Page 104 of Colton's Last Resort

“She’s tired,” Joshua began.

“It’s all right, Josh,” came the small, hoarse sound of her voice.

Joshua reached up to scrub his temples. Then he turned and went back to the bed. “A few minutes,” he allowed, leaning down for a hug. “Then we all need to get some sleep.”

“You don’t have to sleep here,” she told him. “Either of you.”

“You don’t have to talk,” Adam replied as he, too, came forward. Joshua stepped back and Adam lowered a kiss to the top of her head. “Rest your throat. We’ll be right outside the door.”

“Definitely not listening,” Joshua said with a half-hearted, ironic twist of his mouth.

Noah waited until they’d both left. When the latch clicked shut behind them, he approached the bed. Then he halted, conflicted. “I have a couple of questions.”

She sat up a bit more. Wincing, she lay back on the pillows.

It nearly broke him to see her struggle.

She spoke haltingly, fighting the rawness of her throat. “Youarehere on police business.”

“Your brother’s right,” he said. “Don’t try to talk.”

She tilted her head. “Questions require answers.”

“Just nod,” he told her. “Or shake your head. That’s all the answer I need.”

She sighed and, slowly, subsided into a nod.

“Ariana Fitzgibbons has been located. It seems Doug was just yanking your chain when he claimed he’d done something to her. She left Mariposa for Sedona after lunch with a friend she made during yesterday’s trail ride. They spent the afternoon shopping and caught dinner after.”

Laura’s lips folded as she spun the hospital band on her wrist. She tried clearing her throat and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, there was a pained, wet sheen over them. “I’m glad she’s all right.”

It was a miracle Laura was, he thought. Digging in his pocket, he pulled out Allison’s bracelet and held it up. She watched it swing from his hand.

“Did you find this in Doug DeGraw’s bungalow?”

She hesitated. Then she inclined her head.

“You went to his bungalow?” When she nodded, he wanted to stop. He didn’t want to know—didn’t want to have to replay it in his head repeatedly. “Did you go there alone?”

Laura’s eyes were heavy-lidded with fatigue and swimming in regret as she nodded again.

“Did you find anything else in Doug’s bungalow?” At her nod, he said, “Drugs?” She nodded once more. He wanted to raise his voice as the storm inside him built. Desperate, scared, angry storm clouds he couldn’t lasso. He had to work to keep his next question cool and flat. “Do you remember last night?”

Tears came into her eyes again. For the first time, she turned them away from him.

He gripped the bottom rail of the bed. “I need your answer.”

She nodded.

“You remember promising me you wouldn’t put yourself at risk?” he asked. “You remember looking me in the eye and giving me your word before you took me home with you and made love with me for the rest of the night?”

Lips taut together, she nodded. A tear slipped down her cheek.

His heart twisted. And it hurt. It hurt so much, he couldn’t breathe. “I trusted you,” he said in a whisper.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered back. “I thought... I thought he hurt her. Like Allison.”

He wanted to go to her. He wanted to slip inside the bed with her and hold her all night—until the storm quieted. Until he could breathe right again.

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