Finn’s entire body was throbbing by the time the two of them got back to the road where they’d left their cars. He’d carried Lisa far enough into the woods that he felt sure they’d be safe, then the two of them had circled back around. Adrenaline still coursed through his system. What a terrifyingly close call that had been. If he hadn’t been there…he didn’t want to think about what could have happened.

From the direction of her camping spot, he heard the voices of firefighters—casual enough to tell him the fire was out. The shadows of the pines were lengthening, darkness gathering in the woods. The air held a chill it hadn’t when he first drove up. It would be full night in less than an hour and Lisa had no home.

Finn knew where she was staying tonight, even though she didn’t yet. She was going to stay with him.

“I’m going to talk to the firefighters,” he told Lisa when they reached her Mercedes. “Want to wait here?”

“No way. I want to hear what they say.”

He nodded, glad she had her spunk back. Even though she still looked pale and her eyes were red from smoke and tears, she wasn’t about to collapse anymore. She unlocked her car and stashed her purse inside, along with the metal box and the fabric she’d grabbed from the ceiling. He’d seen that reaction before, fire victims who refused to let go of their one remaining tie to the home they’d lost.

“Come on then.” Hand in hand, they approached her campsite. A Jupiter Point ladder truck and a paramedic van blocked the footpath to the smoldering hunk of metal beyond. He heard Lisa’s breath catch at the sight.

A paramedic came jogging toward them.

“You two okay?”

“I’m fine,” Lisa said quickly. “But you should check Finn out. He’s limping.”

Finn started to protest, but Lisa wrapped her arm around his and pulled him toward the van. “If you try to stop the nice man, I’ll kick you,” she whispered fiercely. “You carried me about half a mile.”

“Fine.” He allowed the paramedic to check his vitals and drank down the electrolytes they offered him. Lisa stayed next to him the entire time, still holding his hand. He wondered if that was for him or for herself—but either way, he loved it.

His heart ached for her. Who would do this? Was it a random attack or had someone targeted Lisa, and if so, why? Secrets were one thing, but this was dangerous.

“What are they saying about what caused the fire?” he asked the paramedic.

“Don’t know. The motorhome was pretty much toast by the time we got here.”

Lisa winced at the EMT’s bluntness. Finn shot him a glare.

He tugged Lisa closer and murmured into her ear. “I’m so damn sorry this happened.”

She turned her face away, her dark hair swirling around her shoulders. Trying to hide her emotions, he guessed.

“Why do people say they’re sorry for things they didn’t do?”

He liked hearing that feisty edge in her voice. She wasn’t going to let this disaster keep her down for long.

She stole another look at her motorhome, then shuddered. “Sorry. I don’t mean to be a bitch. I’m just…shaken up. You saved my life. I wouldn’t have known what to do.” She turned to the paramedic. “Take very good care of him. He got us away from the fire. He’s a hotshot, did you know that? I bet you didn’t know that.”

Finn exchanged a look with the EMT. Maybe Lisa was more affected that he’d realized. He took her hand and rubbed his thumb across her pulse point. It beat with a rapid, jagged rhythm. “Are you sure you don’t want him to check you out too?”

“Unless he has a bottle of vodka in that van, I’m good. Just a little shaken up.”

The paramedic, in the midst of wrapping a blanket around Finn’s shoulders, laughed. “It sounds like you’re going to be fine. It’s always a good sign when people can still make a joke.”

Another official vehicle drove into the small lot. Deputy Will Knight unfurled himself from the driver’s side and came toward them. Finn had seen him at Barstow’s Brews a few times but didn’t know him well.

Finn nodded a greeting. “Knight. Who called you into this thing?”

“Chief Littleton. As soon as I heard Ms. Peretti was involved, I hopped in my rig and came on out.”

“Involved? What do you mean, involved?” Finn asked sharply. “Her home got destroyed, that’s her only involvement.”

“Right. Pardon my phrasing.” Knight glanced from one to the other of them. “You were both here at the time of the incident?”

Lisa stepped in to answer. “Yes, we were both here, we didn’t hear anything or notice anything strange until I smelled smoke. At that point, Finn knocked out a window and got us out.”

Knight made some notes on a little pad of paper, then looked at Finn. “You’re a firefighter, right? Did you notice anything unusual?”

He’d been so caught up in Lisa, he wouldn’t have noticed a bomb going off outside. “No, but that fire was deliberately set. I’d stake my career on it.”

Knight didn’t look surprised. Finn shot a glance at Lisa—and noticed that she didn’t either. “What am I missing? Why are you here, Deputy? What’s going on?”

“Good question.” Knight tapped his pencil on his pad. “If we had a little more information from Ms. Peretti here, we might have some answers.”

Finn looked at Lisa. “What’s he talking about?”

“I’ll explain later,” she said in a low voice. To the Deputy, she said, “Can we talk tomorrow?”

“Absolutely. Do you have a safe place to stay tonight?”

For a crazy moment, Finn thought Knight was going to invite Lisa to stay with him. The thought made him absolutely nuts. “Yes, she does,” he said quickly. “She’s going to stay at an exclusive cliff-top mansion with a full-time bodyguard on the premises.”

“What are you talking about?” Lisa stared at him. A smudge of soot on her cheekbone made his fingers itch to brush it off.

“Your accommodations. What else?” The burning sensation along the side of his body made him irritable. “Just like the Deputy said, you need to be somewhere safe tonight. And that’s with me.”

She tried to pull her hand away, but he refused to let her go. “Finn, that’s completely unnecessary. What if it was just a freak accident? Will’s probably just being alarmist.”

Will? She was calling him “Will” now? Finn shot the deputy a glance, wondering if he was going to have to take some kind of measures here. Something short of attacking an officer of the law.

“I’m not being alarmist.” Knight might have rolled his eyes, though it was hard to tell under his official deputy’s hat. “I’m being smart. Which is what you should be too.”

“Exactly. You should be smart,” Finn told Lisa. “And stay with me.”

“We have many fine bed and breakfasts in the area,” continued Knight blandly. “I’d be happy to provide you with a list.”

“She doesn’t need the fucking Chamber of Commerce,” Finn snapped.

“All right, then. Maybe you have a friend you can stay with. Would you like me to contact Merry Warren? She’s left me her number many times with permission to call her. More like a command to call her, in fact.”

“She’s not calling Merry. Merry’s probably on deadline.” She usually was, Finn knew. And while she’d be happy to take in Lisa, Finn didn’t plan to give her the opportunity. “I have a perfectly good place for Lisa to stay. So butt out, Knight.”

Knight looked about a second from bursting into laughter. “I’m giving you a pass here because the paramedics might get on my ass, but—”

“We’ll figure something out,” said Lisa firmly. “You don’t have to worry about it, Will.”

“Right, Will. We got this.”

Knight was still laughing as he ambled off to talk to the firefighters. As soon as he was out of earshot, Lisa turned on Finn. “Look, Finn. I’m a grown woman who can take care of myself. I don’t need some knight on a white horse to rescue me.”

“How about a knight in a green Tahoe?”

“No knights. No Tahoes. I just want to check in somewhere and lock the door and sleep until noon tomorrow.”

Which made sense, and he wouldn’t have a problem with that, except that he kept thinking about the possibility that someone had snuck up on them and lit her motorhome on fire. Even if her door was locked with ten deadbolts, Lisa was only one person. She couldn’t notice everything going on around her. And she was new in town, so she might not recognize someone as a stranger.

No, everything in him refused to let her be alone tonight. It was time to play dirty.

“So…are you really going to abandon me after I carried you through the woods? I’m shocked, Peretti. I really am.”

“Abandon you?”

“I’m injured. In the line of duty. And I wasn’t even on duty. I could have internal injuries, maybe a concussion. Or a long-buried allergic reaction to superheated automotive paint. I’m really surprised you’re willing to leave me alone tonight.”

She stared at him, her dark eyes glimmering in the light from the fire engine. “You’re really playing the patient card?”

“Playing? I am a patient.” He adopted a virtuous tone. “A very good patient. I’m doing everything the nice paramedic said to do. I’m sitting and resting like a good boy. It’s too bad not everyone does as they’re told by first responders. By the way, I’m technically a first responder. You should listen to me.”

“Oh my God. You are seriously demented.”

“Nope. Just determined. You’re staying with me tonight. In fact, you can have the whole guesthouse. This is perfect. I need a house-sitter for when the fire season starts. I just got a, uh…pet, and I need someone to take care of him.”

“Really? A pet?”

Not yet—but he would as soon as humanly possible. “Yes, poor little thing.” What kind of pet could he possibly acquire at this point? A cat, a dog? He’d figure something out. “It needs a kind human to take care of it while I’m gone.” He blinked at her with his best puppy dog eyes—which were damn good, he knew from twenty years of experience.

“You are shameless.”

“You know, shame is good for things like crimes. But for little stuff like wanting to keep someone out of harm’s way? Try another word. Like ‘heroic.’” He grinned at her.

She stood up. Soot smudged her leggings, and a large smear of sap spread across one sleeve of her hoodie. Even so, he had no defense against her. He wanted to shield her, to make her laugh, to strip her naked and roll her around in his sheets.

None of that now, he warned himself. Making a move on her wasn’t on the agenda. He just wanted to be sure she was safe. Somewhere between her bed and the woods, that had become the most important thing in the world to him.

“Okay. I’ll stay at your place tonight. But it’s only because I’m truly afraid that you damaged your brain when you climbed out of the van.”

He didn’t argue. He’d gotten what he wanted. And maybe he could use the brain-damaged thing to his advantage. “Brain damage requires long-term care, right?” he murmured.