Page 134 of Rangers Unexpected Return

The way I knew she would want.

Another knock echoed through the house.

Then a man’s voice came through the door.

“Sheriff? You home?”

Sheriff Tate’s shoulders lowered slightly. “It’s Evan Mills.”

Judy looked at the brass key in her palm.

None of us had called him.

And there was no reason he should have known we were here.

12

JUDY

Evan Mills knocked a third time.

Nobody had called him.

Nobody had told him we were coming to Sheriff Tate’s house.

Yet he stood on the other side of the door less than five minutes after we found the key Emily Ross had given to Rylie.

Mace moved closer to me. He didn’t step in front of me or reach for my weapon.

He simply stood beside me.

That shouldn’t have affected me as much as it did.

I had worked with men who believed protecting a woman meant pushing her behind them. Mace knew better. He trusted me to protect myself, but he was close enough to act if something happened.

That was far more dangerous to my heart than the boy who had kissed me behind my parents’ garage.

“Let’s put the key away,” I whispered.

Rylie held open an evidence bag. I dropped the key inside, sealed it, and handed it to her.

Trigger took the bag and slipped it into the inside pocket of his jacket.

If Evan had come for it, he wouldn’t find it lying on the table.

Sheriff Tate kept one hand near his weapon as he approached the front door. “Evan?”

“It’s me.”

“What are you doing here?”

There was a pause.

Not long.

Barely a second.

But I heard it.