Mastered by Malone (Haven, Texas 6)

“When you’ve had some breakfast, come to my office. I want to talk with you.”

Oh. Great. That didn’t sound ominous at all. And even if she’d felt like breakfast before, she didn’t think she could eat now. Her stomach was in a knot. She sat the coffee down. Was he going to kick her off the ranch? He wouldn’t, would he? She’d been doing Jaret a favor. She’d taken precautions. She hadn’t just left to go shopping or out for coffee or anything like that.

He wouldn’t make her leave. She had nowhere to go. And besides that, she felt safe there. She took a deep breath then let it out slowly.

No sense putting it off. Waiting wasn’t going to change anything. Time to face the dragon in his lair. She made her way down the hall to his office. The door was slightly ajar, so she gave a small knock and stepped in.

He glanced up with a frown. “Thought I said to come after you’d had breakfast.”

“I’m not hungry.”

His gaze narrowed. “You’re losing weight. I told you the other day that I expect you to eat more.”

“You’re not in charge of what I eat. I’m just a body to protect, remember? An obligation.”

“You are an obligation. A responsibility. But you’re wrong if you think I’m not totally in charge of you. Keeping you alive until the trial means making certain you’re healthy. Body and mind.”

She flushed at the reminder of her panic attack the other night. “Have the cops been here yet? How’s Jaret?”

“He’s still sleeping off his hangover in one of the bedrooms upstairs. The cops haven’t arrived. Yet.”

“What are you going to say to them? Jaret said that he wanted me to . . . um, lie and say that I picked him up earlier than I did.”

“You won’t be doing that,” he said firmly.

“I won’t? But—”

“This is not something you need to worry about. I’ll take care of it. What you do need to worry about is what happens to you next.”

“What do you mean?”

There was a knock on the door. West stuck his head in. “Cops are here.”

Alec just nodded as West disappeared.

He stood up and started towards the door. “Stay here.”

“Wait,” she called out. “What should I say to them?”

He sighed and looked back at her. “You’re not saying anything, because you’re not going to speak to them. You were never there. You aren’t even here, so how could you have been there last night?”

“That’s some messed up logic,” she muttered. “Malone—”

“Should have known you were gonna give me trouble first time I saw you.”

“What? I haven’t been any trouble.” She’d done her best not to create trouble. All right, some things had happened that weren’t her fault, but he couldn’t hold them against her.

“Delusional too.”

“Malone.” She stomped her foot in frustration. She hadn’t done that since she was a toddler. Felt kind of satisfying, though. Why wouldn’t he give her a straight answer? Was he being deliberately annoying?

Of course he was being deliberately annoying. Why, she had no idea. Maybe he liked watching her head explode.

In what seemed like the blink of an eye

he’d moved across the room and was standing in front of her. No, looming over her was more accurate. He was trying to intimidate her.

He was doing a good job.