Leo straightened from where he’d been slouching against the side of the ambulance as Daria and Sheriff Trey Colton approached. In the dusk, his ranch teemed with patrol cars, deputies, and other investigators who were already marking evidence trails from the house to the stable. Deputy Blue had been charged with tracking down Bullet, who was probably halfway to the next property line by now.
Two larger deputies were hauling Gates over to a squad car while the man screamed in pain over the injuries to his shoulder and chest. Not one ounce of sympathy trickled through Leo. Part of him wished he’d let Jane take another swing at Gates, but given what he’d seen, she might have killed him. No way was he going to let her have a death—not even Gerald Gates’s death—on her conscience.
She wasn’t hurt. She was alive. Except for a few new scrapes and bruises, uninjured.
But to be safe, the paramedics were giving Jane—Skye—the once-over, not an easy feat as she wouldn’t relinquish her hold on Ollie.
Leo had lived through a lot in his life: the loss of his parents and grandparents; on-site accidents up north that had cost men their lives. He’d taken chances where he shouldn’t have and lived to tell the tale, but nothing had prepared him for the endless ride back to his ranch. The idea they might have been too late, that Gerald Gates could have killed her before...
He gave his head a hard shake as if he could dislodge the image.
If Daria was as exhausted as Leo felt, she certainly didn’t look it. If anything, she looked like she’d drunk half a tankard of Red Bull. “Tell me he spilled his guts,” Leo said.
“Gates has said enough we can piece it together,” Daria said. “Trey, Leo Slattery. Leo, Sheriff Trey Colton.”
“Belated welcome home to Roaring Springs,” Trey said with a bigger smile than Leo expected. “Nice to know Isaac’s ranch is in good hands. And on a personal note, thank you for all you’ve done to keep Skye safe. I’m looking forward to delivering good news to my family for a change. They’ve been going a little nuts since hearing she was alive. Not all missing persons cases turn out this well.”
“I suppose they don’t.” Leo looked back to Jane, who had an odd, distant and almost vacant expression on her face. She hadn’t looked at him. Not since she’d confronted him about his deception.
“She’ll get over it.” Daria touched his arm. “Just give her some time. She’ll realize you were only doing what was best for her.”
Leo winced. He seriously doubted that. “What’s the story with Gates? Why’d he kill McEwan?”
“Levi was stealing from him,” Jane said from where she sat on a stretcher. “Gates took exception. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“We ran the property records on the Preston place,” Daria said. “Paul Preston was Gates’s uncle. As his nephew and only living relative, Gates inherited the property. When he transferred to Roaring Springs two years ago, he did so to expand his drug distribution network. From what our techs have found so far at the Preston property, he had a pretty big operation going until recently.” She paused for a moment, then went on. “Probably moved it again after he killed Levi. We’ve been in touch with his previous department in Denver suggesting they look into his time there. I’m betting we find a connection between the drug supply chain and what we’ve dealt with here since he arrived.”
“Being a deputy was the perfect cover.” Trey’s eyes went dangerously dark. “He could keep an ear out on the drug cases, know what areas to avoid. Also says something about our background check policy. Something I’m going to make sure is reevaluated as soon as possible.”
“Why didn’t he kill me?”
Leo’s blood chilled at the detached tone in Jane’s voice. She was pushing the paramedic away, shaking her head as she tucked the thermal blanket tighter at her throat and stepped out of the truck. Ollie hopped down beside her, looking between the two of them as if begging them to make up.
“We don’t have to talk about that now,” Daria said. “You don’t need to hear—”
“I have no doubt he was planning to,” Trey said, cutting her off. “I did a little digging. About fifteen years or so ago Gates’s father got into a business deal with your dad, Skye. Whatever that deal was went belly up and the Gates family lost everything. They never recovered, either financially or professionally. And personally? Gates is the only one left alive. Seeing you at the gas station that night, he probably thought he’d been given a gift. What better way to make Russ suffer than by living through the loss of one of his children? By kidnapping you, by drawing it out, he was prolonging his own enjoyment. Then you escaped.”
“When you didn’t turn up he probably thought he’d lucked out and you’d died of exposure,” Daria added. “Either way, you weren’t home and that was enough pain to inflict on your father.”
“He was going to rape me before he killed me,” Skye whispered. “Today. I saw it in his eyes. I knew if I got in that car with him—”
Leo held out his hand, but she stepped out of reach without even looking at him. He tried to ignore the hollow pang in his gut as his heart sank. She was alive, he reminded himself. When all was said and done, that was all that mattered. The woman he loved was safe and alive. That would have to be enough.
“What else do you need from me?” Jane asked.
“An official statement,” Daria said. “You can come in tomorrow morning, and we can—”
“No. I want to finish this. I want this all to be over.” She swiped her hair off her face. “Would it be all right if I took a shower and changed first?”
“Yeah. We’ve photographed your injuries. If you could bag your clothes. All of them.” She glanced down to the blood-spattered boots. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine,” Jane whispered. “I’ll just be a few minutes.”
“I’ll come with you. I left my truck—”
“I’ll ride with Daria. Alone.” Jane kept her gaze pinned on the deputy. “If that’s okay.”
Daria nodded. “Yeah, it’s fine. Just give a shout when you’re ready.”
Jane nodded and walked back to the main house, Ollie trailing behind her.
“She just needs some time,” Trey told him.
“No amount of time will make this right.” Leo swallowed around a too-tight throat. “I told her when she first got here I didn’t make promises I couldn’t keep. But I let her down.”
There was a long silence as Trey and Daria waited patiently for him to go on.
“I went against her wishes...the only one she had. Don’t go to the police. If I hadn’t, Gates wouldn’t have known where to find her.”
“If you didn’t, he’d have found her eventually and we wouldn’t have been in time.” Daria gave him a reassuring squeeze on his arm. “Because of you she’s alive, Leo. We all thank you for that.”
Leo nodded to acknowledge he’d heard her, but didn’t say a word. He turned and headed inside. The water was running in the guest bathroom. He brewed a pot of coffee and sat down at the table to wait as Ollie came over, whined and laid his chin on Leo’s knee. “I screwed up, boy.” He patted the dog’s head and waited, heart thudding heavily in his chest, until she emerged.
She’d put on clean jeans and a T-shirt, had braided her hair again and donned the second pair of sneakers he’d picked up for her on that first shopping trip. She’d folded her dirty, bloodied clothes, placed them in a paper bag, along with his mother’s boots, and set them on the washer where he’d left the other bag with the outfit she’d been wearing when she’d arrived.
“I’m just going to check if I’m leaving anything I need.” She headed to the living room, but he caught her wrist as she passed.
“Jane.”
She froze solid, every bone in her body stiffening beneath his touch. She looked down to where he held her, raised her eyes to his. “Skye.”
He absorbed the punch as if it was an actual body blow. His entire body would have caved in on itself if he hadn’t been sitting down. “Skye. I did what I thought I needed to.”
“I know you did. But what I wanted didn’t matter. You lied to me, Leo.” She shifted slightly so she could look at him. “Of all people, you lied to me. We could have done this together. You didn’t have to go behind my back. You didn’t have to deceive me.”
He wanted to argue with her, wanted to explain that he’d done what he had to, what she needed him to do. But no matter how he tried to rationalize it, she was right. He’d lied to her. To argue that fact wasn’t only futile, it was wrong. “I promised I would get you home.”
“I guess it was stupid of me to think I’d found one with you.”
“You did.” He could feel her try to pull away, but he tightened his hold. “You have. I love you, Skye. We can—”
“What? We can what, Leo?” She looked down at him. “Start over? You can make new promises, ones you have every intention of keeping until you change your mind? You know, Brock might have deceived me, but he never pretended to be something he wasn’t. Which was why I was more embarrassed than hurt when he ditched me for someone else. But this? This actually hurts.” She knocked a fist against her chest.
“You’re really going to compare what I did to what he did?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“You don’t get it, do you?” She shook her head, eyes wide with disbelief. “You were the one person I believed would never, ever hurt or betray me. From the second I saw you in that barn, I trusted you. Do you know how many people I’ve trusted in my life, Leo? One. My sister. Even my parents and brothers have let me down over the years. It never once crossed my mind that you’d ever lie to me.”
“A lie meant to protect you.” The excuse drew him to his feet.
“A lie that almost got me killed. Maybe one day I’ll be able to move past that. But I don’t trust you anymore, Leo. And I c-can’t be with someone I can’t trust.” She blinked away the tears that pooled in her eyes and set her jaw. “No matter how much I wish otherwise. Let me go, Leo.” She raised her arm where he still held on. “Now.”
He released her and stood there, unmoving as she made a pass through the house, returning only moments later. “There’s nothing here that’s mine. At least, not anymore.”
“Skye—” He needed to try again. He needed her to understand that he’d been wrong in how he went about things. That he didn’t want to lose her. Didn’t want to wake up to a house where she wasn’t in it. “Skye, please.”
“Hey.” Daria rapped her knuckles against the back screen door and stepped inside. “Sorry to interrupt, but I’m heading out. Unless you changed your mind about staying?”
“I didn’t,” Skye said. “I’m leaving.” She reached down and gave Ollie a solid pat. “It’s time I went home.”
Emotionally drained, physically exhausted and sore, Skye sat curled up on the small sofa in Daria Bloom’s office, a toxic paper cup of coffee clutched between her trembling hands. “Is that all you need?” she asked the deputy, who was click-clacking her way on the keyboard, transcribing her statement word for word.
“Just for you to read this and sign it. Printing now.” Daria tossed her a quick smile. “You sure you don’t want a candy bar to go with that? It really helps to choke it down.”
“This is fine.” The disgusting taste helped keep her mind off Leo. Her eyes drooped. “Hoping the caffeine will help.”
“I bet you’ll be glad to be back in your own bed up at The Chateau.” Daria plucked the papers out of the printer and waved her over.
“Yeah. I bet I will.” She scanned through the write-up of everything she could now remember and scribbled her name on the last page. “You think Gates will take this to trial?”
“I think Gates is going to cut himself a cushy deal with the Feds. Out-of-state trafficking carries a pretty hefty sentence. Add kidnapping and assault to the list, I don’t anticipate you having to testify.”
“Too bad.” Skye smirked. “I heard the deputies saying you thought I might have been taken out by a serial killer.”
“The thought crossed our minds.” Daria glanced up at the board Skye was examining. “Do me a favor, huh?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t go running off like that again. At least without staying in touch with someone.”
“Believe me, I’ve learned my lesson. Are you driving me home?”
“Don’t think I have to. Wow.” She checked her watch. “Boy, they made good time.”
“Who?” Even as the word left her lips, the door to Daria’s office burst open and Phoebe barreled toward her. “Oh.”
“I knew you were alive.” Phoebe wrapped her in a hug so tight, she stole Skye’s breath. “I knew... I always knew...” She leaned back, caught Skye’s face between her hands and pressed her forehead to hers. “I’ve missed you so much.” She blinked and tears spilled down her cheeks.
“Me, too,” Skye whispered as she caught a glimpse of a vaguely familiar—and quite handsome—man standing in the doorway. Before she could put a name to the face, she saw her parents heading down the hall, along with her brothers. Boy, they all must have really been worried if even Decker, Blaine and Wyatt had made the drive down the mountain.
Soon she found herself passed around into life-affirming hugs. She managed to keep the tears at bay until she reached her mother. “Mom,” she managed to say before her voice broke.
“There’s my girl.” Mara Colton, looking as elegant as always, folded her into her arms. “We’ve been so worried about you.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the memory of Leo pleading with her to reach out to her family, to let them know she was okay. Until this moment she hadn’t realized why she’d been so reluctant. She hadn’t wanted to see disappointment on their faces. She didn’t want to feel like a bother. But she didn’t. What she did feel was her mother’s oddly comforting embrace and her brothers’ hands rubbing her back. And when she opened her eyes, she saw her father, her strong, larger-than-life, sometimes overbearing, often distant father looking down at her with...tears in his eyes.
“Skye? Are you all right?”
She nodded, accepting the question for the emotional home run that it was. But she couldn’t speak. Not without lying. She wasn’t all right.
How could she be when she lost the only man she’d ever loved?