Page 20 of Montana Freedom

Daniel just stared at me for a moment. He was still as a statue, and for a moment I wondered if I’d broken him completely. “Why?”

I blinked at the question. “What?”

He cleared his throat. “Why did you lie?”

“I didn’t know if I could trust you. You were there, but I didn’t know who you were or what your real motive was. It seemed safer until I knew more. I’m sorry.”

A quick smile appeared. “I can’t exactly argue with that. Will you tell me how you came to be in that cage?”

I still harbored some hesitancy. I could tell him some of it. But everything? That would take too long, and I didn’t want him to look at me differently once he knew. It wasn’t something I could either control or take back.

“I went to school for computer science, and I got cocky. I started toying around with things, hacking places I shouldn’t have, and I came across the Riders’ operation.” A gross simplification, but it would have to do. “I didn’t realize they’d noticed, but they came for me so I didn’t go to the authorities.”

Daniel gestured toward the other door of the barn, and I walked with him, wrapping my arms around myself. “Simon told me he didn’t have time to deal with me because he was already fighting someone else. But once they finished the move to North Dakota, they were going to make me disappear.”

There was no doubt about it. Simon basically told me to my face he was going to find out what I knew and who I’d told before he killed me and buried me in an unmarked grave. That was why I was terrified for him to know I was here. If he was looking for my name and found it at some place like a hospital? It wouldn’t stop him from coming and killing me.

Together we approached a fence, and Daniel hadn’t lied. I saw alpacas beyond it, fluffy and curious, with beady eyes fixed on us. One came over immediately and didn’t balk at all when I reached out to pet it.

“His name is Al Pacacino.”

I laughed. “That’s amazing.”

“How long?”

Looking over at Daniel, I caught the desolation in his gaze. It was so stark it stole my breath. “How long…?”

“How long did they have you in the cage?”

Oh. I swallowed. “A month. They let me out once a day to relieve myself. Never alone for more than a couple minutes, though.”

He swore, turning away for a second. “I’m very sorry that happened to you.”

“You didn’t lock me up, Daniel.” I put my hand on his where it rested on the fence. “You let me out. And I’m really thankful for it. It’s why I thought I was crazy when you were suddenly saving meagain. I assumed I’d dreamed you up.” I smiled. “Because my mind already sees you as my protector.”

A shadow I didn’t expect fell over his face before it cleared. Something about what I said bothered him, but it was different from when I’d said I didn’t remember. This was darker, but he promptly schooled his face again.

My hand was still on top of his on the fence, and I didn’t pull it back. Daniel made no move to either. My stomach tumbled with butterflies and foolish hope.

“I never forgot you,” he finally said, voice so quiet I had to lean forward to hear it. “The reason I recognized you in that parking lot is because I know your face almost better than my own. You disappeared, and I couldn’t stop imagining something bad had happened that I wasn’t able to stop. I hoped you were all right, but my dreams kept telling me you weren’t.”

The little gasp that came out of me was completely involuntarily. He’d dreamed about me.

“Running into you felt like a goddamn miracle.”

I tried to breathe, and it was hard, the air thick in my throat with how much tension was in the atmosphere and the urge to step closer. “Seems like you’re my guardian angel.” I laughed lightly to brush it off, but it didn’t work.

This thing between us built. I was staring into those dark eyes and marveling at the depth of them, now that I could truly see them. The ambient light of the sun glancing through them made it clear they were a rich, chocolate brown.

And the look in them… It was heaven. Something beyond his gaze told me it wasn’t only worry that kept him dreaming about me. It was so much more, and I wanted to explore every part of that.

I took a step forward, and he didn’t move away.

A high-pitched, snuffling chirp sounded next to us as Al Pacacino shoved his head in between us, looking for the pets we’d stopped giving him, and the tension snapped like a too-taut rubber band. I laughed. “Guess you need some more attention, huh?”

Daniel was still looking at me, though, in the quiet, thoughtful way I’d come to know over the last few days. “I have to ask, Emma. I understand why you’re nervous now. But will you talk to our police chief here in Garnet Bend? He’s a good friend, and all of us here would trust him with our lives. Wehavealready trusted him with them. Whatever you remember could be useful, even if it doesn’t seem like it.”

Fear seized me, and I opened my mouth to say no before he held out a hand.

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