pushed into the room, followed by his older brother, Knox. Maggie didn’t know Knox all that well, but Mac often spoke well of him, so that was enough for her.
Thorne resumed his seat next to her bed while Knox stood at her side. He offered her a kind smile. “I heard you had quite a scare today. How are you?”
Maggie cut a glance over to Thorne. Had he told his brother about the baby? He met her eyes, his expression unreadable. “I’m okay,” she said carefully. “A little shaken up.”
Knox nodded. “That’s to be expected.”
“Are you here as part of an investigation?” She knew he’d retired from the Texas Rangers, but perhaps Knox was consulting with the police because the explosion had taken place on Mac’s ranch.
He shook his head. “Not exactly. Mac called me and told me what had happened. I was in the area, so I figured I’d stop by and see how you and Thorne were holding up.”
Maggie leaned back against the too-small pillow with a sigh. She hadn’t really given the explosion much thought after learning about her pregnancy—funny how her priorities had already shifted. Now the memory of her new car going up in flames invaded her thoughts, and the heavy weight of worry dropped onto her shoulders.
“I’ll be doing much better when the police figure out why my car blew up.”
Knox shifted, cocking one hip and hooking his thumb through a belt loop. “See, that’s the thing,” he said, his tone friendly. “In my experience, cars just don’t explode for no reason. This was the result of a deliberate act.”
A chill skittered down Maggie’s spine, and goose bumps broke out on her arms. “There’s no chance this was some kind of mechanical flaw? A frayed wire, maybe?”
Knox gave her a pitying look. “I don’t think so.”
Maggie suddenly felt very small and vulnerable. She drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them, then practically jumped out of her skin when a hand fell on her shoulder. She looked over to find Thorne standing next to her, his expression apologetic.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s okay,” she said, surprised to find that she meant it. She hadn’t expected Thorne to touch her, but she hadn’t minded it, either. It seemed her body was willing to draw comfort from any source, no matter what her heart had to say about it.
Dismissing the moment, she returned her focus to Knox and the issue at hand. “Why would someone want to blow up my car? I’m nobody important. What could possibly be the motive here?”
Knox opened his mouth to respond, but a voice from the door beat him to it.
“Excellent questions, Ms. Lowell. Fortunately, I think I have the answers.”
Sheriff Bud Jeffries strolled into Maggie’s hospital room, acting like he owned the place. He stopped at the end of her bed and eyed her like a cat sizing up a trapped mouse. Then his gaze shifted to Knox and Thorne, and his brown eyes hardened.
Thorne felt an answering disgust rise in his chest. There was no love lost between the sheriff and his family. The man’s incompetence had been on full display after Cody’s abduction—if Knox hadn’t gotten involved, they’d probably still be looking for the boy.
Bud returned his focus to Maggie. “I have a few questions for you, Ms. Lowell. Gentlemen,” he said, not bothering to look at Thorne or Knox again, “I’m going to need you to leave.”
Maggie cast a quick glance at Thorne, her eyes wide. Her distress ignited his protective instincts, and he placed a hand on her shoulder in a show of solidarity. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said, quietly but firmly. He didn’t want to pick a fight with the sheriff, but he wasn’t going to let the man run roughshod over Maggie just because of her connection to the Coltons.
Bud didn’t bother to hide his disdain as he glared at Thorne. “That wasn’t a request.”
Thorne’s blood began to boil, but he clenched his jaw and held his tongue. Jeffries smirked, knowing the barb had hit home.
“I want them to stay,” Maggie said.
Bud glanced at her dismissively. “I’m afraid you don’t have much to say about it.”
Finally, Knox stepped forward. “Sheriff Jeffries, are you here to make an arrest?”
The man’s expression turned sour, as if he’d just bit into a lemon. “No,” he said grudgingly.
“Then, as I’m sure you know, Ms. Lowell’s visitors are not required to leave the room for this conversation.”
“I’ll take her down to the station if I have to.” Bud’s chest puffed out in belligerence, the buttons of his shirt straining to contain his indignation over Knox’s challenge to his authority. Thorne eyed the one right above his belly button and smothered a smile as he imagined the button popping off. The sheriff was already a joke; losing a few buttons would only enhance his resemblance to a clown.
Knox nodded. “That’s one option,” he said agreeably. “But she hasn’t been cleared medically yet, so you’ll probably be waiting awhile. Why don’t you just ask your questions now?”
Bud narrowed his eyes and his voice dripped venom as he spoke. “You’re not a Texas Ranger anymore, Colton. Keep this up, and I’ll arrest you for interfering in an active investigation.”
Knox didn’t respond, but his level stare made it clear he wasn’t impressed by the threat.
Maggie found her voice again. “You said you have some answers.” It was an obvious attempt to change the subject and get things back on track. Thorne gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze in appreciation. Bud Jeffries had felt threatened by Knox ever since Cody’s kidnapping, and the man couldn’t resist baiting Knox into a pissing contest every time the two of them crossed paths. His brother generally refused to engage, but Bud took any response as a challenge.
Better him than me, Thorne thought. Knox’s tolerance for the sheriff was several orders of magnitude greater than Thorne’s. If the shoe was on the other foot and Bud Jeffries was going after him, Thorne didn’t think he would handle it nearly as well as Knox.
After a moment’s silence, Jeffries turned back to Maggie. “Do you have any enemies, Ms. Lowell?”
She frowned and shook her head. “I don’t think so, no.”
“No professional rivals, anyone who views you as competition and wants to see you fail?”
“Not that I know of.”
“What about personally? Anyone angry with you, or want to see you come to harm?”
“No.”
Bud flicked a glance at Thorne. “You sure about that? Because if this is the company you keep...” he trailed off, the implication clear.
Thorne
