Yuletide Suspect. Lisa Phillips

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СКАЧАТЬ pinned on him. Not when he might be able to find the plane and prove his innocence. He’d have to deal with Liberty being with him—as opposed to somewhere else, probably causing trouble for him.

      She wouldn’t be causing him trouble on purpose, but she would have to do her job, and that wouldn’t be good for him. If she was with Tate, he could keep an eye on her. And keep her safe in case that man had been here to hurt her.

      The thoughts spun in his head like a tornado.

      “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Liberty asked.

      “To find the plane,” Tate said. Like that wasn’t perfectly obvious. “If the Russian mob, or whoever is sitting in the back of the sheriff’s car, is trying to frame me for this, then I’m not about to stay here and try to convince the feds and the Secret Service that I’m not involved.” He’d burned those bridges to the ground when he’d tried to punch Locke his last day on the job. “There’s no way I’m going to trust them to believe me when I can prove I’m innocent myself.”

      Locke had known exactly why Tate lost his cool and hadn’t blamed him one bit. Which only made the whole situation all the more infuriating. His anger needed an outlet. It wasn’t good if he bottled it up, so he had to channel it somewhere. There wasn’t much to get mad about on this mountain, so he’d been fine.

      Until Liberty showed up.

      Now he wanted to kick a wall, because prison would not be good for him.

      He trailed to his bedroom and got his Beretta from the safe. Two extra clips. He dropped them in a backpack as he walked to the entryway, where he handed it to Liberty. She’d need to carry it.

      She raised her brows at his offering. “Is there a reason I have to come?”

      Tate figured it was probably a valid question. Apparently Liberty was all about questions these days. The truth was he’d kind of missed her, which was totally messed up. But he had loved her, and she’d thrown it away. Maybe he didn’t want to pass up this opportunity to hang out with her, even under the circumstances.

      Instead of actually telling her, Tate waved toward the window. “Have you seen the weather out here? You don’t go out in that alone. You take a buddy.”

      Tate thought he might have heard the sheriff snort, but he ignored it. Dane had figured out what it was about even if Liberty hadn’t. She would eventually, and then he would be done for. She’d never liked being tricked.

      Tate opened the door, stepped outside and headed for the shed. Joey barked and raced out into the snow behind him, ready for whatever adventure they were going on.

      Tate turned to the house and called for Joey to follow him back inside. The dog bounded up the porch steps where Liberty stood, while Tate stayed at the bottom. Liberty jumped aside at the last minute, a nervous look on her face. Was she scared of dogs? He hadn’t thought so. Hadn’t she had a dog once? It was possible something had happened recently that he didn’t know about. Tate figured it was just another indication of their incompatibility.

      “You still have that ugly cat?”

      Liberty’s mouth dropped open. “Yes. You’ve already asked me that, Tate.”

      The sheriff stepped out with them and shut the door, almost choking in an attempt to hide his laughter. “I’ll wait for the Secret Service and then take that guy in.” He motioned to his car, where the intruder sat.

      Liberty walked down the porch steps after Tate. “Just answer one question before we go find the plane.”

      Tate waited.

      “What is up with the Christmas decorations? Your house looks like a postcard.”

      “It was a wreck, so I fixed it up. The Realtor’s coming by first thing tomorrow morning for a showing.”

      She looked like he’d kicked her ugly bald cat.

      Tate flicked two fingers toward the sheriff, who drove away with the intruder, and then stepped into the dark of the shed. He fired up the snowmobile and drove it out. Liberty walked over on black boots. She gaped. Tate just ignored it and said, “Get on. We’ve got a plane to find.”

      That got her moving. She jumped on behind him and set her hands on his shoulders. Tate reached back and pulled her arms around him. Before the feeling of her being so close could take root, he set off. Liberty squealed and held on tighter. She would get the hang of it pretty soon, and until then he would ignore the fact that she was holding on to him for dear life.

      Tate found the path through the trees and headed up the mountain, toward the valley to the west of town. The snow was a thick covering, but the temperature wasn’t too bad. He’d been out in colder weather than this, when the wind beat against him and he’d felt like he was frozen down to his bones.

      As he drove, he prayed they would find the plane and the missing people—and that when this was done and Liberty went home, his heart would still be intact.

      Four miles later her grip on his waist began to loosen. Half a mile after that she started to slide to the side. Tate shook his head. She’d fallen asleep, probably exhausted from a day of travel and then showing up at his house only to face intruders. Tate slowed the snowmobile to a stop and left it to idle while he reached back and shifted Liberty so she was sitting upright.

      She looked even paler in the moonlight. He held her with one arm and then put his free hand on her face. When her eyebrows twitched, he took off his glove and touched the cool of her skin with his warm fingers. This would turn out to be a mistake, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself from hugging her. It had been too long since he’d received any kind of affection from anyone. Dog slobber didn’t count.

      Liberty roused. Tate shifted her so he could see her face and said, “Are you okay?”

      She nodded, but couldn’t quite hide the wince. “Headache, but that’s all.”

      “Aside from the fact that you’re exhausted.” She always downplayed it when she was hurting. “Can you hang on some more? It’s not much farther.”

      She looked up at him as though he’d paid her the nicest of compliments. Tate had seriously missed that look in the last year but didn’t want to dwell too much on the fact that he was soaking it up now. It wasn’t going to help him when she left if all he could do was remember what she looked like. What she felt like. How she smelled. He had to get this woman out of his head if he was going to survive alone for the rest of his life.

      Liberty straightened. “I’m good.”

      “Okay then.” Tate turned back around to face forward and set off again.

      * * *

      For the first time since she’d shown up at his house, Liberty had seen the man she’d fallen in love with. She hugged his middle again, and felt the prick of tears in her eyes. Everything good they’d ever had between them...she’d ruined it all when she gave him back his ring and said she’d realized it wasn’t going to work.

      Which was true. Considering what she’d learned, there was no way a relationship between them would’ve worked. There was just so much unsaid now. She’d seen the question in his eyes, the pain of their relationship being torn apart when there was nothing either of them could СКАЧАТЬ