Lenora Worth - Cowboy Who Came For Christmas

“No odd person lurking about?”

Sophia got that uneasy feeling in her gut again, a stabbing, sick feeling. “No. We’d notice that, trust me. We’re all accounted for and we watch out for each other.”

Something snapped outside.

“The tree limbs are starting to crash,” she said, hoping that was all they’d heard. Her stomach clenched in a jittery snap of its own.

When another snap echoed against the porch, Adan got up. “Limbs, maybe, but I’d better check.” He set his coffee cup down and put a finger to his lips. “Don’t move.”

Sophia’s heart hit her chest and caught against her ribs. Was someone out there? She didn’t want to have a panic attack, but between this rugged Ranger and whomever he’d been tracking, she couldn’t help but fear the worst. And if her fears overtook her, she’d get that racing heart feeling and lose her breath. Taking a deep, calming gulp of air, Sophia willed herself to go into a silent strength.

And then another sound outside. A tap at the back door, maybe?

Adan’s hiss hit the air. “Where did you put my gun?”

She rushed into her bedroom and came out with his big, heavy handgun. “And here’s your badge, too.”

Taking both, he checked the gun then stashed his badge in his pocket. Grabbing his coat, he glanced back at her. “Stay here,” he said. “I’m going out to check.”

Sophia’s emotions ran the gamut between scared and anxious to sad and full of regret. She’d only known Adan Harrison for about three hours, and in that time, she’d held a gun on him, watched her friend knock him out and they’d tied him up and put tape over his mouth. Now, she was so glad he’d come to Crescent Mountain. The man exuded confidence and power and made her feel secure. But those traits didn’t hide the one glaring thing Adan’s presence had brought out in her—the solid fear she’d managed to keep at bay by sheer force and willpower.

For the first time in years, she didn’t feel safe here.

* * *

ADAN SLID ALONG the rough plank walls of the square brown cabin. He’d checked around the big front porch and found nothing. But here on the side of the house, he hit the ground with a penlight and saw fresh footprints by the back window of one of the bedrooms.

Someone snooping, or someone leaving through a window. He checked the windowsill but it didn’t look as if the window had been opened. Fresh snow was encrusted over the bottom of the glass and the thick wood casings. He did see a couple of imprints. Looked as though someone had placed a hand against the outside sill. Then he heard a crunching sound out in the woods.

Adan cut his light and turned to stare into the swaying trees. Something was definitely out there. Or someone. Had ol’ Joe seen his truck down on the road and followed the path Adan had taken to get up to the cabin?

Or had the man he’d come to find been here all along? He waited in the shadows, his breath hitching in the cold, his hands freezing against the steel of his gun. A shuffling and rustling in the distant woods had him on the move again. He reached the edge of the cabin’s garden and stood silent behind a giant oak tree.

More thrashing about and then the woods went quiet. Deciding to circle back around, he trotted from tree to tree, hiding behind snowdrifts and limbs heavy with ice and snow until he thought he’d cleared the area in the woods where he’d heard the noise. But the heavy snow and the midnight darkness kept him from finding anything. Following his own footsteps, he could imagine how easy it would be to get lost out here at night. Maybe whoever’d been snooping around had gotten confused and crashed into a ravine. Or they’d purposely caused a distraction to lure him away from the cabin.

When he heard a scream, he started running through the knee-deep snow, falling and getting up again until he hit the porch and rushed inside the cabin.

Sophia stood there staring at a piece of paper, her face as pale as the night. Adan hurried to take the paper from her. “Where did you find this?”

She pointed to the back door. “Inside the screen. I heard someone and I thought it was you.” She shuddered, took in a breath. “When I opened the door I found this.”

Adan stared at the artist’s rendering of the man he was chasing. “Do you know this man, Sophia?”

She sank down on a dining chair, shock evident in her eyes. Holding her chest, she gave him a frightened stare. “I... I don’t know. I mean, I just got scared when I saw that someone had left that there.” She gulped in air and shot a worried glance at the door.

Adan’s gut told him she was lying. This woman who’d been so strong and sure was now shaking and uncertain. Fear colored her skin white. Her hands were cold, her actions jittery and unsure. She kept staring at the mug shot in the picture with a shocked expression on her face.

“You know this man, don’t you?” Adan asked again. “Sophia, did you help this man escape earlier tonight?”

She hurtled out of the chair and crossed her arms as if to stop the shaking. “Why do you keep asking me that?”

He grabbed her, his hands rubbing her arms over her heavy sweater. She stared up at him but she couldn’t seem to speak.

Finally, she asked, “The man you’re tracking? You said he’s a wanted felon. What did he do?”

Adan decided it was time to come clean. Someone had left that poster on this woman’s door on purpose. That same person had obviously broken into his truck and found the flyer. If Joe Pritchard was here, the battle had just begun, but Adan had to take on that battle.

“He robbed a gas station near the Texas border and killed the cashier. He’s been robbing people left and right all the way from Austin to the Arkansas border and some locals had him cornered, but he escaped. Based on maps we found in a vehicle he stole and abandoned, we believe he was headed here. He’s got a long rap sheet that stretches over years, but this time he’s committed murder and I need to find him.”

He held her there and looked into her eyes. “If you know him, if you’ve aided him in any way, you need to tell me now. Before he hurts someone else.”

She gulped a sob, held a hand to her mouth. “He killed a store clerk?”

“Yes, a woman. A single mother with two children.”

She let out another sob then pulled away from Adan. “I need to check on Bettye.”

Adan watched her, his instincts to protect her too strong to ignore. “We’ll check on Bettye. But you have to tell me what’s going on with you. Right now, Sophia.”

When she kept moving toward her bedroom, he grabbed her and turned her around. And that’s when he saw the sheer terror in her eyes.

Without thinking, Adan gently tugged her into his arms. “It’s okay. It’s all right. I’m not going to hurt you. No one is going to hurt you.”

She felt small and stiff, like a frozen doll. But he held tight and kept reassuring her while his mind raced with the possibility that there was a killer out in those dark, snow-covered woods. He’d protect this woman because that was part of his job. But from the terrified expression on her face and the way he wanted to wrap her in a cloak of warmth, Adan decided he was in this for the long haul. He shouldn’t feel this way about a woman he’d only known for a few hours.

And he had to ask again. “Sophia, did you recognize this man?”

She shook her head, but the look in her eyes told Adan differently.

Disappointment coursed through Adan. Had she helped this man escape? But if she had, why would he risk coming back to stick that poster in her door? Maybe as a warning or a threat? Or maybe to taunt Adan? To show him that he’d managed to let yet another criminal get away?

“Have you seen anyone matching this description?” he asked, his hands still on her shoulders.