Page 9 of The Chance

Aubrey hit the unlock button on her keys, before turning to answer him. But his hand had tightened on her elbow. He almost pulled her behind him. “Stay back.”

“What?”

“Look at the side of your car.” His entire tone had changed. Turned almost angry. Aubrey followed his gaze to see the paint damage running all down the driver’s side of her little blue SUV.

“Someone scratched my car. Damn it, this has not been my month.”

“Someone keyed your car. Because this was deliberate. There is nothing else it could be.” Guthrie pulled her closer. Then looked at the two men standing about a hundred feet away. He raised his voice. “Alvaro, get over here!”

Aubrey stayed right where she was.

Fighting tears she wasn’t going to let anyone see.

Who had done this?

This was the last thing she wanted to think about tonight.

7

Aubrey was obviously upset,but she was keeping it hidden. She stood there, between him, Caine, and Dathan, quiet and shivering a little. It was chilly—and she had a jacket inside her car. But Caine had told her not to touch her car until the cops said she could. Guthrie had grabbed a sweatshirt out of his truck for her. It was Greer’s; his sister had left it behind when he’d driven her to work a few days ago. Aubrey had taken the shirt almost on autopilot.

Guthrie made the decision that he was going to just take care of Aubrey however he could while they waited for Caine’s brother-in-law to show up. The brother-in-law had been called to take the report courtesy of the Value sheriff. Clay Addy was out on a call, assisting the Garrity County sheriff with something drug-related, and all available deputies were elsewhere in their county. But Caine’s brother-in-law had been in the area, helping his twin brother with some sort of home remodel about six miles from the hospital. He could get there the quickest.

Guthrie was good with that—Caine’s brother-in-law was also Guthrie’s brother George’s brother-in-law. Guthrie had known Murdoch Lake for almost ten years now, since George hadgotten Murdoch’s precious baby sister pregnant accidentally, then scooped her up and married her as quickly as George possibly could. Before Ronnie’s brothers—she had three—could rip George apart and everything. He trusted Murdoch to be thorough.

Guthrie put one hand on Aubrey’s shoulder and pulled her closer—and away from Dathan. It took him a moment to realize his problem with Dathan, a man he respected and considered a friend.

It all had to do with her. He knew the other man was interested in Aubrey, but that just wasn’t going to happen.

Guthrie wanted her. Period.

He just pulled her closer. There would be time enough for figuring out Aubrey Fisher when he had her home.

Guthrie wasn’t leaving her side.

8

Guthrie followed her home.He wouldn’t have been able to accomplish that, except Dathan and Caine had both sided with him. Either Guthrie followed her home, or Dathan did.

Apparently, Guthrie was the lesser of two evils. And Caine was insistent—Aubrey listened to Caine, too.

It was the first time Guthrie had ever seen her interact on a remotely personal level with Caine Alvaro. It was obvious the other man respected her and cared about her, but there was absolutely no intimacy between them. Purely professional, the entire way.

So who was behind the vicious rumors he’d heard about her and Caine having an affair this very week? Guthrie was going to find out. And if that person had had anything to do with what had happened to her car—Guthrie was going to deal with them personally.

He wanted to stay right where he was and just talk to her, for as long as she would talk to him. The woman flat-out fascinated him. He stood next to her car and just looked at the little bungalow she shared with her sister.

“It’s not exactly impressive, but it’s… home.” There was something in her tone that told him she felt insecure having him there. “I wanted a house for Ayla. It was important for my sister that we lived in a house when we moved here. We’ve always had apartments before. This move, we wanted a house.”

And he suspected there had been quite a few moves for the Fisher sisters. Aubrey and her sister filled him with questions. He had always been curious. He would get his answers eventually. “Has she always used the crutches?”

“Since she was thirteen or fourteen. Before that, she mostly used a chair. But she despises the chair now and refuses to use it unless she absolutely has to.” Her words turned guarded, protective, like they always did when her sister was mentioned. “This place was the only single-story on the market in Value when we moved here. We wanted close enough to town so that she could walk if needed, or take the transit. And I wanted close to the hospital. It needed work, still does, but I do it when I can.”

It was a nice house, not overly big. It had a cottage feel to it that suited her. A beautiful girl—two of them, actually—living in a little cottage in town. With fairies floating all around. Yes, he could see the two of them here. It suited them perfectly.

He got the impression the topic of her sister was off-limits. He could understand that. Aubrey was extremely protective. Well, Guthrie had three younger sisters of his own. He was extremely protective, too.

“I… should probably be going. But to be honest, I’m not too comfortable leaving you here alone tonight.” Why lie about it? Someone had taken the opportunity to vandalize her car for a definite reason. He couldn’t overlook that at all.

---