Page 36 of Stand

How like Ty to be generous to the family trying to destroy his!

“And they might be trying to find out something about me that will get her out of jail.”

“What? What the hell would you have done in the twenty-four hours since she did this?”

“Nothing. Yet. I guess.”

Sam heard the guilt in his voice. The same guilt churned in her gut. He’d given in to her kiss, like before, and now it might cost him.

“Ty,” Cat said. Sam recognized the mom voice. “You have to get out in front of this. How do you know it’s her family and not the press?”

“Because the press would have contacted me by now. They wouldn’t need to sneak around on a story the whole town saw.”

Half the town, Sam whispered.

“Okay, well, then get a restraining order on them, too. Or something. Go call your lawyer. Right now.”

There was a pause. Sam had been outside so long that if she walked in, they’d know she’d been listening. So she stayed where she was.

“I don’t want to complicate things,” he said at last.

“She’sthe one complicating things!” Cat exclaimed. “You need a full army on your side. Starting with your attorney.”

He paused again. “Thanks. Maybe I will.”

Sam put two and two together. Hell if she cared if they knew she’d been eavesdropping. “We’ll call Kane,” she said, stepping through the screen door into view. They both jumped. Cairo yipped and then butted her hip in rebuke.

“God, Sam!” Cat yelped. “You scared the hell out of me!”

“Sorry.” She shifted the tray to one hand and buried her fingers in the fur on top of Cairo’s head. “But Ty needs more help than his attorney can provide.”

“No, I don’t,” he said. He didn’t make eye contact with her, which was just fine. She was more concerned about the stiff expression on his face. His jaw was set, and she knew why. He couldn’t afford to start up a whole other investigation as well as this one. But like he’d said, the Fieldings had money if nothing else, and Sam was going to use it.

“Yes, you do. And that guy took a photo of me, too. I can have a team of lawyers on his ass—uh, case—in a half hour. For my own privacy, let alone yours.”

He raised his brows—yep, he saw right through her. “You don’t have to do this,” he said, his voice dry.

She raised her eyebrows. “What if they’re trying to sully my reputation in this town?”

He wasn’t able to resist that. He laughed. Sam loved to hear it.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’m not laughing at—”

“Yeah, you are. And that’s okay. Look.” She moved closer to him, abandoning her resolve of minutes before. “You need help. We already know that no one else around here has actually given you any. Now they’ve involved me in this, and I’m going to use that to our advantage. Like she does. We’ll fight fire with fire.”

He was shaking his head. “Julia’s already in jail. She can’t do anything else to us.Theycan’t.”

His phone rang. Sam put the tray down on the kitchen island while he answered it. Since Cat didn’t move away to give him privacy, she didn’t either.

“Hello?” he said. “What? You havegotto be kidding—that’s bullshit! How can she—? Never mind. Yeah, I know.”

He hooked his hand behind his neck and turned his back. Belatedly, Cat grabbed Sam’s arm and headed for the door to the front hall, but Sam heard him as she went.

“She’s not even a—I’ve known her like two days. Yes, we went to high school. God, if you count that, I’d be dating the entire town!”

Cat’s eyes were saucers, and she covered her mouth. “He’s talking about you!” she hissed.

“Duh,” Sam whispered. Her guilty stomach churned harder. “Shut up. I can’t hear.”

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