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“Excuse me,” he said, before moving outside to the front porch.
“What is happening?” Kelly asked in between sobs.
“I’m not sure,” Will said. “But we’ll figure this out. We’ll find Christina and whoever it was that drugged you.”
Kelly looked up at him with those piercing violet eyes. “Promise?”
He nodded. Damned if he didn’t know better than to make promises he couldn’t keep. There was something about being with Kelly that made him feel grounded, connected for the first time since returning to Jacobstown. He needed to hold on to it.
A minute later, Zach stepped back into the room. “I just got a call from a Fort Worth businessman by the name of Fletcher Hardaway.”
“What did he want?” she asked with a mix of shock and disdain in her voice.
“He’s looking for his bride,” Zach informed her. His gaze bounced from Kelly to Will.
Before Will could demand answers, Kelly turned to him with the most lost look in her eyes that he’d ever seen.
“I promise I have no idea what’s going on but I’d know if I was supposed to get married,” she said softly so he was the only one who heard. “Please, help me.”
“Hardaway is under the impression that the two of you had plans to marry today.” His cousin’s words shouldn’t have been a punch to the gut. Will’s stomach lining took a hit, anyway.
He should stand up and walk away from this tangled mess. The feeling of being alive again won, against his better judgment.
“Stay here,” he said to Kelly, pushing to his feet. He squared up with Zach. “Can we have a word outside?”
“I’m afraid not,” Zach said. “That dress is evidence, she’s a witness at the very least and I can’t let her out of my sight.”
THAT DRESS IS EVIDENCE. Those four words hit Kelly hard. They followed “she’s a witness,”and the sheriff’s statement wouldn’t have bothered her if it had stopped there. Kelly’s instincts were screaming at her to get up and get the hell out of there.
The sheriff would stop her.
She already looked guilty without adding to her mounting problems.
Running would only make it worse. So, she fought her fight-or-flight instincts.
Christina was missing. Those words were daggers straight through her chest.
“There was a man in a tuxedo. He made me drink something. It was a clear liquid. He said it was water but it had this awful taste,” she blurted out, figuring she needed to say something in her defense. Her gaze bounced from the sheriff to Will, searching for any signs that either one believed her. For some reason what Will thought especially mattered to her. “I spit it out and then he pushed me up against the wall. Hard. He pushed my head back and poured more of it down my throat. I managed to kick him, break away and run. Everything’s hazy after that, and before is a total wash.”
Will looked at Doc. “Is it strange that her short-term memory seems to be the problem?”
“It depends on what she was given,” Doc Carter said.
“Do you remember where you were when that happened?” the sheriff asked. His voice told her that she wasn’t doing a great job of convincing him.
“Had to be a wedding chapel. Right? I think I was in a bride’s room but I swear I don’t know why I’m the one in this dress.” She pleaded with Will with her eyes. She met a wall of suspicion and it hurt.
“Can you stand?” the sheriff asked.
Will moved to her side and offered a hand up.
She took the offering, ignoring the frissons of heat from contact. They were more complications she didn’t need to focus on right now.
Standing made her woozy. She almost took a tumble, but Will’s hand wrapped around her waist to catch her. She had the fleeting thought that she wondered if the chemistry she felt pinging between them was real. Did he feel it? Those random thoughts had no place inside her head.
Christina was missing.
Kelly glanced down at the bloodstain on her white dress.
Someone was trying to kill her.
She’d trade places with her cousin in a beat because Christina hadn’t turned up and she might be lying in a ditch or an alley somewhere.
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
“Thank you,” she said to Will and her voice came out shaky. She chalked it up to overwrought emotions and whatever had been in the glass that Tux had given her.
None of this could be real.
Kelly prayed this was all a nightmare and she’d wake any second to find the world had righted itself again.
“What did the person who drugged you look like?” the sheriff asked and his voice was laced with sympathy. “Tell me everything you can remember. Hair color. Eyes. General size and shape.”
“Tall. Built. He was linebacker-big but shorter. The rest of the details are fuzzy,” she admitted. “He had darkish hair. I think. And he smelled like he’d taken a bath in aftershave. That much I remember distinctly. The scent was cheap, piney and overpowering.”
Zach had taken out a pocket notebook and was writing down the few details she’d given him.
She knew it wasn’t much to go on.
“Am I under arrest?” she asked.
“No, ma’am,” the sheriff said but his serious tone didn’t exactly cause warm and fuzzy feelings to rain down. “I will need to take that gown as evidence, though. I’d also like to have you checked out at the hospital.”
“She’ll need something warm to wear,” Will stated. “She looks close enough to Amber’s size. I’ll find something in my sister’s closet for Kelly. Everyone keeps clothes in the main house.”
Will’s face was like stone, hard and unreadable.
The doc finished his exam and declared that there was too much blood for all of it to belong to her and the small wound on her hip.
“There’s blood spatter,” he continued, “which isn’t consistent with the type of injury she’s sustained.
Will had already explained that everyone in the family kept clothes at the main house just in case the need to stay over arose. The reasoning usually included working too late to drive home.
A few moments later, Will returned with garments in hand.
Kelly released the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding.
“Is there somewhere I can change?” she asked, flashing her eyes at the sheriff. He’d been a child the last time she’d seen him. Strange how coming back made her think everyone would still be the same age as when she’d left town years ago. It was silly, she knew that. But in a strange way she’d half expected Zach McWilliams to still be in third grade, his younger sister, Amy, in preschool.
“Deputy Deloren can wait in the hall while you change in the bathroom. Door’ll have to stay open, of course,” Zach said.
Panic gripped Kelly at the thought of a stranger watching her undress. She shot a wild look toward Will, whose forehead creased with concern.
He didn’t speak.
Chapter Five (#u64557e94-6d7f-534a-b9a5-4a53236cde39)
“To be clear. Whatever’s going on legally with Kelly Morgan is none of my business,” Will said to his cousin.
“No argument there.” Zach nodded.
Will issued a loaded sigh. “I’ll look after her while she changes.”
Kelly turned so quickly, the hopeful look on her face shot a spear straight in the middle of Will’s chest.
“I’ll take it from here,” Will said to Deputy Deloren.
The deputy looked to his boss for confirmation.
Zach studied Will for a long moment. And then he gave a nod.
Deputy Deloren held out an evidence bag and a pair of gloves. “Don’t get your prints on the gown.”
“They’ll be on there already,” Will said. “I had to carry her in the woods to get her to safety. She was in and out of consciousness.”
He had the bloodstains on his shirt to prove it.
“Keep her in your sight at all times,” Zach shouted as they rounded the corner into the hallway.
His cousin was taking a risk by allowing Will to accompany Kelly. Will knew that if anything happened, the move could easily cost Zach his job. The only reason Will had insisted was because he would never allow it to come to that. Still woozy, she wasn’t going anywhere.
Will helped Kelly down the hall, ignoring the heat fizzing between them. He stopped at the door.
“Can you take it from here all right?” he asked.
She blinked up at him, those violet eyes wide and even more beautiful this close. His heart fisted when their gazes lingered. Inappropriate didn’t begin to define the reaction he was having to Kelly. He did good to remind himself that she wore a wedding dress. Details of her life were sketchy at best.
She took in a sharp breath as she tried to move on her own. She stopped and he tucked a curly loose tendril of hair behind her ear.
“Did the guy wearing the tux hurt you in any way?” he asked her in the serious tone he used when he was trying to keep from hitting someone. He wanted five minutes alone with the guy in the tux who’d put those marks on her back.
She cocked her head to the side and it was sexy as hell.
“Aside from what you already told us. Did he put a hand on you?” Will asked through clenched teeth. He had half a mind to hunt down the man himself and spend a couple of minutes outlining why a person shouldn’t pick on someone smaller. Although, she’d given the guy hell, and a feeling of pride Will had no right to own welled in his chest.
This close, he could see her pulse racing, thumping at the base of her throat.
Kelly didn’t speak. Instead, she bit her lip and slowly shook her head, maintaining eye contact.
“I’ll wait out here,” he finally said but didn’t move.
A few seconds later, Will took a step back and let go of her waist.
She gripped the doorjamb for support and then stepped inside the bathroom. Will followed but only to place her change of clothes on the counter.
“If you need anything, I’m right here.” He stepped out and, in a show of trust, closed the door behind him.
Memories of a younger Kelly struck him. Her freckle-cheeked smile. The way the sun bounced off her long hair. The easy way she’d laughed.
Even as kids he knew she came from the other side of town. Hell if he’d cared. The two got along and were fast friends. He remembered having a crush on her, his first real crush now that he thought back. The two had been inseparable at school. Her father would wait at the door some days. Will remembered the man had permanent worry lines creasing his face.
The difference in their economic status had never bothered Will. Looking back, it might’ve been a problem for Kelly and could explain why she’d always insisted on walking home by herself. He could walk her to the corner, but where the road forked and he turned left to go down the road to the ranch, she wouldn’t allow him to walk with her. She forked right and to a side of town Will had never seen at age ten.
There were times she missed school. At first, he’d figured she was sick. She’d been out often, he’d noticed. She never wanted to talk about it and the subject dropped as soon as it came up.
What did he know as s kid?
The Kents had never known what it was like to miss a meal.
Looking back, Kelly must’ve. He’d noticed how little there’d been in her lunches at the cafeteria. When he’d asked she’d make up an excuse about not liking to eat a big lunch. She’d said it made her stomach cramp to eat too much before recess. How stupid he’d been not to realize she was covering. She’d been too proud to take anything from his plate. His lunches were packed to the brim with more fresh food than he had time to eat. Never one to waste, and being from a family that looked at wastefulness with the same vigor some people went to church, he’d brought home his leftovers and then had them for a snack after school. That came especially in handy when he’d joined athletics. He’d had almost a second full meal to chew on before hours-long practices began.
Kelly opened the door and held out the evidence bag.
She’d kicked off her boots and had tucked them under her other arm.
“Clothes look like they fit okay.” He skimmed her body. Amber’s T-shirt was tighter on Kelly and revealed a figure of generous curves and ample breasts. She stood there in her stocking feet, looking more lost and alone than he’d ever seen her, and he had to suppress the urge to pull her against his chest and be her comfort. An annoying voice reminded him that she wasn’t his to comfort.
Dozens of questions flooded his mind. He didn’t see a wedding ring and wanted to believe her that she wasn’t the one who was supposed to get married.
“They’ll do all right,” she said and that honey-laced voice stirred other places he didn’t want to acknowledge.
“Thanks for letting me shut the door,” she said.
He tipped his chin before helping her down the hallway. She looked good in casual clothes with her hair tied away from her face.
“We’ll need to head over to the hospital before my office,” Zach said.
Will shot him a questioning look.
“Would you be more comfortable giving the rest of your statement to a female deputy?” Zach asked and the reason dawned on Will. Anger was an explosion in his chest.
“No. I’m fine. I already told you everything I can remember.” She glanced from Zach to Will.
“Then let’s go,” Zach said.
The muscles on her face pulled taut.
“Mind if I tag along?” Will asked his cousin.
