Page 25 of Stormswept Colorado

He sputtered a laugh. “I know exactly who you are. I mean, wow. You’re…you’re just,wow. Right here in real life.”

I didn’t remember him from my previous trips to Silver Ridge, so I figured he was new. Seth was allah-shucksattitude. But then his gaze lingered a while on my dress, moving down my legs to my boots. I shifted, and the chain on the handcuffs jingled.

I’d known I was trapped here before, but now I trulyfeltit.

“Could I get your autograph?” he asked. “For my cousin in Denver?”

But before I could answer, a deep voice boomed from somewhere outside Teller’s office.

“Where is she?”

NINE

Ayla

I knew that voice.Ashford. Relief flooded through me.

Then I heard Grace. “Where’s Ayla? No, we will not wait for the chief. I want to see for myself that she’s okay.”

“In here,” I called out.

Seth left the room, melting away like he’d never been there. A moment later, familiar faces appeared in the open doorway. Emma and Grace came in first. Emma’s jaw dropped when she saw the cuff on my wrist.

I lifted my arm, shaking the chain. “Not my best look. How’d you guys know where I was?”

“Rosie from the market called Dixie, and Dixie called me,” Ashford said, walking inside. “Word is spreading all over town that Ayla Maxwell was led away in cuffs.”

Emma smiled ruefully. “The Silver Ridge gossip pipeline can almost be worse than the tabloids.Almost.”

“We still haven’t gotten a straight answer about what you supposedly did,” Grace said. “Not that it matters necessarily. I figure you’ve got lawyers, but Dane can have a top litigator on a plane like that.” She snapped her fingers.

Dane up-nodded from the doorway. “Hi, Ayla. You okay? Do you need representation?”

“I’ll be fine.” I cringed. “But I’m so sorry I ruined tonight. We’re supposed to be celebrating.”

Emma reached for Ashford’s hand. “You didn’t ruin anything. This is going to become a classic story. How you got thrown in the pokey during our wedding weekend.”

At least someone else could see the humor in this situation.

“Who the hell told y’all you could wait in my office?” Teller grumbled, pushing his way inside. “It’s anarchy around here.”

“Sorry, Chief!” a female voice said. An older woman with strawberry-blond hair popped in. “They snuck past me.” Then she aimed a wink in my direction. Seemed like I had an ally.

Teller sighed. “It’s fine, Susan. I’ll deal with them.”

Grace straightened up to her full height, all of five feet. “We’re not leaving until you set Ayla free.”

“Grace is about ready to stage a jailbreak,” Ashford said. “She’s serious, man.”

Teller went over to his desk and sat behind it. His expression was neutral, but a vein at his temple twitched. The others gathered around me, taking up most of the space. It wasn’t a tiny room, but it wasn’t sized to hold this many people.

And they were all here forme. Not for the famous singer, but Ashford’s sister-in-law. Maisie’s aunt.

“What’ll it take to make this go away?” Dane asked.

Teller squinted. “Not every issue can be solved with money, Knightly.”

And then suddenly everyone was talking over each other. Grace asking Teller if I’d had the chance to call a lawyer, Emma reasoning that there were better ways to work all this out. Ashford demanding to know the charges against me.

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