Page 27 of Valor

“My soul is already gone.” The words felt heavy in his heart.

“No, see, that’s where you’re wrong.” She shifted in the passenger seat to face him, taking care not to upset the sleeping Bear. “You’ve protected me, kept me safe, and that’s the first step on the road to redemption. Jesus is there for you, Owen. All you have to do is hear God’s word, believe in Him, and accept Jesus as your savior. Jesus will forgive your sins. That’s how you can get on a new path where you turn your life around.”

Call him a cynic but that sounded too easy. He glanced at his watch again, realizing an hour had passed since the SUV had driven slowly past. Maybe it was time to hit the road. Just as he reached forward to start the engine, he noticed a faint glow of light coming from the road.

Dropping his hand, he glanced at Emily. “Scoot way down in your seat so that we can’t be seen from the road.”

She glanced fearfully past him, then did as he’d asked. She leaned toward the center console, keeping Bear in her lap. He had little choice but to do the same, bending toward the center console as well, so close he could have kissed her.

The glow of light grew brighter and brighter. And he found himself hoping that if God was watching over them, that He would spare Emily’s life.

Owen would never recover if she died because of him.

* * *

Emily held her breath,her face inches from Owen’s as they waited for the car to pass them by. There was a part of her that wanted to push out of the car and run to the road in hopes that Doug happened to be the one driving. Yet she couldn’t seem to bring herself to leave Owen.

Obviously, there was a chance that Doug wasn’t the one driving past. It could be the gunman or even another total stranger. With their heads down, she couldn’t even figure out which direction the car was coming from.

But she had a bad feeling it was the same vehicle as earlier. From what she could tell, traffic through the mountain was pretty much nonexistent at this hour.

Owen lifted and angled his head slightly. She could tell he was trying to use the side mirror to see the oncoming vehicle. His musky scent sent a shiver of awareness down her spine, and she had to hold back the impulse to close the narrow gap between them to kiss his cheek. What was wrong with her anyway?

Why was she so attracted to this man?

What had Maya Sullivan said back when she and Doug had come to rescue her? Emotions were rarely logical. That phrase couldn’t have been more accurate.

No matter how many times she told herself to ignore Owen, to remember he was a criminal who’d done terrible things, she was still drawn to him.

Despite learning the truth beneath the lies. To hear from his own lips that his goal was to eliminate another human being! She had no illusions about what that meant.

She had to find a way to convince him to give up on that task. So despite her desire to get to Doug, she stayed where she was.

Waiting and watching Owen. After what seemed like eons, Owen sat up. She gingerly did the same. When he reached over to start the truck engine, she felt a moment of panic.

“Are you sure it’s safe to leave?”

He grimaced. “No. But that car came back down from the opposite direction it had taken earlier, so I’m fairly certain it’s the same one who drove past earlier. We can’t stay here all night.” He put the truck in gear and drove through the brush toward the road.

Then Owen turned left onto the highway so that they were heading away from Elk Horn Lodge. To where? She had no idea.

For long moments, neither of them spoke. Owen drove without lights for a few minutes, but when he narrowly missed a curve in the road, reluctantly reached over and flipped them on. Twisting in her seat, she looked at the road behind them but didn’t see anything.

Slightly reassured, she tried to relax. She was still exhausted, but Owen hadn’t gotten any sleep, so she blinked and did her best to stay awake.

“Lean your seat back as far as it can go and get some rest,” Owen said, obviously noticing her wide yawn. “No sense for both of us to be up.”

“I’d rather talk to keep you awake.” She forced a smile. “Tell me more about your brother. I remember you saying he was a mechanic. Was he older or younger than you?”

“Younger. But I don’t want to talk about Oliver.” His clipped tone did not invite more questions. “Get some sleep. I’m hoping we reach another dot-on-the-map town soon.”

She didn’t want to give up trying to convince him to change his path but decided this might not be the best time. Hard to blame the guy for being tired and crabby. “I can drive.” The offer popped out of her mouth before her brain could register it. “It’s not like I can make a wrong turn.”

“No thanks.” Maybe it was her imagination, but his voice was softer now. “I’m fine. Get some rest.”

With a sigh, she gave in. Finding the seat lever, she reclined back as far as she could go. Bear shifted on her lap, then let out a sigh. With a smile, she closed her eyes.

When Owen hit the brake hard, she jerked awake. Sitting up, she caught a glimpse of a large shape moving across the road. “What was that? He’s huge!”

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