Page 37 of Mistletoe and Malice
“I’m scared, Colton.” Her whispered confession squeezed his heart. “And I don’t want to be. I don’t like to be afraid. I don’t like feeling out of control of my own life.”
“I understand. I do. But it’s probably good you’re finally scared. Fear puts you on alert if used effectively. Don’t let it paralyze you. Let it galvanize you. Be ultra-aware of your surroundings, the people around you. You can be your own best weapon in keeping yourself alive. I’d almost rather have you a bit scared than indifferent.”
“I’m not used to that. Being afraid. I always trust God is in control. That He’s on top of things, so I don’t need to worry. But this …” She swallowed hard. “Thinking somebody may want me dead? That’s a lot to take in. And my faith suddenly feels very small.”
He didn’t know what to say to that. Who was he to judge another’s faith after his own had shattered in the face of tragedy?
Yet from what he’d witnessed in the week he’d been with Riley, her faith was not small or weak. Not in the slightest. Watching her lead the prayer breakfast Monday morning, then at Tuesday Bible study with her friends, the way they pored over their Bibles in the family room, then sat holding hands with heads bowed close together. The many times over the past week he’d glanced across the backseat of the SUV to find Riley consulting the Bible app on her phone. God clearly played a big role in her everyday life.
But she was being tested now, in a way few people ever were. Would God act?
Or would He stand back and let another young woman die?
Chapter Seventeen
Words. So many words. Right there on her laptop screen. And Riley couldn’t focus on any of them.
Not when her head kept going back to the family room and her conversation with Colton. Again, it wasn’t so much about the words but the … connection. A current running between them.
Even with everything going on in her head—the fear, the memories assailing her senses—she’d experienced a closeness to him she hadn’t expected.
Had he felt it too?
“Riley?”
She jumped, and her head snapped around to her doorway.
Colton grinned, which did nothing to slow her racing pulse. Or cool her overheated cheeks. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”
“No worries. Did you need something?”
“Is your date still scheduled for seven tonight?”
Okay, so maybe she’d imagined the whole thing, after all. He certainly didn’t appear the least bit bothered about her being with someone else for the evening. On adate.
“Oh, uh, no. I’ve canceled my plans for the evening. With my friend.”
His brow furrowed, and she wanted to sink into the floor.With my friend? Really?
“You’re in for the duration, then?”
“Yes. So y’all can have the whole day off.”
“I’ll call the guys. They’ll be happy for the downtime, especially with this storm parked over us.”
“What about your downtime? Do you have downtime?”
He stepped into her study, leaned back against the wall by the door with his arms crossed over his chest and one ankle over the other. “Sure. Like the other guys, I’ll work an assignment for a few weeks or even months, take some time off, then take another op. During my time off, I travel, golf, catch up with friends, my family.”
“Daddy’s driver and the house security change shifts. Why is it I have the same three guys and one who stays around the clock?”
“Because this is a special assignment. Temporary. Once this guy is caught and you’re safe, then we’re done.”
“Oh.” A week ago, she’d given them an expiration date. But today, his matter-of-fact explanation had her oddly disappointed at the prospect of losing hi—them. “Then, let’s hope the police catch this guy quickly. It would be nice if you had the holidays off.”
He stepped away from the wall and turned, his gaze panning across the pictures she’d left here of her and her friends in high school and college that Mom kept in place when she redecorated. Some from their travels as young twenty-somethings discovering the world. Mission trips to Africa, Mexico, and Peru. Graduations, holidays, and birthday celebrations.
“Tell me about Graham.”
