“Fine.”
“Is there anything you need?”
“No.” She stopped and turned to him. “Actually, yes. Can I have my car back?”
He frowned. Why did she need her car? He didn’t like the idea of her driving around in that hunk of junk. “Have you asked Zeke about it?”
“He said he hasn’t had a chance to fix it. I don’t want to take up his time. I thought I would take it into town on my day off and get a mechanic to check it over.”
She was lying. But why? He reached out to grab her arm as she turned away and she let out a low noise of pain. He snatched his hand back.
“Did I hurt you?” He was horrified. He’d barely touched her.
“It’s nothing. I’m fine. I just want my car. All right?” She walked swiftly away.
“Charlotte, is something wrong? You know you can come to me about anything.”
“Because you’re my guardian?” There was a funny note to her voice.
“Yes.”
“And my boss.”
Where was she leading with this? “Yes.”
“This is all just temporary,” she muttered, more to herself than to him.
“Little girl, if there is something going on, I want you to tell me immediately.” He made his voice stern. He was worried about her. He was also starting to see what a mistake he’d made in avoiding her and instead having other people watch over her for him.
“And if I don’t tell you?”
He frowned. “Then you’re going to find yourself over my knee.”
“Good thing there’s nothing going on then,” she said with a fake cheerfulness. By now they had reached her cabin and she walked up the steps.
“Charlotte.” He stepped after her again.
She turned. “I’m fine, Clint. Thank you for your worry. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m tired. I need to go to sleep. Good night.”
He stood there for a moment in amazement, realizing for the first time in a long while he’d been dismissed.
* * *
“What do you mean you’ve hardly seen her?” Kent bit out. “You’re supposed to be watching out for her.”
Kent stared through the computer screen at him with frustration and no small amount of anger. His younger brother’s temper was slow to ignite but when it fired up, it could burn for a long time.
Clint couldn’t really blame him for his temper. He’d be on the warpath if the situation were reversed.
“What if she needs something?” Kent asked. He’d been called out two days after Charlotte arrived to deal with an emergency with one of their international clients. Whatever had gone wrong had kept him out of service and this was the first time he’d been in contact.
“I walked her to her cabin last night,” he defended himself. And he’d lain awake long into the night certain something was wrong and he just wasn’t seeing it. “She has my phone number.” Which she hadn’t used other than to send him that ridiculous text telling him that she couldn’t accept the phone, jacket and nightlight.
“It’s obvious she hasn’t had an easy time of it. She might not be used to asking for help, Clint.”
Damn it. Why hadn’t he thought of that? “She’s keeping out of trouble.” He’d have heard otherwise.
“I’m not that worried about her getting into trouble,” Kent said tiredly. “I’m worried we might have frightened her the other night. I’ve been feeling bad about that and having to leave so soon afterwards. She’s probably scared to put a foot wrong for fear we’ll jump on her.”