Page 49 of Wolf Hunter's Moon

“The man in black could be around.”

She crossed her arms. “Oh? Now that it’s convenient for you, you’re gonna bring him up again? Nope. If you leave me here, I will just go off on my own.”

“That would be a good way to get yourself killed.”

“By whom? We’ve been in town for a good forty-eight hours, and we haven’t seen the man in black.” He opened his mouth to argue, but she pressed her fingers to his lips. “Ryland, don’t turn into a protective jerk now. It was easier when you didn’t care about me.”

Ryland winced.

Caroline had it all wrong, and he couldn’t even tell her.

TWENTY-THREE

CAROLINE

Something was up with Ryland, and no matter how many questions Caroline asked him as they drove back to the Bonetti olive groves, he refused to tell her what was on his mind.

She knew.

Or, at the very least, she could guess.

It was all because they had sex. Now that Ryland had seen her as a woman, naked and vulnerable, he had some misguided belief about what his role in her life was.

He wasn’t her protector. Not her boyfriend. Not anything like that.

Ryland Wolverton worked for a protection agency that was helping her solve a case. How could she do that if he was worried about her breaking a nail?

Maybe if she told him why this case was so important to her, he would understand why she couldn’t just give up.

If she was honest, she ran the risk of worrying him further, and then he would probably insist on keeping her under lock and key until he fixedallher problems. As tempting as it was to let someone swoop in and fix her life, Caroline couldn’t trust it.

Not even when her heart was getting a little confused about Ryland.

Joan had offered a similar deal, and that hadn’t exactly turned out great for her. Actually, without her brother’s mistakes and Joan’s fake compassion and betrayal, Caroline would still be doing episodes on cold cases.

She wouldn’t be halfway across the world with a millionaire detective like Ryland Wolverton.

She wouldn’t be losing chunks of her heart to him, either.

Caroline shook out the thought as they pulled up to Salvatore Bonetti’s home. Ryland opened her door again, but this time, he took her hand in his. Her heart clenched as she looked into his eyes. Yup. Sleeping with him had changed everything.

Now, she couldn’t pretend she didn’t want him. She couldn’t hide behind her annoyance at him either. Apart from the fact that he came from a whole other world, there was nothing to dislike about Ryland.

“I still think you should have stayed at the hotel,” he whispered, kicking her annoyance back to life.

But this time, Caroline thought she saw concern in his gold eyes. He didn’t want her to sit this out because he doubted her abilities, but because … good lord, could it be … that he reallycaredabout her?

“We’re a team,” she said, her voice heavy with hope.

He grinned and squeezed her hand. “We are, and I’m starting to like having you around. I don’t want to lose you because I didn’t keep you safe.”

“It’s not up to you to keep me safe,” she returned before they walked up to the Bonetti house.

Caroline wasn’t sure she heard correctly, but Ryland whispered something that sounded a lot like, “Yes, it definitely is.”

She didn’t know what to say to that, but the front door swung open, cutting off any other reply.

Salvatore Bonetti scowled at them again. “Why are you back here?” he snapped.

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