Her eyes widened at the unexpected time and she immediately reached for her clothes. “Oh my God, why didn’t you wake me up?”
“Because you needed the sleep.”
She dragged on her top and then scooted to the edge of the mattress to pull on her bottoms. “I’ve got to get to the ranch.”
“The stable’s closed, Brittany. I already talked to Mark this morning.”
“I can still help with clean up. And I want to see Paelo and Gypsy.”
He pushed his chair back and walked toward her as she stood by the bed. He must’ve showered again. His hair was damp, and he’d shaved, too. He looked too damn good for her peace of mind and her racing pulse, yet she couldn’t help but meet his gaze.
It was cautious, guarded, yet she read a question in those brown depths she wasn’t prepared to answer.
“Casey trailered both horses to his dad’s place in Allenspark,” he told her. “They’ll be safe there until this is over.”
“I take it if you let Casey take the horses, you don’t think it’s him?”
“He’s on the list because sometimes it helps to see the whole picture.”
She nodded. When she started to move past him, he lightly caught her arm and finally gave voice to the question in his eyes. “You okay this morning?”
No. I may never be okay again. “Yep, I’m fine.”
“I’m not talking about your head or shoulder, Brittany.”
“I know. And really, everything’s great.” She pasted on a bright smile. “No regrets.”
His gaze narrowed as his jaw clenched. Clearly, he didn’t believe her. Well, she couldn’t help that right now. The musky scent of sex lingered on her skin and she had to get away before she begged him to take her back to bed.
“I really need to use the bathroom.”
The moment he released her, she hurried to shut the door between them. God help her, she was going to have to pull it together before she went back out there.
A half-hour later, she felt much more in control as she faced Joel across the table to argue her case. “I want to go to the ranch.”
He shook his head. “I’ve got work to get done.”
“Exactly. But you aren’t going to catch this guy sitting here.” His jaw tightened at that statement and she pressed forward. “I’ll be surrounded by people all day at the ranch. It can’t get much safer than that.”
“Except we don’t know who it is yet.”
“You just said you trust Casey.”
“I do.”
“Then if he’s there all day with me, I’ll be fine. You can do whatever you need to do—meet with Aaron, go the station—and then pick me up later. I’ll be with someone the whole time.”
Resignation filled his expression. “I suppose you’re right.”
“I am, so let’s go.”
During the drive through Estes Park and up along Highway 7, Britt avoided conversation by pulling out her camera and scrolling through the pictures. Just before they reached Highlands, she came across the ones she’d taken of Joel as he stretched out the kinks from being bent over the crime scene up near Lawn Lake for so long.
The exhaustion on his face attested to how hard he’d been working to solve the case. She wanted to reach out and soothe the lines from his forehead.
Realizing she was staring at a picture of him while he sat two feet away from her in the driver’s seat, she flipped to the next one. Her stomach rebelled at the image of the bloody, mutilated elk, so she moved her thumb to the delete button.
Permanently delete this picture?