Ranch Hideout. Sandra Robbins
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and I’ll see you in the morning.”
Liz sighed as she stood up, took off the apron she was wearing and hung it on a peg next to the refrigerator. “I don’t think I’ll paint tonight. I think I’ll go on to bed. I want to get up early so I can help Dean muck out the stalls in the morning.”
Gwen pushed up from her chair and propped her hands on her hips. “Liz, you’re doing too much around here.”
“I like helping out,” Liz insisted. “It takes my mind off things.”
“You can’t keep busy forever,” Gwen said gently. “You aren’t going to be able to come to terms with what happened until you talk about it. I can find you a Christian counselor if you’d like.”
Liz sniffled and looked down at the floor. “I do need to talk, to release these pent-up feelings that are driving me insane. But I don’t want to tell some stranger.” She raised her head to stare into Gwen’s eyes. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve become closer to you than anybody else. Maybe I need to tell you about it.”
“Whenever you’re ready, Liz, I’ll listen.”
“Thanks, Gwen. I appreciate it.”
They stared at each other for a moment before Gwen smiled and pulled Liz into a hug. “Now you go on to bed, and don’t worry about anything tonight. We’ll get through this one day at a time.”
Liz let out a grateful sigh as she hugged Gwen. She was so blessed that the FBI had persuaded Dean and Gwen to take in a stranger who needed protection. They’d accepted her without question, and she would never forget it.
After a moment she released Gwen and walked from the room. As she trudged through the dining room, she caught sight of Gabriel Decker sitting at a table alone. He sipped from a coffee cup and stared at her over the rim.
Before she could make her escape to the hallway, he called out to her. “Liz, I missed you during dinner. Mrs. Harwell said you were in the kitchen.”
She stopped and turned to face him. She wanted to reproach him for telling Gwen about the parking lot incident, but she had trouble holding on to her annoyance with him at the sight of his beautiful smile, which reached all the way up to his eyes. “I was. We had a lot of guests tonight, and I helped the cook with the meal.”
He pointed to the chair across from him. “Would you like to sit and have some coffee with me?”
She lifted her chin and stared down her nose at him. “No, thanks. I’m tired and going to bed.”
“Will I see you tomorrow?” he called out as she stepped into the hall.
“Maybe.” She stopped halfway up the stairs and glanced back over her shoulder.
He had risen and followed her into the hall. He stood at the foot of the stairs with his hand on the banister. “I’ll look for you.”
The words were innocent enough on the surface, but her breath still froze in her chest. Back in Memphis there were plenty of dangerous people looking for her, and Gabriel’s remark had served as an unpleasant reminder of the danger she was still in. It was all she could do to make her legs climb the remaining stairs to the second floor. When she glanced back down, he was still standing there, his eyes on her.
She stiffened at the panic that spread through her body. Why was he being so friendly, and how was it that he just happened to be in the parking lot when she was attacked? Perhaps he wasn’t just a guest who had come to spend a few weeks at Little Pigeon. Maybe he’d come there looking for her.
Biting down on her tongue to keep from crying out, she rushed to her room, ran inside and locked the door. Then she leaned against it and closed her eyes as she tried to control her breathing. What was happening to her? Was she right to be scared, or was she overreacting? It was hard for her to trust anyone. She saw ulterior motives in even the most innocent of other people’s actions. She couldn’t go on like this much longer.
A whimper escaped her throat as she slid down the door until she was sitting on the floor, her legs bent and her arms circling her knees. She had to do something, or she was never going to make it through the next few months.
Maybe Gwen was right. She needed to talk to someone, and Gwen had offered. Now all she had to do was make herself do it. She gritted her teeth. She couldn’t put it off any longer. She would tell Gwen everything that happened that day, and she would do it tomorrow.
* * *
Gabriel watched Liz until she got to the top of the stairs before he turned around and walked back into the dining room. He sat down and picked up his coffee cup and stared at it for a moment.
“Something wrong with the coffee?” The voice behind him startled him, and he swiveled in his seat to see who it was. He relaxed when he saw that it was Dean Harwell.
He laughed and set the cup down. “The coffee’s fine. In fact, everything I ate for dinner was delicious. If that was any indication of the caliber meals you serve here, I may want to move in.”
Dean chuckled and slid into the seat across from him. “The cook here started working for my grandfather when I was growing up. We couldn’t get along without him.”
“I can see why,” Gabriel said as he pushed his plate aside and crossed his arms on the table. “So what have you been up to tonight?”
“I was out at the barn taking care of a few chores. Seems like there’s always something needing to be done.”
Gabriel chuckled and nodded. “I remember how it was when I was growing up on a ranch. Sometimes I think about getting a little piece of land and a few horses. I guess that won’t ever happen, though. In my job it’s possible I could be transferred at any time, so I’m afraid to put down any roots that I might have to leave behind.”
Dean studied him for a moment before he glanced over his shoulder and scanned the room. When he didn’t see anyone, he leaned closer and lowered his voice. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to you about your job since you arrived earlier, but we’re alone now.”
Gabriel nodded his agreement. “I was hoping I’d get a chance to see you tonight. Especially after what happened today.”
Dean’s eyes grew large. “What are you talking about?”
“The attack on Liz.”
“Attack?” Dean’s voice seemed to bounce off the wall, and Gabriel leaned in farther.
Gabriel raised his index finger to his lips to quiet Dean. “I thought your wife had told you about it.”
“No. When did you tell Gwen?”
“Not too long before you came in. But you can relax. Everything turned out all right.”
For the next few minutes Dean didn’t move as Gabriel recounted what had happened in the theater parking lot. When he finished, Dean’s eyebrows drew together as he stared across the table at Gabriel.
“I’ve been afraid something like this might happen. When I got a call from my old friend Bill Diamond in the Memphis FBI office wanting me to offer Liz a safe place to stay, I was uncertain what to do. I didn’t want to endanger my family. Bill promised me that wouldn’t happen, that you are one of his top agents.”
“I don’t know about being one of the top agents, but I’m dedicated to my job, Dean. I’ve been with the FBI for five years now, and I really like my work. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure nothing bad happens to anybody at Little Pigeon while I’m here. I’m sorry I couldn’t be here when Liz first came, but I was finishing up another case. Bill assured me that since you are a former police officer, you would be able to protect Liz until I could get here.”
“There haven’t been any threats until today. I’m glad you arrived before she left and could follow her to the movie. It might have turned out differently if you hadn’t.”
“Maybe