Page 62 of Montana Heat

Lucas grabbed one of the kitchen chairs and carried it into the living room, putting it down near Kenzie but not so close that it would make her uncomfortable.

“We also talked about Alan Ard, Kenzie,” he said softly.

“Alan?” Kenzie jerked and exhaled a harsh breath at his name. “Why? He’s not the stalker. Alan can’t be the one who’s behind this.”

“Because he’s still in jail for assault?” I asked as gently as I could.

“You know?”

I tilted my head at the guys. “Lucas told me earlier today. I’m so sorry you went through that, City. Can you tell us what happened?”

“Does it matter?”

Lucas leaned back in his chair. “It might. If you don’t mind sharing as much as you’re comfortable with, it could possibly help. I promise we’ll explain.”

She took a few deep breaths. “I met Alan at a real estate firm—the one I was at before my office now. Long story short, my career took off, while his didn’t. He started taking his anger out on me. First, it was negative talk. Then it escalated. He ended up gettingfired for his behavior at work, and we broke up. Then one night, he attacked me.”

I wanted to punch my fist through one of my very solid wood walls, even knowing it would do much more damage to my hand than it would to the building. I saw Liam cross his arms over his chest from where he stood in the doorway, and I knew he felt the same.

“How bad was it?” I could see the rage simmering in Lucas’s eyes, but his tone was even and gentle. Dealing with his wife’s abuse at the hands of a psychopath had given the man practice at keeping his anger focused where it belonged—on the perpetrator, not the victim.

“Bruised ribs, black eye, dislocated shoulder. Honestly, he wasn’t very smart about it. I immediately pressed charges.”

I tightened my arm around her. “Good.”

Liam nodded. “Jensen’s right. It truly is good that you did that. You’d be surprised how many people don’t.”

“Alan has been in prison for over a year now. He has around another year left.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “That’s why I haven’t mentioned him to anyone. He’s in prison, so he can’t be my stalker. I didn’t want to dredge up more bad memories if I didn’t have to.”

I eased my hand under her hair so I could rub the tense muscles of her neck, glad when she didn’t pull away. “Nobody can blame you for that.”

She looked over at me. “Why do you want to know about Alan?”

“Jude discovered he’s made multiple calls to the hotel where that threat against you originated from.”

Any bit of relaxation she’d gotten from my rubbing her tense muscles was instantly lost. “What?”

“Maybe he’s in on this and has a partner,” Liam said.

Lucas let out a sigh. “I’m afraid it gets worse. When I talked toCharlie on the way here, Watters notified him that Alan has been approved for early parole and will be getting out next week.”

Now, tension coursed throughmywhole body. “What the fuck? Can’t we let them know what we suspect is going on and keep him in?”

“Watters is working on it, but as of right now, he hasn’t done anything illegal. Says he’s been calling multiple hotels to see about possible jobs once he gets out.”

Kenzie slumped back into the couch. “I honestly wasn’t paying much attention to when he’d be out since I thought it was so far in the future. He was out of my life, and that was all I cared about. I’ve wanted to put him in the past and move on, not dwell on him.”

I rubbed my thumb over her shoulder, wishing I could erase the exhaustion from her. Her voice was dull and lifeless when she spoke. She barely looked up from her lap.

“Maybe we can talk about this more after you rest,” I suggested.

She nodded weakly.

“Yeah.” Lucas stood and sighed. “That’s a good idea.”

I led Kenzie to the bedroom, not saying anything as I helped her slip off her shoes and get into the bed. “I’ll be back in just a few minutes, okay?”

She nodded, looking way too frail, and I kissed her on the forehead as she pulled the covers up to her chin.

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