Deadly Setup. Annslee Urban

pass.

      She was reeling from exhaustion and whatever medication she’d been given. She felt rotten. And to make matters worse, someone had tried to kill her. She’d like to chalk it up to a road-rage lunatic, but her gut told her different.

      Fresh tears gathered, washing hot. Paige squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed hard. She’d only been in town since that morning, and already the message was clear: she wasn’t welcome back in Boone. Someone didn’t want her to find the truth. A chill prickled her flesh. She shook it off. She couldn’t let fear paralyze her investigation. Her brother’s life depended on her.

      Voices drifted in from the hallway. She opened her eyes, realizing she was no longer alone. The door was cracked open, and she caught a glimpse of a nurse standing outside the room talking to someone. A pager went off. Loud and insistent, growing to an unforgiving wail.

      Paige’s headache burst to full bloom. Cringing, she pressed two fingertips to her pounding temple and rubbed vigorously. She mouthed thank you when the nurse silenced the device.

      “If you’ll excuse me, Detective, I have another patient to check on. Feel free to look in on Miss Becker, but remember, she’s feeling rather rough from the accident and may not be up to many questions.”

      “Thank you. I shouldn’t be long. I only need a short statement from her on what happened tonight.”

      The masculine voice ripped through the air like a bolt of lightning. Everything inside Paige went still. Seth Garrison. As if running off the side of a mountain wasn’t bad enough. She rubbed her temple harder. What was he doing here?

      Common sense kicked in, reminding her Seth was a detective for the sheriff’s department. He was here to do his job.

      A fresh spurt of annoyance bottled in her chest. His job—the sole reason her relationship with him—imploded. A man who went above and beyond the call of duty—even when he was wrong.

      The door slowly creaked open.

      Fighting a groan, Paige pulled herself into a sitting position. She pushed strands of hair from her face, licked her lips. She kept her expression placid, nonchalant. Hopefully, she looked somewhat together.

      Just stay strong, keep your head on straight, emotions intact.

      That plan derailed about ten seconds after Seth’s broad shoulders filled the doorway. Waves of hot and cold shuddered through her as she regarded him, fending off emotions that were far from intact. Feelings she thought she’d buried ten months ago when he’d ignored her pleas for justice, shattering her trust and her heart.

      For a moment, Seth stood there, taking in the room, jaw set, legs planted slightly apart, arms at his sides. A cop stance. Even without a uniform, Seth was a cop to his core. His wide eyes, thickly lashed, under dark brows only further enhanced his stoic demeanor.

      Tension coiled around her chest, squeezing tight as Seth stepped forward and stopped a foot from her bed. She looked up to see him, head cocked, eyes intent. She swallowed as they went soft and deep as he looked at her, the same dark gaze that still haunted her dreams.

      Paige’s heart froze as a bittersweet pang surged through her, stirring up memories of heartbreak and pain. Memories of Seth were always tough. Memories of the night he arrested her brother, Trey, and charged him with the brutal murder of his estranged wife, harder still.

      Fresh anger ignited deep in her chest. Her brother was about to stand trial, facing a life sentence without parole. And the one man who could have helped track down the real killer halted the investigation and declared Trey Becker the only suspect.

      “Paige, how are you feeling?”

      She tried not to look at him. Frustrated and disappointed came to mind. She bit back a snide comment and forced herself to breathe. They’d been down that road too many times. “I’ve been better, Detective Garrison.” Her voice quivered. She swallowed tightly. So much for being strong.

      Although it didn’t help that after all the disappointment, all the pain, all it took was one look at Seth’s strong, chiseled face and broad-shouldered physique and her traitorous stomach reacted with an inappropriate adolescent twist.

      “The nurse told me the CT scan came out good. No broken bones,” Seth said, his deep baritone resonating concern. She bit her lip, hard. Where was that concern ten months ago? When she really needed it, needed him? “You’re fortunate,” he continued. “You drove off one of the deadliest curves on the mountain pass and tumbled about fifty feet.”

      Her heart kicked at the reminder. Thank You, Lord, for keeping me safe. She looked up and blinked against Seth’s assessing stare. “I’d like to clarify something, Detective. I didn’t drive off the mountain. I was run off the road by another vehicle.”

      “Run off the road?” Seth’s eyebrows climbed. “We received a report from a man on his way home that he saw a vehicle skid out of control before going off the road.”

      Paige took a shaky breath as pressure built in her chest just thinking about the horrible series of events. “The report you received was only partially correct. What the witness obviously didn’t see was the truck that had been on my tail for miles down Highway 321. He’d followed me off the Eagle’s Ridge exit. And before I could get away from him, he rammed into the side of my Jeep, sending me skidding out of control and into the ravine.”

      “What kind of truck?” Seth pulled a small pad from his pocket.

      “Long bed, extended cab,” she said, fingering her necklace, still not believing what had happened. “It was dark and stormy. I couldn’t make out much else.”

      Frown lines swept across Seth’s forehead, narrowing his eyes. “And you didn’t call the sheriff’s office?”

      His question cut to the core. Sheriff. After living through her brother’s fiasco for the last ten months, Boone law enforcement wasn’t exactly at the top of her list of people she hoped to run into during her return, especially Detective Seth Garrison.

      Paige fought off a sigh and shrugged. “By the time I realized what was happening, I couldn’t get to my cell phone and there was no safe place to pull over.”

      Seth looked as if he was going to say something but stopped. He probably wanted to chastise her for not being more careful. The former navy SEAL lived and breathed extreme caution. Always keep your phone close and don’t wait until something goes wrong. If you feel uncomfortable in a situation, get out of there and call for help. His notorious words rang in her head. But instead of issuing a reminder, Seth straightened his broad shoulders. Full-on cop mode. Reminding her this wasn’t personal. This was business.

      She should have felt relief, but instead her heart slipped a bit.

      “You mentioned the stormy weather conditions at the time of the accident,” Seth said, jolting her back to the present.

      Paige blinked and breathed deep, readjusting her focus to the accident and not the man asking the questions. She lifted her chin slightly. “Yes, the weather was terrible.”

      He raised a curious brow. “Is it safe to assume that you were traveling below the speed limit?”

      “Yes.” She shrugged one shoulder. “That is, until the truck pulled up beside me, then I sped up trying to get away from him.”

      Seth gave a subtle nod and scribbled something on his notepad. Uneasiness prickled the fine hairs on the back of her neck. She could almost see the thoughts churning in his head, and she didn’t like the vibes she was getting.

      “Okay.” Seth stuffed the notepad in his pocket and cast her a look that said, I’ve got this figured out. “It sounds to me like you were a victim to a hit-and-run. Impatient drivers often tailgate slower vehicles, and unfortunately stormy weather doesn’t deter everyone. If the driver of the truck got annoyed and tried to get around you, his tires may have slipped on the wet road, which could have sent him into your lane.”

      Paige bristled at Seth’s presumptuous assessment.