“I don’t think so.” She shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself. “He brought me to the mountains earlier this afternoon. He told me he just wanted to talk and catch up, but then he tried to force himself on me. I got away. I’ve been running through the mountains for … hours.”
Greer’s eyebrows lifted. Running through the mountains for hours would explain why she looked so disheveled. It was far too obvious she’d made up the story about the ex, but she probably had hiked through the mountains so she could arrive at Greer’s looking disheveled and in need and play on his sympathies. Had someone helped her with this ploy, or was she acting on her own? How soon until she tried to plunge a knife through his heart?
He hated all these sadistic thoughts and wanted to have faith that the angels were in charge not the devil who’d sent Travis and his buddies after the secret. There was something innocent and pure about Emery Reeder, and he found himself hoping she didn’t know who Greer was and he could somehow help her.
“I don’t dare go home. He’s unstable and dangerous. When I ran, he yelled after me that when he finds me, he’ll kill me.”
Greer flinched. What if her story was true? How was he supposed to decipher fact or fiction? Greer wasn’t proficient at interpersonal communication. He didn’t even talk to his animals. “He didn’t chase you?”
If there even was a man and the guy wanted to kill her, why would he just stand there and let her go? To toy with her? Greer’s gaze darted around on the sheer hope her story would be validated, but he didn’t hear or see anything out of the ordinary.
“He ripped his ACL last month playing basketball and luckily he didn’t have his gun on him.” She shuddered and looked from the gun on Greer’s hip, then back to his face.
“We should get you to the police,” he said. He’d let his buddy Sheriff Reed get to the bottom of the story and why Emery Reeder had appeared like this. Even as he said and thought that, he found he didn’t want her to exit his life as quickly as she’d come into it. He wanted to help her. Especially if heavenly intervention may have brought her here.
“Please no. Justin is a policeman.”
His eyes widened. She’d put some decent thought into her story. Unless, by some miracle, she was genuine. “With who?”
“DPD.”
Greer swallowed. The Denver Police Department was a lot bigger than Summit Valley’s Sheriff’s Department and his friend Sheriff Reed. Emery surely knew that. Greer wasn’t afraid of anyone, and with his family to back him up could take on an army, but he didn’t want to force her to file a statement until she was comfortable. Oh boy. He was tempted to swallow this story lock, stock, and barrel. Maybe if he had more experience with beautiful women, he’d know if she was genuine.
“Please.” She looked up at him and he was struck by her beauty and the sweetness in her dark gaze. “Will you protect me?”
“Yes.” He nodded solemnly. He’d do anything to make recompense for what he’d done to her. There had to be some kind of heavenly intervention happening here. He’d been praying for her. He’d seen her come out of the woods. Emery Reeder finding him like this when she was possibly in danger had to be a sign from above. Every instinct in him was firing to protect this lady from any more harm.
But there were also a lot of voices in his head shouting that it was all a lie.
“I don’t have anybody who can help me.” She bit at her full lip. “I grew up in foster care.”
Well, at least that felt like the truth.
“Sorry to just show up here and ask for your help.” She looked out at the lake for a moment and said, “I have a good feeling around you. Very different from Justin.”
She couldn’t possibly have a good feeling around him, and she hadn’t met his eyes when she’d said that. Yet there was an opportunity here to at least figure out why she’d come and what her agenda was. If she was after the secret like her brother, Greer was duty bound to keep her from finding it. This might be the opportunity his family needed to figure out who had hired her brother and the other men from the Navy.
He studied her. Would she balk if he asked her to stay with him? It was crazy. He prayed briefly, and he still felt like it was a good idea. He had plenty of room. This could be his chance to figure out what she was about and who had hired her brother. It had to be the same person who had sent her after Greer.
If by some miracle she wasn’t Emery Reeder, he’d think heaven had sent a gift, an angel for him to protect and get to know.
Emery Reeder. It was surreal that she was standing right in front of him. He’d been praying for some way to help her the moment he’d heard her in the woods. Was this his answer? Greer was supposed to watch over her and somehow help with her grief? That seemed a bit twisted as he’d caused that grief.
“You could stay with me,” he said finally.
Her eyes widened, and she twisted her hands together. Her gaze focused in on him and he felt like she could see into his soul. This woman was a Christian, and she was insightful. He could see both. Why would she lie to him like this?
“You’ll keep me safe?” she asked softly, and he knew she meant safe in many ways—from the made-up ex, from Greer hurting her, and possibly from whoever had sent her here. She didn’t trust Greer, that was obvious, but maybe she would someday and maybe she didn’t trust whoever had given her the information and sent her here either. Emery could be a pawn with no one to turn to.
“Yes.” He said the word like an oath. He’d keep her safe. But he’d also get a hold of Papa and inform him what was happening. And he’d sleep with his door locked and one eye open.
“Thank you.” The words rushed out of her and he’d never loved someone’s gratitude so much. “I’ve been so scared. So alone. You look like a tough, honorable cowboy who will protect me from Justin and anyone else.”
Greer didn’t know that he’d ever blushed in his life, but he could feel his cheeks heating. He nodded, having no clue what to say to that. He was confused, and she was sticking with her made-up story like glue.
“What’s your name?” she asked softly.
He swallowed. Ah. This was a possibility he hadn’t explored and explained a lot. She had no idea who she’d run to. Maybe there really was a dangerous ex, though she had lied about being from Denver. Once she found out who he was, she might turn and run back to the ex-boyfriend.