Too Hot to Handle (Jackson Hole 2)

Shane shot to his feet before Cole could stand. “What? What kind of trouble?”

“Vandalism, I think,” Grace said in a distracted tone. “Someone posted an antitourism sign or something. I’m sure it’s no big deal, and her phone goes out a lot, but I’d like to check on her.”

“I’ll do it,” Shane volunteered.

Grace narrowed her eyes at him.

“Look, I go out there every day. I’m familiar with the place and where she might be working if she’s not in her office.”

Cole nodded. “Good. Call us when you get there. If you’re okay with that, Grace?”

She watched him for a long moment, but then she nodded. “Okay. Thanks, Shane.”

He would’ve felt triumphant about her softening toward him if he hadn’t known that he didn’t deserve it. After all, she was worried that he was going to use her friend and walk away. He might not be using Merry, but he was lying to her, and there was no doubt he’d walk away at some point.

But none of that mattered as he got into his truck and headed toward Providence. He tried her on his cell and the call went straight to voice mail. Maybe she’d just forgotten to charge it. Maybe she’d gotten excited about some new ridiculous story and lost track of everything else.

But what about that sign? Shane shifted and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, trying to push some of the tension out. He’d have thought nothing of it, except for that weird accusation Jeanine Bishop had thrown at him. Was he being set up?

It wasn’t beyond possibility. After all, two million dollars was at stake here. There wouldn’t be any proof he’d done it, because he hadn’t, but maybe suspicion would be all it took. If they could paint him as the bad guy in a town this small, his case would have less of a chance.

More importantly, he knew he hadn’t threatened the Providence operation, so who had?

Shane pushed the truck faster, risking a hefty ticket if he got caught. Merry still wasn’t answering her phone. And she couldn’t be much more alone than she was out there.

Even aside from what had happened between them last night, he couldn’t stand the thought of Merry being in any danger. She was just so…unprotected. It wasn’t just the fact that she was alone in a deserted town, but in the rest of her life, as well. It was as if she’d somehow grown up with no shell. No armor.

He wasn’t sure how that could be true for a girl who’d grown up poor with no father around, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that she needed protecting. Maybe that was only because he knew he was hurting her himself.

Yeah. That felt about right. He was worried for her, because he should be. Because he knew he was going to hurt her.

“Fuck,” he cursed, slamming a hand against the steering wheel.

How the hell had he let this happen? Why couldn’t he control himself around her? She was so harmless and nice; it should’ve been easy to treat her as nothing more than a friend. But somehow she’d snuck inside and become something dangerous.

Not that resisting her would’ve absolved him. Even if they’d stayed just friends, he’d lied to her. Used her trust to get something he wanted. And shit, it wasn’t even worth it. What had he learned aside from the board’s tactics? He could’ve gleaned those from afar, and his lawyer had barely been interested.

He was going to have to stop coming out here. He’d check on her, be sure she was fine and then he’d tell her he didn’t have time to keep working on the saloon. Too little too late, but the best he could do at this point.

Once on the gravel road, the slower pace wound his gut up in knots, but he finally caught sight of Providence after what felt like eons. There was no gravel dust in the air ahead of his truck, which meant no one had driven through in the past half hour. He tried to make himself see that as a good sign.

And when he pulled into the parking area, he spotted Merry’s car and no others. Another good sign, surely.

“Merry!” he called when he got out of the truck. He slammed the door and heard it echo for miles, but there was no response from Merry.

He called her name again, moving steadily toward the little house she’d claimed for work, but keeping his eyes moving, just in case. He made it all the way to the porch without any sign of her, but when he rushed into the small room, he saw her iPad right away, and his heart froze. She never went anywhere without that damned thing. So where was she?

The saloon. She had to be there, but he rushed over to find that building was deserted, too. What the hell had happened to her? For the first time since Grace had asked for help,

Shane’s worry turned to true alarm.

There weren’t too many natural dangers that would cause her to disappear. A mountain lion, maybe, but not in the middle of the afternoon. So could it have been the vandal? Or had she just wandered off?

A thought suddenly freed itself from the fog of erotic memories of last night. When he’d been staring at Merry and wishing he could kiss her, she’d been talking about…something. It must have been Providence; there was no question of that. She’d been excited and babbling and bright with curiosity.

An ice house, she’d said. Somewhere at the start of the canyon.

“Thank God,” he muttered as he took off at a jog. That had to be it. Her phone wouldn’t work up there, and she probably wouldn’t have carried her iPad along. Hopefully she was just caught up in her explorations and wasn’t hurt.