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Clay nudged the brim of his hat up. “That means we only really have one option. We don’t have time to lose—we need to get her to the ranch and under your protection. Let’s make it happen.”
“All right, consider it done. I’ll have Corrine text you with a time and location.”
“How long will Rain be at the ranch?” Dove’s voice projected with an edge of coolness, but Quaide saw right through it.
She was stiff with tension and her brow creased with worry.
“Ross, you’re speaking to Dove Priester, Rain’s sister,” Quaide introduced.
“Hello, Dove. I can’t give you a timeframe for Rain’s stay. I can only assure you that she will be safe here.”
“Do you have room for me too?” she asked Ross.
Quaide applied pressure to her knee.
“It’s a big ranch. Accommodations can be made.”
“Good. Then I’ll be accompanying Rain.”
Quaide gave Clay a serious look and saw that they understood each other. Dove was not going to Montana with her sister.
“This case is a top priority for us, but we can’t come today. We need a day to prep. There are too many people around. My sister has people here looking at horses. A lot of people coming and going, and I can’t take the risk. But I’ll get it all ironed out to make sure that while Rain is here, she will blend in with the ranch workers.”
“Doing what? Working with horses?” Dove’s voice raised a notch. “My sister is terrible with animals. She can’t even stay in the same room as a fly because she will run for the hills.” She twisted in her seat to Quaide, an imploring look on her face. “She can’t go to a ranch. Send us somewhere else—anywhere else. The mountains or a big city where we can get lost and blend in—”
He stood, pulling her to her feet with him. “We’re going to step out for a minute. Thank you, Ross.”
Leaving the rest of the team to the call, and taking her by the arm, he led her out of the room. He started toward the study, but Dove pulled free and hurried to the stairs instead. Her legs were much shorter than his but she still managed to rush to the top faster than he imagined.
She gave a single, cursory knock on Rain’s door before bursting in.
ChapterEight
“You’re going to the ranch,” Dove announced to Rain when she barged into the room.
Her little sister reclined on the bed, flipping through an old book of sewing patterns. The page was open to some eighties lounge pants.
She bounced into an upright position with the same energy and grace that a gymnast performed a flip. “Yay! An excuse to wear my boots!”
Dove gaped at her. Was her sister joking right now? She studied Rain’s face and saw that unshakable, hopeful smile.
No, she wasnotjoking.
The same exasperation that Dove had been battling for weeks while her sister lived out her days in her closet gripped her by the throat. She shook her head hard enough to make her hair whip across her face. “No boots, Rain. Not happening. Your stupid personal joke with Dom is exposed. Remember? You marked each other’s boots. Now they’reevidence. That stupid link is how they tracked you down and put a target on your back!”
“Evidence?” she echoed. Rain’s big blue eyes were so wide and childlike that Dove’s protective big sister instinct hit hard enough to trample her frustration.
“As part of the investigation he’s under for selling drugs and laundering money, Rain.”
Her sister looked between her and Quaide. “The authorities actually know he’s doing those things? All this time I thought Dove was just being overprotective in the event that something was actually discovered.”
Quaide’s deep voice filled every corner of the cramped room. “Dove’s instincts were spot on, Rain. Your boyfriend was in trouble.”
“But he isn’t now? You said ‘was.’”
Quaide shifted into that all-business mode—and Dove braced for the trainwreck that she couldn’t stop.
“He’s not just in trouble, Rain—he’s dead. When he was found, he was wearing cowboy boots with the word—or name—‘Rain’ written on the bottom. The media splashed that image all over the news when the reporters took a shot of his body being loaded into the van. Someone killed him, and now they have a positive ID on you too.”
