“We can discuss it on Pops’ porch later, with a cup of hot chocolate and some blankets.” He would rather have one blanket between the two of them, but that might be a little premature. Adrenaline was running through his veins. The rush of it always made him go too fast.
Tessa was the kind of woman who probably appreciated a guy that took things slow. Considering that was another item on the list of things the kind of man he wanted to be did, he wasn’t going to argue. She deserved the best he could do. And when hefailed, which was inevitable, she was the kind of woman inclined to forgive.
He walked a little downhill from her, making sure that if she slipped in front of him he would be able to help this time. They’d both been startled when she fell over the hill. Taking care of the gunman was the most important thing in that first second. Now his priority was about taking care of her.
She moved with dexterity, picking her way across the ground with surprising confidence. Maybe not so surprising considering she told him she was a hiker.
Caleb switched to scanning around them so he didn’t get completely distracted by watching her move.
She looked around as well. “I should call Sheriff Cartwright and tell him there are armed men out here in these woods. My father has to be out here somewhere if that man is searching around looking for him.”
Caleb wasn’t sure it was quite so conclusive. “That could have been some kind of scout. The rest of them might have your father.”
“The sheriff needs to know that as well.”
“I’ll keep looking for your father out here as long as I can.”
“That’s why I came with you.” She turned back, holding onto a tree. “Are you getting rid of me because I fell over the cliff?”
“Is there even cell signal out here?” Because if there wasn’t, this was a moot point. “I would like to call Pops and ask him to come and pick you up. Only because you don’t need to keep walking indefinitely if you’re in pain.”
“As long as that’s not the only reason.”
She wanted to feel like she was an equal partner out here? The bottom line was that Tessa didn’t have the training he had. “If I run across more guys with guns intent on killing us, I need to focus on taking them out and not have that focus split because I’m trying to protect you.”
“Pops can take me to the sheriff’s office.”
“I’m still going to ask that you don’t tell them I’m here. The sheriff isn’t going to understand the scope of this case and what I’m trying to do, but if your dad is in danger out here then the sheriff can help find him.”
“Shouldn’t Sheriff Cartwright know all about this guy you’re trying to take down?”
“Nathan Kessler is an international criminal. The sheriff in this county isn’t equipped to take on that fight.”
“He won’t know what he’s going into and you could be putting his life in danger bynottelling him.”
Caleb could see she wasn’t going to back down. “More people are put in danger if you tell Sheriff Cartwright the whole truth. I don’t want you to get hurt, or anyone else.”
She lifted her chin. “Then I guess you’d better drop me off and go find my father. Save him from whatever’s going on.”
“And then we have that talk on the porch?”
“I’ll think about it.” She turned around and kept going, dismissing him for the moment.
Caleb didn’t like the scenario any more than she did. But then, in the ideal world they would be partners, and she’d have the level of training he needed in the person watching his back. He wasn’t going to begrudge her for not becoming some kind of cop or federal agent. That life wasn’t for everyone.
He would rather not have to do all this by himself. But Tessa wasn’t the one who needed to put her life on the line to solve Caleb’s issue. He didn’t have time to train her.
He got on the phone as soon as they had signal and called Pops.
“Hey there, son. Listen, about leaving you at Tessa’s...”
Caleb interrupted him and explained what’d happened after they found her father’s car. Tessa told him where the walkingtrail was, a dirt track wide enough for a car. Probably some kind of fire road. He relayed the information to Pops.
“Can you come and pick up Tessa so she doesn’t have to walk around for hours when she just fell?” He tried to make it sound like he was helping her. But the truth was that he just didn’t want her to get hurt because of him. “I need to track these guys down and get her dad back for her.”
She looked at him, a mixture of emotions on her face. He couldn’t quite pinpoint which won out in the end.
Maybe she didn’t know.
