Liam was inside alone. She couldn’t leave him even though she didn’t have any doubt he was every bit as dangerous as the other man.

Reaching for her back pocket, she cursed herself when she realized she left her phone in the barn. She was too far away from Mike and too far away from the house. By the time she got help from somewhere else, it could be too late. Praying the pounding of her heart wasn’t loud enough for anyone else to hear, she bolted across the field, trying to make herself as small as possible. She stopped when she was in hearing distance of the shed, forcing herself to go as quietly as possible. She could hear murmurs as she got closer, which gave her a little reassurance. Whatever horrible thing was going to happen hadn’t happened yet.

Now that she was at the building, she realized she had no idea what to do. If she barged inside, she could just as easily make things worse as make them better. She hated the heroines in the movies who managed to get themselves caught just as the hero finally got things under control. There was an entrance on the back side of the building, but it was just a ladder to the loft where she stored the packing supplies. Aside from a couple of rolls of tape and some empty cardboard boxes, there wasn’t much she could use as a weapon, but the loft would let her at least see where everyone was so she didn’t end up making things worse. She’d figure out the rest once she made it inside.

Careful not to let the ladder scrape against the outside of the building, she started to climb.

She had to go slowly so she didn’t make a noise that would give away her presence. The element of surprise was the only thing she had to work with. She couldn’t risk losing it too soon. It took what felt like forever, but she finally managed to ease open the old hay door to the loft and shimmy inside. As soon as she was crouched on the floor of the loft, she froze, listening for any sign they’d heard her. With as hard as her heart was hammering, it was amazing they couldn’t hear it.

“Drop the phone. You won’t be needing it,” said a strange voice in an accent she didn’t recognize. Slavic maybe.

“Gustaf,” came Liam’s clear answer. “I’d say it was a pleasure, but we both know it’s not. You’re branching out into animals now? I suppose it takes one to know one.”

Liam seemed awfully chatty with the bad guy but at least if they were talking, they weren’t shooting each other or something worse.

“I could tell she was a favorite of yours. Although perhaps not as much as her pretty owner.”

Andy put her hands over her mouth to stifle her gasp. The idea of the man below paying enough attention to know who she was made it feel like she had a vise wrapped around her chest.

“One pussy is as good as any other. She’s convenient. A passable diversion.”

Andy didn’t need to see Liam to know he was lying, and she knew he was doing it to protect her. Apparently the other guy knew it too.

“You always were a shitty liar.”

“I must be special for you to come take care of me yourself rather than send one of your goons.”

“I’ll admit I do have a bit of a special spot for you. I owe you for the last time.”

Andy inched forward, barely moving so she wouldn’t make a sound, until she could see the men below her. The guy Liam called Gustaf had a very deadly looking gun trained on him. Liam didn’t have anything in his hands, which didn’t mean they were out of luck but it did kind of stack the deck the wrong way. And she didn’t expect the other guy to keep up the Doctor Evil-style banter forever. At some point the shooting would start. She needed to make sure the odds shifted before then.

Glancing around for anything she could use, she rejected a stack of cardboard boxes. They were unwieldy and could sail the wrong way when the air caught them. The rolls of tape were too small to be anything but a nuisance. Her gaze landed on a giant roll of bubble wrap. Jeez, it was like a bad romantic comedy. Death by bubble wrap. But she had to work with what she had and the roll was heavy enough to go where she threw it and light enough that she could pick it up. It would only give Liam a couple of seconds, but if they were lucky that’s all he’d need.

“I’m touched.”

“Don’t be. It took me forever to find you. I’m out of time to play.”

Andy crept forward onto her knees and wrapped her arms around the roll.

“I might not even have time for your pretty pussy.” He chuckled like it was the most normal thing in the world and deep inside Andy’s brain, in the most primitive part, she shuddered. “Who am I kidding? I’ll make the time,” he said, raising the gun so it pointed at Liam’s head. His arm didn’t waver and she knew without a doubt if he had a chance to take the shot, he’d make it and Liam would die.

Any fear she had for herself vanished when she was faced with losing Liam. Before she could second-guess herself, she clambered to her feet and hurled the roll of bubble wrap over the edge just as the gun went off.

––––––––

LIAM HAD NO idea where the flying bubble wrap came from but he didn’t waste a second. He pulled his gun from his holster and put two rounds into Gustaf before he escaped from under the plastic roll. In an ideal world, he’d have taken him into custody and handed him over to the authorities. He’d never lived in an ideal world, and he’d be damned if he’d take a chance with the guy somehow managing to get away and get his hands on Andy. No fucking way.

“Are you okay?” came a voice from the loft.

“Andy?”

“Are you shot?” She peered over the edge of the loft and his heart squeezed tight at the fear in her eyes.

“I’m not shot, baby. He is. Can you get down?” He needed to touch her, to make sure she was okay.

She inched toward the edge of the loft and for a moment, he worried she’d try to climb down that way. Shock made people do strange things.

“Go to the ladder. I’ll meet you outside.” He waited until she backed away from the edge before he nudged Gustaf with his foot.

One of his rounds had gone into the man’s skull, and his lifeless eyes stared at the ceiling. The animal wasn’t going to hurt anyone else ever again. Liam ran outside and around the shed, positioning himself at the bottom of the ladder so he could catch her if she slipped. She climbed down so fast it was as if she’d managed to manipulate gravity and then she was in his arms and he stopped thinking about anything but holding her. He ran his hands over her back and felt the tremors running through her.

“You’re shaking.” He didn’t wait for her reply; he simply scooped her up in his arms and started for the house.

“Your leg...”

“Will be fine,” he said. It would take more than some achy muscles to get him to put her down.

“What about the guy...Gustaf?”

When she said the name, she shuddered, and he squeezed her tighter, needing her to feel safe with him.

“He’s dead. My team will be here in a couple of hours to take care of everything.” He’d managed to hit the call button before he’d tossed his phone away. Knowing the team from Southerland Security was on the way had been the only thing that kept him from losing his mind when Gustaf started talking about Andy. Regardless of what happened to Liam, he knew Emerson would make sure she and the others were safe.

She pressed her face to his chest and his heart started to soften. With every step he took, more of his walls crumbled away and Andy wove herself into his heart. She had a way of making everything around her better, more beautiful. Maybe her powers extended to him.

“Passable diversion, huh?” she said when they were in sight of the house.

Crap, she heard everything. He’d said whatever he could think of to make Gustaf think she wasn’t important to him. It hadn’t fooled him but what if she believed it? Maybe it was for the best. His life would always be complicated, and he couldn’t stand the idea of bringing that messiness into her world. It would be better for her if he left with the rest of the team when they got there. Walk away and leave Andy in her peaceable kingdom. The thought hit him like a punch to the solar plexus and he stumbled, barely catching himself before they fell.

She wriggled in his arms, and he had to set her down, but he couldn’t make himself let go. Not when the thought of leaving was so close to the surface of his mind.

“I was lying,” he said, needing to have that bit of truth between them.

She tipped her face up to meet him and the sunlight turned her eyes from hazel to a greener gold.

“I know. You love me.” She said the words with the same matter-of-fact tone she’d used when she was explaining to him the way soap making worked, as if it were a universal truth. The words that shook loose the last of his walls.

I love Andy. He held the thought for a moment, the denial on the tip of his tongue. He couldn’t bring himself to lie to her. Not that she was likely to believe it anyway.

“What were you doing in the shed?” he asked, veering off into safer territory.

“You needed me to save you.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, twining her fingers in his hair.

He had to work to keep from kissing her. It would be the easiest thing in the world to lean down and lose himself in the taste of her.

“I told you to stay in the barn.”

“What on God’s green earth led you to believe I’d follow your orders?” she said and then she hit him with an eyeroll that would have done a teenager proud. Or Millie. “I can see you running through all the reasons we don’t belong together, starting with your life is too dangerous.”

“It is. You could have been killed, Andy. And who knows what would have happened to all the people who depend on you? My job isn’t going to get easier.” For the first time since he started with Southerland Security, he wondered if he could leave it to do something else. Pick something safer.

“The first year I lived here, I almost rolled the tractor. It was just dumb luck I didn’t. My mother died of cancer at fifty-six, and I had a cousin who got hit by a car at sixteen. Nobody gets a guarantee. It’s taken three years for Millie to teach me that. I’ve spent a long time running from the things I want and trying to make up for the mistakes I’ve made. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life, however long it is, doing that. Are you in or are you gonna chicken out?”

There was bravado in her words but he could see the hope and honesty in her gaze.

“Do you love me?”

“I couldn’t stop if I tried,” she said, her eyes filling with tears.

“I love you, Andy Stuart, and I will love you until the day I die, which better be before you. I don’t think I could face it the other way around.”

“Hey!” Millie shouted from the porch, flanked by Travis and Jake. “I heard gunshots. Do I still need this?” She brandished the old shotgun in front of her.

“Not anymore,” said Liam, not bothering to hide his smile.

“Thank goodness.” Millie deflated a little as tension left her body. “Now kiss the woman and then get in here for breakfast so I can clean my kitchen.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Liam. He cupped Andy’s face in his hands, brushing her tears away with his thumbs, and then she stretched up to meet him, her lips finding his. His world narrowed to the two of them and the rock-solid certainty that he had everything he needed right there in his arms.