Renegade Protector. Nico Rosso
and shook the thoughts out of her head. He might be involved, or married, though she’d noticed no ring. She’d seen his integrity, so it didn’t make sense if he had someone that he’d still be staring so deeply at her. Or maybe it was just her wishful thinking. Throwing too many feelings toward the one man who’d helped her.
She got under the covers, wearing sweats and a T-shirt, knowing her shoes and rifle were close by. Ty’s perception was dangerous. She tried to take comfort in how it was an asset in her fight to keep her orchard, but couldn’t dim the bright flush across her chest and down her legs that he inspired. The man was probably asleep already, thinking only of justice. She turned out the last light in the bedroom. He remained very much awake in her mind. All he’d told her still hadn’t settled into order. But it was the silences between her and Ty she had no defense for.
Stars glittered outside her window. Ty was in her house. Sleep seemed impossible. She closed her eyes and felt him wrapped around her, rolling from danger on the hard ground of the parking lot. Remembering him eating in her kitchen slowed her pulse to a more sensual pace. It was only when she imagined the slow process of handpicking apples from her trees that sleep finally took her.
She woke with a clutch of fear in her throat. The sky was still deep charcoal. It could’ve been hours or minutes since she’d fallen asleep. Toro stood on alert in the middle of the room, staring at a dark window. The unknown danger burned the cobwebs out of her head with icy fire. She slipped from her bed and grabbed her rifle.
One footstep creaked on her floor and Ty’s voice came cautiously low from downstairs. “One car, parked on the road to your place.”
She crouched low and approached the window. Among the natural landscape that spread out beneath her house and orchard, a car gleamed in the starlight. It was on the side of the road, small puffs of exhaust showing it was idling. Then she heard the distant sound of the engine, like an angry insect stuck deep between the house’s walls.
Ty asked in a clipped voice, “Is there a back way to your house?”
She kept her gaze on the landscape while she hurried to her bedroom door and unlocked it. “Fire roads.” She returned to the view of the car. Ty bounded up the stairs. Toro was so intent on the window, the dog didn’t even glance at him.
Ty moved to a window opposite the one she was looking out, with a view of the back hill of the property. “Are they passable?”
“They’re blocked by gates and chains and dry creeks.” The car remained motionless, too far away to see how many people were inside or what they were doing. “Only four-wheelers and horses can get through.”
He came over to the front window and crouched next to her. It was amazing someone with his size and strength could move so quietly. His intense presence brought her even more awake. He kept his voice a whisper. “The car killed its lights a mile before coming to a stop.”
Anger choked her words. “They’re parked on my property. That’s after my fence line.” As if tonight’s attack wasn’t enough, they had to come back.
Ty focused out the window. “Have they ever come this close before?”
She gritted through a clenched jaw, “Yes.” It was then she saw that his pistol was in his hand. “Are you that good a shot?” It was at least half a mile.
He glanced at her, grim. “They might not be the only ones out there.”
She shook off a quick shiver. “Toro would be going crazy.” The dog remained rigid, staring out the window.
Without taking his eyes from the idling car, Ty lowered his pistol. “Good thing it’s so quiet in the country. Never would’ve heard them until they were closer in the city.”
“You heard them coming?” She couldn’t identify exactly what had woken her, but knew it wasn’t the noise of the engine.
Ty shrugged. “I was barely sleeping.”
“Too quiet for a city guy?” Their whispers didn’t reach the glass panes in front of them.
“My grandparents had a spread east of the bay and we used to do summers out there.” A smile emerged in his voice. “Chopping wood. Swinging off a rope into the swimming hole. Chasing chickens.”
“That’s what I was trying to get away from when I went to college.” She put her fingers on the windowsill, wishing she knew more of the history of the hands that had built this house. “I didn’t know how valuable it was until I came back to make a life out of it.”
The steel returned to Ty. “That’s why I’m not going to let them take it away from you.”
“What happened to your grandparents’ place?” Was that why he was so determined to help her?
“The younger generations moved to the cities and the land got to be too much for them to maintain. They sold it off and lived out their lives in a nice little house.” He warmed again. “I still see people wearing belts my grandpa tooled. Didn’t sell them, just gave them away with plenty of free advice. And my grandma tutored any local kid who needed help.”
The lineage started to make sense. “They were Frontier Justice.”
Ty’s gaze dropped to the floor and his brow drew down. After a moment, he shook his head. “As far as I could find, that organization dissolved around World War One. My grandparents were just...”
“Good people.” She moved her hand from the windowsill to brush it against his. “Like you.”
He brought his attention to the idling car again, eyes taking on an edge. “I’m trying.”
His deflection helped her find some perspective. Yes, he was diligent in helping her, but was she reading too much into the silent moments between them? “What does your girlfriend think about you spending the night at my place?”
“No girlfriend.” He kept staring straight ahead. “No wife.”
“Married to the badge?” She could see how his intensity might not leave space for another person.
“I’ll give you my mom’s number.” A wry smile curved his mouth. “She can fill you in on all the things I’m doing wrong in my love life.”
“I don’t know, Ty. I think you’ve got primo moves.” She focused ahead as well, but felt as if she was leaning against his shoulder, even though they were over a foot apart. “You jump into a fight, run into a fire, all just to get into my bedroom.”
He leaned back on his heels, as if startled, and looked about the room. “I was just tracking that car. If you don’t want me in here...” His voice trailed off as he glanced from the bed to her in her T-shirt and sweats.
What had started as a joke turned serious in the new silence. She hadn’t even taken in that he was wearing only a tank top and athletic shorts. The dim light from outside revealed the muscles in his arms that made him move with such sure grace. He was lean, defined, built for purpose, not just for show. “I let you in,” she answered.
Outside, the sound of the car’s engine changed. Condensation from the exhaust billowed and the car moved forward. Ty crouched lower, pistol in hand. Ready. She clutched her rifle and tried to keep her heart from pounding too hard. Her voice shook. “I’ve never shot at another person.”
“You’re lucky,” he whispered, face so dark she couldn’t see into him. “Remember, you didn’t ask for this. These bastards are bringing it to you, and you’re just defending your home and your life.”
Her palms sweated with the thought of it coming down to a life-and-death fight. But that was what they’d done this night, attacking her the way they did.
The car continued up the road. Her breath caught in her throat. Ty remained poised, eerily calm. After a few yards, the car swung across the blacktop in a hard U-turn. Tires screeched into the night. The headlights turned back on and the car sped away, having sent its message.
Relief