Cowboy Who Came For Christmas. Lenora Worth

shouldn’t have to tell you that. It’s pretty obvious.”

      Adan tried again. “Do you recognize the man in the sketch?”

      She lowered her head, her gaze cutting to the floor. Adan couldn’t be sure if she was about to lie to him or if she really was agitated by seeing that wanted poster on her door.

      “Sophia?” Adan wasn’t always patient, but he’d learned to be whenever he was trying to drag information out of someone. He waited for her to look at him and hoped she’d be honest.

      She finally let out a long sigh and gave him a direct glare. But he didn’t see anything but sincerity and stubbornness in her blue eyes. “I haven’t seen him around here.”

      Adan let out a grunt and got up. “That’s not what I asked.”

      * * *

      SOPHIA DECIDED SHE’D had enough questions for one night. “I’m going to see about Bettye,” she said, already reaching for her heavy coat and her gun.

      “Hey, wait a minute,” he called after her.

      But Sophia was tired of waiting, tired of looking over her shoulder and very tired of being afraid. “I told you, I haven’t seen that man around here, but somebody left that mug shot for a reason. I’m going to check on my neighbor, so you need to just back off.”

      “I’m coming with you,” Adan called, his boots hitting the old hardwood floors as he chased after her.

      Sophia opened the heavy latched door, a gust of cold wind and wet snow taking her breath away. She needed this blast of cold air to clear her head. After four years here on the mountain, she’d become happy again and she’d gotten her strength back. She wasn’t about to have a midnight confession with a Texas Ranger.

       I’ll figure out something. I always do.

      “Hey, wait up.”

      The driving wind caused the heavy flakes to dance in a straight line across the woods. She gasped to catch her breath then motioned to Adan. He’d just come after her if she didn’t let him go with her. And to be honest, she didn’t want to be out here alone. Not if Joe Pritchard was roaming around.

      Adan followed her down the slippery wooden steps and took hold of her arm to link it with his. “We need to stick together.”

      “I agree.”

      “Why do you feel this sudden need to check on Bettye? We just left her place.”

      Sophia lifted a gloved hand in the air. “The weather, a criminal on the loose, because I can.”

      “You’re sure stubborn,” he said on a hiss as the wind cut them both to the bone.

      “Yes, I am.” She nodded. “Her cabin is dark, but she has a night-light. The power might have gone out.” Taking a glance back at her own cabin, she said, “I still have electricity, so she should, too.”

      “Must be asleep,” Adan called over the driving wind.

      Sophia nodded, her skin tingling as the icy flakes hit her and clung to her hat and hair. This was the worst snowstorm she’d ever experienced while living on Crescent Mountain.

      How would Adan ever be able to get out of here?

      Worried now that she’d have to contend with him for more than just tonight and wondering where Joe had gone, she steeled herself to deal with both of them. She wouldn’t let Ranger Harrison intimidate her and she wouldn’t let Joe Pritchard—or whoever it was—scare her. She was long past being afraid of anything.

      Except the truth.

      She’d worry about how to handle that later. She had to make sure Bettye was okay—she was spry and in good shape, but she was still getting on in years. If Joe knew Bettye was Sophia’s friend, he’d zoom in on her just to bring out Sophia.

      When they reached Bettye’s porch, Adan pointed to the snow going up the steps. “No fresh footprints, but the downfall could have hidden any.”

      “We left her about an hour ago,” Sophia replied. “I’d feel better checking the back porch and all the windows.”

      Adan grabbed her by the arm. “Why are you so worried about Bettye?”

      Sophia didn’t know how to explain that now. Telling him the truth would save her a lot of grief, but she didn’t want to give Adan something to pin on her, a bargaining chip to make her talk even more. Or evidence that could put her in jail.

      “I care about her,” she finally said. “She’s helped me a lot and...she’s the only real family I’ve ever had.”

      Adan’s eyes widened but he seemed to accept that explanation. At least that much was the truth.

      “Let’s go around back,” he suggested, his gun now drawn.

      Now he was taking her seriously.

      “Will her dog alert?” he asked.

      “He should if it’s a stranger,” she said, her voice carrying through the ferocious wind and clinging snow. “But he knows me, so he might not bother with us.”

      Adan shined the flashlight at the side window, but the heavy bushes were so covered with fresh snow it was impossible to tell if anyone had been near the place. No sign of new footprints on the back porch, either. Not even a peep from Bettye’s devoted companion.

      “Her bedroom is on the other side,” Sophia said, pointing to the right corner of the porch.

      Adan nodded and helped her down the steps. They slogged through almost a foot of snow before they reached the other window.

      And saw that the screen was not on the window. It was lying ripped and torn on the snow-covered grass.

      Sophia turned and tried to run. “I have to get inside.”

      Adan hurried and caught her by the arm. “Hold up. Do you want to scare her?”

      Angry that he was wasting time, she shouted, “You saw that screen!”

      Adan nodded. “Yes, and I saw the window. The glass is intact. No one went through that window.”

      “He could have closed it.”

      “He would have broken out a pane to get inside. The glass is intact.”

      When they heard a dog barking from inside the house, Sophia yanked away from Adan. “I’m going inside.”

      “How?”

      She lifted the key ring from her coat pocket. “I have a key.”

      She didn’t wait for him to ask her about anything else. Sophia’s heart was churning and shifting in the same blustery confusion as the wind’s unforgiving gusts. Her safe, quiet life was now in an uproar and her fears for her friend had multiplied twofold after seeing that busted window screen.

      She was fighting two very determined men. One evil...and one good. She just wished she knew which one would win.

       CHAPTER FIVE

      BY THE TIME they’d made it back around the house, the rear porch light flickered on and Bettye cracked open the door enough to push a rifle barrel through it. “Who’s out there?”

      Letting out a held breath, Sophia ran up the slippery steps. “It’s me, Bettye. I was worried about you.”

      The door peeled back like a creaky old trunk lid. “I’m fine, honey. You sure scared Bandit, though.” She motioned them inside with the gun down and her left hand in the air.

      Sophia smelled the faint scents of vanilla and lavender. A burning candle? Then she heard a man’s cough.

      Adan