A Cowboy's Justice by Lisa Childs

Author:Lisa Childs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-12-14T19:38:20+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Ryder barely listened as Kristy gave her report to the state trooper. She hadn’t seen the shooter either, so neither of them had been able to give a description or anything else to go on. He’d wanted to accuse Skip, but Ryder had no proof that the former frat boy had taken those shots at them.

Ryder had no actual evidence that the man had murdered Mara.

Was that because Skip was innocent?

And someone else, someone Ryder had trusted, was guilty?

He had to talk to Dean. Ryder barely waited until the door closed behind the trooper before he started out after him. But as she had earlier, Kristy grabbed his arm, her slim fingers clutching at the sleeve of his jacket.

“Where are you going?”

“To talk to someone,” he said.

“Dean or Skip?”

“Dean.” He sighed. “Skip has a personal protection order sworn out against me. That’s why I didn’t jump over the gate when I saw your car parked on his estate earlier today. But I probably should have ignored it and risked him calling the cops on me.”

“Why?” she asked. “I wasn’t in danger on the estate. And we have no proof that he had anything to do with the shots fired at me or with Mara’s murder.”

He uttered a deep groan and pushed a hand through his hair, knocking his hat from his head onto the hardwood floor.

Kristy crouched to pick it up, but when she stood, she swayed slightly on her feet. And instead of taking the hat from her, Ryder closed his arms around her to steady her.

“Are you all right?” he asked, his heart pounding with concern for her while his head pounded with recrimination for himself. “After you got out of your crashed car, I should have taken you back to the hospital. I really should have done that right when you showed up this afternoon. With the concussion you have, it’s too dangerous for you to have left.”

“I’m glad I did,” she said. “I feel like I learned a lot today.”

He blew out a ragged breath that stirred the silky brown hair that had pulled free of her bun. “You learned more in one day than I learned in nearly ten years,” he admitted. “So much for my criminal justice degree...” And his instincts. After reading those texts and letters and suspecting that Skip’s alibi was contrived, Ryder had been so certain Mara’s boyfriend had killed her that Ryder hadn’t considered anyone else.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured.

“You don’t owe me an apology,” he said. “In fact I owe you one.” He touched her chin, tipping her face up to his. “It’s long overdue. I’m sorry I was so rude to you at Mara’s memorial. I’m sorry I’ve tried to track you down all these years.”

“And coerced Dean into hiring me as adjunct professor?” she asked. “Are you sorry about that?”

He sighed. “I’m sorry I put you in danger,” he said. “If I had any idea... But I was just so blindly focused on getting justice for Mara that I didn’t realize someone might try to hurt you.

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