Sudden Setup Page 5

“You make a choice,” he finally said. There was so much frustration and warning in his voice.

  “I can’t go back to Hereford until I know who’s trying to kill me,” she stated. “I have no idea if this person has access to the main house, but he’s made his intentions clear.”

  “It’s best to assume he does, and especially after what happened to your father on the property. I can keep you safe while the sheriff investigates the attempts on your life. Or we can figure out a better way to get you to law enforcement.”

  She was shaking her head before he finished his sentence.

  “If you accept my help that means going off the grid. You have to follow my rules and cut off all communication with everyone but me,” he said, and the look in his eyes said he meant every word. “You already know what it’s like to be around me. This is what you’ll be stuck with until this...issue is resolved.”

  “I’m aware of your magnetic personality,” she shot back. She was also aware that he was the only one who seemed capable of keeping her alive. He might not be one to talk much, but it was obvious that he knew how to hide and a piece of her—a piece she should probably ignore—felt safe when he was around.

  “Good. Being angry with me will keep us both from making another mistake like the one we made earlier,” he said, and his gaze dipped to her lips. He refocused on the patch of wall behind her head.

  Did he have to keep reminding her?

  “If I can’t speak to anyone else, how will the sheriff know what’s happened?” she asked.

  “I’ll arrange for you to give a statement, but it won’t be in person,” he said. “Then we’ll disappear.”

  She could hire a security company to keep her safe, but there was no time. She needed protection now. And it was too risky to give up her location to anyone before she could thoroughly vet the agency’s employees. This wasn’t the time to chide herself for not thinking of having a security team ready to go sooner. She hadn’t needed to consider it before now. Security on the ranch had always proved up to the task until her father...

  Thinking about him caused tears to threaten.

  Going to the ranch was out. Again, her father had been murdered at home, so someone had slipped past security. Either way, returning to Hereford might not prove good for her longevity.

  Her father had trusted Holden Crawford. And that was saying a lot.

  “I want your help,” she stated. “There are reporters everywhere in Cattle Barge and apparently—” she blew out a frustrated breath “—I’m news. If I surface anywhere, then my face will be all over the internet, on live feeds, and that will lead whoever is after me to my location. I can’t afford to be seen right now, and since you seem very good at staying under the radar, you’re my best chance at staying alive.”

  His lips thinned and his gaze narrowed.

  “I was afraid you’d say that,” he ground out as he walked right past her and out the door.

  * * *

  HOLDEN STALKED OUTSIDE and paced. The room had felt confining, like he was strapped in a straitjacket. Being in the Texas night air always gave him perspective.

  Maverick Mike was dead. He’d been killed in a manner that was meant to make a statement. Sure, the man knew how to have a good time. Holden’s own father had always gotten a look of appreciation when he’d talked about his poker buddy from Texas. The annual secret game that had happened at Hereford every year was legendary but rarely spoken about. Holden was unclear as to how his father had been included, but he’d been making the trip since Holden could remember. Thinking of Pop brought a wave of anger to the surface. Holden should’ve been there to stop it. His fists clenched and that familiar sense of frustration bore down on him. Beating himself up over Pop’s death again wouldn’t change the past.

  The door squeaked open behind him. He turned to look at Ella and his heart hammered against his ribs a little harder. The tension of the day was written in the worry lines bracketing her mouth, and Holden had an overwhelming urge to kiss her again. Self-control was normally second nature to him, so his reaction to her threw him off balance.

  “Do you think the guys who are after me had anything to do with my father’s death?” she asked, and he was grateful for the change in subject.

  Was someone planning to systematically kill off the Butler family?

  The question was worth considering.

  But his noncommittal shrug had the effect of a raging fire in her eyes.

  “I’m sorry about throwing my problems in your lap, but why volunteer for this since it’s so obvious that it pains you so much to help me?” The spark in her eyes lit something else inside him that he couldn’t allow. Holden couldn’t go there to that place where he cared about someone again. Not when the two people closest to him were dead because of him.

  “There’s no need to be sorry,” Holden said, unsure of what else he could say in this situation. He’d been away from people for too long and she wasn’t making it easy to keep her at arm’s length.

  The breath she blew out could’ve put out candles lit across the entire Lone Star State.

  Good. Maybe her anger would warn her to keep a safe distance from him.

  “You may not realize what it’s like for your father to be killed practically under your nose,” she said.

  Those words lit a fire inside him that no amount of reasoning could extinguish. He stalked toward her until her back was against the wood structure and her lips weren’t five inches from his.

  “Don’t you ever mention my father again,” he ground out. “Do you understand me?”

  There should be a look of fear on her face because he could damn well be intimidating when he needed to be and he’d released only a tiny portion of what he was capable of. Most people would be shaking right now. Not her. Not Ella. Instead of flinching, her face was soft with compassion. Her arms were at her sides, her hands open.

  He planted his palms to either side of her head and practically growled at her.

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” she said quietly as her cornflower blue eyes rose to meet his. Her honey-wheat hair fell around her shoulders in loose curls. And with that one look, he almost faltered.

  Holden, dude, get a grip.

  He pushed off the wall and took a couple of steps in the opposite direction. He needed to steer the conversation away from his problems and back to the danger at hand.

  “Earlier you said that your father was shot and he was na—” he shifted his gaze back toward her “—not wearing clothes.”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “The sheriff most likely already made the connection that the murderer was making some kind of statement,” he said and could see that her mind was clicking.

  “Or seeking revenge,” she said.

  Holden nodded. “I see it like this. Someone wanted the whole world to know that they could access him at his home while he slept.” He started pacing again. He could see out of the corner of his eye that she was nodding.

  “Did he have a girlfriend?” he asked.

  A harrumph noise tore from her throat. “Several, but he seemed to be getting serious with one, Andrea Caldwell.”

  “Did she know about the others?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she replied.

  “Since a male attacked you, it’s probably safe to rule her out,” he said.

  “Right after my father’s murder the sheriff asked for a list of employees, family, friends who might’ve been there that night. We were putting it together when the room started spinning and my mouth felt dry. I had to get out, to go take a walk,” she said. “He was gone by the time I got back.”

  Holden ignored the fact that he’d felt the same way a few minutes ago. Almost ignored, a little voice reminded—a voice he tamped down the second it made itself known. That her stress reaction was similar to his had registered. Fine. The knowledge would
help him memorize her habits and reactions, and that could mean the difference between life and death at some point. Holden filed away those facts with others he knew about Ella. She was strong, independent and intelligent.

  “Did you ever complete that list and turn it in?” he asked.

  “May, our housekeeper, was still working on it with me,” she said and then a different kind of emotion lit behind her eyes—concern. “She’s probably worried sick after my disappearance and then the news story about my attack. I need to contact her and let her know that I’m okay.”

  And now Ella was pacing, too.

  “Out of the question,” he said.

  “I wouldn’t tell her where I am. Just that I’m safe,” she defended.

  “We don’t take any unnecessary risks. The man who tried to shoot you meant business and I won’t—”

  Her hand came up as if to stop him and her gaze dramatically swept down across her thigh. “Save your breath. I already know that.”

  Holden didn’t want to look at those long legs of hers.

  “She’s looked after me since I was a baby. She’s like a mother to us. Please figure out a way to get a message to her and let her know that I’m not lying in a ditch somewhere because that’s what she’s thinking. She’s getting older and I can’t stand the thought of her worrying herself sick,” she said with eyes that pleaded.

  And it was working. He thought about Rose, the friend of his father’s who Holden had known all his life. He hadn’t been in contact with her since he’d been on the run, and now he wondered how many sleepless nights she’d spent worrying about him.

  Hell, he was beginning to see how Ella managed to get her way with people. It was a combination of her arguing skills, concern for others and passion. She gave the impression that she cared deeply about others and that was compelling. Those eyes didn’t hurt either.

  “No.” He needed to see that she would listen to him even when she didn’t agree. Not even Holden could keep someone alive who was determined to work against him.

  She balked and her cheeks reddened with anger, but to her credit she didn’t continue to argue her point.

  “And don’t get any ideas about going behind my back,” he said, testing her further. “I’ll know.”

  “How?” she blurted out.

  “Trust me. I will,” he stated.

  Ella stalked past him again, wearing a path in the dirt.

  “Fine,” she said. “But when are you going to start actually trusting me?”

  Chapter Six

  Holden had no response. No one had ever been able to read him that well, and especially not someone who barely knew him. Never mind that he felt a deeper connection to Ella Butler than anyone he had ever known. He pushed it out of his mind and chalked it up to them being in similar situations.

  Ella’s hand came up. “I get it. This is real and you need to feel like you know me. I’m not going to betray you. In case you haven’t already figured it out, I need you right now more than you need me. So I won’t mess up and risk forcing you to walk away for your own safety’s sake. I get what’s on the line here for both of us.”

  Well, those words did a lot toward building a tentative bridge of trust.

  “Whatever has you on the run has also caused you to stop believing that you can rely on people,” she continued.

  He begrudgingly nodded. She was intelligent and observant. He could use that to their advantage.

  “Even if it means nothing to you right now, I give you my word that I’ll do whatever you ask. Whoever is after me could also be targeting my brothers and sister. They’re safely out of the public eye right now, and I’ll do whatever it takes to protect them,” she said with a defiant sparkle in her eyes.

  “Family blood runs thick. I get it,” he started.

  “Do you really?” she asked. “Because I’m beginning to think that all you know is how to be alone.”

  He started to tell her that his personal life was none of her business but thought better of it. “What about you? Where is your boyfriend in all this because I need to know if someone else is going to interfere?”

  “I don’t have one,” she admitted. Her cheeks flushed.

  Relief washed over him and he chalked it up to the kiss, not wanting to admit how truly interested he’d been in her answer.

  A thought struck him. She needed to see that he trusted her with information and he could give up a little. “My mother took off when I was little and I wouldn’t know her if she walked past me. I don’t have biological brothers or sisters. At least, none that I know of.”

  He had no plans to elaborate further.

  “But I understand and appreciate your loyalty to yours.” His comfort zone had been shattered twenty minutes ago, but she’d been painfully honest with him and he figured he owed her something in return. “And your loyalty to me until this mess is untangled is your best chance at staying alive.”

  “We’re in agreement,” she said.

  Holden remembered her telling him that she’d been good at campaigning for what was important to her. He could hand it to her. She’d gotten more out of him in the little time he’d known her than any other human had gotten out of him in months. He wasn’t much into sharing.

  He could also admit to admiring her inner strength as much as he could appreciate that she was a beautiful woman. Okay, where’d that last part come from? The heart, that annoying little voice supplied. Time to shut it down and turn it off—whatever it was. Holden refused to think that he could have real feelings for her, for anyone, and especially not someone he barely knew. He didn’t believe he could be that cruel to another person again. And he needed to get this conversation back on track and off this slippery slope of feelings.

  “Earlier, you mentioned the list,” he said. “Did any of the names stick out to you?”

  “Not really.” She blew out a breath and it was like a balloon deflating. “My father was well liked and just as well hated, I guess. Depends on which side of the fence you stand on. If he was your friend, there was no one better. If you crossed him, he would have nothing to do with you. He was dating a few women but he seemed keen on Andrea. I got the feeling that he was getting close to making a real commitment to her.”

  “Could she have gotten tired of waiting?” he asked.

  “I suppose. But she’s a good person. And, like you said, she couldn’t be the one who attacked me.” Her proud shoulders were starting to curl forward and dark circles had formed underneath her eyes. A good look at her said she was exhausted.

  “Let’s finish talking about this inside,” he said and wasn’t surprised she didn’t put up a fight.

  Ella accepted the arm he held out. Her grip was weakening, so he wrapped his arm around her waist to absorb her weight. It was probably a mistake for their bodies to be anywhere near this close to each other. Heat sizzled between them despite the amount of energy it took for her to walk.

  “Thank you, by the way. Again. For saving my life,” she said quietly.

  “Not necessary,” he said.

  She gave him a look and he quickly added, “It’s the least I can do for someone who needs a hand up. Our fathers knew each other and that’s how I know yours. When I reached out, he didn’t hesitate to help me. I owe him for that.”

  That seemed to ease her stress and she rewarded him with a warm smile. He helped her inside and to the bed in the corner. “I have a few supplies on my bike. I’ll be right back.”

  She winced as she scooted her back against the wall in obvious pain.

  Holden retrieved his pack from his motorcycle. He had several clean rolled-up T-shirts that he positioned as a pillow for Ella. The bed might be hard but she could at least put her head down on something soft. “This is a far cry from what you’re used to on the ranch.”

  “If you really think that then you have no idea
how I spent my childhood,” she quipped, and he could see a flash of humor in her eyes. She quickly reeled in her smile but he liked the curve of her lips when she was happy, fleeting as it might’ve been.

  “And how was that, exactly?” He went to work on her leg, cleaning the area with wipes and dabbing the ointment generously. Being prepared for the possibility that he’d have to patch himself up at some point, he was grateful for the medical supplies he kept on hand. He used a patch of white gauze and medical tape to cover the wound.

  “In a tent in the backyard,” she said. “More bluebonnets than you could count in the spring and we’d come in with more bug bites than should be allowed. But we liked being outside and when we got old enough, Dad would let us build a fire.” She shook her head before curling on her side. “May would be so furious with him that she’d sit up half the night in the screened-in porch watching over us. Dad sure didn’t make her job easy.”

  “Sounds like a good way to live if you ask me,” he said. But before they could get too far off course and mired in nostalgia he added, “I’m guessing security is lighter around the barn area of the property.”

  “Dad liked his privacy. He didn’t want anyone, and that included his security team, too entangled in his personal affairs,” she stated. “He liked to be able to come and go as he pleased without his extracurricular life part of our dinner conversation.”

  He could appreciate that a single man wouldn’t want his children waking up to a stranger in the house. He also didn’t need to say out loud that was a mistake that had cost her father gravely. He could see that she’d made that connection by the look in her eyes. “The person who did this to him wanted to make a statement with his death.”

  “I know that we ruled out a woman, but could it be? Someone whose heart he broke?” she asked and her voice was almost hopeful.

  “Maybe one of the others figured out he was about to cut them loose and decided to show him,” he said without conviction.

  “He wanted to create office space for me, my sister and twin brothers. He’d been dropping hints to me that he was at least thinking about retiring from the day-to-day operations of the ranch,” she said.