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“Let me go, Caden,” she demanded in a breathless whisper when he released her lips.
“No.” He couldn’t, not without answers, not without knowing what brought on this sudden announcement and why she was so scared.
Frustration ripped through what little composure she had maintained as she jerked against him and cried out, “Damn it, he’ll come after you next if I don’t leave!”
“Who?” he returned, his concern more for her and the anguish written on her face than for himself.
“I can’t say anything else. There are people I love dearly, my family who will be unbearably hurt if they find out why I had to leave home.” That stubborn look he knew so well returned. “I owe them and won’t do that to them. I thought I had more time to work this out, but yesterday,” she turned her head away again, “yesterday proved I don’t. Now, let me go.”
Caden didn’t want to, but he wasn’t into forcing women. He stepped away from her, folded his arms and asked, “Do you know who’s responsible for poisoning my cattle?”
Sydney’s incredible green eyes turned bleak. “Yes, and no. He threatened me in town last week, but I swear, he never hinted he would come after you or your ranch, only me. I’m sorry. I know you and the others can never forgive…”
He cut her off with a scowl and two words. “Shut up.” Caden fought to get himself under control, just the mere mention of someone threatening her threw him into a tailspin of worry and anger. “No one here will blame you. I take it you don’t have a name?”
“No, he’s a stranger, sent by… that’s all I can say.” She squared her shoulders and looked him in the eye.
He knew when he’d run up against a brick wall, but just because he couldn’t get anywhere with her, didn’t mean Grayson wouldn’t come up with something else. “You’re determined to leave?” he asked.
She turned back around to gaze out the window and replied in a soft voice, “I have to, Caden.”
“What if I said I want you to stay, and not because you’re an employee I don’t want the hassle of replacing?”
Her voice wobbled, and she gripped the counter with white knuckles. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”
Exasperated with her obstinacy, he snapped, “I don’t need you to protect me. My family’s been safeguarding this land for decades and I have the utmost confidence in the loyalty of my hands. You can’t trust me enough to tell me anything else?”
Sydney rubbed her temples, still refusing to face him. “There’s nothing you can do,” she sighed. “To reveal what’s going on would irrevocably hurt those I care about very much.”
Caden understood the love of family, which was why he could admire the hell out of her willingness to sacrifice herself for those she cared deeply for even as he resented that was the very trait forcing her to leave. Stomping toward the back door, he snatched his hat off a hook then pivoted back around to see her still gazing out the window, her shoulders slumped with an air of abject sadness that tore at him. “I can’t stop you from running tomorrow, but damn it, you’ll face me now, while you’re still here.”
She spun about and there it was, that familiar spark of defiance backed by a flare of heat she didn’t bother to hide. Even though he preferred it when she pushed his buttons with her teasing candor, he’d take this look over the misery etched on her face a second ago.
“I’m thirty-nine years old. I’ve enjoyed women I’ve been fond of, but I’ve never felt for anyone an iota of what you mean to me. For me, that’s worth fighting for and worth taking risks for. Just so you know.”
Slamming out of the house, he pressed Grayson’s number on his cell as he strode toward the barn. As soon as he picked up, Caden snapped at his friend, “Anything else yet?”
Chapter 7
Sydney’s heart executed a slow roll at the hint of possessiveness in Caden’s gaze, the touch of caring that went beyond concern for an employee’s welfare for the first time. His gruff words were everything she’d wanted to hear without realizing it and only added to the burden of having to leave. He walked out without a backward glance and she turned back to the window to watch him cross the space between the house and barn with his phone at his ear.
She wanted to confide in him, but how could she without him insisting she confront her family? The death of her grandfather from a stroke brought on by grief over her mother’s unexpected death occurred less than two weeks after the funeral of their only daughter. The double blow almost cost Sydney her beloved grandmother also, and she couldn’t, wouldn’t subject her to yet another heartache. Not if she could help it. Her only hope for her own current desolation was to find a way to return to the ranch, and her rancher, once she found her way out from under Uncle Mike’s threats.
The afternoon was more difficult to get through than she’d imagined. She didn’t see Caden, and when Connor showed up followed by the sheriff, neither came up to the house to talk to her. Instead of going on her usual midday stroll, she started to pack and then took scraps out to the dogs one last time. It was almost six p.m. and dusk had fallen when she started back up to the house and saw an unfamiliar car pulling into the drive.
Sydney’s heart jumped into her throat as her two oldest uncles, Robert and David, got out and glared at her from across the yard. With a crook of his finger, Uncle Robert beckoned her over. Unable to help herself, she ran to them, throwing her arms around Robert and promptly bursting into tears.
“Well, hell, Syd, how can we lay into you if you’re going to turn on the waterworks?” He squeezed her tightly before handing her over to his brother.
“You have a lot to answer for, girl.” The strain in David’s voice went with his damp, green eyes as he hauled her next to him.
She burrowed deeper against his shoulder, whispering, “I’m sorry… what’re you doing here? How’d you know…”
“I called them.”
She stiffened and then whirled at the sound of Caden’s rough voice. “But… how…”
“You know,” David drawled, slinging his arm around her shoulders. “I don’t think I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing Sydney stutter in front of a man. Good job.” Holding out his free hand, he introduced himself. “I’m David Greenbriar, and this is my brother, Sydney’s other uncle, Robert.”
