the debate going on inside her, and with each passing second, Theo’s unease escalated. It really wasn’t a smart idea for them to be outside.
“Your brothers don’t trust me,” he added. “I get that.”
Man, did he. Because for a short period of time after the Becketts were murdered, Theo had been a suspect.
His father wasn’t the only one who’d had bad blood with Ivy’s parents.
Just hours before their murder, Theo had had a run-in with Ivy’s father, Sherman, and Sherman had told him in no uncertain terms that he was to stop seeing Ivy, that she didn’t need a bad boy in her life. Theo had been furious, even though Sherman had been right—Ivy had deserved something better.
“Yes,” Ivy whispered as if she knew exactly what he was thinking. “But let’s not allow old water and old bridges to play into this. Gabriel needs to hear this recording and decide if it’s something we should be worried about.”
Yes, and her brother would be worried once he heard what the CI had to say.
Ivy motioned for him to follow her. Not to his truck but rather to the back of the house. She hurried, thank God, which meant it had finally sunk in that she was in danger. But since she was clearly taking him inside, Theo had to speak up.
“Remember the part about a possible bug. When we’re inside, whisper.” That might not be enough if the listening device was sensitive and had a wide range, but at this point he just wanted her out of the line of possible fire.
She led him onto the porch and through the back door, but Ivy stopped in a mudroom, where there were raincoats on wall pegs and cowboy boots stashed beside a wooden bench. A reminder that this was indeed a working ranch. Gabriel wasn’t just a sheriff, but also raised cattle and horses. There were cans of paint and what appeared to be scaffolding, as well.
“There was a fire last month,” Ivy said, following his gaze. “An attack. That’s why I want to make sure another one doesn’t happen.”
He wanted the same thing, especially since Theo had read about that attack. His sister had been the target, and even though the guy was now dead, he’d clearly left his mark.
“I’ll have Gabriel come back here.” Ivy put the rifle on the top shelf of the storage closet, took out her phone from her jeans pocket and sent off a text.
Theo had another look around, shut the back door and then glanced out the single window that was in the small room. Ivy reached for the light switch to turn it on, but he stopped her. Of course, that meant touching her, and he got another sucker punch of the old heat.
A third sucker punch when their gazes met.
She didn’t say anything, but Theo thought maybe she had felt it, too. He also thought maybe she was fighting to push it away as hard as he was. Yes, she was a widow, but after everything they’d gone through, she probably didn’t want to have another round with him any more than he did with her.
“It’s not a good idea to be this close to a window,” Theo insisted. And yes, he whispered. “We should at least get down.”
She clamped her teeth over her bottom lip for a couple of seconds. A gesture he’d seen her do so many times. Nerves. But she finally ducked down so that her head wouldn’t be anywhere near the glass. Theo ducked, too, but he stayed high enough so he could continue to glance out and make sure the killer wasn’t sneaking up on them.
The moments crawled by, and with each one of them Theo became well aware of the close contact between them. It was hard to fight the attraction and the old memories when they were this close. And when he caught her scent.
Hell.
For just a split second, the image of her naked body flashed into his head.
Thankfully, the image didn’t stay. It vanished when he heard the voice and the sound of footsteps. It was yet another voice he recognized. Gabriel’s.
Theo braced himself for whatever Gabriel might dole out. He could just order Theo out of there, but Gabriel barely spared him a glance when he stepped into the doorway. That’s because he was on his phone, and he took his sister by the arm and moved her out of the mudroom and into the adjacent kitchen.
Once Gabriel had done that, he finished his call, slipped his phone back into his jeans pocket and finally looked at Theo. This time, it was more than a glance.
“What the hell did you do? Who did you bring with you?” Gabriel demanded. But he didn’t give Theo a chance to answer. “One of the ranch hands just called. He spotted an armed man crawling over the back fence, and the man’s making his way to the house right now.”
Ivy’s heart slammed against her chest. She had already been feeling so many emotions, including dread and fear, but this was a different kind of fear.
There’s a killer coming here to the ranch tonight.
She hadn’t exactly dismissed Theo’s warning, but Ivy had prayed he was wrong. Apparently not, though. Because she doubted an armed intruder had good intentions. And according to Gabriel, he was on his way to the house. Ivy would have bolted toward the front stairs if Gabriel hadn’t taken hold of her arm again.
“I’ve already told the others to lock up and get down,” her brother said. “They’re fine.” He slapped off the kitchen lights and tipped his head to the back door where Theo and she had entered. “Lock that,” he added to Theo. Theo did, and Gabriel used his phone to arm the security system.
“There could be listening devices planted in the house and at your office.” Theo hurried into the kitchen with them. “Who else is here?” Theo asked at the same moment that Gabriel threw out a question of his own.
“What do you have to do with the armed guy?”
Judging from the glare Gabriel aimed at Theo, her brother felt his question had priority over Theo’s. Theo must have felt the same way, because he started talking.
“I don’t know who he is, but I have a recording of a CI who says that a killer is on the way to the ranch. I didn’t call because supposedly this killer had managed to plant bugs in the house and the sheriff’s office, and I didn’t want to tip him off that we were onto him. But obviously we’re past the point of being worried about tipping him off.”
“Yeah.” A muscle flickered in Gabriel’s jaw. “How long had Theo been here before you texted me?” he asked her.
“Just a few seconds.” That was possibly true. Ivy honestly had no idea how long it’d been. Time had sort of frozen when she’d come face-to-face with the man she’d never expected to see again.
Gabriel stared at her as if he might challenge that, but then he growled out, “Follow me.”
Ivy was certain that put some renewed panic in her eyes, certain that her brother saw it as well, but Gabriel kept moving, anyway. “We’ll go into my office.”
Not upstairs. Though that’s where Ivy wanted to go. “Nathan,” she said.
“He’s
