WALKER FELT NUMB. He felt...disconnected. His pulse stayed slow as he drove Charlie north on the highway out of town. He didn’t get angry. He didn’t demand an answer. He’d been with her for fifteen minutes, and he’d said all the right things, but he couldn’t remember a word he’d spoken.
The morning was oddly still for the mountains. There was always a breeze here, and usually way more than that, but today the whole world was holding its breath, waiting to see what Walker would do.
He was waiting, too. So far, his brain hadn’t offered even a hint of an idea.
Charlie had neglected to tell him a lot about her life, and even though there was no solid evidence that Nicole had spoken the truth about her, everything pointed right in that direction.
Walker hadn’t known what to think last night. He’d tried just going to bed, but his mind had spun with thoughts of the stories he’d read online. Of a massive embezzlement scheme that had involved Charlie’s lover, a married man who’d seemingly promoted her to help with his crimes. The charges against her had been dropped, but several other employees had been implicated. It hadn’t been a one-man operation. She might have been involved.
When she’d texted him, he’d ignored it, hoping he’d know what to say in the morning. But dawn had come and gone with no help from his brain.
Had she done something wrong in Tahoe? And was she still doing it here? If Nicole was right and her own brother had brought her on to the job...
Damn.
“I’m still surprised you agreed to do this,” she said, her hand spreading over his knee. “I thought I’d have to beg.”
“Save your begging for other things,” he said automatically, throwing in a wink before he could stop himself. He felt a little dizzy with the strangeness of it all.
“I know you don’t want to work there, but I really need your knowledge about ranches to tell me if it’s a worthwhile setup. I hate to throw the resort’s money at a charity that’s not worthy.”
“It’s no problem,” he said, the words sounding far away. “I hadn’t picked up any work today.” Was this really about a charity for her? Or was this another scheme to steal money?
He glanced at her, still utterly confused. It was Charlie. She smiled at the road, her eyes bright with anticipation, her hand a warm brand on his thigh. Her pretty brown hair fell over her shoulders in waves.
He thought of the scent of that hair when he tucked his face into her neck. She couldn’t be bad. She wasn’t. It made no sense.
But she’d had a tough life. Her dad had never been around. There’d been gossip about her mom going through men the way other women went through clothes. And she’d said herself that her brother was an asshole. So maybe Walker didn’t know enough about her to judge.
You never really knew people, after all. He’d lived eighteen years with his mother, and he couldn’t say he’d known much about her beyond that she was good at gardening and sewing and she didn’t like cussing or muddy boots in the house.
But Charlie had been... When she was his tutor, she’d been that high school girl in cute movies. Smart and innocent and awkward and ready to break into the world and learn her way. She’d seemed untouchable. Too good for Walker and his hands that had already been calloused and stained with dirt. Could she possibly have stumbled down such a steep path in those few short years?
“Do you miss Tahoe?” he asked. He glanced toward her, but she kept her eyes on the road.
“No.”
“Not at all? It must have been more fun than Jackson.”
She shrugged. “I’d had my fill of Nevada, I guess.”
“The resorts there are a lot bigger. It must have been a different kind of job, with the gambling.”
“Yeah.”
“I’d think this would be boring.”
She finally turned to look at him. “There’s nothing wrong with a little quiet. Especially when I have you to entertain me.”
“Happy to be of service.” He didn’t mean for the sharpness that edged his last word, but it was there.
Her hand tightened on his knee. “I’m sorry I left without a word yesterday. I had to get in early, and I didn’t want to wake you when I knew you were working.”
“It’s fine.”
“I wasn’t... I mean, I didn’t know if I should bother leaving a note.”
Their eyes finally met. Hers were wide-open and clear, as if she’d never hidden a thing from him and never would. Yet she never, ever wanted to talk about Tahoe. Damn her.