Eliza opened her mouth to protest. She had plenty of evidence. She’d been kidnapped by a man who brought her to Ben, who had then forged a marriage license and proclaimed them wed.

She sighed. “The man who might possibly corroborate my story of the kidnapping is dead and the marriage license has been confirmed as legitimate by the clerk in Travis County. Oh, wait. There’s Red. He can confirm the kidnapping. I don’t know if he saw the man who did it, but he was there.”

“He can confirm that you were kidnapped. He cannot connect Ben Barnhart to the crime.”

“The police chief liked me,” she said. “He knew my grandfather. I could go to him.”

“We may do that, but let’s get a plan first.” He glanced at his watch. “Bryant won’t be here for several hours. I need a plan to keep you busy and away from any further harm.”

“I am not a child, John. I don’t have to be minded.”

A thought occurred as he looked up at the cloudless sky overhead. “Eliza, have you been sailing lately?”

She smiled. “Not for a very long time.”

He grinned and took her by the elbow. “Then I think it’s time we remedied that. After we have a brief chat with Mrs. McDonald.”

Once they arrived on the older woman’s doorstep, Wyatt stepped in front of Eliza to knock on the door. She opened the door and smiled at her neighbor. Then she looked past him to meet Eliza’s gaze and frowned.

“Why are you here again?” she asked Wyatt.

“To clarify a few things,” he told her. “Miss Gentry tells me that when she came to you asking for help, you turned her away.”

“I did,” she said with not a bit of shame in her tone. “I’ll not harbor your other women here, Mr. Brady.”

“Other women?” Eliza said, incredulous. “Do I look like someone’s other woman to you?”

“Apparently you do,” Wyatt said before turning his attention back to his neighbor. “Miss Gentry is a client of mine at the detective agency. Were you aware there was a shooting at my home this morning?”

“I did hear a gunshot, yes. Two, now that I think on it.” All the while that she was answering Wyatt, Mrs. McDonald was studying her. “Did she shoot you?”

“An intruder shot me,” he said. “I killed him.”

That got the old lady’s attention. “You mean like a burglar of some kind?”

“Could be,” he told her. “Miss Gentry and I were discussing business on the porch when I—”

Mrs. McDonald snorted. “Didn’t look like business to me. I saw you pawing all over her.”

“I was offering solace. My client has had…” He shook his head. “Never mind. I told her to run to you if she heard trouble. I thought she would be safe here.”

She shrugged. “I guess I couldn’t let her in. Janie warned me you had her over there. She’s a good woman. Why don’t you just marry her? You don’t need these other women.”

Eliza gave him an I-told-you-so look.

“What other women, Mrs. McDonald?”

“I guess it’d behoove you to know you have competition. There’ve been women about—yes, there have. Well, one for certain that I’ve seen.” She looked over at Wyatt. “And it wasn’t this redhead here, nor was it Janie.”

“Janie is my housekeeper,” he reminded her. “And I’ve been away on business for the better part of a month, so you would have to ask her who’s been here recently. I wouldn’t have any idea.”

The old lady looked confused. “Well, I don’t know then. I guess I’ll have to ask Janie when she comes for coffee tomorrow. She’s here every day just about. Unless she’s needed at the restaurant. She brings me and Howard the best cannoli. Have you tried it?”

A look passed between her and Wyatt. “Who is Howard?” he asked.

“My new husband.” Her smile rose. At least Eliza thought it resembled a smile. “He’s a sailing man, so he’s not here much.”

“That would explain the man following you this morning. Just one more thing,” Wyatt said. “When you sent me to the shed for the ladder, I thought you were directing me to Eliza. Why would you send me there? It was completely empty.”

“It was?” She shook her head. “Well, I’ll be.” Then her eyes narrowed. “I think I know exactly what happened to that ladder and the rest of the late Mr. McDonald’s tools. Howard,” she shouted. “Come here now.”

An older man shuffled toward her then stopped when he saw Eliza and Wyatt on the porch. Mrs. McDonald turned to face him.

“What did you do with the contents of that shed in the backyard?”

His gray brows rose. “I cleaned it out just like you asked, honey buns. It’s nice and clean now. You ought to go see it.”

“I don’t need to. My neighbor says it’s empty.”

“Well, it is,” Howard told her. “I thought you wanted it nice and clean, so I made it nice and clean. There’s nothing cleaner than an empty shed.”

“That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“There’s nothing ridiculous about it,” Howard exclaimed. “Woman, you need to say what you mean if you’re going to say anything at all.”

“Mrs. McDonald,” Wyatt said, “or whatever your name is now. If I could ask you some more questions about the woman you saw at my house, I—”

The old lady shut the door while the squabbling continued. Wyatt stepped back and looked over at Eliza. “I guess we have our answers about my neighbor.”

“And a few more questions than we had when we got here,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been called someone’s other woman.”

“I don’t have anyone who could be called my other woman,” he said. “So I have to wonder what Janie is telling her.”

“We could go ask,” Eliza said, “but I doubt she will want to talk to you with me there.”

He looked as if he wanted to argue, then he shook his head. “Never mind. Let’s go sailing.”

A short while later, Wyatt caught the breeze and sent the sailboat skimming across the water on the bay side of the island. The sun glinted off the water, and birds scattered as the vessel cut through the channel.

Though the scenery was lovely, she was more entertained by Wyatt, who seemed completely absorbed in the work of keeping the vessel sailing in the direction he wanted it to go. Eliza sat beside him and tried to keep out of his way.

With the security detective intent on his task, he couldn’t see that she was memorizing what she saw. That she was studying his profile and hoping she would never forget this moment. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that the island city was becoming smaller as the vessel sailed out into deeper waters.

Her companion smiled at her. “I’m going to lower the sails and let her drift for a while.” With a few deft movements, the white sail slid down into a puddle and the boat slowed.

Wyatt sat back next to her, his attention on the horizon. Though the skies today had been clear and blue, a few wisps of cotton-white clouds now drifted past on the horizon. Other than the lapping of the waves against the boat and the sound of the gulls in the distance, all was quiet.

Eliza allowed a moment of pondering just what it would be like to have the ability to escape here whenever the need arose. To be able to climb into a sailboat and navigate a channel and then emerge into the Gulf of Mexico where the sun shone bright and any cares were left back at the dock.

She gave her companion a sideways look. She was also thinking what it might feel like to kiss him.

“This is lovely, John,” she said on a long exhale of breath.

He nodded but otherwise kept still. “It’s a place I go to think,” he finally told her.

“Is that what you’re doing now?”

Wyatt glanced at her. “I am.”

“Anything interesting in those thoughts?”

Wyatt was thinking he wanted to kiss her. But this was not the time to be truthful. At least not that truthful.

“I was thinking how easy it would be to aim this sailboat for the horizon and never look back.” He swiveled to face her. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to do it. Mama Rose may have fed us well, but we would very likely get hungry in a day or two.”

A pair of gulls chattered overhead as they dipped and then dove into the water just ahead of the sailboat. A swell of water broke, scattering them back into the sky.

“Is it awful that I truly don’t care? Just point this thing for the horizon. I’ll go where you go.” She turned toward him. “I am so weary of fighting Ben Barnhart. It would be much easier if I could just walk away from it all.”

He shook his head. “To walk away from Ben would mean you had to walk away from your family too. I know you don’t want that.”

Eliza looked down at her hands. When her gaze lifted, she had tears in her eyes. “No, I could never do that.”

“Hey now, don’t cry.” Wyatt gathered her into his arms and held her. “We’re going to figure this out.”

“But I’m afraid Ben has already won,” she managed before the tears fell harder. “I have all the truth, but he has all of the evidence. What I can’t understand is why he’s doing this. What is it that makes him so insistent that I have to be the wife who turns him into a respectable political candidate?”

“Eliza.” Wyatt lifted her chin with his index finger then cupped her jaw in his hand. “You are a beautiful, intelligent woman who would be an asset to any man, not just a politician. Barnhart has been on this path since he was a child. Toward politics thanks to his father’s insistence, and toward making you his wife.”

She looked up at him, her eyes luminous. “You do know, don’t you. That’s exactly what he’s like. It’s flattering if you allow yourself to be caught up in it. But then there’s this other side to all of that attention and all of that posturing to look and act a certain way, and it’s a little frightening when you consider what happens if you fail.”

“You? Fail?” Wyatt shook his head. “Any man with you for a wife would never fail.”

Eliza leaned in slightly. “You say very nice things, John, but you don’t know me.”

“I do know you.” He caught himself before he said more. Then he added. “I am a detective, remember? I am paid to know everything about people, and I am good at what I do.”

She smiled then. “Funny, because I doubt you know what I am thinking right now.”

“Try me.”

“No,” she said with a laugh, a tear still tracing a path down her cheek. “You’re supposed to tell me what I’m thinking.”

“Oh. I see.” He swiped at her cheek with the back of his hand. “All right. Do you really want me to know what, in my professional estimation, you are thinking right now?”

“Yes,” came out on a soft breath. “I do.”

“I’m thinking that you want me to kiss you,” he said, throwing caution to the salt-scented breeze.

“Detective,” she said softly, “you really are good at what you do.”

Wyatt smiled. “I am.” Then he leaned down and gently kissed her.

He expected her to pull away or gasp and declare him a lunatic or something like that. Instead, Eliza leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed.

“Can you navigate this craft in the dark?” she asked.

Not the question he expected. “Not well.”

She let out a long breath. “Did I officially hire you, John?”

He chuckled. “I think so.”

“Then I would like you to sail toward the horizon just far enough to get us back to Galveston before dark.”

Wyatt laughed. “That’s not what you hired me to do, Eliza.”

“No, but considering the day we’ve had and what has transpired since Ben decided I should be married to him, it does sound like a good solution.”

He shook his head. “A good solution is to drift for a little while longer and then return to port, because we have things to discuss.”

She lifted her head. “You mean the kiss?”

“Do you want to talk about the kiss?” he asked.

Eliza shook her head. “Not particularly. Except maybe to say that I’m glad it happened. And if things were different, maybe…” She paused. “No. That’s all.”

“That does sum it up,” he admitted. “If things were different.”

“I bet the stargazing is excellent out here,” Eliza said after a while.

“I don’t know about out here, but there’s a place at the end of the island where I go sometimes. The light from the city isn’t visible out there, so you get a pretty decent look at the heavens. It reminds me a little of being out on the trail.”

She shifted positions to look up at him again. “That’s right. You mentioned you’ve been on the Chisholm Trail.”

“I managed the remuda on a trail ride when I was a kid,” he said, testing the waters.

“So did my friend Wyatt.”

“I know,” Wyatt told her.

Eliza settled back beside him. “That’s right. You’ve made it your business to know everything.”

“Yes, I have.” He let out a long breath and shifted positions to raise the sails again and turn the craft back toward the island.

“You know, John, if I needed to disappear for a while, I know exactly where I would go.”

“Where?” he said as he concentrated on the sails.

“I would go on another trail drive. Do they still do them?”

“I believe so,” he said, “but it’s mostly done by outfits hired by the ranchers. Do you really want to go again? As I recall, it was mostly hard work and sleeping in bedrolls on hard ground.”

“Sure,” she told him. “It was also sleeping at night with nothing to do but look up at the stars. It’s always a little chilly at night in April, but that’s part of the fun too.”

Wyatt shook his head. “You and I have different memories of the experience.”

Eliza sobered. “But don’t you see? I want that memory again, not the one I have of losing a friend. I just want to go one more time and make memories that are happy.”

“Maybe I can take you someday.” As soon as the words were out, he wished to reel them back in.

“I would like that,” she said.

“So would I.”

Eliza leaned against him again, and all was right with the world. “Someday when all of this has been put to rest and you’re free to consider your future, I want to court you properly. If you’ll allow it,” Wyatt added.

“I would like that too.”

Wyatt held her as long as he could, then shifted positions to handle the sails as he guided the vessel back to port. He didn’t kiss her again. He would wait until she was able to consider him without the cloud of a false accusation of marriage following her.

But when that day came, and it would, Wyatt would be there.

And he would kiss her.