There’s a pause, and then I hear him moving quietly, probably leaving his bed to keep from disturbing Emma. “What happened?”
“Perimeter alarm.” Putting the call on the speakers in my truck, I pull out of the parking space. “East fence, motion at the border of the Circle H.”
“Fuck.”
“Exactly.” Emma owns the Circle H, and that’s the border it shares with the Turner Ranch.
Cole Turner has been a thorn in our sides since we moved to Iron Ridge over a couple months ago. Jake took out Eli, Cole’s younger brother, when he was threatening Emma as he tried to force her to sell the ranch to him, and it’s been downhill since. Turner operates a human trafficking ring, and Emma got photographic proof of it.
Not that we’ve moved on it. Bringing it to light has the potential to put her in big danger, and none of us will stand for that, even if we want to bring Turner down bad.
Real bad.
“You checked the feed?” Jake asks.
“Not yet.” I peel out of the parking lot and get on the road.
“Luke.”
“Maybe it’s a deer.”
I can picture Jake rolling his eyes. “It’s never a deer.”
“I’m just gonna go take a look.” Grinning, I race through town.
Jake mutters a curse. “Wait for Mason.”
“Nah, I got this.” I live for this shit, plus I’ve got sexual tension I need to burn off. It’s not a secret why I got nicknamed Riot. I take a sharp right and speed out toward the county road. “I’ll call if it’s anything.”
“You mean after you get shot at.”
“See?” I laugh. “You do care.”
The line goes dead.
Still laughing, I put my foot to the metal.
6
HARPER
The night air hits me cold as I push through the Rusty Spur’s front door. Luke’s already at his truck—a black Dodge Ram that’s somehow both inconspicuous and aggressively masculine. He’s pulling out of the parking lot with controlled precision, headlights cutting through the darkness.
I jog to my patrol SUV, my heart hammering in a way that has nothing to do with physical exertion and everything to do with the fact that I’m about to tail a man I’m attracted to like some kind of obsessed stalker.
“Professional, Harper,” I mutter as I hop in. “Real professional.”
I start the engine and pull out, keeping a careful distance. Luke heads north on Main Street, away from downtown Iron Ridge, away from the residential areas.
Unless he’s going to the next town over, he’s not going to see another woman. The relief that floods through me is embarrassing, it’s so strong.
Then I realize where heisgoing: toward the county road that leads to the Circle H, Blackthorn, and Turner ranches.
I frown at Luke’s truck. Is he just going home? And if he is, why is he driving so fast? Something has to be wrong.
I press the accelerator, my jaw clenched, my mind racing through possibilities I don’t want to consider. Whatever Luke’s doing out here, it’s not a midnight rendezvous with another woman.
One thing is certain: it’s something dangerous, because Luke just turned his headlights off.