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“My father never took one dime from the ranch that didn’t belong to him!” she hissed, instantly infuriated. She couldn’t believe that after everything she and Denver had shared, he would still believe the lies—the horrid, hateful lies! “He’s not an embezzler, or a thief, or an arsonist! As for the fire, you don’t know that Colton wasn’t behind it,” she said, her mind spinning. “He was supposed to be in town with John during the blaze, wasn’t he?”
“Yes, but—”
“Yes, but nothing. He wasn’t with John. He didn’t have an alibi. Said he’d been riding, but he showed up in a pickup. For all anyone knows he could’ve been in the stables, started the blaze and managed to escape!”
Denver’s eyes narrowed. “Why, Tessa?”
“I don’t know. Maybe for the same reasons he uses to blame Dad. Maybe he was skimming money off the top—”
“No way!”
“Maybe he didn’t mean to start the fire,” she went on, her thoughts ahead of her tongue. “It was probably an accident—he didn’t intend to hurt anyone.”
Denver’s hands tightened over her bare forear
ms. “Do you honestly think he would accuse you, accuse your father, blame you for something he’d done!”
“Maybe,” she accused. “He didn’t stick around too long afterward, did he?”
“But he had no reason—”
“Neither did Dad! But you seem to think it’s all right to accuse him! Think about it, Denver. Think about it long and hard. Why was Colton so adamant, so damned insistent that my family was involved!”
Turning, she tried to escape from the manacle of his hands, but he wouldn’t let her go. “You’re forgetting something, Tessa,” he said, his eyes as dark as midnight.
“What?”
“Your father was found drunk at the fire. He really couldn’t remember what had happened. Colton, on the other hand, had been riding the back fields—”
“He claims.”
“His horse was still saddled.”
“But he drove up in the truck. Isn’t that odd? Just because his horse wasn’t in the barn isn’t any proof he wasn’t involved.”
“And it doesn’t get your father off the hook!”
Gasping, Tessa arched her hand upward intending to slap him, but she didn’t. She stopped just before her palm connected with his cheek. “I knew I shouldn’t have come here,” she said, fighting the urge to break down completely.
A gamut of emotions contorted his features—hate, anger, sadness, love?
To her surprise, he folded her into his arms. “Shh. Of course you should have,” he said, his face becoming gentle. “Let’s not argue about it. Not now.”
“But you don’t trust us.”
“I trust you.”
“And Dad?”
“I’m not sure about him, Tessa. Face it. Your father has a problem—a serious problem. We have to do something about it.”
“We?” she whispered, disbelieving. Denver wanted to help Curtis Kramer? She couldn’t believe it—wouldn’t.
“There are places he could go—hospitals and clinics. But first he’s got to admit he has an alcohol problem.”
Tessa swallowed back the urge to argue. “I—I’ll talk to him when we get back,” she said. She’d come to the same conclusion herself, but hated discussing her father’s private life with Denver. “Mitchell seems to think he drinks to block out the fire.”
Denver’s lips twisted. “It doesn’t work,” he said. “I should know. I tried to pour myself into a bottle the week after I got out of the hospital.”
