Page 34 of Scent of Peril

“That’s possible. Or he tracked our phones. Benton called Logan’s phone to arrange for the charter.” She hesitated, then added, “Logan and I think there must be a fairly big drug operation going on to justify these attacks.”

“Doug and Maya will be home soon. After their original flight was delayed, they caught a red-eye from the Big Island in Hawaii last night.”

She sighed. “I hope they didn’t choose the red-eye because of me.”

“Maya probably insisted. You know how stubborn she can be.”

She rolled her eyes. “We’re all stubborn, Chase. It’s a Sullivan family trait.”

“Yup. So you know there was nothing I could do to convince them to wait for the next daytime flight. The fact is, Doug will be able to reach out to his DEA colleagues when he gets here. And from there, we can determine our next steps.”

“Sounds good.” She gave Logan a reassuring smile. “Ask Doug to call me when he’s home.”

“Will do. Is Logan there?” Chase asked.

“You know he is. Hang on.” She held out the phone. Logan took it.

“Hey, Chase.” Logan listened intently to whatever Chase was saying for a long minute. “There’s no need for that, but thanks for the offer. Don’t worry. I think we’re safe here. And yes, I’ll protect her and so will Teddy. We’ll be in touch.” He ended the call, then plugged the phone back into the charger. “Your brother is worried about you.”

“He takes his role as the head of the household seriously.” She shrugged. “Maya does too. To their credit, they held the family together after we lost our parents. Mostly for Kendra’s sake.” Thinking of her parents only reminded her of the tail piece they’d been forced to leave behind with Logan’s plane.

When this was over, she wanted to get the tail fin examined by an expert. If it was a part of their parents’ plane, she’d head back up to the mountain to search for the rest of the debris.

It was well past time to get some answers as to what happened that fateful day five and a half years ago.

Logan hadn’t neededChase’s warning to take care of Jessica. That was something he’d do regardless. However, the conversation with Chase was a stern reminder that kissing her again was off-limits.

Now and during the foreseeable future.

Just because he’d wanted to kiss her since they were in high school didn’t mean he should have acted on the impulse. Especially considering how they’d been standing outside the hotel where the shooter could have easily made another attempt to kill them.

Could he be more of an idiot? He needed to keep his head screwed on straight. Jessica was in danger because of him. He couldn’t afford to be distracted by his tangled-up-in-knots feelings for her.

Feelings he’d have sworn weren’t returned in kind—until the moment she’d kissed him back. Her embrace had nearly knocked him off his feet.

And made him long for more.

Enough. He gave himself a mental shake, knowing he needed to stay focused on keeping Jessica safe as promised. Logan stood and moved to the window. He peered through the narrow opening between the sheer drapes. Their room overlooked the back of the hotel, which was the way they’d come in, cutting through the parking lot of the pharmacy. He scanned the parking lot, then pulled the darker shades together to keep anyone from seeing inside their room. The resulting dimness made him turn on the desk lamp.

He turned to look at Jess. Chase had assured him that he’d be reimbursed for the room, not that he’d been worried about that. He remembered the bit of conversation he’d overheard between Jess and her brother. “What was that about Doug and Maya?”

“Oh yeah. Their original flight was canceled, so they jumped on a red-eye to get home quicker. They’ll back at the ranch sometime today.” She frowned. “Doug is going to reach out to his DEA contacts to see if they know anything about Benton or drugs being in the Bighorn Mountains.”

“It would be nice if Benton was a known alias.” He doubted it would be so easy to find the guy. “I can’t imagine why on earth Benton had decided to start up a drug operation in the mountains either. It’s not easy to get in and out of the place except by flying or hiking. You’d think they’d want to be somewhere closer to the action.”

“Maybe it’s a staging area,” Jess suggested.

“Could be.” He had to admit that someone needed to get back up on that mountain and soon.Anyone other than Jess, he thought wearily. He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “I’m going to walk to the pharmacy to pick up a few things, like a razor. Do you want anything?”

“Yes. I’m dying to take a shower.” She shot to her feet. “I’ll go with you.”

He hesitated, then realized she may need personal items, too, and decided not to argue. “Okay. Let’s go, then.”

“We might want to pick up something to eat.” She gestured to the microwave. “It’s not a suite, but at least we can heat up something for lunch.”

“Okay.” He reached for his coat, trying not to think about the long afternoon stretching before them. As strange as it sounded, he’d rather be outside camping in the snow than cooped up in a hotel room with Jess.

Even Teddy wasn’t enough of a distraction.

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