Royal Protector. Laura Gordon

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СКАЧАТЬ onto the sun-drenched porch.

      “What’s this all about, Lexie?” he asked her. “Why would someone want to do this to you?”

      When she looked up at him, he found he had to steel himself against the abject vulnerability reflected on her face. “It—it’s hard to explain,” she began. “I— I can’t—”

      “But you have to,” he said softly, firmly. “I can’t protect you unless I know what’s going on. I can’t help you until you trust me. Trust me, Lexie.”

      She met his gaze with a look that told him she longed to do exactly that, to place her trust in him and damn the consequences that until this point had her scared silent.

      She opened her mouth, but then closed it again without saying anything. The lawman in Lucas sensed she was ready to crack. If he pushed her now she might be able to give him the answers he needed to catch a killer.

      But the man in him held back, momentarily overwhelmed by compassion for a woman who he sensed had already been through more than her share of pain. He remembered his father saying she needed a friend. Was it possible to be that friend and still do his duty?

      “Come with me, Lexie,” he said quietly. “We’ll talk in town, at my office.”

      She hesitated for a moment and looked back at the ravaged mess inside the cabin. “But what about—”

      “I’ll have my men take over here, and see to your things.”

      Then he put his arm around her and walked with her across the meadow and into his family’s home where he knew, at least for the moment, she’d be safe.

      THEY’D SPOKEN LITTLE on the drive into town, and they remained separated by an uneasy silence while Lucas ushered Lexie past Sylvia’s desk and into his office. It wasn’t that he’d gone soft, he told himself as he directed her to the chair opposite his desk. He did not intend to let her off without another round of solid questioning. But she had been through another ordeal this morning and it seemed only right to give her a little time to recover from the shock of finding her possessions rifled. Besides, giving her time to mull over the seriousness of her situation just might convince her to cooperate.

      “Make yourself comfortable,” he told her. “Can I get you something? Coffee? Tea? A lawyer?”

      “I don’t need a lawyer. Not unless you’re planning to charge me with something.”

      Lucas shook his head. “No. But I do need answers, Lexie. And I don’t intend to let up until I get them. If you’d feel better with counsel present, now’s the time to let me know.”

      “I don’t need a lawyer,” she said calmly, in a voice that revealed none of the emotion he’d witnessed less than an hour ago inside the ransacked cabin. “There’s nothing more to say. I told you everything yesterday.”

      “I remember what you said.” Lucas leaned back against the edge of his desk and folded his arms across his chest. “All right. Then let’s talk about today.”

      She nodded uncertainly.

      “Do you have any idea why someone would ransack your cabin?”

      “No.”

      “Any idea what they might have been looking for?”

      Again, she responded with a flat, “No.”

      “Who was Hugh Miller?”

      “What do you mean?”

      “I mean, who was he? We know that wasn’t his real name. And the address he gave Mo when he checked in was phony, too. Who was he, Lexie?”

      When she didn’t reply immediately, he pressed her. “His prints have been sent to CBI and it’s only a matter of time before they match them with an identity. If you tell me now you’ll be saving everyone a lot of trouble.”

      She rose and moved over to the window where she stood with her back to him. “I only knew him as Hugh Miller.”

      “Where did he come from?”

      “I don’t know. I can’t tell you anything more about the man.”

      “Can’t or won’t?” It took some doing, but Lucas managed to keep his voice even. “Look, Lexie…whatever is keeping you from telling me the truth, it can’t be worse than the legal ramifications that could result from your stone-walling.”

      She turned around to face him with an openly defiant expression. “There’s no point in threatening me, Sheriff.”

      Lucas felt his control slip. An innocent witness afraid to come forward was one thing, but Lexie’s constant evasions were making him question just how innocent she really was. “Damn it! A man is dead. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

      “I’m sorry,” she said softly. The note of desperation in her voice touched off an unwanted rush of protective instincts inside Lucas. She stood silently for several minutes, then sighed and turned to face him once more. “I know you’re trying to help, Lucas. But there’s no need. Every-thing…well, it’s just too late.”

      “Too late for what, Lexie?”

      She started for the door. “Could you please arrange for someone to drive me back to the ranch?”

      Lucas covered the length of his office in three long strides. “What are you hiding, Lexie? Tell me.”

      “Let me go.”

      “Do you know why he was killed?”

      “No!” Although he couldn’t yet begin to explain why, Lucas sensed a world of pain behind that single word.

      “You never knew him as anyone but Hugh Miller?”

      “That’s right.”

      Well, at least that’s something, Lucas thought. “How about his family? Do you know how to contact them?”

      “I don’t know anything about his family…or even if he had any.”

      “Why was he here, Lexie? What did Hugh Miller have to do with you?”

      A look of something close to panic flickered across her face and Lucas could feel her shutting down, again.

      “Level with me, Lexie. I can help you, but you have to tell me the truth.”

      “I can’t!” When she tried to push past him, he reached for her hand and held her where she stood.

      “Let me go! You have no right to detain me.”

      Her wrist felt warm and fragile. “I’m just trying to help you.”

      She shook her head and pulled away from his grasp. “I know,” she said. “And I appreciate your position. But you don’t understand. Things are not what they appear. It’s out of your hands. Out of mine! There’s nothing anyone can do, now.”

      “Tell me what that means, СКАЧАТЬ