Page 14 of The Sheriff & the Nurse

She already regretted saying anything as she clasped her hands tighter together. Did she sound whiny and weak? Would they think she was making something out of nothing?

Mark’s voice broke the silence. “Vigilante justice, then?”

Clint cracked a smile at that, and she was blown away by the beauty of his face. The most manly beauty she’d ever seen. “No,” he said, wiping his smile away. He studied Lily. “You think this doctor is the one who made your poster?”

“I don’t know who else would.” She worried her lip. “But I don’t know how he would’ve beaten me here. He talked to me in the parking lot right as I pulled out. He would’ve had to pay someone to come hang it up. He’s kept his badgering of me off everybody’s radar. I don’t know that he’d involve anybody else.” That put a wrinkle in her certainty that Dr. Hampshire was to blame. She guessed he could’ve put it up anytime the past two days as she hadn’t been home. Her brain hurt trying to riddle him out. If only she could sleep and shut out all this stress.

“So we probably have another idiot to worry about, besides the doc,” Mark put in.

He was standing by the poster. She looked at it and quickly away.

“Maybe,” Clint said. He clenched his fist and bounced it on his leg. “Why don’t you back up and tell us the story from the beginning?”

Lily sighed. She didn’t want to, but there was no getting around it now. She started with Dr. Hampshire starting at the hospital about five years ago. He hit on her the first time they met, and she told him she had a Navy SEAL boyfriend. Heeased off for a bit, but after her grandma was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and became his patient three years ago, he started up again. He added in little quips about Grandma’s health that could be interpreted any way, but they just rubbed wrong.

She made it to today and how he found her in the parking lot, how she lied and told him she was engaged to Clint and he seemed to know she was lying and said she should think about her story because he could keep her safe, Grandma safe, and make her happy.

As she finished, she finally looked up to see Clint studying her as if she were a 3D 5000-piece puzzle. Mark must’ve finished his work while she spoke as he wandered in, pulled out a chair, and sat.

Nobody said anything for a beat. Her head hurt and her stomach was sick. What had she done? She hadn’t confided this story to anyone and now she’d told two mature and tough men who’d seen all manner of criminal activities. They probably thought she was a head case and making a mountain out of a molehill. Regret coursed through her, and she wished she could close her eyes and make everything disappear.

“Would you like a glass of water?” she asked Mark. She hadn’t been to the store in a while and doubted there was anything but expired milk, some eggs and cheese in the fridge.

“No thank you, Lily.” Mark looked to Clint.

Clint considered her for a couple seconds, clearly unsure what to say. “Any prints?” he asked Mark.

It made sense. He was turning to the facts of the case. If they found prints and could tie this back to Dr. Hampshire, maybe this nightmare could turn into something good. Everyone would know how disgusting Dr. Hampshire was and he’d finally leave her alone.

“He was wearing gloves, but maybe he made a mistake while making the poster. I’ll send it in and see what they find. I was also thinking about that fence he had to cross and hoping he didn’t have gloves on. I’ll go look at it closer in a bit.”

“Thanks.” The sheriff’s gaze returned to study her. “The sign says boyfriend, but you told the doctor you were engaged to me?”

“I did.” Her brow furrowed. Maybe that meant Dr. Hampshire had put the threatening poster up before he had cornered her in the parking lot.

“So the doc might not be our suspect,” Mark mused.

“I think he put the poster up earlier today or yesterday, before I told him I was engaged to you.”

“Why did you say you were engaged to me?” Clint asked in a low rumble.

Lily was grateful Mark was here as a buffer. She was grateful she was sitting down. She was not grateful she had to answer.

“Um … I just scrambled for a name. Of course I thought of the Colevilles immediately. That left you, Rhett, Walker, or Easton. Dr. Hampshire thinks he’s the king of the earth, so only someone of authority, like you as the sheriff, would make him think twice.”

She swallowed hard, trying to act like she wasn’t longing to be engaged to him, protected by him, and surrounded by him. That she hadn’t been thinking about how it would feel to be engaged to him and that was why his name had come out when Dr. Hampshire pressed her. “Would you have preferred I said Walker or Easton?”

“No,” he said in a fierce, protective growl, his gaze intense. “You’re my fiancée.”

Lily’s stomach did the happiest dance. Hewantedto be her fiancé. He wanted her to be his. She said nothing, only stared at him.

“Wow. That gave me goose bumps,” Mark teased them both with a smile.

Clint broke his concentration from her face and gave Mark a warning look.

Mark’s grin didn’t diminish. In fact, it grew.

“Lily.” Clint focused back on her. “You can’t stay here tonight. Can you stay with your parents while we figure out who broke in?”

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