so why don’t you just tell me the truth?”
“The truth? You want the truth?” Sophia took in a breath and willed her next lie to sparkle into sounding real. “The truth is that I was visiting my friend here in her cabin. We were making Christmas cookies and didn’t realize how bad the weather had turned. I was on my way home and looking forward to getting all settled in with my soup and a good book and I heard a rustling on my porch. So I got my shotgun and I came around the back way to see who was out there.”
“Were you expecting someone else?”
“No.” Frustration coursed through her like a mountain spring. “I was expecting some peace and quiet and a nice long sleep while the storm passed outside.”
“She likes her private time,” Bettye explained. “Took me a while to understand that.”
“I think she does at that,” Adan said. Then he shoved a spoonful of soup into his mouth and chewed the beef, his eyes still on Sophia. “But tonight, she won’t get any, because I can’t leave here in that storm. And I won’t leave y’all, since this man could show up here or return back here. If that happens, y’all will have more than me to worry about.”
Sophia’s pulse skidded and slid with each snowflake that fell outside her door. What if he did get snowed in and she had to deal with him for a week or so? She’d go mad. The man stared through her with those captivating eyes and made her think he could see all of her secrets. She’d get cabin fever and spill her worst sins to him. Then she might truly go to jail.
* * *
ADAN WAITED, GIVING them every opportunity to chime right in. But neither said a word. Sophia busied herself with offering more soup, but something about her demeanor worried him.
“Have you seen any strangers around here recently?”
“Just you, Mr. RangerMan,” Bettye blurted out.
His gut told him that one wasn’t lying about this, but they both had secrets about something. He could give them a description of the criminal to see how they’d react but he didn’t want to give away too much too soon. If they’d been involved with Joe Pritchard, they’d let something slip sooner or later.
“Y’all are sure making this harder than it needs to be.”
Bettye snorted a retort. “I thought Rangers could handle just about any situation.”
“I can,” he said, his frustration mounting with each breath. He watched Sophia for signs of stress or any sign that she might be willing to talk to him. “I would. I’m not worried about the storm. I’m worried about what y’all might be trying to hide.”
“We ain’t got nothing to hide,” Bettye replied. “Not from you, that is.”
He leaned his elbows against the table and gave Sophia a measured look. “Then who are you hiding from?”
Sophia’s head snapped up. “We’re living here, trying to mind our own business. And that’s the truth.”
She got up and started clearing the dishes. Adan took that as a sign dinner—and the conversation—was over.
Adan had never had anything like this happen before. He was going to have to walk a line on this one. He couldn’t deal with having these two hauled in because the man he’d tracked to Crescent Mountain was still out there on the loose. And while they’d tried to do bodily injury to Adan, he figured it was more out of fear than any criminal intent.
Still, he’d have to make it a point to be on his best behavior and ever watchful while he was around them. They were hiding something, all right, only he couldn’t be sure they’d been involved with hiding the man he’d come looking for.
But he couldn’t leave two slightly innocent women alone if that man was out there somewhere. So he stood in front of the fire and listened to the sounds of feminine chatter and a few cryptic whispers coming from the kitchen across the room. They had never actually answered his question. After snapping that curt retort, Sophia had busied herself with the dishes. Bettye had offered him homemade fudge and coffee. The rich chocolate was now stuck in his gut and the coffee had him too warm.
Sophia finally approached him. “Bettye needs to go home, but I’m not sure she’ll be able to find the path. I thought I’d walk with her.”
She left things hanging, so he jumped right in. “I’ll walk with both of you and I’ll check her cabin.”
“And what do you plan to do after that?”
He thought he saw a plea there in her interesting dark water-blue eyes. She pushed at her rich auburn curls and stared up at him, waiting again.
“I plan to stay close by until this storm is over. I’ll figure out the rest in the morning.”
“You mean you want to stay here?”
“Do you have any other suggestions?”
She glanced at the fire, looked out the window, stared over at Bettye waiting by the back door. Then she turned back to him. “No, I don’t have any other ideas. Unless you want to stay at Bettye’s place.”
He looked at her then turned to do a quick glance at her friend. “To be honest, I’d be afraid to fall asleep with her in the next room. My head is still throbbing from that darn frying pan.”
The older woman let out a whooping laugh. “My aim is still good.”
Adan rubbed the back of his sore head. “I agree with that, at least.”
He was rewarded with a pretty smile from Sophia, followed by a firm reminder. “I’m the one with the shotgun, though, remember?”
“I don’t think I’ll ever forget,” he said, mirroring her grin in hopes of gaining her trust. “But I doubt I’ll sleep no matter where I stay.”
“You can sleep on the sofa,” she finally said. “I have a spare room, but it’s full of my art supplies.”
He nodded on that, saving the information to mull over later. “I won’t be a bother, I promise.”
“I know,” she said with a smile. “I always sleep with my shotgun right by the bed.”
He let out a chuckle and shook his head. “I’ve never met anyone like you two.”
Sophia didn’t give anything away with her Mona Lisa smile. “Let me get my coat and hat. Bettye lives right around the curve so it’s not a long walk, but I don’t want her to fall in the snow. It’s brutal out there tonight.”
He checked the windows, wondering what was hiding in those woods. “We’ll get her home. Think she’ll be safe?”
“She’s been living on this mountain alone since her husband died about fifteen years ago. She can take care of herself, but...if there is someone out there lurking around, I’ll be worried about her.”
His mind raced ahead as he did another visual. It was near impossible to see beyond the banks of thick white snow. “Should she stay with you, too?”
“She
