Page 51 of Disarming The Rancher

She checked the time on her phone. Shouldn’t Wade be here by now?

The text she decided to send was to her business manager. No response came.

And then Hardy poked his head inside her bedroom door. “Raleigh, there’s been a break-in at your grandmother’s place.”

“Nana’s?” she asked before realizing she didn’t mean to say that out loud.

“I just got off the phone with the local sheriff. He’s at the scene,” he said.

Could this day get any worse?

“Did he say how bad it was?” she asked, imagining the farmhouse in total destruction.

“It’s probably just overzealous fans in search of memorabilia,” he stated. He was trying to make her feel better but the thought of losing her nana’s belongings threatened to pull her under. The house, the furniture, the knick-knacks were all she had left of the woman who’d saved her, cared for her, loved her. Raleigh wouldn’t be half the person she was today without Nana’s influence.

“I have to get over there and see for myself,” she said as panic squeezed her chest.

“Not a good idea.” He shook his head and gave her a stern look.

Of course, he was right even though it frustrated her to no end.

“They’re bringing a bomb-sniffing dog over from two towns over,” he informed. “The place might not be cleared for a while.”

Raleigh plopped down on the floor. She picked at the carpet fibers, wondering when this had become her life. She needed to think because…

She gasped.

Wade?

Was he in some kind of financial trouble? Syphoning money from the band to cover bad investments of his own or a gambling problem, and now someone was coming to collect? Had he gotten involved with the wrong people?

There was no way this could be a coincidence. Could it?

“Have you spoken to Wade today?” she asked.

“I was just about to give you an update on him.” Hardy bit hard on his back teeth. “He’s been picked up for questioning.”

“Oh. Where?” She thought he was on his way to the ranch. It would make sense why he was so late.

“At the border, heading into Mexico,” Hardy informed.

So, her world really was crashing around her. And now she’d lost Brax too. She was certain of it after the way he’d looked at her in the barn. Had she done the right thing by not telling him the minute she knew? She’d believed so at the time.

Now, everything just hurt.

16

Brax stood outside Raleigh’s closed door. He brought his hand up to knock. Then put it back down again.

Every instinct he had told him to barge inside and apologize for being a jerk. Would she even want to talk to him at this point?

Jerk was probably too nice a word for how he’d acted in the heat of the moment. To make matters worse, he’d heard about her grandmother’s place being ransacked and could only imagine how much that ripped her heart from her chest.

He picked up his fist and tapped on the door.

“Who is it?” Her voice was steady. Was she covering?

“Brax.”