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Mystified, she stared at him. “I do?”
“I’ve told my godson for years that he needed to find a good woman and settle down. His mother tells me you were out at their place for Thanksgiving, and I’ve seen you two together a time or two.”
His words took her by such surprise that she could barely find an answer. “Y-your godson?” If Nathan had that connection to Sanderson...
From out in the vestibule came the sound of a door opening and closing, and Harold’s eager whines of welcome.
“Well, speak of the devil,” Ian said. “Look who’s here.”
Still reeling, Sara turned and looked over her shoulder to find Nathan standing just inside the door. And in all her days as a cop and then a special agent, she’d never seen such absolute fury.
His eyes blazing, that muscle ticking along his jaw, he barely acknowledged Ian or the startled clerk at the counter. “You and I are going for a walk,” he bit out. “Now.”
“But we—”
“Now.”
For a different woman, that level of anger might have been intimidating. Sara knew he’d never try to harm her physically, and she could certainly handle things if he tried.
But she really needed to get him outside before he said anything in front of Ian that might make things worse.
She gave the older man a weak smile. “Don’t worry—he just isn’t a morning person.” Grabbing her bag of cinnamon rolls, she took a quick sip of her coffee, then, grabbing Harold’s leash on the way out, followed Nathan to the sidewalk.
She gave him a tentative smile. “I didn’t want to wake you, and Harold needed to go out, so I thought I’d get us some rolls for breakfast. She held up the sack. “Want one now?”
“No.” His voice was flat. Dead calm. “Tell me how long you’ve been in town.”
“Since the twenty-fifth of September. Why?”
“How long have we been seeing each other?”
A cold wind whipped across the street, flinging icy snow in her face and nearly stealing her breath. It didn’t begin to equal the icy fist gripping her heart. He knows. Oh, dearLord, he knows. “It was sort of gradual—maybe mid-October?”
“And in that time, would you say you’ve come to know me well? That you care about me a little?” His voice lashed out at her, but now she heard the pain, as well as anger. “Or is flirting just part of the job?”
“What?”
“I know why you’re here. Did someone suggest that you buddy up to the local cop, or was that your idea?”
“No. You don’t understand—”
“It was a good move, I’ll grant you that. You never know what you might find out.”
“I never meant it that way. If anything, getting close to you put my job at risk.”
“Oh, sure. I believe that.” He gave a derisive laugh.
Despite the job she had to do and the caution she had to take, her heart had refused to heed all logic. And now her foolish heart splintered at her feet.
If he’d cared for her at all, he’d have given her a chance to explain. Instead...
“Then you aren’t a very perceptive man, Roswell,” she snapped. Pain and rising anger clogged her throat, making it almost impossible to speak. “In fact, it’s a wonder you can do your job at all. How did you figure all this out?”
“I needed to call Ollie to tell her that she shouldn’t try making it into work this morning. My cell’s battery was low, so I had to plug in your phone. Not three minutes later it rang. I didn’t answer it, but when a guy left a message it came over the speaker.”
Oh, no.
Allen had always been extremely careful about calling, but he must have been in a hurry this morning.
