Page 27 of Crosshairs

Before Linc could move, Sam entered the church. “What’s going on?”

“She was attacked,” Linc said as Ainsley pushed away from him and tried to get her feet under her. “You sure you want to stand?”

“Yes.”

Before he could help her, she struggled to her feet. Ainsley hadn’t changed one iota. Independent as all get-out. “I would’ve helped you,” he said.

“I’m good.”

She didn’t look good. Her face was pale, and her hand shook as she holstered her gun. “You need to rest. You could have a concussion,” he said.

Ainsley ignored him and picked up her hat, examining it. “I hope I can reshape it.” Then she dusted off her pants. “Do you think he could’ve left shoe prints?”

She had shifted into full investigator mode, and that meant she was okay. Relief had him almost light-headed. But it shouldn’t surprise him, thinking of her grandmother and great-aunt. All three of them were like the sturdy oaks outside the church. Strong. Resilient. But a tad too independent.

Linc glanced down at the pine floors. They didn’t look likethey’d seen a broom in ages. “Maybe, since there’s plenty of dust,” he said.

“I have a few gelatin lifters in my SUV,” Sam said. “And a flashlight.”

The flashlight would help illuminate the prints. While Sam went for the lifters, Linc studied the room. “You didn’t see your assailant at all?”

“No. I sensed his presence, though.” She shuddered. “I should’ve listened to my gut earlier.”

“I get it. Ever since we got here, I’ve felt like someone was watching us.”

She glanced toward the pulpit. “That was the same feeling I got standing at the altar.”

“I shouldn’t have dismissed it, but after I talked to that kid, I thought it was him.” If anything bad had happened to her...

Ainsley turned back to him. “Don’t beat yourself up. I’m just glad you were here. If you hadn’t yelled my name ... you did yell my name? I wasn’t dreaming that, was I?”

“No. I called for you several times,” he said.

“That saved my life.”

Their gazes locked, skyrocketing his heart rate. Her blue eyes, framed by thick lashes, held him spellbound. It was like the years fell away, and thoughts of their last kiss before everything went south made him want to take her in his arms again.

Linc brushed a smudge of dirt from her forehead, the touch burning his fingertips. A tremor ran down her delicate throat, and he trailed his fingers along her face, stroking it. A bolt of electricity arced in the inches that separated them, and he leaned closer.

Sam’s tires crunching the gravel jerked Linc’s head back. Air whooshed from his lungs as he released the breath he’d been holding. “I, uh, guess we better see if we can find any prints.”

Ainsley was the first to move as color flooded her face. “Yeah.”

Her breathy voice didn’t help his heart rate to slow.

“Find anything?” Sam asked as he entered the room.

“Not yet,” Linc replied. Heat burned his neck as he looked anywhere but at the district ranger.

“Where have you searched?”

“We hadn’t exactly started.”

“I’ll check the podium—he could have been hiding behind the pulpit,” Ainsley said, her voice almost back to normal.

Linc took the smaller of the two flashlights that Sam offered, ignoring the question in his eyes. “I’ll see if I can find anything on the aisles.”

“I’ll take the front entrance,” the district ranger said. “But first, let me get our shoe prints for comparison.”

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