Page 35 of A Bear's Secret

All of a sudden, she looked small, cold, and lost. Her eyes were huge in her face, and for the first time, Austin felt like he towered over her.

She reached out to Trevor as well, taking him by the shoulder.

“I don’t want you guys to get shot,” she said, and Austin could hear the quaver in her voice, despite her bravado. “I didn’t kill whoever James Cookson is, so this is probably a misunderstanding.”

“Let’s go,” the cop shouted.

“Okay,” Sloane called back to him, and began walking for the rock with her clothes on it.

Austin grabbed her hand.

“Don’t say anything without a lawyer,” he said.

“Find my phone and call my parents,” she said. “They’ll help.”

“Other way!” called the cop.

“I’m putting clothes back on, or did you want me to walk all the way down this trail naked?” Sloane shouted back.

Trevor and Austin exchanged a look, and Austin found a tiny spark of hope.

Atta girl, sassing a cop, he thought.

The cop didn’t say anything, just crossed his arms and frowned. The other two watched from the banks of the swimming hole as well, hands hovering near guns.

Sloane dressed quickly, her back to everyone. Even given the circumstances, and despite the freezing-cold water, he couldn’t help but appreciate her naked. Her full hips, narrowing to a small waist, the thighs that he could only dream of burying his face in...

He and Trevor got out of the water as she crossed the narrow stream where the water emptied out of the swimming hole. Sloane skipped from stone to stone, finally reaching the shore where they all stood.

Austin and Trevor were both considerably bigger than the cops.

I bet we could take them,Austin thought, the itch starting under his skin again. No one would ever find their bodies out here.

It was a surprisingly tempting idea. Get rid of the policemen, grab Sloane, and run. Anything to keep her out of danger.

Well, except probably the entire Sherriff’s force in Ponderosa knows that they went out to arrest her,Austin remembered. It would take them an hour to figure out what happened, and then we’d be fugitives, and that wouldn’t help her.

Besides, she didn’t do anything. She’ll be out by dinner.

“Who’s James Cookson?” Sloane asked. Her voice sounded fine, even though Austin could still sense the anxiety and adrenaline coming off of her in waves.

“That’s the young man you shot with a tranquilizer dart,” one of the other officers spoke up.

Austin wanted to punch him in his stupid, smug face.

Sloane looked aghast.

“I didn’t shoot anyone,” she said, taking a step back.

“Lawyer,” Trevor said quietly.

“But I didn’t—”

He just shook his head.

“They already think you did it. They’ll trick you into confessing, or worse.”

Sloane swallowed and nodded. Austin turned his head and looked at his partner. Where had that come from?

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