Coming from anyone else, he would have said her words were crazy. For Jewel Smith, aka Julie Licciardoni, they made sense.
“You can let me go now,” she said.
Feeling guilty, he dropped his arms. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” She wouldn’t look at him as she slowly climbed to her feet. “I’d do the same thing, if someone I found repulsive kept trying to seduce me.”
“Repulsive?” Though he knew he should keep his mouth shut, he couldn’t help exclaiming at her words. “Believe me, that’s the furthest thing from the truth.”
The fire engine rounded the corner in a cloud of dust, wheels skidding slightly on the gravel road. Pulling Jewel out of the way, Colton kept his arm around her slender shoulders as they watched the firefighters attempt to beat back the flames with a massive spray of water.
When the fire—and the old Pryor place—had been reduced to smoldering ashes, she looked up at him and shook her head. “I can’t believe this.”
“They’ll find out how it started.” He pointed at a tall, stocky man watching as two others put out hot spots. “That’s Bill Snow. He’s a trained arson investigator.”
A moment later the man walked over. He nodded at Colton, then eyed Jewel. “Jewel Smith?”
She nodded. “Did you find out what caused the fire?”
“Yes, I did.” Expression grim, he seemed to regard them both with suspicion. “I’ll need to ask you a few questions.” He looked at Colton. “You, too. This fire was deliberately set.”
Jewel froze. She made a sound low in her throat, her shoulders tensing under his hand. “I knew it. Damn it.”
Bill took out a pad and pen, eyeing Colton. “You called this in, correct?”
Colton nodded. “I did. I was fishing from my boat when I saw and smelled the smoke.”
The other man’s gaze swiveled to Jewel. “What about you? What were you doing when the fire started?”
Trembling from exhaustion, she blinked. She could barely focus on the other man. “I…”
Colton had to set Bill straight. “She was asleep in the house. If I hadn’t broken in and dragged her out, she would have died.”
Shuddering, Jewel nodded. “I never told you thanks.”
He squeezed her shoulder in answer.
Glancing from one to the other, Bill looked confused. “What? If the fire was deliberate, and she was asleep…Are you saying someone tried to kill her?”
“It looks that way.” He squeezed her shoulder again. “She definitely thinks so.”
Jewel moved restlessly against him. “I know so.”
“If that’s the case, that would make this arson also an attempted murder. I’ll need to notify the police, so they can assign a detective.”
Colton nodded. “Good idea.”
The other man studied Jewel. “Before you went to sleep, you didn’t hear anything or notice anyone suspicious lurking around?”
“No.” She looked disgusted with herself. “Not at all. Even once I fell asleep, I should have heard him. I have excellent hearing. Normally.” She swallowed. “This time, I didn’t hear a thing.”
Colton held his tongue. Of course the fact that she’d been completely unconscious might have had something to do with that.
“I’ll inform the police.” Putting his pad back in his jacket pocket, Bill looked from one to the other. “They’ll probably have a few questions for you both, too. Oh, and Reba will want to talk to you also.”
Jewel nodded, swaying on her feet. Colton thought if he took his hand from her shoulder, she’d crumple to the ground.
Bill noticed, too. “What are you going to do now?” His tone softened, though his gaze was still sharply watchful.
“I don’t know.” Though she didn’t look at him, Colton knew what she was thinking. She had no home, no car, nothing. At the very least, she’d need a few days to pull her resources together and figure out what to do.
Colton heard himself answering for her. “She’s staying at my place until she decides.”
