Chapter 14
Maybe it had been a mistake to come home to Healing Springs Ranch.
At the intimate two-person table in the eating nook of the honeymoon cabin, Dustin fiddled with his security app, making sure it was in working order. All the while, he kept his eyes averted from Silver, who had fallen asleep on the plush bed at the center of the cabin’s one large room.
The trouble was that it was difficult to keep his gaze from straying to her. It was even more difficult to keep his thoughts from straying to her and imagining what it would be like to lie down beside her, skim his hands over her, and spend the afternoon kissing her.
“This is just a job,” he whispered to himself, as he had already done half a dozen times since they’d arrived a couple of hours ago.
As hard as it was being trapped in the honeymoon cabin with Silver, and as much as he wanted to leave, he forced himself to stay in his chair. Ultimately the ranch was the best place to lure out the stalker because Dustin knew the best places to go if he needed to escape or hide Silver.
Dustin didn’t think any of Silver’s employees were aware of his connection to Colorado or to Healing Springs Ranch. He was always careful not to share any personal information when taking EPA positions, because he didn’t want criminals tracking him back to his family and bringing them danger.
But it was possible the stalker had done research on him and learned about his connections to Colorado. Or maybe the guy had figured out Dustin’s personal connection to Silver from their shared past.
Whatever the case, he couldn’t be too careful at this point. Which was why, when leaving Double H, he’d gone his way separately and Isaac had taken a different route.
Then Dustin had instructed Silver to fly by helicopter back to Aspen.
Once there, he’d made arrangements for her to drive to Breckenridge and meet him at an exclusive resort outside of town.
When she’d arrived, he’d remained hidden while they’d done the bait and switch, as they had at the hotel the previous night.
He’d driven her away on back roads, leaving her car behind.
Of course he knew the area well. It was his old stomping ground. They’d crossed Independence Pass and driven down into Fairplay before turning off onto the highway that led to the town of Healing Springs and his family’s ranch nearby.
He doubted anyone had followed them. He’d been watching the whole drive and hadn’t noticed anything suspicious.
But that didn’t mean her stalker wouldn’t eventually be able to figure out where they were, especially since the man and his accomplice had already shown ingenuity by locating them at Silver’s Aspen condo the previous night.
That meant the leaking of information had to commence soon. He and Isaac had come up with a schedule of how to proceed with each of the suspects. Silver would do the calling on the nontraceable phone they’d gotten for her, and she would slowly work her way through the list of suspects.
It wasn’t a foolproof plan, but it would hopefully help them narrow down the suspects and lure her stalker and the accomplice out into the open, where they could be identified.
At the beep of the security app, Dustin checked his phone to find that his brother Ty was approaching the cabin. Dustin stood and crossed to the door, trying to make it before Ty knocked and woke up Silver.
He wanted Silver to sleep as long as possible since she’d had a rough night last night with her panic attack and the stalker showing up again.
The photo scan of the stalker’s face hadn’t matched anyone in particular since they’d had only his nose to go by.
Isaac had been able to trace the license plate, but it had been a stolen vehicle belonging to an Uber driver from Denver who’d known nothing about Silver or the situation when the police questioned him earlier that day.
Even if the photos hadn’t identified anyone or revealed any clues, Dustin knew they were getting closer to discovering the stalker. He could feel it in his gut.
He swung open the door just as Ty raised a fist to knock.
His oldest brother had the McQuaid dark hair and eyes, as well as chiseled features, a strong square jaw line, and a broad forehead.
But Ty was taller than Dustin and hairier, with a layer of scruff on his cheeks and chin compared to Dustin’s clean-shaven face.
Ty wore a flannel shirt, dark jeans, scuffed cowboy boots, and a Stetson.
He was a cowboy through and through, and no doubt he was the spitting image of the original Wyatt McQuaid, who’d settled in the area way back during the gold rush when Colorado had been a territory.
Ty was holding a bottle of wine in his other hand. “Welcome to Healing Springs.”
“Thank you.” Dustin had already briefly seen Ty when he’d first arrived. They’d been texting all day too. Dustin had filled Ty in as much as he could about the details of the undercover job, and he’d warned Ty to treat him and Silver as he would any of their other honeymooners.
Tyler’s eyes held a dozen questions. “Just stopping by to welcome you and to make sure the accommodations are to your liking.”
A couple sitting on the front porch swing of their honeymoon cabin on the wooded lot next door paused to watch the exchange.
With thin, graying hair and several prominent age moles on his forehead and cheek, the man appeared to be in his sixties.
His wife was very young, probably in her late twenties, and had yellowish blond hair, bright white teeth, puffy, filled lips, and long dark eyelash extensions.
Dustin didn’t want Ty to ask those questions out here where the couple could hear them, so he cocked his head to the cabin interior. “Come on in.”
Dustin stepped back into the cabin, and Ty followed. Once the door was closed on any eavesdroppers, Ty’s brow furrowed. “How long until the stalker arrives?”
“We hope to wrap things up in just a few days, no longer than a week.”
“Okay. Keep me posted if you need any help.”
“I appreciate you letting me bring her here.”
Ty nodded. “Of course, we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The plan was risky because it could open up the ranch and guests to the stalker. If anyone suspected the danger, such news could cause the guests to panic and even give the ranch a bad reputation.
Regardless, the whole family was supporting him and had reassured him that Silver’s safety was more important than avoiding a few bad reviews if it came to that.
Of course, they all knew about his childhood crush on Silver.
His whole family had teased him after the first time he’d met her and fallen head over heels.
They’d called her his girlfriend even though he and Silver had never officially dated.
Then after he’d left for the Army, he hadn’t talked about her again.
Until earlier today . . .
So it only stood to reason that Ty was curious about why she was back in the picture after Dustin had cut her out of his life for so many years.
Ty glanced around the cabin until his gaze landed on Silver, still asleep in bed. “She doing okay?”
Dustin kept his voice low so that he didn’t disturb her. “She’s pretty worn out.”
“I’m okay now,” came her sleepy voice from the bed.
Something about her tone tugged at his gut and once again made him wish he could climb in beside her.
“Hi, Silver,” Ty said. “It’s been a while.”
Ty hadn’t hung out with guests as much the last couple of summers that Silver had come to the ranch.
He’d been home for summers on college break and had been busy learning more about running the ranch at that point.
Even so, he’d interacted with Silver and her cousins enough over the years that they weren’t strangers.
Silver pushed up to her elbow, loose hair hanging around her and making her look like a mermaid surfacing from the sea.
With heavy eyelids, she smiled one of her beautiful smiles at Ty, and Dustin was glad Ty was engaged to Kinsey and that their wedding was soon.
“It has been a while. Thank you for letting me hide out here.”
“We would do anything for Dustin’s special woman.”
“C’mon, Ty.” Dustin smacked his brother in the arm. “Don’t say stuff like that.”
“Why? It’s true.”
“Not anymore.” Dustin could feel heat rising in his neck.
Silver’s eyes rounded, and she opened her mouth to respond but then closed it.
Ty’s lips curled into a smirk.
“Stop,” Dustin warned.
Ty’s grin only inched up higher. “You once told me you were planning to marry Silver. Reckon that makes her special.”
Dustin scowled at his brother. “That was a long time ago—”
“You said you were going to marry me?” Silver sat up to her knees.
Dustin shifted, the embarrassment beginning to eat him alive. “Not like that—”
“Yep.” Ty’s voice was too cheerful. “He sure did.”
Dustin wanted to hit his brother again, this time harder, for taking so much enjoyment in mortifying him.
Dustin regretted the impulsive day when he’d brought it up to Ty the second-to-last summer Silver had stayed at the ranch.
After saying goodbye to her, Dustin had told Ty she was the one for him and he planned to marry her when they were older.
He should have known Ty would blab it to his family and that everyone would assume it was true, that he’d fallen fast, furious, and forever in love with a special woman the way McQuaid men did.
The trouble was that, as well-meaning as Ty and the rest of his family had been in supporting his relationship with Silver, the doubts had crept in, especially when he’d started writing to her and she hadn’t written back.
He’d shared some of his feelings in those letters, had been vulnerable, and had hoped she would feel the same way in return.
He’d even asked her if he could call her once in a while.
Silence had been her only response.