One Night Standoff, page 11
And isn’t that far more dangerous?
But she couldn’t quite believe the voice in her head. Not when he was saying he’d wanted to kiss her for ages. “Since when?”
He didn’t release her, but he did stop kissing her. He looked down at her. “Well. When we first got here, you were so skittish.”
She frowned, hating that the descriptor was correct. Skittish. Landon had arrived right after she’d broken up with Douglas, and she had been skittish. As she tried to figure out why she always picked the wrong guy, what kind of danger she might be in, she’d wanted a lot of distance from all men.
“And I’d try to get a smile out of you. Make a joke. Show off. Whatever I thought might get a smile, but you never did. You were always so serious. Then I was in the stables singing some dumb song to the horses and I looked over and there you were. Just smiling at me.”
She remembered. It had been a few months ago. Kate had settled into the ranch and Hazeleigh had started to believe something...nice might have happened out of the Thompsons moving onto the ranch. Zara and Jake. Kate and Brody.
But she’d felt lonely, and a little outnumbered by all the men around. She’d come out to the stables to give Buttercup a treat, a rare occurrence since the Thompson brothers’ arrival. It had taken screwing up some courage, and believing the Thompsons were elsewhere.
Most of them had been on that occasion. Except Landon. He’d been in the stables, singing to the horses. A song she hadn’t recognized, and half suspected he’d made up himself. She’d watched him for a moment or two, perfectly in tune with the horses while he crooned to them.
It had warmed her to him considerably—the singing, the way the horses reacted to him. The moment had broken down some of her defenses. Or maybe she’d just finally been ready to let them down and his way with the horses reminded her that she could.
“You have a nice voice.”
His mouth quirked up. “That’s what you said then. With a smile. And it just...hit me. Harder than it should have. I don’t know what that was. I’ve tried to figure it out, but it’s... I don’t have the words for it. Only that it made me crave your smiles. It made me want...to find a way to be around you without making you nervous.”
It was hard to believe Landon had been standing around...craving anything from her. But she’d been wrapped up in her own stuff, and if she looked back, well... He had always gone out of his way to make her smile.
But she was still her and that was still a bit of a mess. She felt the driving need to be up front about that. “I have...”
He raised an eyebrow. Like he remembered her blurting out yesterday she had terrible taste in men.
It didn’t feel fair right now because he wasn’t terrible taste at all. But she was still...her. “I have issues,” she admitted lamely.
He chuckled, but it wasn’t his normal, happy chuckle. “Don’t we all?”
She could leave it at that. She could do a lot of things in this moment, but she swallowed and told him a truth she hadn’t even told her sister. “I don’t really know how to trust myself.”
He studied her, as if that wasn’t a terrible thing to be. So unsure, so lacking confidence and strength of purpose.
But he still didn’t let her go. “You said you trusted me.”
She nodded. “I do.”
“We can start there.” He sighed, like he gravely regretted what he had to say next. “But for tonight, we’ve got about six hours of dark, and we’ll need them all to get your laptop.”
* * *
LANDON ALMOST LAUGHED at the way her mouth turned into something very close to a pout. Laughed because he wanted to pout a bit himself. Or maybe punch a few holes in the wall. He wanted to say screw the laptop and murder cases and spend the rest of the night learning each other.
But it wasn’t an answer, and he didn’t want to be...a distraction. Something she could excuse away later. If he had a chance with Hazeleigh, he wanted a real one.
Which meant proving, once and for all, that she was no killer. And hopefully, somewhere in all that, she could learn to trust herself the way she so clearly wanted to.
“You said we. I hope that means you agree with me about me going with.”
He wanted to scowl, but he managed to keep his mouth impassive. With a mountain of regret, he pulled his hands away from her face and took a step back. “It’s not that I don’t think you’re right about being quicker—”
“Excellent. It’s settled, then.” She strode for the door like she could steamroll him into bringing her. And there was something about her trying to steamroll him that made him want to let her.
It was dangerous, but so was leaving her here...even if he set up an alarm for her. And maybe if she could do this, be involved, she could trust herself.
Or maybe he’d lost all his good sense and was putting her in danger just because he wanted to be with her. And that was the kind of split focus Cal had forever been warning them about back in their military days.
This was like those days. It was about finding the truth, protecting the innocent. It required focus and strength of purpose and not letting anything compromise clearheaded decisions.
But that kiss still lingered, and the way she’d held onto him, sighed against him. Been wide-eyed asking him how long he’d wanted to kiss her, as if she couldn’t imagine such a thing. And he wasn’t in the military any longer. People had shot at them, a man was dead, but it still wasn’t the same.
He was a person. Not a soldier.
He wasn’t sure he knew what to do with that, but Hazeleigh was already outside the schoolhouse, getting Buttercup ready in the silvery moonlight.
He walked to his horse, hating the uncertainty that swirled within him. “Hazeleigh...”
“I’m doing this,” she said simply. “I don’t need your permission any more than you needed my permission to help me against my will.”
He supposed she had a point there. “Can you at least do it my way?”
“And what is your way?” she asked, primly enough to make him smile.
“We’ll ride the horses to the stables. You give me time to do a perimeter check, see where everyone is, and then we devise a plan from there. Maybe it’s you going into your cabin and getting your laptop, but maybe it’s something else.” He couldn’t make out her expression in the dark, so he simply had to wait for her response.
“Perimeter check,” she echoed.
“Yes, it’s when I—”
“I think I can figure out what a perimeter check is. What I can’t figure out is why you talk like that, talk like you know how to handle murderers and gunshot wounds, and have all that fancy computer equipment I’ve never seen outside a movie.”
Landon didn’t have the faintest idea how to respond. The truth wanted to tumble out. He wanted to lay it all at her feet.
But that wasn’t allowed.
You’re a person now, not a soldier.
But he was still a member of Team Breaker. Whether they were a team or a family, he’d made an oath.
Do you think Jake and Brody have kept that oath?
“Landon?”
He swallowed at all this feeling—which was bad to have. He had so much to accomplish without emotion getting in the way.
“I just need you to agree to follow instructions.”
It was her turn to be quiet for a shade too long. “I’ll be honest—I’m a little tired of following everyone else’s instructions.”
“I’m only trying to keep you safe.”
“Especially when they’re meant to keep me safe. Does it occur to anyone I might want to stay safe myself? Kind of why I ran away.”
“And does it occur to you that people want to keep you safe because they care?” He managed to keep his voice as even as possible, though all this conflicting sentiment was still coursing through him.
She inhaled sharply, and there was a poignant silence where he thought she might ask just what he meant by care. But she didn’t.
She let out the breath. “Yes, I know. All right. I promise to follow instructions with one caveat. You won’t take any unnecessary risks for me.”
“Define unnecessary.”
She sighed heavily. “You always have a comeback.”
“That I do. Now, time is wasting. Let’s get going.” He made sure she was on Buttercup before he mounted his own horse. They both knew the way back to the ranch and Hazeleigh’s cabin, so she didn’t lead him or vice versa. They kept their horses abreast of each other and began an easy trot in the direction of the cabin.
“Landon, I keep thinking about...”
Landon braced himself for a mention of the kiss, a conversation about what it all meant, but apparently she’d forgotten all about it.
“The little girl.”
Landon shifted, trying to ignore the disappointment coursing through him. He should be relieved she wanted to talk about mysteries, not kisses and feelings. “I know you’re worried that she’s on her own, but if she seemed okay...”
“No, it isn’t that. Or it isn’t only that she was alone. It’s just... That first day I went into the schoolhouse I thought it looked off. It wasn’t as dusty as it should have been. Like someone had been in there, sweeping up.”
“You think it was her?”
“I don’t know what to think. But if Mr. Field’s murder really does connect with this silly old bank robbery, and that bank robbery really did connect to the Petersons back in the day, isn’t it odd that there are people hiding and sneaking about on Peterson land?”
“People or a child?”
“She mentioned her mother. That the flashlight and mittens would help her mother.”
“Well, then, she isn’t alone.”
“I suppose not.” Landon didn’t have to see her to know she was frowning. She remained quiet for the next few moments, but he knew she hadn’t stopped thinking about the girl.
“I guess the important question is, regardless of the girl, why are people hiding on Peterson land? Any people.”
Landon had wondered that himself, but he didn’t know enough of the town or family dynamics to determine if that was strange or not. “Did Mr. Field have any connection to any Petersons? Any emails he might have sent about the theory?”
“Not to my knowledge. And I’m not saying Mr. Field told me everything, but I did organize his life. It seems...unlikely there was something going on I didn’t know about.”
Landon considered that. He wished he could believe it. But there had to be something Hazeleigh didn’t know or she’d have some theories about why someone might kill Mr. Field.
“It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that it’s a bit of a random thing. There are those treasure-hunter-type people, always on the lookout for old gold or what have you. Sometimes obsessed people get desperate and sometimes desperate people murder.”
Hazeleigh considered it. “A desperate treasure hunter would be...desperate, right? It would be about the obsession or frustration, but we know this had to be a little premeditated or how would they know to frame me for it?”
Landon wished he knew.
Chapter Fourteen
They didn’t speak much after that. Every question Hazeleigh had just took them in circles and she was tired of the circles. She was tired of not knowing what to fight against.
She knew part of why she was tired was because Landon had kissed her. Suddenly she had something...to look forward to. She didn’t want to run. She wanted this to be over so she could...figure out what life might look like with Landon in it.
A good man. Who liked her.
She rolled her eyes at herself. Timing was everything, and hers continued to be terrible. What did she even have after this? Mr. Field was dead, which meant she was jobless, and... He was gone.
The waves of grief came at odd points, washing over her. It still didn’t feel real.
But they rode through a beautiful starry Wyoming night and Hazeleigh had some...hope maybe, that they could figure out this mystery. The album was a clue. Maybe if she got into Mr. Field’s emails, they’d find another. Maybe, just maybe, she could help solve this and feel like she’d done something for Mr. Field, since she couldn’t go back in time and save him.
Since her bad feeling hadn’t saved him.
She resolutely pushed away the thoughts that wanted to follow, most in her father’s voice about what good she was if she couldn’t use that bad feeling to help the people she loved.
She couldn’t go back in time. So she could only move forward. She stroked Buttercup’s mane and allowed herself to relax into the saddle. She was exhausted. Wrung out and a little jumpy, but there was this driving need inside of her to keep going.
She needed an answer. Some kind of explanation.
The ranch came into view in the moonlight. Just shadows, but the shadows of her childhood and adolescence. Amberleigh had loved to sneak out of the house at this time of night and sometimes Hazeleigh had been brave enough to go with her—never off the ranch, like Amberleigh often did, but to sneak around the stables or their grandparents’ cabin, giggling and feeling like cat burglars.
Hazeleigh sighed at the pain in her chest. Amberleigh hadn’t been perfect, but she’d been...vivacious. Hazeleigh had always felt alive around her. She’d been brave with Amberleigh.
Now Amberleigh was dead and Hazeleigh was here. Still right here. For years she’d been hiding away in plain sight, and it suddenly struck her as very, very wrong.
“We’ll stop here,” Landon said while they were still a little way from the cabin. But they were behind the stables, which would hide them from just about any view from the house.
“You stay right here while I put the horses up. They’ll water, feed, rest. If someone comes, you stay right here, hidden as best you can.”
“Why would anyone come out here in the middle of the night?”
Landon was quiet for a moment, and she heard his quiet footfalls as he got off his horse. She waited for him to come to her. He took her hand and helped her off the horse. She didn’t need the help to get off so much as she did for the landing, since she couldn’t see the ground beneath her—the stable blocked most of the bright moonlight.
He held her steady when she stepped a little wrong and stumbled. Part of her wanted to lean into him. Give up. Go inside. Let everyone in that house take care of everything while she slept.
But she was done being a coward. So she found her own two feet, gave his arm a grateful squeeze and then stepped out of his grasp.
“Just stay right here, okay?”
And she didn’t realize until he’d gone, that he hadn’t explained to her why one of his brothers might come outside in the middle of the night.
She scowled at the stable wall. But she waited, because she understood that even if she chafed at instruction, Landon really did want to keep her safe. And he wanted to solve this for her. Or maybe even with her. Still, she cheated a little.
She moved as quietly as she could to the edge of the stable so she could see around the building. In the distance, just a smudge of dark in the faded starlight, was her cabin. It was dark, as it should be. There was almost no movement. No breeze to flutter the grass or new leaves. The occasional whir of an insect or flapping sound of what was probably a bat could be heard, occasionally interrupted by the huff of a horse from inside the stables.
She nearly jumped a foot when she heard the rumble of voices. Coming from inside the stables. She strained to hear, but the words were muffled by the walls of the stables.
It had to be Landon talking to someone. Hopefully one of his brothers. But what if it wasn’t? What if he was being confronted by the shooter from Mr. Field’s house? What if they’d been followed and—
Hazeleigh sucked in a breath to calm herself. Landon knew how to handle things, and likely how to defend himself. Besides, the murmurs sounded calm. Still, she inched her way closer to the doors so she could make sure.
She had to make sure it was a Thompson. That Landon was safe. She knew he’d do the same in her position.
She kept moving as quietly as she could toward the open door, only stopping when she could finally make out the words.
“I’m not going to pretend like I didn’t see you with Hazeleigh’s horse that’s been missing,” someone said. Dunne, she thought. The low rasp. That emotionless way of speaking that he had. Still, it seemed odd he’d be out here. Because of a leg injury, he didn’t ride horses unless he had to, and it was the middle of the night.
“I don’t see why you couldn’t,” Landon replied, and his tone was genial enough. That teasing lilt he used when he was trying to get someone to his way of thinking without having an argument about it.
She wondered if it ever worked on his brothers. She’d certainly never seen any of them fall for it.
“Do you enjoy putting Zara through hell?”
Landon was very quiet for a very long moment that stretched out and made her own guilt settle heavy on her heart. She knew Zara would be worried about her, but...she just didn’t see any other way.
“Didn’t know you cared,” Landon said at last, but there was no teasing lilt. His voice was almost as flat as Dunne’s.
“What are you doing, Landon?”
Hazeleigh held her breath and waited for his answer. Because there had to be more to it than just helping her, didn’t there?
But she didn’t hear any answer, because an arm came around her from behind, pinning her arms to her side and propelling her forward.
* * *
LANDON HAD KNOWN this would be a mistake. Why had he come? Why had he let Hazeleigh come? He couldn’t afford mistakes now, because Hazeleigh was the one who was going to pay for them.
