Page 105 of Surly Sheriff
He rose and held out his hand. After a moment’s hesitation, she placed her palm in his and he tugged her up. “Are you going to be okay on your own?”
A lengthy silence followed his question. A silence in which she met and held his searching gaze with a guarded stare of her own. She lowered her head, and a puff of breath escaped her parted lips. “Not really.”
“Will it help you if I stay?”
“I have no right to ask that of you,” she mumbled, shuffling her bare feet.
“You didn’t ask. I’m offering. Couch looks comfortable,” he added.
He added the last bit just in case she got the wrong idea. Sure, the physical attraction was still there. And the more he heard about her life and how she had overcome her troubles, the greater he respected her.
She was a strong woman.
But shehadwalked out on him, and he’d be smart not to lose sight of that devastating fact.
Rae raised her head and whispered, “That will be lovely, Beau. But there’s another bedroom with a full-sized bed. No need for the couch.”
“Give me thirty minutes to go home and settle Kismet for the night.”
“You can bring Kismet with you. Xena’s well socialized and loves company.”
He shook his head. “He’s getting old. Likes his routine.” Beau moved to the front door. The sight of the chain Jack had pushed into place made him pause. “Are you in danger?”
“The possibility is always there. I’ve gone to great lengths to keep Jack’s existence hidden. But I am not risking his life by being blasé about our safety.”
Hidden? “Jack being your son placeshimin danger?”
“He can be used as leverage against me.”
“Leverage?” His heart thumped against his ribs. “What do you mean?”
She frowned. “Vasily Liminov goes to trial again next month.”
Of course. It’s been all over the news. The man was facing a slew of new charges for murder and human trafficking. After the bastard’s pardon several years ago—
Storming back, he gripped her shoulders. “Fuck, Rae.” He wanted to shake the truth right out of her but restrained himself.Barely. “That’swhy you left,” he accused, his fury leaking into his hard tone.
Her eyes dropped, and she exhaled a small puff of air. “While that monster walked free, anybody attached to me was in danger. You, Bella, the babies … he’d’ve killed you all, Beau. Just mowed you down,” she whispered, horror lacing her words. “I wasprotectingyou by leaving. Also … I had the means to put him behind bars again.”
“How?”
“Those dreams I had …?”
“The nightmares, you mean. Yeah, I recall them.” All too well. He’d never figured how they fitted into the rest of her deceit. Hard to fake that terror.
“They were memories.”
Memories?“Of?”
“Vasily murdering my mother.”
Fuck. Was there no end to the horror she endured?
“How old were you?”
“Six.”
The age of the twins now. Mere babies.
