Jodie Bailey - Mistaken Twin

If Wyatt was watching out for her, she wouldn’t have to leave. Maybe they’d catch whoever the man was before he could try again.

“I won’t crash in your apartment. I’ll be in my vehicle.” Wyatt shifted and sat on the edge of his seat, holding his coffee mug between his knees. “Do you know who the man was?”

“I’ve never seen him before.” Technically, it was true. She’d never seen that particular man in her life. She’d have remembered the dark eyes, the scar along his cheek. But she’d known plenty of men like him.

Jenna was hiding from one.

Logan had been handsome. Charming... Until he had her under his thumb and threw the first punch. She could still feel the shock of it—physically and mentally. Her lower jaw tightened. Her lip trembled. She dug her teeth in and reached for her mug, but her hand shook, and she sloshed coffee onto the glass.

Wyatt pulled in a deep breath, watching her with a practiced gaze before he spoke. “What are you not telling me?”

“Nothing.” She should probably confess, but what good would it do? If there was even the slimmest chance she could preserve her new identity and stay in town, the last thing she needed to do was bust everything into the open.

Wyatt stood, then stalked to the kitchen and set his mug on the bar with a thump, making Jenna jump. “This?” He turned toward her, familiar suspicion in his eyes, making the blue turn granite gray. “This is my problem. This is what frustrates me about you.”

Her head jerked back so hard her neck strained. “What?” She stood and squared off with him, the fear from her earlier encounter finding new fire in her anger. “What exactly are you accusing me of? A man broke in to my shop tonight. Am I suddenly the bad guy?”

Wyatt dragged his hand down his face and along the back of his neck, where he dug his fingers in. “No, but you’re definitely not telling me the truth.”

“I don’t know who the guy was, okay?”

“Fine. Then answer this... Was it a robbery gone wrong? A kidnapping attempt?” Straightening, Wyatt crossed his arms. “You may not know who he was, but do you have any clue why he was there? Give me something to work with, Jenna.”

Wait a second . Jenna backed away, her eyebrows inching closer to her hairline. Something didn’t make sense. For all Wyatt knew, he’d foiled a simple break-in, one where Jenna was merely caught in the middle. He didn’t know the real story, had no idea she’d been targeted. Yet the bodyguard duty, the intensity and direction of his questions...

It seemed as though he did.

Her jaw slackened and she swallowed hard. Maybe Wyatt Stephens had a problem with her all of these years because he knew the one thing she’d tried the hardest to hide.

Exactly who she really was.

I can’t give you anything. Wyatt dropped his head against the seat of his truck and stared across the street at Jenna’s apartment. Maybe he was being overly suspicious, but it sure did feel like her insistence was a lie. Fine. He’d go around her. He’d find out the truth on his own.

Any news yet? Wyatt tapped out the message to fellow officer Brian Early, then rested his cell phone on his leg, settling in his seat to watch Jenna’s front door. He’d had Early bring his personal truck then take his SUV to the station. He wanted to remain as inconspicuous as possible as he sat parked in the dark end of the alley across the street from Jenna’s apartment. Thankfully, the historic building’s second story offered only one way in, the very stairs he’d practically had to chase her up earlier to keep her from running headlong into the unknown of her own apartment.

In some ways, she appeared to be heedless of the danger. In others, she appeared to be hyperaware of exactly what was going on, of what his department suspected. A brazen attack on Jenna could be random, or it could mean traffickers had already gained a toehold in the town, and they weren’t planning to be too careful about hiding themselves. If that was the case, this could be the start of a violent struggle for control of his hometown.

It was a leap, sure, to go from an attack on one woman to a human trafficking ring that had been dormant since the early fall. But his gut... His gut wouldn’t let him downplay the coincidence of those Texas license plates. A thin thread, but a thread nonetheless.

His phone buzzed on his thigh and he glanced at the screen. Nothing yet. Guy’s a ghost. Could be he cut and ran.

Anything on the car? They’d called in the county and had the car behind Jenna’s shop processed, but it would take time to get more than an owner’s name. Without a clear link to the traffickers, nobody higher up the chain than the county was going to get involved. In fact, the state and federal agents had cleared out weeks ago, their final report stating the gang had either had trouble with the van while passing through, or had been spooked enough by law enforcement’s presence to move on.

The almost-physical gnawing at the back of Wyatt’s brain said no.

His phone buzzed . Registered in Texas. Same county as the box truck. Working on getting more.

Thanks. Pushing deeper into his seat, Wyatt worked his shoulders back and forth, trying to ease some of the tension building there. Jenna had been cagey tonight. She tended to keep a low profile, and she was definitely hiding something. She’d asserted a dozen times that she didn’t know the man who’d been waiting for her in the shop, and Wyatt had finally stopped asking.

But something about her answers to his questions rang false. No, he didn’t think she was a criminal, but she certainly was not telling him the truth. Frustrating would be an understatement.

Chief Thompson was going to have to put someone else on this protection detail. Even with thin evidence, the man was cautious, wanting to be certain the smugglers weren’t behind this. Mountain Springs wasn’t a town with a high crime rate, even with all of the tourist activity. Violent crime was practically nonexistent. A kidnapping was unheard of.

The suspect was definitely an outsider, and no one randomly came to town to cause trouble. Until they knew for certain Jenna was safe, they’d keep an eye on her. But Wyatt couldn’t be the guy on point this time. The two of them had the worst kind of personality conflict. Worse than oil and water, they were ammonia and bleach. Put them in the same room and everyone else fled to get away from the toxic reaction.

And that was on a normal day, when she had no reason to lie.

Wyatt had had his fill of lying women. After what Kari had done to him, it was hard enough to trust anyone else. Nearly a decade later, the wound his former fiancée had inflicted still smarted, mostly in his pride. She’d strung him along for months, her eyes on what she viewed as “the prize.” Wyatt had been a young soldier from a small town, ignorant of the fact there were women in the world who preyed on guys like him, on the steady paycheck and benefits the army offered.

Hearing Kari tell a friend on the eve of their wedding how she’d “hit the jackpot” in death benefits and insurance if he died while deployed...

Her callousness had gutted him. The calculated way her expression shifted from disdain to adoration when he made himself known and it was clear what he’d heard... She’d tried to play it off as the nervousness of a young bride, as a joke.

His life was no joke.

His heart hadn’t shattered when he’d turned and walked out of the room, away from his dreams for the future. It had hardened into a mountain of stone.

Jenna Clark’s behavior since she’d arrived in town shook that mountain like an earthquake every time he looked at her. Something about her had a way of tweaking his attitude.