Branded by the Sheriff

Author:Delores Fossen [Fossen, Delores]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, Fiction, Romance, General
ISBN: 9780373693771
Google: BefIU_PYthgC
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2008-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Faith could feel her heart breaking. Letting her daughter go was not what she wanted to do. She wanted Aubrey with her.

But more than that, she needed her child to be safe.

For that to happen, she had to say good-bye, even if it made her ache.

“It’ll be okay,” Beck assured her. Again. He’d been saying that and other reassuring things for the past three hours, since they’d started the preparations to move Aubrey and Marita to a safer location.

Faith wanted to believe him, especially since she didn’t feel as if she had a choice. The killer had seen to that.

She kissed Aubrey again and strapped her into the car seat in Beck’s SUV. Marita and Tracy were already seated, as was Sgt. Caldwell, who would be driving them to the sheriff’s house in Willow Ridge. The Ranger had already promised her that he would take an indirect route to make sure no one followed. Every precaution would be taken. And he’d call her as soon as they arrived.

Faith’s heart was still breaking.

Aubrey waved, first to Faith. Then to Beck, who was standing behind her. The little girl gave them both a grin, looked at Beck and said, “Dada.”

Her words were crystal clear.

Faith stepped back and met Beck’s gaze. “I have no idea why she said that.”

He shrugged. “One of the books I read her yesterday had the word daddy in it. Guess she picked it up from there.”

Relief washed through Faith. She didn’t want Beck to think she’d coached Aubrey into saying that. Their lives were already complicated enough without adding those kind of feelings to the mix. But it was clear that her little girl was very fond of Beck.

Beck leaned in, kissed Aubrey’s cheek. Faith added another kiss of her own, and Beck shut the door. They backed into the mudroom, and only then did the Ranger open the garage door.

Somehow, Faith managed not to cry when they drove away.

“We need to go to the station and deal with Nolan,” Beck reminded her.

As much as she loathed the idea of seeing Nolan Wheeler, it’d get her mind off Aubrey, and would keep Nolan occupied while Aubrey was being transported to the new safe house.

“You don’t have to see him,” Beck said, heading toward the other vehicle, a police cruiser, that one of his deputies had driven over earlier. He had the manila envelope with Sherry’s blackmail letters tucked beneath his arm, and he laid it on the console next to him. “You can wait in my office while I interrogate Nolan.”

“Right,” she mumbled. Faith got into the passenger’s seat and strapped on the belt. “I’m doing this.”

“You’re sure?” Beck started the cruiser, drove out and closed the garage door behind him. “I told Corey to put Nolan in a holding cell and test him for gunshot residue. That was three hours ago. Nolan will be good and steamed by now that we didn’t jump at his invitation to meet with him immediately.”

Yes, but there was an upside to that.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.