“You’d be surprised what money and power can accomplish, Hannah. I hope you’ll use it. Thinking it will be safer if you do.”
Oh, he was a bully. “Safer? Is that a threat?”
He waved her question aside like he might an annoying fly. “Just neighborly concern. Your mother isn’t well, and your father is getting up in age for a small-town doctor in a town this size. Be a shame for them to come under any disagreeable pressure because of their daughter, yes?”
This threat rooted her to the ground along with his sly smile. What the hell was in the envelope?And how was this man involved in any of it?
Before she could ask any questions, he said, “I don’t want to keep you from your friends.” With a final tip of his hat, he ambled away, his black and silver-studded cowboy boots thumping down the porch steps.
Tearing open the envelope, she pulled out the single paper inside.
Her mouth dropped open as she read the letter. It was from the UK Visas and Immigration office, granting her an Indefinite Leave to Remain visa, which provided the path to citizenship, with apologies and instructions for reentering the country.
Holy crap! He’d given her a clear path back to Scotland.
What the hell?
And threatened her parents if she didn’t go.
Who does he think he is?To threaten her parents like that…
“Your mother isn’t well, I hear, and your father is getting up in age for a small-town doctor in a town this size. Be a shame for them to come under any disagreeable pressure related to you.”
What had he meant?
She sank back against the porch rails as her knees went weak, looking over at the shuttered house of her childhood.
Why would he target me and mine?
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Ben didn’t hesitateto pick Hannah up in town when Jolene called.
Cooper was sleeping in his bed, like he had since Amber’s visit, with Will sitting next to him since Ben didn’t want him to be alone if he awoke, which had been all too common with his bad dreams.
Still, as he pulled into Jolene’s driveway, he wondered why she’d called him. Luke could have run Hannah out to the ranch, seeing as how he had a license now. As he exited the vehicle, he looked over as he heard a door open and slam. Looking over his shoulder, he sighed as Hannah’s father walked across the lawn toward him.
Ben braced himself. Given the ugly pucker of the man’s mouth, he knew Dr. Montgomery planned to give him a piece of his mind.
“You proud of yourself for dragging my daughter into your mess?” he began without any pleasantries. “Do you want to get my only daughter killed? Don’t you know what that would do to her mother?”
Don’t lose your cool.
He’d had little sleep, and some of what the man saidplayed around in his mind in the dark of night. Hannahwasin danger because of him, and even though he swore nothing would happen to her, he still feared nothing and no one could control Amber Kincaid. “I’d move Wild Mountain herself to keep Hannah safe, and you know it.”
He shoved his silver spectacles up his nose. “That’s not good enough. As someone who’d treated Amber Kincaid all her life, I know things as a doctor that say otherwise. I can’t speak more, given she’s a patient, but you’ve underestimated her this time, Ben. I want you to tell my daughter to leave town.”
That drew him up short. “I appreciate your concern,” he bit out, “and I share it. Thanks for coming out.”
“Wait! I’m not done with you yet.”
His harsh tone had been turning around. He eyed him tightly. “Say your piece, then.”
“James Taft showed up here to talk to my daughter—out on Jolene’s porch.”
Ben rocked back on his heels. “He what?”
“I couldn’t see her face, but she was upset, especially when he handed her an envelope. Stop tangling my daughter in your troubles.”
